From a Rocky Hillside

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
February 22, 2026
Matthew 5:21-26

At the beginning of worship:

One Sunday morning, Charles Haddon Spurgeon climbed into his pulpit at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Surprised to find a note left for him, he opened it. Inside, was scribbled the word, “Fool.” Spurgeon thought about it for a second then showed the note to the congregation. “I have received many anonymous letters over the years complaining about my sermons and other things, “Spurgeon confessed. “But this is the first time I received a letter without a body, signed by the author.^[1]

That’s tit for tat, isn’t it? After the sermon today, you can answer for yourself if Spurgeon broke Jesus’ command not to call anyone a fool.

Before reading the scripture

As we begin to dig into the meat of Jesus’ Great Sermon, we come to a part often labeled as as Jesus’ six antithesis. Each of these paragraphs begin with Jesus recalling a portion of the law. “You have heard it said,” Jesus says, then he adds a “but.” Jesus then deepens his understanding of the law, raising the bar. In a way, these statements are not an antithesis, but a deeper interpretation of the law. One commentator refers to them as an exegesis, a process in which Jesus takes the law and digs deeper into its meaning.^[2]

Today, we’ll look at the first of these, which deal with anger and murder. The first three commands Jesus addresses deals with moral concerns. I plan to address the other two, adultery and divorce, next week. Then Jesus provides three additional political concerns dealing with making an oath, retaliation, and our need to love everyone.^[3] Let’s turn to the gospel of Matthew and read from the fifth chapter, verses 21 to 26.

Read Matthew 5:21-26

I remember the first time I heard verse 22, where Jesus says to call someone a fool endangers us to the fires of hell. Unfortunately, I didn’t come by this passage in casual reading. I had the verse quoted to me. It was used as a weapon against me. I was shocked. I was about 10 or 11 years old and spending the night at my aunt and uncle’s farm. My brother and I, along with our cousins were supposed to be in bed. But we were wrestling or something with the lights out. For some long-forgotten reason, I called Terry, my older cousin, a fool. “You better watch out,” he retorted, “you’re heading for the fires of hell.” 

I didn’t know what he was talking about. He then quoted me this passage from scripture. Of all the passages in scripture, I have no idea why he memorized this one. Nor could I believe it was in the Bible. Terry didn’t have one handy to look it up. When I got back home, I looked it up and sure enough it was there in black and white. Taken back, I felt I’d committed an unforgivable sin at such an early age.   

Of course, I also found such knowledge beneficial and for several years thereafter, I quickly cited this verse to instill fear and guilt into anyone bold enough to call me a fool. Looking back on it all, Terry and I both probably misunderstood Jesus’ intentions.  

In the book of Proverbs, we find fools repeatedly condemned. Considered a grief to their fathers and bitterness to their mothers, silence is a fools only hope, as others may then consider them wise.^[4] Proverbs warns us to avoid foolish behavior; it’s good advice. But Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, also warns us against calling another person a fool. Even though people do foolish stuff, as highlighted in Proverbs, we’re not to destroy their self-esteem with such language. 

Jesus knows words damage. Harsh words can scar a person for life. The old childhood saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me,” is ridiculous. Words have the capacity to destroy us, and it may take longer to recover from a word spoken in anger than it does from a broken bone. 

I just finished reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s. Both Doris and her husband Dick, who is older than her, worked for Lyndon Johnston, but at different times. They didn’t know each other then. Now, toward the end of her husband’s life, they organize his papers. Surprised to read accounts of cruel things said by LBJ which hurt her husband, she also realized he’d said things which hurt the President. Goodwin realized his bitterness remained raw over 50 years later. Words hurt.^[5]

This is why Jesus suggests we consider what we say to other people and we think twice before we lash out with our tongues. 

Our passage begins with the 21^st verse. The next five verses expand on the sixth commandment, “thou shalt not kill.” In discussing murder, Jesus brings in anger as a similar sin. Following this passage, he does the same for adultery and lust. Then he goes on to discuss divorce and compassion, the taking of an oath, retaliation, and finally loving our enemies.   

Calling these six items’ antitheses is incorrect for Jesus isn’t contradicting the law, nor does he say the law is wrong.^[6]Instead, in each case, he ups the ante. What seems to be an easy commandment to keep becomes more difficult. After all, few people commit murder as defined by the law, but we’ve all probably violated Jesus’ reinterpretation of the law. 

Let’s now examine this passage and see what Jesus is saying. He parallels murder and the judgment for which one is liable with that of being angry with someone in the faith. The word brother is used here, and Jesus assumes his reader understands he’s referring both to brothers and sisters within the faith—not just one’s biological siblings. That’s why the New Revised Standard Version translates this as brother and sister. 

In other words, Jesus addresses our anger at those who make up the family of faith. To paraphrase and to try to get all of what Jesus means here, think about how if we take the life of another, the secular courts will judge and punish us. If we’re angry and insult another believer, we’re guilt of the same crime. It won’t be contested or tried in secular court, but it may be taken before the council (or the church governing board) to be judged. And furthermore, if we let our anger get the best of us, abusing others by calling them names like fools, then we’re in danger of divine judgment—the fires of hell.  

Jesus then links this instruction on anger to our relationship with God. He reminds those listening to the truth of Hosea 6:6: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,” says the Lord, “the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” We’ve been shown mercy from God; therefore, God wants us to show mercy to one another. This is why later in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer, he links together our forgiveness from God to our willingness to forgive one another.^[7]  

Jesus’ advice of leaving one’s offering by the altar is interesting. On one level, it’s very practical. It’s something we can do; go make things right with your brothers or sisters before you come to worship. And notice, it may not even be something we’ve done. If someone else has something against us and we’re innocent, we’re still to try to restore the relationship.  

Furthermore, Jesus doesn’t say wait until they’re ready to forgive or only forgive if we’re the ones at fault. Of course, we know we’re never the ones at fault, right? Or if we’re partly at fault, the other person is guiltier than us. Or so we think. But we can’t use such excuses; instead, we should seek peace and forgiveness, regardless. Too often people think our religion is about keeping a bunch of laws. It’s not, at its core, it’s about relationships. 

However, on another level, leaving our offering at the altar seems impractical. After all, if we had a pigeon to offer, a common sacrifice in the first century, it’d fly away. If we left an unblemished lamb, someone else might be eating lamb chops for dinner. In fact, in all six antitheses, Jesus gives advice that pushes the limits of practicality. Cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye, advice that he offers later in this chapter, seem extreme.  

Jesus uses hyperbole to emphasize the seriousness of the action. In other words, our Savior does not necessarily want us to follow the letter of his sayings as much as he emphasizes the seriousness of sin. We need to do something to eradicate sinful thoughts and actions from our lives. Be creative, Jesus says, do something to make a positive change. Don’t go worshipping God, praying that God will be on your side and against your enemy, instead go make up with your enemy then you can worship God appropriately. 

Taking his advice on worship, we know God wants us to worship him, a truth Jesus doesn’t challenge. However, we need to remember that our lives as Christians aren’t just limited to a right relationship with God. Our lives also involve living in a right manner with others. In fact, we can’t have a right relationship with God without also making right our relationships to others. The Christian faith is about restoration of broken relations—both with the divine as well as with others, for even our enemies have been created by God and in God’s image.

Jesus then concludes this passage telling us to come quickly to terms with our accusers lest they take us to court. It’s often suggested that in the first example, at the temple, the broken relationships are with fellow believers.^[8] Jesus then extends this to include those who are not part of the Christian family. Again, Jesus offers practical advice. Seek to come to terms early for if we wait till we’re in court, we might find ourselves in hot water. 

Jesus may have also had an ulterior motive here. If anger is bad for one person, it is bad for all. By quickly coming to terms with our accusers, we not only protect ourselves from more harm, but we also have the possibility of defusing the anger in them. If such anger is defused early, it’s not nearly as destructive. The urgency of Jesus’ tone underscores the need to move quickly to resolve anger, for anger if not dealt with will take on an ugly life of its own.

This passage is about our call as followers of Jesus to build up relationships. Anger and words hastily said are counter productive. They tear down; they don’t build up. Jesus’ advice is for us to be careful with our words. And we’re to be pro-active, taking the first steps to restore broken relationships. By your fruits you will be known, Jesus teaches. What kind of fruit do we nurture? Are we peacemakers or do we just throw gasoline on a fire? 

Jesus, by giving suggestions here of things we can do to address the problems created by anger wants us to be peacemakers. If you accept Jesus’ challenge, then do something. Take responsibility for your actions, be willing to forgive, reach out in genuine love. Or, at the very least, take time before responding when you feel hurt or attacked, and think about what you’re going to say. Amen.  

^[1] I do not remember where or when I first heard this story, nor do I know if it’s true or apocryphal. 

^[2] Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 181.

^[3] The breaking of the six commands into moral and political come from Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12, (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 206, 233.

^[4] Proverbs 17:25, 28.

^[5] Doris Kearns Goodwin, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2024). 

^[6] Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on his Literacy and Theological Art (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 83.

^[7] Matthew 6:12

^[8] See Bruner, 217.

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
February 15, 2026
Matthew 5:13-20

At the beginning of worship:
Did you hear about the guy pulled over by police? The officer asked if it was his car. He said yes. Then the officer had him step out of the car and put his hands on the hood. He handcuffed the man and hauled into the station on suspicion of stealing a car. Yet, the man kept insisting it was his car. The officer put him into the holding tank and, taking his license and registration, began to check out his story. 

Thirty minutes later, the officer released the man and apologized. “I couldn’t believe it was your car,” the officer said. “You have all those bumper stickers about loving Jesus and and following you to church. When I saw you give the finger and heard you shouting obscenities and lay on your horn at that poor driver who was obviously lost, I just assumed you stole the vehicle.” 

You know, actions speak louder than words. If we’re a follower of Jesus, we need to remember this. 

Before reading the scriptures:
The last two weeks, we looked at the beatitudes, which make up the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.^[1]  I hope you read or watched those sermons on-line as we had to canceled in person worship due to ice and snow. Today, we’re heading into the middle portion of the Jesus’ sermon.  

Jesus begins with two emphatic statements directed at his audience. You are the salt and the light of the world. But these statements are not to be taken individually. The “You” used here is plural. If Jesus gave this sermon here, he’d say, “Y’all.” It’s all of us. Those who believe and accept Jesus, in other words, the church, are the salt and the light of the world.^[2] We’ll look at what that means. Next, Jesus teaches about his relationship with Scripture and the Covenant. 

Let’s look at what Jesus has to say here.

Read Matthew 5:13-20

What does it mean to be the salt and the light of the world today? You know, salt is important. We tend to take it for granted, except for the past few weeks with ice everywhere, stores quickly sold out of salt. 

In the ancient world, salt was even more valuable and harder to come by than today during an ice storm. It preserved food and likewise, we’re to help preserve the world. When used sparingly in cooking, it helps enhance the flavor. We’re to flavor the world with Jesus’ grace. And, in a world without modern medicine, they applied salt to wounds to assist in healing. We’re to help heal the world.

Oddly, as a friend wrote on this passage, we’re the first generation to be paranoid about our use of salt.^[3] Too much of it, we know, causes hypertension and other health problems. But we must have some, or we have other issues. Salt is the only mineral we take straight from the earth and consume. So, when Jesus said the church is the salt of the earth, he wants us to spice the world up, to help preserve the world, and to help heal it. 

In a way, light is like salt. Compared to light in the ancient world, it’s cheap. We have light everywhere. Sometimes we have so much light it becomes a determent of our ability to see things like the stars. Thankfully, we live where the skies are dark and the stars shine brightly, but that’s not the case if you live in an urban area. In a world without electricity and bright LEDs, when the sun wasn’t up or the moon down, you appreciated light. The only light came from campfires, or candles, or oil lamps. Each of these have a limit as to how far you could see before you slipped back into darkness. 

When I lived in Utah, I drove across central Nevada several times at night. I took highway 50, which Life Magazine claimed back in the 1950s to be the loneliest road in America. The other path was a combination of US 6 and Nevada 375, which is even a lonelier road, as you seldom saw a car at night.^[4] 

Cutting across the state, you crossed many block-fault mountains which run north and south. Coming off the summits, you’d often see your next town, just a few lights clustered together, way off in the distance. The next sign of civilization, far away. If you needed gas, you’d hope that within the oasis of light a gas station remained open. Or if you didn’t need gas, you’d hope there was a place for coffee to keep you away. As for gas, I always tried to keep my tank above the halfway mark. 

As the church, we’re to be light helping guide the world. Maybe a better metaphor would be navigation lights which help boaters travel narrow waterways and inlets. In the daytime, you have buoys, but at night the buoys have colored lights on them. Remember the three R’s of navigation: red, right, returning. If you are coming into an inlet at night, you keep the red lights or buoys on your right or starboard side. The green ones go on your left or port side. As a church, as the light in the world, we guide people to Jesus, just as navigation lights guide people safely through an inlet. 

Both opening metaphors apply to how we live. Do we point the way to Jesus, or do we get so tied up in the world’s business and lose focus on what’s important? Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t tell us to become the salt or the light of the world. Nor does he tell us to become salter or shine brighter. Instead, he grants us these abilities. But there’s a warning here. If we squander these gifts, if we fail to use them for Jesus’ purposes, for God’s glory, we become worthless. Salt without flavor or a light hidden is of no use for the world. But if we use them properly, others can see through our efforts, God’s glory. 

Our next section deals with the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. Why did Jesus come? Was it to negate what God has been doing through Israel for the past 15 or 20 centuries? No, there’s still value in that work. 

When Jesus speaks of the Law and the Prophets, he’s referring to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures or what we call the Old Testament. Some Christians may attempt to ignore the Old Testament, but that’s not Jesus’ way. He values scripture and regularly quotes or alludes to passages from the Psalms and other books of the Hebrew Bible, especially Genesis and Isaiah. 

By linking the Law and the Prophets together, Jesus refers to a new covenant. The first covenant of the Hebrew people was established with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and renewed with Moses and Joshua and the Hebrew people. But in the latter part of Isaiah, God through the prophet speaks of a new covenant, one where Israel is to be the light to the nations.^[5] The old covenant has been fulfilled, this new covenant will extend beyond the ethnicity of the Jews to all people. 

As I have pointed out repeatedly as we’ve gone through the opening chapters of Matthew, this gospel is most concern with Jesus’ message going out into the world. We see that in the beginning with the foreign wisemen coming to Jesus and at the end of the gospel with Jesus sending the disciples out to all corners of the earth.

What might we learn from this passage? While much of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount deals with our interior lives as we saw with the Beatitudes and will observe in the weeks ahead, we also see the importance of living in a manner which honors God. Once Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection, he left behind a church to do his work. That’s us. We’re to live in such a manner that people will want to be like us. As the old spiritual goes, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  Will they? Amen. 

^[1] See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2026/01/31/the-beatitudes-part-1-blessings-on-those-in-need/ and https://fromarockyhillside.com/2026/02/07/the-beatitudes-part-2/

^[2] Douglas R. A. Hare,Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: WJKP, 1993), 44; and Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004). 187-194.

^[3] Scott Hoezee, https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2020-02-03/matthew-513-20-2/

^[4] I wrote about one of these trips. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/09/25/nevada-375-and-rachel-nevada/

^[5] Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, ), 166-167.  See also Isaiah 42:6.

Sadly, we’re again cancelling in person worship this week due to weather. Both parking lots are iced over and in some places with deep drifts. In addition, many roads are experiencing drifting, along with falling branches and trees, And the temperature on Sunday morning is expected to be in the single digits with wind chill being well below zero. Stay safe. Watch or read the sermon, or do both. Join us tomorrow morning at 10 AM on zoom (if you don’t have the link, email me at [email protected]). Check in on your neighbors. Hopefully, things will be better this week as the temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday are forecasted to be in the 40s and 50s.

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
February 8, 2026
Matthew 5:1-12 (7-12)

At the beginning of worship:
Life in the sixteenth century could be brutal. While good things came out of the Reformation, it being led by humans meant somethings were not so good. Catholics fought those within the Lutheran and Reformed Traditions, and we fought back. And those within the Anabaptist tradition, the ancestors to the Mennonite and Amish folks who live around us here in the Blue Ridge, caught it from all sides. Their persecution peaked in the Low Countries, what we know of today as the Netherlands. 

One of the martyrs of the Amish and Mennonite tradition is Dirk Willems. He was condemned by a Catholic court (although many Protestants at the time would have agreed with the court’s ruling) and ordered to be burned at the stake for his theological beliefs. Dirk was held in an old palace repurposed as a prison. He escaped, by collecting pieces of cloth and creating a rope from which he climbed down from his cell window and took off across the landscape. One of the guards saw him and gave chase. They ran across a wide frozen pond. Dirk, as a prisoner, had lost weight and made it across the ice. His pursuer wasn’t so lucky. He crashed through the ice and cried out for help.

Dirk turned back and saved the man, only to be recaptured. On May 16, 1569, he was led to the stake. A strong wind blew, which kept the fire away from Dirk’s upper body for the longest time. It’s said neighboring villages heard his screams, as he repeatedly shouted, “O Lord, my God.”  

What would you have done? Would you have helped the man or seen it as an opportunity to escape? What would Jesus advise? 

Before reading the Scripture:
I am splitting Jesus’ beatitudes into two halves, following the example of Dale Bruner in his commentary on the gospel. The first half of the beatitudes, which we looked at last week, focused on those in need. Here, we see God’s gracious side. With God, grace always comes before expectations. The second half of the beatitudes deal with our response to the needs of the world. For those willing to participate with God, a blessing is also given. Then, this passage ends with the reminder to those loyal to Jesus to expect persecution.  

Bruner, who wrote an outstanding two-volume commentary on Matthew, admits his struggles to preach on the second half of the Beatitudes.^[1] As Protestants, we emphasize grace. And grace abounds in the first four beatitudes. But in the second set of blessings, we learn we can also be blessed for doing what’s right. Sounds like “works-righteousness.” Is it? 

Within our faith, a healthy tension exists between grace and law or works. While grace is necessary for our salvation, we are expected to respond to this grace in gratitude and love. We need both, grace and law. We are saved by grace, but we respond by doing God’s work in the world. Are we merciful, pure in heart, or a peacemaker? What does this even mean? Let’s look at our text for today. Like last week, I will read the entire passage but today will focus on verses 7 through 12 in the sermon. 

Read Matthew 5:1-12

The first set of beatitudes begin with three focused on those in need. They’re passive. The next set of beatitudes begin with three beatitudes focused on helping those in need. These are active, calling us forth to participate with God’s plan for the world.^[2]Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemaker. Let’s begin by considering what each means. 

Who are the merciful? Matthew, more than any of the other gospels, shows concerned for our moral life. For Matthew, being ethical, being moral, is to be merciful. It involves compassion. Twice in his gospel, Matthew recalls Jesus quoting Hosea, “I want mercy and not sacrifice.”^[3] Jesus, himself, while often described as having compassion, more often shows what compassion looks like though actions on behalf of the needy.^[4] Compassion sees or understands the needs of others and responds. It’s having empathy on behalf of others.^[5]

Forgiveness is another component of this mercy which Jesus repeatedly demonstrates. Later in this sermon, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus links our willingness to forgive to our ability to be forgiven. “Forgive us our debts or sins, as we forgive our debtors or those who sin against us.”^[6] Later in his gospel, Matthew recalls Jesus’ parable of the unforgiven servant. Here, the one forgiven a huge debt, refuses to forgive a man who owed him a little. The unforgiving servant’s ingratitude and inability to forgive leads to his condemnation.^[7]

It’s hard to show mercy to those who have wronged us. However, it’s better than the alternative, letting hate and revenge build up inside of us until we explode.^[8]

Next, Jesus blesses the pure in heart. While behavior is important in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasizes internal purity. Sin isn’t just actions. It can also be words and thoughts. Angry words are as harmful as actions. Lust is as bad as adultery.^[9] In Jesus time, the rabbis emphasized keeping all kinds of outward signs of faith. You obeyed the Sabbath. You ate the right foods. You avoided being in the company of sinners. But Jesus flips this on its side and insists his follower’s purity not be just on the outside but also on the inside.^[10]  

We might say something like, “My heart tells me.” However, a pure heart goes beyond our feelings. Within Hebraic through, to speak of the heart includes the “interior life of the person.”^[11] In other words, a pure heart refers to our thoughts, actions, and intentions. Seeing God is the blessing received by one who’s life is so structured. 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,” comes next. We hear this beatitude with the background drumming of war around the globe and think it would be nice to have a few more peacemakers who could save Ukrainians from Russian attacks on their hospitals and apartment buildings. Or those who bring peace to South Sudan, Congo, or even between us and Iran, Cuba, Greenland, and Venezuela. 

While such peace is to be desired, we must understand two things. In Jesus day, the “peacemaker” was the emperor, who by brutal force brought peace to the entire Roman world. But is that really peace when you crucify anyone who threatens your peace? Can we have peace without justice? 

Secondly, peace in a Hebriac sense goes beyond the absence of conflict. Peace implied wholeness. One commentator suggests this verse might be translated as “Blessed are the wholemakers.”^[12]

Matthew concern for relationships between people shows up later in this sermon. Jesus orders those angry with another to reconcile even before they make an offering to God. Then, in the 18^thChapter, Matthew records another set of Jesus’ teachings about how we should attempt reconciliation. Jesus encourages us not to blow up conflicts but to attempt to settle them quietly, one-on-one. Only if that doesn’t work, should you involve others.^[13]

Jesus doesn’t expect us to settle all the world’s conflicts. While some may be called to such work, all of us can do our part to create a peaceful oasis around us. We should all strive to reduce conflict and to create an atmosphere where everyone can flourish. This is especially needed in our own nation. We’re walking on a slippery path. As we saw with the fifth beatitude, we’re called to help those in need (Blessed are the merciful). Yet, here, in the seventh beatitude, we’re also called to bring peace. I suggest this includes bridging the gap between those who support and oppose the current Administration. It’s tough work because neither side trusts the other. But that’s where peacemakers come into play. If we attempt to faithfully walk this narrow path, we’re promised a special relationship to God as we’re adopted into his family. 

After the three helper beatitudes, Jesus reminds us of that old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  His last two beatitudes are for those who experience persecution. We should carefully note, the reason for the persecution isn’t about us, but about our striving to do what is right and to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. “When you’re ill-treated because of me, you’re in good company,” Jesus says, “for the same thing happened to the prophets.” 

The beatitudes end on a note reminding us to expect persecution. Staying faithful to Jesus and his teachings can come at great cost. We may be disliked, disowned, or suffer fiscal or physical attacks. But if we remain true to our Savior and strive to help those in need, we’re reminded in these blessings that God will remain with us in this life and in the life to come, we’ll discover our rewarded in heaven. 

Strive to do good. Stand up for the underdog. Reach out for those who fall. Provide aide for those can’t help themselves. Look out for the marginalized and persecuted. Yes, by doing such good deeds, we may find ourselves persecuted or killed, as we recently seen in Minneapolis. But that’s the price we pay to live with a clean conscience. Remember Dirk Willems. He had a choice. He could flee and live. Or he could help another in need and, as Jesus will discuss later in this sermon, love his enemy.^[14]

We’re called to follow Christ and to base our lives on his life. Jesus helped those in need and he ended up crucified. Perhaps his last two beatitudes foreshadow what was ahead for him and some of his followers. But remember, it’s better to strive to do what is right in Jesus’ name than to ignore those in need around us. Amen. 

^[1] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 179.  For discussion on Protestant and Catholic interprets of the two halves of the beatitudes, see pages 183-187. 

^[2] Bruner, 173, labels these two sets of beatitudes as “passive” and “active.”

^[3] Bruner, 173.  See Hosea 6:6.

^[4] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL:  IVP Academic, 2008), 82. 

^[5] See Andrew Purves, The Search for Compassion: Spirituality and Ministry (WJKP, 1989). 

^[6] Matthew 6:12. 

^[7] Matthew 18:23-35.

^[8] Bailey,  82. 

^[9] Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-30. 

^[10] Bruner, 15

^[11] Bailey, 84. 

^[12] Bailey, 172.  For more on Pax Romana, see Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, A Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 42. 

^[13] Matthew 5:23-24, 18:15-18.

^[14] Matthew 5:43-48.

Because of the current winter weather, on top of last week’s ice, we will not be gathering again in person for worship this Sunday (February 1, 2026). Today, it’s snowing hard and tomorrow is to be extremely cold with high winds and blizzard-like conditions. Thankfully, I taped the sermon on Thursday so you can watch or read it. There will be a gathering of those interested on Zoom tomorrow morning (February 1, 2026) at 10 AM. If you would like a link, please send me an email at [email protected]. I will also send out a link to those who receive my weekly musings. Stay warm and safe. Check on your neighbors and help those you can get through this difficult time.

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
February 1, 2026
Matthew 5:1-12 (1-6)

At the beginning of worship:
I started reading Amy Leach’s book, The Salt of the Universe, this week. In this collection of essays, she deals with her childhood growing up in Texas as a 7^th Day Adventist. I appreciate Leach’s deep knowledge of literature on a variety of subjects including the early Christian writers. I also found myself laughing at her gentle humor as when she introduced Basil the Great, one of the early church’s theologians, with a subtle warning not to confuse him with Parsley the Great.^[1]

Leach wrote about one writer whom I did not know, Ellen White. I had to look her up. Married to one of the founders of the 7^th Day Adventist movement in the 19^th Century, White wrote many of the church’s documents especially concerning health and vegetarianism. Leach says she prefers another 19^th Century New England woman author, Emily Dickerson. She then provides a quote from each woman about abstinence.

White: Let not one drop of wine or liquor pass your lips, for in its use is madness and woe. Pledge yourself to entire abstinence, for it is your only safety.

Dickerson: Who never wanted,-maddest joy
Remains to him unknown:
The banquet of abstemiousness
Surpasses that of wine.

Leach goes on to say: “One is abstinent for safety’s sake, the other abstinent for joy. One is abstemious due to fear of madness, other due to love of madness. The maddest joys, the wrenchingest songs, the stirringest stories—they all come from wanting. More intoxicating than having a thing is wanting it.”^[2]

Jesus talks quite a bit about we desire and want. We need to want the right things and for the right reasons. We’ll see this today as we begin our exploration of his Sermon on the Mount. 

Before reading the scripture:
This morning we start our exploration of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. While I’ll take a break over Easter, we’ll be working our way through the sermon for the next four months. Jesus’ sermon begins with nine beatitudes, or blessings, which seem to go counter to our ideas of blessings. While I will read all the beatitudes, we’ll only look at the first four today. These all deal with a blessing upon those who are in need. The needy experience God’s grace. Next Sunday, we’ll look at the blessings upon those who are helpers and see the truth behind the old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” 

In a way, Matthew’s beatitudes illustrate an important principle of Reformed Theology. Grace always precedes action. We don’t earn our salvation; it’s a gift from a gracious God. In this manner, the beatitudes reflect the 10 Commandments, which came only after God has freed the Hebrew people from slavery.^[3] God shows his grace and we respond which should cause us to want to show the same mercy to others than God has shown us. 

I’ll read all the beatitudes this week and next but today will just focus on the blessings for those who are in need. We live in a world that looks down on the needy, but Jesus challenges such thinking. 

Read Matthew 5:1-12

We learn at the end of the fourth chapter of how Jesus drew a crowd not just from Galilee, but all-over including Gentile areas. Then the fifth chapter, Matthew reiterates the idea of crowds following Jesus, which leads him to head up on a mountain. One of the debates around this sermon has to do with the audience.^[4]Was Jesus speaking to the disciples or to the crowds? The opening of the sermon, which applies to the next three chapters, makes it appear Jesus talks to the disciples, but if you go to the end of the sermon, in chapter 7, the crowds appreciate Jesus’ message and claim he speaks with authority. I think Jesus intends this passage to be heard by everyone, including us today. 

Jesus seeing the crowds heads up a mountain. We’re not told which mountain, but perhaps we’re to think Sinai or even Zion, although in the fourth chapter, we learn Jesus is in Galilee. But the unknown mountain setting may also be just to remind us of Sinai, where Moses receives the law, or Zion, the site of the God’s temple.^[5] Or, maybe by sitting uphill, and addressing those downhill, Jesus can speak to a larger crowd. 

Next, Jesus sits down and calls his disciples close to him. The sitting is a pose Jesus often uses to teach but may also imply a Christological statement. Sitting on a rock on the earth he’s to rule, he’s on his rightful throne.^[6]

He begins his sermon. A beatitude would have be a familiar concept to the Jews who made up most of the crowd. There are many such Psalms which begin with a blessing including the very first Psalm, but it’s a conditional blessing. The blessing (or happiness as it’s often translated) in Psalm 1 is applied to those who follow God’s way and not the way of the wicked.^[7] But Jesus bestows his blessings on those in need. His words are grace-filled. They also run counter to traditional logic. We easily ignore the broken down, grief-filled, and weak members of society, but because they have no one else, God will bless them. They’ll populate the kingdom of heaven, they’ll find comfort and inherit the earth. 

We might wonder if the poor in spirit, who are promised the kingdom of heaven will be better off than the meek, who inherit the earth.  But maybe it’s the same. After all, in Revelation, we learn they’ll be a new heaven and a new earth which appear to have been married together.^[8]

Of course, such promises seem far off. On earth, in our worldly economy, those broken down by life find themselves cast aside. But the promise here is that God will be beside them. Jesus came, as we saw last week, not to those in power in Jerusalem or Rome, but to the people in the villages of Galilee who struggled to make a life in a brutal empire. Those who think they have it made may be in for a surprise in Jesus coming kingdom.^[9]

This is why Jesus later emphasizes the difficulty the rich will in getting into the kingdom, saying it’ll be easier for a camel to traverse the eye of a needle.^[10]  Those who consider themselves rich don’t see a need for God in their lives. They think they have it made. But the poor, they have nowhere else to turn. It’s easier for them to grasp the free grace offered by God. 

While the first three beatitudes focus on the helpless, the fourth beatitude encourages effort on our part. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we join with God’s desire for the world. Our hunger and thirst should create within us a desire, not for more stuff, but for the good and wholesome. My opening story from Amy Leach and her quote from Emily Dickerson captures such desire. As does Jesus, later in the sermon, where he encourages us to “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.”^[11]

As Christians, righteousness often gets interpreted through the lens of Paul, who uses this word 29 times in his letter to the Romans. Paul understands righteousness as being inferred by God onto those who accept the grace and freedom offered by Jesus. In this manner, Paul rightly dismisses our ability to be righteous.^[12] Matthew, however, comes at righteousness a bit different in the Sermon on the Mount. While God’s grace is freely offered, as we see in the first three beatitudes, we are to still strive to live noble and good lives.^[13] I think Paul would agree.

Righteousness is not just a relationship with God, it also involves our relationships with others. Do we strive to do what we can to help others, especially, as Jesus later says in Matthew’s gospel, “the least of these”?^[14]

Our fourth beatitude makes a nice transition into the next of blessings, where Jesus confers blessings to the helpers of the world. As Mr. Rogers said, during times of turmoil, “look for the helpers,” those who strive to pick up those who have fallen. Our world can be such a dark place, but those seek to do good and live honorably make it a bit brighter. And that’s our goal as followers of Jesus. As Jesus tells us later in this same sermon, we’re to be a light to the world.^[15] Amen. 

^[1] Amy Leach, The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), 36. 

^[2] Leach, 35. 

^[3] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004),155-156.

^[4] Bruner, 153-154.

^[5] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993), 35.  For a more detail discussion on the meaning of the mountain, see Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 138-140; and Bruner, 152-153.  

^[6] See Hare, 34; and Pennington, 140-141.

^[7] For my sermon on Psalm 1, see https://fromarockyhillside.com/2023/01/08/psalm-1-two-roads/ Other examples of beatitude Psalms include: 32, 106, 112, 119, 128.

^[8] Revelation 21:1ff. 

^[9] This certainly seems to be the case in the Parable of the Judgment of the Nations in Matthew 25:31ff.

^[10] Matthew 19:24.

^[11] Matthew 6:33.

^[12] All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Paul writes. Romans 3:23.

^[13] For a discussion on how Paul and Matthew use the term “righteous,” see Bruner, 169-170.

^[14] Matthew 25:40, 45.

^[15] Matthew 5:14.