Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount Continued

Growing up, my mom used to say, “Don’t invite tomorrow’s troubles into today.” It’s basically a modern rephrasing of Matthew 6:34. Now even she would tell you she didn’t originally come up with this truism (although if you’ve had the chance to hang out with her, I think you’d agree she’s fairly clever on her own). I remember it now because of the relationship I have with the person who first said it to me. This is likely true of any little pearls of wisdom that you treasure now—they sink a little deeper into your heart’s memory when associated with the tender affection we have for the loved ones who spoke them. 

I see this section of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount similarly. These are not new commands. These are principles and values laid out in the law, principles given long before Jesus even lived on earth. Somewhere along the course of human history, these commands were distorted by pride, human self-centeredness, fear, and power-grabbing. By the time Jesus stepped in to correct the crowd’s understanding of God’s ways, the original purpose of these commands were smudged with our sticky, sin-filled fingerprints. 

This is the situation Jesus entered whenever He taught. He said things the people in the crowd should already be familiar with, particularly the religious leaders and scribes Jesus directly admonished. Matthew 7:28–29 says, “​​the crowds were astonished at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.” Jesus provided these insights as someone with intimate knowledge and emotional connection to the Father. This is why His words were spoken with authority and why the crowds could see they more accurately reflected the purpose of the law. Whether He’s clarifying true methods of prayer and generosity or reminding them where their ultimate peace and provision was found, Jesus gifted these instructions to the people from His time spent in the presence of God.

I can easily be overwhelmed reading longer passages like the Sermon on the Mount because of the list-like effect they have when read all together. I want to be Christ-like, as all Jesus followers do, but also careful not to turn my good deeds into a megaphone, magnifying my own self-righteousness. Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6 settles this anxious feeling in more ways than one. He reminds me that there is a heavenly Father who sees that desire and meets every need in order to accomplish that work. Pieces of the sermon, like the instructions on prayer, give me grounding frameworks so that I don’t feel I have to walk into a mysterious spiritual discipline on my own. And Jesus shows me by His example how to seek His kingdom and follow these commands well, without continuing the legacy of the Pharisees. By staying in communion with Him, taking His lead in how to live my own life based on His Word, I receive everything I need as the child He says is worth far more than the birds of the sky and wildflowers of the field.