Matthew 5:1-20 Beatitudes, salt of the earth, let your light shine (Psalm 1:1-3) The sermon on the mount is a tough passage. We have words like ‘meek,’ and ‘hungry,’ and the notion that those are good things to be. This tends to run counter to what we’re told and what we teach in other aspects of our lives. The meek get run…

Matthew 4:1-17 Jesus tempted in the wilderness (Psalm 91:9-12) When Matthew tells us the story of Jesus, he is quite intentionally linking the story of Jesus to the story of those who have gone before. Matthew will use John the Baptist for foreshadowing, and he will use the story of Moses as a powerful leader of the people of God to set…

Matthew 3:1-17  John the Baptist asks a key question that we don’t always ask. We should, but we don’t. Why are you coming to be baptized?Who warned us to flee the wrath that is coming? Are we being baptized just to flee wrath, or do we repent? And what brings Jesus to be baptized? John has it right when he essentially asks…

Matthew 2:1-23             You may know about the Magi. You may know the trivia (were there 3?) or you may know the jokes (it took 2 years and they brought impractical gifts because they were wise men). They come to see the child, they visit the palace, and are warned in a dream to go home by another way. Nevertheless, Herod is…