Matthew 5-7

It took me about 20 minutes to read the sermon on the mount.  The rendering of this in the Message is a different approach to the sermon.  I thought it was interesting how the crowd was described in the first part of chapter 5: “..the committed, climbed with him.” and “..he sat down and taught his climbing companions.”  I think Jesus often does that to me as well.  He is ready to teach but he wants me to reach a new level before he’ll teach me more.  It’s not that I have to elevate myself to a higher spiritual plane, but rather I need to reach the level for which he has already enabled me.  Those who followed Jesus to the mountain, needed to climb up to where he had led them.  This required a certain level of determination and commitment to expose them to the teacher.  The same thing is true today.  Jesus may want to teach me more about fasting, so I have to start fasting in order for him to teach me more.  Jesus may be leading me toward proclaiming the Gospel, so I have to take tentative steps before he will teach me more about his work through his words.  I don’t think Jesus’ teaching methods have changed much in 2,000 years.

Stuart