Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

February 12, 2017

Jesus gives a long list of seemingly more stringent commandments as he continues his Sermon on the Mount this week. What is one to do?  How does one live up to this narrow way he seems to be preaching? Jason Byassee comments that Jesus here is "at his ornery best offering 'advice' that makes no sense divorced from the nature of the one that is giving it" (Feasting on the Word Year A, Vol. 1). During aftertalk this week we'll think about what Jesus might be up to with this sermon and how might hear it for today's living.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, 19th century 
"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."

Mahatma Gandhi, 20th century
"It seems to be a difficult concept for most of us that peace is a skill that can be learned. We know war can be learned, but we seem to think that one becomes a peacemaker by a mere change of heart."

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 19th century
"Oh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force!" 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 † Psalm 119:1-8 † 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 † Matthew 5:21-37
​