Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Gospel Reading Matthew 5:17-20
17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
It has been a tendency of Christians in the past to ignore much of what scripture says, particularly the “law” of the Old Testament. The law, we think, goes by the wayside with Jesus. But even a cursory reading of the “Sermon on the Mount” should remind us that Jesus had the same Old Testament we do. A homiletics professor once complained about students who didn’t want to preach from the Old Testament. His response: what do you think Jesus preached from? Jesus makes the same point here. God’s coming kingdom isn’t discontinuous with the experience of Israel; rather, Jesus completes God’s work of creating a royal priesthood, a holy nation, so that all the families of the earth will be blessed by the presence of God. Why does this matter today? Because it’s the Old Testament—Jesus’ Bible—that reminds us how we are to treat one another in this time of uncertainty: “do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should open you hand willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.” That was good enough for Jesus.
God, we praise you, for in the abundance of your grace, for you have remembered us and provided. Sharing in your Spirit, give us the same mind that was in Jesus Christ, to love and serve others, even at the cost of self, so that your kingdom would be revealed in our giving hands. We pray in Christ. Amen.
Art: Bruegel, Jan, 1568-1625. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of theVanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55346
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