We read the word leper and feel almost nothing. The first hearers felt dread. In the ancient world leprosy was not merely a skin condition; it was a death sentence served one day at a time in isolation. France and Keener remind us that biblical leprosy covered a range...
For three chapters we have sat on the hillside listening to the greatest sermon ever preached. When Jesus finishes, Matthew does not rush to the miracle. He pauses on one small word: followed. Great crowds followed him down the mountain. Hold onto that word, because...
Step back and see the whole passage as one unit. Jesus says the wise man builds on the rock, but up to this point in the sermon he has never mentioned a rock. So what is the rock? We learn its identity later, in Matthew 16, when Peter confesses, you are the Christ,...
Building on the rock means finally admitting three things. First, I am a sinner, not merely someone who makes mistakes, but someone whose very nature apart from grace is sin. Second, I cannot fix myself; a sinner cannot reform himself enough to please God, for we can...
So much of the hard work of the Christian life happens right here, in the middle of the flood. People are swept away by the storms of life, and often it is because they never actually built on the solid teaching of Christ. They may be able to articulate his teaching...
