Matthew 5:31-37   Summary: It’s true throughout the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus addresses moral laxity in his day, but when it came to marriage and oath-keeping, things were especially distorted. Some were teaching that marriages could be dissolved for almost any sense of dissatisfaction and oaths were only...

Matthew 5:27-30   Summary: With advances in technology, ours is an age of unparalleled access and anonymity when it comes to sexual sin. When Jesus instructs us to gouge out our eye and cut off our hand, he’s communicating just how ferociously intentional we need to be in the fight...

Matthew 5:21-26 As Jesus goes on in chapter 5 to elaborate on ‘a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees’ (v20), he reveals the way in which the law addresses not just our behaviour but also our heart and our mind. Murder, he says famously, is not just an...

Matthew 5:17-20 In the mind of the Pharisees (and many other observers), they were the great law-abiders whereas Jesus played fast and loose with the law (e.g. fraternizing with moral degenerates, violating the Sabbath). Beginning here and continuing throughout chapter 5, Jesus demonstrates that the very opposite is true. The...

Matthew 5:13-16 Summary: With the metaphors of salt and light, Jesus simultaneously teaches how important it is for the church to be in the world while remaining distinct from the world. If the church is salt and light, then by contrast, Jesus is saying the world is inclined toward decay...

Matthew 5:1-12: Summary: “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word for “blessed,” which here describes not an emotional state but a relational state. The blessed person is one who lives in the favour and approval of God. The beatitudes are Kingdom attributes, and as such they describe the blessed life in...

Luke 18:1-8:

Luke 18:1-8: Summary: It’s rather unsettling to most of us to think of this as a parable on prayer, because we hate to think that Jesus might be comparing God to such a despicable judge. However, his argument is one of contrast rather than comparison. If a helpless widow embattled...

Luke 18:9-14 Summary: The story makes sense to us as 21st century Christian readers. We get it when Jesus says the tax collector is justified and the Pharisee isn’t. But for the original audience, that statement could hardly have made less sense. The Pharisee was the well-respected, moral, upstanding, admired,...

Luke 15:11-32 Summary: The inclusion of the elder brother’s reaction introduces both confusion and melancholy to what would otherwise be such a glorious conclusion (i.e. v.24). However, the elder brother is central to Jesus’ point in addressing the grumbling of the religious leaders (v.1). Both of the brothers in this...