Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus continues His famous Sermon on the Mount that we find in Matthew’s gospel, He comes to one of the most challenging parts of His message. In our passage for this episode, Jesus elevates what we might believe the standard of the law is to be significantly higher.

In essence, Jesus takes God’s law and Moses’ law and reframes these two laws to be a much higher standard than what we might believe, and if someone believes they have fulfilled the law as written, it would be a great stretch to believe they have fulfilled the law as Jesus describes it in this passage.

Let’s read what Jesus describes, and unpack the big truth it teaches. The portion of Jesus’ sermon we will focus on is found in Matthew, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version. Starting in verse 21, Jesus continued preaching, saying:

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In this passage, Jesus takes what we might consider to be the standard of the law, and He elevates it. Where we might think of committing murder or cursing someone as being subject to being judged, Jesus tells us that being angry with someone, or calling someone a fool is actually much closer to the line of breaking the law.

Jesus challenges us that we should be right with others first before we will be right with God. He challenges us in this way when He tells those present to leave their gift at the altar and go reconcile a relationship before offering our gifts to God. In this way, our relationships with one another become a reflection of our relationship with God.

We are also challenged to get along with others and to live uprightly. If we have a disagreement with someone, we should work to make things right, and we should do this before the issue becomes an issue in the court system. When a matter comes before a court, we give up control to a third party, and this third party might find us guilty when we believe we are innocent.

Jesus tells us that the standard for adultery isn’t the act of adultery, but the thoughts and the lust that precedes the action. Jesus doesn’t minimize the sin in the act of adultery; He challenges us with the truth that lustful thoughts are equally bad.

In one of the more challenging parts of Jesus’ message, He challenges us with the idea that it is better to physically cut a part of our body away than to let that part of our body sin and cost us our salvation. While some people don’t think Jesus meant what He says here, I wonder if we truly took this teaching to heart whether we would be so lenient towards sin. Jesus challenges us to purge sin from our lives, because sin in our lives has the power to cause us to lose our salvation!

Also in this passage, Jesus elevates the status of marriage to being a life-long, through-thick-and-thin commitment. Jesus describes in this message that adultery is the only spiritually valid reason for divorce. While I don’t know if Jesus would exclude other abuses for being valid reasons for divorce, I know at least in my own mind, I would consider any form of abuse as grounds for divorce. I also know and recommend that avoiding marriage is better if there is any doubt about a potential spouse in a person’s mind. Another place in the gospels describes Jesus telling His followers that it is better that they don’t marry if they cannot accept Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

The last challenge in this portion of Jesus’ sermon elevates the significance of our word vs. making oaths. In an interesting comparison, Jesus challenges us to keep our word, regardless of how it was said. When we live to the standard we speak, then there is no reason to swear oaths, or to make vows. We should live to the standard of our words and our agreements, and not distinguish between promises that can be broken vs. promises that must be kept.

This entire section of teaching is very challenging because it elevates the law to a much higher standard than simply the letter of the law, and this makes God’s law virtually impossible to keep 100%. However, if you remember in our last episode, where we focused on a statement Jesus makes right before this, you’ll remember that Jesus tells those present that He came to fulfill the law. We break the law Jesus describes in this passage, but He came so that we can have salvation when we turn away from our sin.

Breaking the law condemns us to death, and Jesus offers to take the death we deserve and give us the life He deserved. We shouldn’t continue to sin, but we should resolve to turn away from our sins as a way to say Thank You to Jesus for the gift He purchased for us on the cross!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Accept Jesus and the gift He offers to us and resolve to thank Jesus for His gift by turning away from sin.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you things to think about, take what you learn and filter it through what God teaches you through His Word. God is interested in a personal relationship with you and personal prayer and study is how to grow a personal relationship with God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As Luke describes the early part of Jesus’ ministry, we read about a visit Jesus takes to His hometown of Nazareth, and specifically to the synagogue that He likely grew up attending.

However, this visit was different. All the times before this, Jesus’ time in this synagogue had been out of the spotlight and prior to His baptism while Jesus was simply learning and practicing carpentry with Joseph. Now, following Jesus’ baptism and trip into the desert to be tempted, we find Jesus returning to Nazareth for a visit after having left the family business and stepping into the role and mission God had sent Him into this world to accomplish.

But things were different. Word had been spreading about what Jesus was doing, and it made the people who saw Jesus grow up a little confused. Let’s read about what happened.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 4, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Luke tells us that:

¹⁶ Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as he usually did. He stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. Jesus unrolled it and found the right place. There it is written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
    He has anointed me
    to announce the good news to poor people.
He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners.
    He has sent me so that the blind will see again.
He wants me to set free those who are treated badly.
¹⁹     And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.”

²⁰ Then Jesus rolled up the scroll. He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were staring at him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this passage of Scripture is coming true as you listen.”

²² Everyone said good things about him. They were amazed at the gracious words they heard from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³ Jesus said, “Here is a saying you will certainly apply to me. ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me this. ‘Do the things here in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum.’ ”

²⁴ “What I’m about to tell you is true,” he continued. “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I tell you for sure that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. And there had been no rain for three and a half years. There wasn’t enough food to eat anywhere in the land. ²⁶ But Elijah was not sent to any of those widows. Instead, he was sent to a widow in Zarephath near Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel who had skin diseases in the days of Elisha the prophet. But not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were very angry when they heard that. ²⁹ They got up and ran Jesus out of town. They took him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

When reading this event, I am always amazed at how those in the Nazareth synagogue are so excited about Jesus’ opening words as He is reading from Isaiah’s writing, but they immediately turn on Jesus for sharing some difficult truths. It is as though they were waiting for a reason to doubt Jesus, or perhaps Jesus was waiting for a moment to challenge who they believed Him to be.

The hinge moment in this entire event is one comment that the Jews in this synagogue ask themselves about Jesus. In verse 22, Luke tells us that those in the Nazareth synagogue asked themselves, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Perhaps this question is a valid question. Perhaps those in the Nazareth synagogue did not know about the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. It is possible that Mary and Joseph had kept the secret of Jesus’ birth quiet and those in this Nazareth synagogue believed Jesus to be like any other person in their midst.

However, it is also possible that Mary and Joseph had told those in this synagogue the extraordinary birth of Jesus, the escape to Egypt, and how God had called them back to Nazareth after it was safe to return. If this was the case, then it also wouldn’t surprise me to learn that those in Nazareth were skeptical of what Mary and Joseph told them. I wouldn’t hesitate thinking that many in the synagogue preferred to think Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s biological son.

However, Jesus uses this rhetorical question as an opportunity to challenge those present. While Jesus does make some negative predictions specifically about those in the Nazareth synagogue, the message Jesus refreshes their mind with from Israel’s past is fascinating to me. It is in the anger that we see when Jesus shares historical fact that reveals the character of those present, and what Jesus shared interestingly enough proves His point just as strongly as the rejection He faced.

The big point Jesus wants to emphasize for us is in verse 24 when He says, “A prophet is not accepted in his hometown.” Jesus uses this truth to emphasize and predict what those in this synagogue would do minutes later.

However, the examples Jesus shares don’t appear to support this key point. Jesus then shares two of the most famous prophets in Israel’s history helping people outside of Israel while people in Israel were suffering. In Elijah’s case, the famine was caused by the rebellion of the king, and the land was being punished. It is hard to say what a widow living in Israel would have done if Elijah has shown up. She would have faced the dilemma of helping Elijah or turning him over to the king. In Elisha’s case, we discover a miraculous healing of a Syrian official, when there were obviously people in need in Israel.

On the surface, the examples Jesus shared amplify God’s love for those outside of the Jewish nation. However, it doesn’t really speak negatively about the Jews themselves. In contrast, the message Jesus shared directly conflicted with the egotistical, self-inflated view the Jews had of themselves, which said God would bless them for who they were and not for what they were currently doing. Jesus challenged them with these examples.

However, under the surface, we see these examples showing how God’s people rejected His prophets. In the days of Elijah’s famine, the people of Israel had sided with the king of Israel who had rejected and rebelled against God. If a widow loyal to God earnestly hunted for Elijah to ask for help, I’m confident God would have helped the widow’s search to be successful. In the case of Elijah and the famine, the people of Israel rejected the clear prophet God had sent them.

In the days of Elisha, nowhere do we see someone with skin diseases coming to ask Elisha for help. It takes the captive slave of a foreign officer to suggest he goes to see Elisha to ask for help. And even after receiving instructions, it takes Naaman’s advisors to convince Naaman to actually follow through with the relatively simplistic instructions. While Naaman is the only one healed of the skin disease he had during this era of history, I don’t believe it was because God was punishing everyone else, but that no one else had been determined to ask for God and the prophet’s help.

Those living in Nazareth at the time had the opportunity of a lifetime in front of them. They had the opportunity to be the first group of Jews to accept a prophet who had grown up among them even when all the evidence and history pointed the other way. In the same way, when God sends people into our lives, it is possible He will use strangers, but it is also possible He will use those closest to us to help us turn our lives back to Him.

When God sends someone into our life, we would be wise to pay attention and accept the message leading us back to God!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue purposefully seeking God first in your life. Choose to accept the people and messages He sends to us and choose to turn your heart, your mind, your life, and your will back to God. Intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for us on our behalf.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and open your heart to God. While other people can have interesting and useful ideas, choose to filter everything you hear and read through the truth of God’s Word the Bible! God has blessed and protected the Bible for us and He has gifted the Bible to us so we can learn His truth for our lives!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or reject where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!