Looking forward in Matthew 5:15, I remember when I first lit my candle and where I put it. I was 14 and we had just moved to Indiana from Michigan. I lit my candle in my new church in my new town. It gives off a soft glow, powered by my love for my Lord. My prayer is that my glow shows Jesus to everyone I encounter, in everything I say, do or think. If I have caused anyone to turn away from God, I'm so sorry. He has forgiven me and I pray you will, too. Let your own light shine.
Emily Dickinson wrote a short poem that I dearly love and would like to share here.
"My candle burns at both ends.
It will not last the night,
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends
It gives a lovely light."
Onward, chapter 5, 6, and 7 are written in great detail and are called "The Sermon on the Mount". Chapter 5 is the first discourse out of 6 that Matthew records. It is also instructions sent by God to tell us how to live a Godly life. Since Matthew was a disciple of Jesus, he was also a student of Christ. With the invention of the printing press, we can now read what he wrote in his student notebook. It became the first Gospel out of four in the Bible, and this discourse covers everything Jesus had to say to us.
Jesus states that He came to fulfill the prophecies and the laws and to save the prophets. Here is where we are told to not change one jot or tittle in the Word. Well, why not? some of us may ask. You need to research this because you need to know what a jot or tittle is. They are both diacritical marks found above certain vowels in the Hebrew language. If they are moved, deleted or changed in any way, the meaning of the word or the word itself could be changed. The word could have a different meaning or even become a different word.
The same thing can happen in the English language. For example, the contraction it's means it is. Supposedly it takes less space to print it but only one space is saved. In the long run, I suppose it could save a whole page in a book. If you use the contraction instead of its, you are saying it is instead of the possessive pronoun. That one little diacritical mark determines the meaning of the word.
I think the Beatitudes are strategically placed at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus lays down the ground rules for life, both then and now. Matthew wrote long dissertations about these sermons; however, Luke and Mark offer a shortened version of each discourse. It has been suggested in some of the study books that Mark and Luke wrote shorter versions because they weren't there. They used their notes from Matthews gospel to write their own version.
The gist of the Beatitudes as the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount gives us the way to live Godly lives, ways to become the teacher of His Word and how to teach it to others. Jesus wanted the Jews to accept Him as the Messiah and He used the discourses to offer eternal life thru salvation.
When Jesus gave His life on the cross, He offered salvation to everyone by becoming a living sacrifice, forgiving our sins and eliminating the need for the animal sacrificial ritual. His blood covered all our sins and we are forgiven if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who leads us to His Son and forgiveness.
P.J.: I'm glad you are better.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It took some time, about 3 months, to heal. Time was what I needed and then a house cleaner team to shovel out the dust.
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