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Saying Yes to God’s Purpose
We have just entered the liturgical season of Pentecost, the birthday of the church. The Pentecost Read More
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Abby Thornton Hailey | Read Matthew 5:21-26
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Sign Up TodayMatthew’s Gospel portrays Jesus as the new Moses, bringing
God’s law and leading God’s people into freedom.
Nowhere is the parallel more apparent than in the readings for
the next two days from the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus expands
upon three of the Ten Commandments intended to lead God’s
people...
God, help me not to stop at external restraint but to deal with the attitudes that strip life away from within so that I may love in a way that is life-giving and abundant. Amen.
How are Christians to understand and relate to the Jewish law? The text from Deuteronomy confronts Israel with a sharp choice: Follow the commandments of Yahweh or bow to the gods of the Canaanites. Choosing the law means choosing a way of life. Psalm 119 praises the Torah as God’s gift bestowed on Israel to be the authentic guide as to how life should be lived. Jesus becomes the authoritative interpreter of the Torah, the one who pushes beyond external behavior to a consistency between disposition and deed. Christians are invited by the text to be different and become what Paul describes as “spiritual people.”
• Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20. How do you go about choosing between the call of God and the call of the idols that surround you?
• Read Psalm 119:1-8. How has keeping God’s command- ments been a joyful experience in your life?
• Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. What do you consider to be the “milk” of the gospel versus the “solid food” of the gospel?
• Read Matthew 5:21-37. Which of the “But I say to you” teachings of Jesus surprise you the most? Why?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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