Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;you have the words of everlasting life. 


John Pearring


Gospel MT 5:17-19

“Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”


What do I tell my friends about the least and the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it the presumption, which I earnestly hope for, that we will all be together in your Kingdom, Jesus? Can we at least hope that we will be among the living?

You know, dear Lord, that I rely on your compassion for the thief who hung on the cross next to you. You told him that on the same day he would be with you in Paradise. You also took an outspoken man, Peter, whom you at one point called Satan, and made him the first presider of all Christianity. You took a man broken by sin, a man called Augustine, and turned his heart to you. He became a theologian for the centuries.

We have plenty of examples of your gracious mercy, both men and women. There is not one among us who truly desires to teach others to break your commandments, but all of us can probably cite a time when we did so. How can you help us, Jesus?

The commandments are the first things many of us think about when hearing Jesus speak of the smallest letter of the law. But commentators identify the Law of the Prophets as the entire Old Testament. That’s a lot of stuff to know about. Could we actually grasp all that? I know in our small band of folks up here in Woodland Park a number of engineers, some doctors, business people, and a great number of men and women who have been and still are leaders.

Should we have spent more time on the statues, decrees and commandments? Perhaps. I know I could have. Are we in trouble if we didn’t? Sounds like it to me.

Jesus continually contrasted what the Pharisees taught against God’s true intent of the law.

Earlier in Matthew, in this same chapter 5, Jesus presents a contrary list of the “Blessed”, in the Beatitudes. These are his own decrees. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, who show mercy, are clean of heart, are the peacemakers, and those persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

The law of the commandments, however, are still there. They are to love the Lord they God, have no other gods before him, not to make a graven image, nor take the name of the Lord in vain. We are to remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy, to honor our mother and father. And then we get the Thou Shalt Nots – murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, and the three covets. Don’t covet our neighbor’s house, wife, servants, animals or anything else.

Then, following today’s (actually tomorrow’s) reading we get a string of clarifications of those commandments. Jesus takes them a step further. Not only should we not kill, but we should not be angry with our brother. Not only should we not commit adultery, but if we look at a man or woman with lust we’ve committed the sin. The act of divorce causes our spouse to commit adultery. Plus, we should not swear oath, because our yes should simply mean yes. To say anything more means we are speaking for the evil one.

The clarifications continue in Matthew. Jesus talks about love of enemies, almsgiving, prayer, fasting, treasure in heaven, light and darkness, money, dependence on God, judging others, answers to prayer, the Golden Rule, the Narrow Gate, false prophets, what makes up a true disciple, and then finishes off at the end of Chapter seven with building our houses on rock or sand, listening to Jesus’ words and acting upon them.

So, while hundreds of pages, written of the prophets, present decrees, statutes and commandments, the vast collection of requirements assures us that we will deceive others. How are we to know this stuff? Listen to Jesus.

There are times in the scriptures when we watch what Jesus has done. Where we have the opportunity to experience his behavior. We get miracle after miracle, and event after event. Here, today though, we are in the midst of his teaching.

We hear something extra today, in both Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy and in Chapter 5 of Matthew. It’s set up by Deuteronomy:

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”


We are to teach these things to our children. We are to teach these commandments. When we act, we are to act in the name of Jesus, and we are to explain what Jesus meant.  

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