Receiving a Stone (part two)

** much of the insight on this particular teaching has come from the influence of Rob Bell's teaching on the Sermon on the Mount

We should probably continue this conversation by talking about what judgment is and isn’t. This verse is one of our favorites. We love to quote this whenever someone calls us out or tries to hold us accountable. “Hey, man, ‘Don’t judge, lest you be judged.’ ”

What is Jesus teaching here? Scripture seems to invite us to discern between right and wrong. The rabbis teach that in the beginning God separated light from darkness, and this is our task, as well. Are we really not allowed to call out a person’s disobedience? Well, in Jesus’s day, there were three different ways to understand judgment:

First, there is the concept of CIVIL judgment. This refers to the legal system, what we would think of as the “courtroom.” This is obviously not the kind of judgment Jesus is referencing. Jesus is not saying it’s wrong for a magistrate to do his job.

Second, there is the judgment of DISCERNMENT. This is what we spoke of above. This is the judgment that looks at something in order to decide if it is good or evil. Is this right or wrong? Is this light or darkness? This doesn’t seem to be the judgment Jesus is speaking of here, either. While it does feel as though we are getting closer, it doesn’t quite seem like this is the practical application of Jesus’s teaching.

Finally, there is the judgment that determines the VALUE of a person or thing. In this case, Jesus is clearly addressing our judgment of PEOPLE. Jesus is reminding us that we are not free to pass judgment on the value of another human being; only God can do this job. I would go as far as to argue, in the context of Jesus’s teaching on dogs and pigs, this seems to be directed right at a Jew’s temptation to pass a “value judgment” on the pagan nations. You cannot do that; you, a mere mortal, cannot decide who has worth and who does not.

But this is all separate from treasures in heaven, generosity, and worry. Right? What would any of this talk about judgment have to do with that?

Let me ask you a question. Why do we pass value judgments on other people?

Allow me a few follow-up questions: What is the opposite of judgment? And what has Jesus been talking about throughout this ‘sermon’? Hasn’t he been talking about forgiveness? And isn’t forgiveness the antithesis of passing value judgments on others?

Now let me rephrase the question: Why don’t we forgive?

I would suggest that we don’t forgive because we don’t think that God will do His job.

Let me rephrase again: Do we not forgive because we are WORRIED they won’t get what they deserve? Maybe these teachings are connected after all.

In fact, it would make a lot of sense to see Jesus’s next teaching as a wonderful tie back through the entire teaching:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Your heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts. If you ask for one thing, He’s not going to give you what you don’t need. No father will do that. Maybe this teaching isn’t about “getting what we pray for” at all. Maybe this teaching is about our generosity and relinquishing our worry about judgment over to God. If I could paraphrase the teaching of Jesus here, I would suggest the following:

Be generous. Worry will kill your generosity. And do not judge the worth of other people whom you think deserve punishment. Instead, ask God to do the right thing, because He knows how to give perfect gifts. Trust God to do the right thing; stop worrying and be generous to others — especially the dogs and the pigs!

There’s some relevant stuff for us to wrestle with in this passage. I find the religious people of today continue to struggle with the same sin the people who listened to Jesus struggled with thousands of years ago. We haven’t changed much.

I believe we need to come to grips with the many ways we serve the god Money and with where we make our investments.

I believe we need to realize that our worry cripples our generosity.
I believe our worry about others leads us to judging their worth.
I believe we could use a little trust in a Father who knows how to give good gifts.

I believe that trusting the story still changes everything.

Receiving a Stone (part one)

Jesus moves on to talk about storing up treasures in heaven. There is a way to make “life investments” in such a way that they have an eternal ring to them. So much of what we do doesn’t live on beyond this world of moth and rust, but Jesus is here to tell us how we can make these heavenly investments.

Unfortunately, Jesus starts speaking cryptically about good eyes, bad eyes, light, and darkness.

This isn’t a teaching about seeing the optometrist. In fact, there is great documentation about this Hebrew teaching idiom and the “good eye.” One of the most understandable ways to approach this teaching (along with many others) is in Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg. When a Jewish teacher references the “good eye,” it is a figure of speech about generosity. Having a good eye means that you are generous; having a bad eye means that one is stingy.

In a teaching that would have made a good Herodian wince, Jesus affirms you cannot serve God and money; such an effort is impossible and results in idolatry. In fact, the only way to make heavenly investments is to see through a good eye — through God’s eyes — and to be generous. Generosity is how a person lays up for themselves treasures in heaven.

Which raises a question: What keeps us from being generous? Isn’t it worry? We’re worried that if we’re generous with our resources — our time, our money — there won’t be enough for us. It’s interesting that Jesus’s very next teaching point will be a point about worry. Worry will cripple our ability to be generous. Worry will stifle our desire to lay up treasures in heaven.

Worry gives us bad eyes.

Instead, Jesus invites us to trust. He invites us to trust that God has our best interests in mind — to trust that God knows what we need and will give us everything just at the right time. He invites us to live by every word. There’s no sense in worrying about clothes; God does a great job clothing the earth. There’s no sense in worrying about the things we need to consume; God feeds the birds of the air without any effort. Jesus invites us to trust the story. You see, it’s just what we said over a year ago: trusting the story sets us free to be generous.

Trust gives us good eyes.

Jesus then moves on to talk about judgment:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

More talk about eyes. More cryptic teachings. This time, Jesus seems to be losing his mind over pearls, pigs, and dogs. What is he talking about?

It’s important to know that in Jesus’s day, the Pagan nations were often referred to as dogs. This wasn’t as derogatory as it sounds; it was more like a figure of speech. Jesus even uses this language in a later story when he tells a Gentile woman, “It’s not good to take the bread from the children and throw it to the dogs.” It is a direct reference to Jesus’s ministry to the Jewish people and this request from a Gentile woman (more on that later). I would suggest that a reference to pigs would communicate the same assumptions. One of the largest exports of the Decapolis region (the land of the Pagans), outside of grain, was pigs. Dogs and pigs are two images that would have made Jesus’s Jewish hearers think of the Pagans.

Knowing this brings context to the teaching. A pearl is often used to discuss rabbinic teachings (Tverberg, in her other book, will also talk about how Jews would speak of “stringing pearls”). Jesus is saying that people who claim to speak for God cannot take and throw their morality before people who have not agreed to follow it. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I’m telling you, we religious people do this all the time. We love to speak about our views of righteousness and morality, good and bad, light and darkness, right and wrong — and we expect the world to listen to us. Why would they? Have they agreed to God’s Word as His measuring stick for their own lives? Again, this statement is not meant to carry a derogatory tone, but you cannot throw your teachings before swine and expect them to enjoy it. Quite the opposite — the swine might actually respond with hostility.

This Jesus guy is pretty smart.

Nevertheless, I probably should have made this teaching a separate post. I mean, none of this business about judging has to do with treasures in heaven, generosity, and worry, right?

Of course, there’s that business about the “eyes”… good, bad… planks, specks…

But these are different teachings.
        …right?

One more thought about prayer...

Jesus’s thoughts on prayer deserve more attention because of the famous teaching surrounding what we often call the “Lord’s Prayer.” Depending on which gospel you are reading, Jesus offers up this model of prayer in response to a request by His disciples to teach them to pray, or as an insertion of that prayer into His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

Quite frankly, Jesus’s response is telling. The prayer Jesus teaches them is not a new idea. Jesus did not introduce them to the Lord’s Prayer, nor did He create the prayer from His own mind. Most scholars agree that the Lord’s Prayer is a condensed version of what we know as the Jewish Amidah Prayer. Otherwise known as the “Standing Prayer,” this is a prayer that would have been uttered by Jews at the noon prayer time in the Temple. Tradition holds that Jewish men would stand in groups of twelve and utter this prayer together.

Spending a few minutes online searching for the Amidah Prayer will produce results to keep you busy for hours. While one can find several different versions of this famous prayer, we do know that the modern Amidah was not being used in the days of Jesus. Even referencing the modern Amidah Prayer, a reader might notice that Jesus’s prayer is a summary of the content of the longer version. We’ve found significant evidence for the following prayer being circulated in the first century as the Amidah of Jesus’s day:

avenu shabat shamayim; ye’kedesh shemchah; tomlich malchukah; y’aseh bashayim uve’aretz; et lechem hu’kenu ta’lanu he’yom

“Our Father, the One who dwells in heaven,
May Your name be holy.
May Your kingdom come as we do Your will here on earth, as it is done in heaven.
Give us today the bread of today.”

And some versions even add the following line:

“And deliver us from the evil one, cursed be he.”

In essence, this means that when Jesus’s disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray, Jesus responds with one of the most well-known prayers of His day. Jesus was saying, “You know how to pray. Just pray. And mean it.”

Jesus does, however, make one striking alteration. In no version of the Amidah, either past or present, can you find a mention of us forgiving others. There are requests for God to forgive us, but nothing about forgiving others. Again, we see forgiveness and mercy being central to Jesus’s message. We will cover this in greater detail at a later time, but it’s important to notice — especially for Jesus followers who have become so used to the idea of forgiveness that it means very little — that this is a radical idea. For ancient Jews, God forgives sins. We are called to love our neighbor, show mercy to our neighbor, and many other things — but forgiveness is a job for God alone.

This suggestion of Jesus, that we should partner with God in the work of forgiveness, is one that will get Him in serious trouble. This insertion into a basic, everyday prayer for Jesus’s disciples is more of a thunderbolt than many of us realize. It’s enough to make us ponder whether or not we give forgiveness enough thought in our life. There is something about the act of forgiveness and God’s coming Kingdom.

Done in Secret

The next movement of this “Sermon on the Mount” is a discussion about hypocrites. Jesus has some teaching points about giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. They are as follows:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

If I were to hit the pause button, I would point out that Jesus directly connects “righteousness” with giving to the poor. This is a connection that is made in Jewish thought starting with the Hebrew language. The idea of tzedekah (“righteousness”) is connected to hearing the tze’ekah (“cries of the oppressed”). Even in Jewish communities today, you will find a tzedekah box; this is a box to collect funds for the poor and other acts of benevolence. In Jewish thought, your “acts of righteousness” are not “doing the right things,” but the right thing you should be doing is hearing the cry of the oppressed. It seems like there is a blog post hiding in that idea alone…

This is followed by thoughts on prayer:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

And this is followed by the theme of fasting:

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

First, a note on “hypocrites”: Much to the disappointment of all the haters out there, this is not a teaching on hypocrisy. The word for hypocrite is actually the word for actor. The Hellenistic actors in the theater would fit the descriptions seen above. When famous actors were in town, their arrival on stage would be signaled with the blast of a trumpet (you often could not see the famous face when it was in costume and so far away). They would paint their faces to communicate a mood to the audience. Jesus’s larger point here is not the horrible character of hypocrites, but the life of an actor. An actor is one who makes a living at putting on a show. That show may or may not be accurate to reality, but the point is the actor is doing it for the show. Jesus has the audacity to claim there are “actors” in the synagogues — there are people who are actually walking the path of obedience for the sole purpose of being seen. This is what is being condemned in the teaching.

Second, a note on the “reward”: The reward is juxtaposed against the reward of the actor. Jesus warns his hearers that if they do these things to be seen by others, that is all the reward they will get — fleeting recognition from other people. They will get no reward from God. It is important to note the tense of that reward; the reward is a PRESENT reward, not a FUTURE one. Therefore, when Jesus claims that if you do these things with a pure heart, not to be seen by men, you get a much deeper reward; you get a reward from God. This reward is not speaking about the future; it makes no sense to look at the hypocrites reward as present and the worshipper’s reward as future. The reward you get is NOW. God goes about doing a work in your heart now, not installing an extra jewel in your crown for heaven.

Finally, a note on the “secrecy”: One of the most perplexing parts of this teaching is the exhortation by Jesus to do these things “in secret.” I cannot count the number of times that I have been told I am not allowed to discuss fasting because Jesus told me to do it in secret. This is completely bogus. Jesus told me that if I fast in order to be seen by men, that will be all the reward I get; but if I fast for reasons only God can see, I will experience a better reward. One must remember that merely a page earlier, Jesus told his listeners to “let their light shine before men, so that they might see their good deeds and glorify their Father who is in Heaven.” Jesus wants the deeds to be seen! His teaching about “secrecy” is directed at motivations of the heart. This is important, because our walks should be modeled before others. Our faith is not a private one. It is one that should echo the words of Paul, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

At any rate, Jesus’s words in this section invite us to examine our motivations truly. Do we find ourselves going through the motions in order to be seen by others? The answers may surprise us. We are warned there is not much reward in this. But if we truly desire to follow God with a pure heart, there is incredible work to be done.

...But I say unto you

So now that we understand Jesus’s intent in reinterpreting the Text, we can look at His big point. Jesus takes a handful of positions that are held and taught in His day about Torah, and He declares that, in fact, there is a better way to read it. While I cannot deal extensively with each and every teaching of Jesus on this blog, I do deal with these individual teachings more in depth here.

Suffice it to say, Jesus will suggest that Torah is actually dealing with issues of the heart. This is more revolutionary than most of us realize, because Jewish thought saw the Law as being a fence that controls the external. What happens internally is multifaceted and unbridled, but externally, the Law keeps us in check. Jesus’s understanding invites us to see the Law as something that was designed to change our insides, not just control our outsides.

Jesus will reinterpret the major understandings of murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, justice, and enemies. Let’s start with murder:

“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.’ 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.”

Contrary to most popular thought, Jesus is not “upping the ante” for God’s expectation. Jesus is claiming that this was always God’s expectation — that the prohibition against murder is actually about anger and hatred in your heart. The same ends up being true for adultery:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Again, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard that Jesus “raised the bar” of expectation in the realms of lust. In fact, Jesus is claiming this was always God’s expectation, and it has to do with our hearts. It’s about how we see women, not just our outward behavior. We could pull apart each of Jesus’s teachings in this section (and I invite you to listen to my teaching at the link above), but for the sake of space, I will shift to a closing thought.

Jesus claims that God’s always been after a changed heart. God’s been looking for a partner who will see the world the way He sees the world — not just someone who will follow a set of rules. These “rules” have never been about “behavior modification”; they have been about the condition of our hearts. And Jesus claims it has been this way since Sinai.

Truly, Jesus will harken back to Sinai itself when He makes the statement that we are to love our enemies. Check it out:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Jesus claims the very thing that makes us like God is our ability to love our enemies. He points out that everybody loves their friends; there is nothing that sets you apart from others if you love merely your friends. The only thing that sets you apart is if you love your enemies. That’s what makes you like God. Well, wait a minute, what was the story about being like God and showing the world what God is like? Wasn’t that our call to be a kingdom of priests? Wasn’t the role of a priest to put God on display? That would be the perfect teaching for Jesus to make in light of loving our enemies.

And Jesus seals the deal with His final statement. While it is translated from the Greek correctly, it would have been a direct quote from the book of Leviticus. In that regard, the verse would not read as “perfect”; it would read, “Be holy, as your heavenly Father is holy.”

And the definition of holy? To be set apart.

And that quote from Leviticus fits Jesus’s teaching perfectly — much better than a statement about perfection does. (This is one of the instances that makes me think Matthew was originally written in Hebrew.)

Leviticus was the book that invited us to be different, to be “priestlike.” And the thing that will set us apart from the world will be our ability to love.

To love everyone: our neighbors, our friends, our enemies.

It’s the same story. It’s the same story we saw back in Leviticus. It’s the same story we see today.

You’ve Heard It Said…

After Jesus says that He is not here to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, He goes on to do that very thing. In true rabbinic style, Jesus goes about the art of interpreting Torah. One of the striking refrains that stands out in this section of the Sermon of the Mount is Jesus’s statement, “You’ve heard it said… but I say unto you…”

This is a common rabbinical statement made by a teacher who carries authority. The teacher is announcing to his listeners that they are about to hear a new interpretation of the same texts they are familiar with. This, however, is not a job for just any rabbi. Later in rabbinical history, we know that there were certain rules and stipulations about who could interpret the law and how they could do it. This wasn’t a job for any reader of the Text.

While this may come as a blasphemous idea to Protestant ears, not just anyone was allowed to do the work of interpretation. Interpretation was (and still is) tricky business. In order to reinterpret the Text, a teacher had to have s’micha, which is the Hebrew word for “authority.” If a rabbi did not have s’micha then he was not allowed to offer a new interpretation. A rabbi received s’micha by having two other rabbis with s’micha commission him with it. While this is a later rabbinic practice, it is easy to find this cultural understanding in the gospels.

Listen to the words of Matthew that immediately follow the Sermon on the Mount:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Jesus taught as one having s’micha and not just as a regular teacher. That’s gutsy; the people caught that this Jesus guy had some chutzpah.
But it does beg the question: Did Jesus have s’micha?

The reader could point to Jesus’s baptism. The words of John the Baptist (a person who has s’micha, at least in the eyes of the people) blesses Him and tells the crowd that Jesus is greater than he is, followed by the voice of the LORD coming from heaven announcing God’s pleasure on Jesus as His son. That’s a convincing s’micha commissioning if you ask me.

Nevertheless, Jesus certainly teaches with s’micha. A rabbi would offer a prologue to his new interpretation by offering these words: “You’ve heard it said ____________, but I say unto you ____________.” It was a rabbi’s way of saying, you are familiar with this teaching, but I’m here to give you a better understanding. Again, this is not something that any rabbi is allowed to do; rabbis are bound in their interpretation to the teachings that have come before them. But a rabbi with authority can chart new paths.

Like we’ve pointed out previously, Jesus is trying to make the case that he is not here teaching something outside of Torah. Instead, He claims to be here showing the world how they were always supposed to be reading it. According to the rabbinical claims of Jesus as a teacher, His teaching of Torah is what God was really after when the law was given at Sinai. This is important because it shows God is not here to change game plans — He is not here to do away with the Jews or take their “place” away — He is here to throw the blinds open on what has always been true. Jesus is here to clean up our understanding.
It’s actually a more profound wrestling match than we might realize. I find that most of us give the teachings of Jesus a treatment that relegates it as a great “thought to consider,” but hardly authoritative. I think most of my readers will claim that statement is far too harsh, but practically speaking, I think you will find it to be true. Jesus’s teachings are far too rabbinic and confusing — at times too “mystical” — for our western preferences. Take, for instance, the way we interact with the teachings/letters of the apostle Paul. We are far quicker to accept the teachings of Paul at face-value than we are the teachings of Jesus. This is a grave error and one that has led to massive misinterpretations of the Text (let alone horrific, destructive teachings throughout church history). As Brian McLaren says, “Christians have accepted Jesus as their savior, but Paul as their Lord.”

Those are merely some thoughts to chew on.

One must be confronted with the authority of Jesus in the gospel accounts. Everything that the follower of Jesus interprets in the Bible has to be seen through the lens of Jesus. When Jesus says that the right way to interpret the Text is through love God and love others, then you are now forced to read your Bible through that lens (as a follower of Rabbi Jesus). You do not get to disagree. For some readers who thought my treatment of the conquest and the Book of Joshua was too far-reaching, they must consider that whatever our interpretation of the book is, it must be aligned with Jesus’s yoke of love God and love others. Jesus said all the Law and the Prophets are interpreted through that lens — period. As a follower of Jesus, I have no other option.

I work under the s’micha of Jesus.

Abolish/Fulfill

Jesus’s next statement will need just as much attention to help us understand the context. Let’s take a look at it before we proceed:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Now immediately we need to deal with some of our western assumptions. I was often raised with the teaching that Jesus “fulfilled the Law” or that He “fulfilled all prophecies.” What was being communicated to me was that Jesus had “accomplished” those things. What was never explained, however, is why that doesn’t even make logical sense. It treats the Torah and its mitzvoth as a video game that has 613 levels. When Jesus accomplished all 613, He “beat the game” and we were able to put it away.

The mitzvoth is not a game show. It’s not a challenge to be accepted and completed. It was God’s directive of how to live. So, in order for us to understand what’s being said, we’ll need to understand the rabbinic language.

When a rabbi says that he is “fulfilling” Torah, it means that he is interpreting it correctly. If another rabbi were to interpret Torah in a radically different way, he would accuse the other of “abolishing” Torah. To fulfill and abolish refers to the proper or improper interpretation of the Text, respectively. This would usually be accompanied by action. A rabbi claiming to fulfill Torah would also be issuing an invitation to watch his “walk”; in the way that he walks out the Text, his literal and practical interpretation would show the Text to mean what it says.

If anyone doubts this reading of abolish and fulfill, they may consider the following words of Jesus, which state that not even the least stroke of a pen will pass away from the Law until heaven and earth disappear. And His next statement, that any man who teaches someone not to obey the Law is the least in the Kingdom.

This will also make sense in that the following page of your Bible will be full of Jesus interpreting the Law.

Once we understand this, it raises a question: Why is Jesus making this statement in the first place? Is somebody accusing Him of abolishing Torah?

This is a great place to realize that the teachings of Jesus (for now, particularly those found in the Sermon on the Mount) are so radically different that people may be tempted to assume He is throwing out Torah, or teaching against some of its writings. Jesus is clarifying that, in fact, He is fulfilling it in His interpretation. This is a hefty claim, as Jesus would be saying this is how God has always intended it to be interpreted. From the day the Law was given at Mt. Sinai, God has always had these following principles in mind.

So what is it that makes Jesus’s interpretation so radical? Well, we’re about to see it over and over and over again. Jesus is pretty adamant about loving people — all people. Loving your neighbor, loving your brother, loving your persecutors — even loving your enemies. Jesus will be insistent that mercy is the way of righteousness (see the center of the Beatitudes), forgiveness is the path of restoration, and radical love is the heart of God.

The question now is whether or not we believe Jesus is who He said He is. Because if He is, then His teachings will give us much to wrestle with, as they will come with an authority that has never been seen in a human interpretation.

We face the same wrestling match as anyone who heard His words on the hillside that day.