Sermons on Matthew
The Murder Before the Murder
Most of us hear the command, “You shall not murder,” and feel pretty good about ourselves. But Jesus takes that command beneath the outward act and into the heart. Long before violence ever happens, something can already be going wrong inside us. Anger can take root, and over time we can begin to see another person as less deserving of our patience or respect.Jesus takes that kind of contempt very seriously. There’s a difference between recognizing that someone has done…
Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory
Jesus seems to have been determined to let people know that he wasn’t interested in a certain kind of power. In the text above, he directly rebuffs Satan’s attempt to lure him into bypassing the suffering that lay ahead for the immediacy of some kind of political position with all of its trappings. After one particularly notable miracle, the people wanted to make Jesus their king, a lifelong dream for many would-be rulers. Jesus quickly fled the area to spend…
Surprised on Judgment Day
This is a familiar story to most Christians, and it’s been preached many times over the years to help people realize how much Jesus cares about our attitude toward those who are disadvantaged. And that’s certainly a needed emphasis. Tomorrow I plan to focus on an interesting nuance in the text, something that I’ve never thought that much about. For the most part, I’m going to ignore the last part of the story–about the ones who ignored the needs of…
