Well, this is it! Today we come to the end of the Sermon the Mount after almost three weeks of listening to excerpts from Matthew’s three full chapters. These last words of Jesus to end his Sermon on the Mount have always been striking and challenging to me. After...
Now that I am over 60 years old my ankles and knees don’t function correctly anymore. So, I tend to choose my exercise or walking paths with care. No more mountain paths with mud, stones, and fallen branches – all of which seem to reach up to trip me along the way. I...
Jesus states clearly the most important commandments in all of Scripture: love of God and love of neighbor. These are the only treasures in the life of a Christian. Everything else should be subservient to those values and goals. God invested centuries cultivating an...
An essential part of being a true human being, a religious person is maintaining a good relationship with God. Over many generations’ prayer, fasting, and almsgiving formed a central part of religious life for the people of Israel. This continues to be true in God’s...
In the Old Testament everything about our relationship with God and others became reduced to interpretations, delineations, and limitations of God’s will. God’s law helped Israel control the human tendency to violence and revenge. God’s intention was for his Law to be...
