This Sunday, the Sixth Sunday after our Lord’s Epiphany, continues our congregation’s journey through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the sermon in which Jesus, who is the Epiphany of God in human flesh, shows us His Church, His people, as the Epiphany of His mystical body in the world: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27 ESV). This is touched on by the apostle John, who writes in his first general letter: “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world” (1 Jn. 4:17 ESV). That does not mean that we are even able as reborn Christians to follow Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount perfectly as He did in our place. By the grace of God’s Holy Spirit we make a beginning of following Jesus with His encouragement: “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16 ESV). What do we have before us in Matt. 5:21-37? Jesus by looking at the Fifth and Sixth Commandments (against murder and adultery) shows how the fulfillment of these commandments is not simply a matter of keeping oneself from going out and killing someone or finding someone as a substitute for one’s wife or husband in sexual relations. Even something so innocuous as calling someone a fool or having a fleeting sexual thought about someone who is not one’s husband or wife is a sin against these commandments. Jesus’ purpose in this teaching is to show that it will not do for God’s people to trivialize the Ten Commandments to the point of thinking that they are keeping them if they refrain from outward acts contrary to them. Recently, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church made a statement that homosexuality is not a sin, and this was considered radical and provocative for the pope to say; however, if one takes a closer look at the teachings of the Catholic Church on this issue, it is perfectly in keeping with those teachings because it is maintained that it isn’t the homosexual mindset or orientation itself that is a sin but merely any outward actions. Pope Francis was stating what his church’s position actually is on this issue. This type of disregard for sinful thoughts was the way in which the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day among God’s people were regarding the right understanding of keeping the Ten Commandments. Jesus declares that keeping the Ten Commandments requires purity and holiness not only in our outward actions but also in our thoughts and words. Any attempt by the Pharisees to make it easier on themselves to be “holier” than others in the world by their supposed keeping of God’s Law is what we can call legalism and hypocrisy. Only Jesus lived up to the standard He set in His Sermon on the Mount, only Jesus fulfilled every iota and dot of the Law of God, only Jesus gave Himself on the cross as the precious Ransom for all people to answer for their failure to keep the Law perfectly themselves. How joyfully we trust in Him and receive His Epiphany light through faith!

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If you would like to reserve flowers for the altar, please call Jenny in the church office. Orders must be made by Wednesdays for publication in the following Sunday's bulletin.

The cost is $30 for the pair.