Notice what Jesus does not say in verse 28. He does not condemn the glance, the split second moment when an image crosses the screen of your awareness. Morris is careful on this point: the verb Jesus uses points to a present, ongoing action, not a fleeting experience....
The seventh commandment looked so clean from the outside. “You shall not commit adultery.” For the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, it was easy to measure. Either you had lain in another man’s bed, or you had not. Keep the line, keep the law. The commandment was understood...
We end the week by stepping back to see the whole passage as a unit, and by looking at the One who fulfilled every word of it. Matthew 5:21–26 presents us with four ascending steps: stop the act of murder, stop the attitude of anger and contempt, go to the offended...
The final step is the hardest. Jesus has moved from murder to anger to the offended brother, and now he lands on the enemy. The courtroom image here is vivid: two people walking together toward a lawsuit, and Jesus says, settle it now. Settle it on the way. Because...
Here is where the sermon becomes deeply practical and surprisingly uncomfortable. Jesus does not say, “If you have something against your brother, go sort it out.” He says, “If your brother has something against you, go.” The direction matters enormously. Jesus is not...
