Jesus went up into a mountain and when he was comfortable, he called his disciples to come close to him and then opened his mouth and taught many wise sayings.
Jesus went onto tell his disciples and all who follow after righteousness that they are the actual salt of the earth and the light of the world. He instructed them to let their light shine before men so others could see their good works and this would in turn glorify the father which is in heaven.
Jesus told his disciples to not think he had come to destroy the law or the prophets, but that he had come to fulfill the law, and that all things spoken would be fulfilled. He said anyone who breaks even the least of the commandments, and teach others to do the same shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys the laws and teaches others the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees or else we will not enter into the kingdom of heaven either. Jesus said don’t even be angry at your brother without a cause or else you will be in danger of the judgment and whoever calls a brother “Raca” will be in danger of the council, but whoever calls his brother “thou fool” will be in danger of hell fire. Jesus said this is equal to the breaking of the law of “thou shall not kill.”
With these teachings one has only to conclude it must be very, very awful in the eyes of Jesus and God to speak cruelly or to treat others as if they are stupid. This is surely at the core of all righteousness – how we treat each other.
Jesus taught if you have a disagreement or ought against your brother, you should first be reconciled. In other words, make amends with the person, become on friendly terms once again. The next step is to take that person a gift of some sort. I believe if we follow this rule, we will find a bit of extra favor with the Lord and be able to live more at peace with others.
Jesus also taught to just agree quickly with someone you are in argument or disagreement with while you are still halfway on speaking terms or things may get worse for you.
He taught many other simple daily rules to live at peace with other people. Jesus says it is better that our communication sometimes be just yes, yes, and no, no, because much more than this is surely to get blown out of proportion and become evil. He taught if someone smacks you on one cheek, rather than to slap that person back, just turn the other side of your face as if to say, it is more important that I keep the commandments of God in that I do harm to no one even if I have to take another slap on the other cheek. Now this is getting fairly difficult to comprehend. How close is being truly righteous? Not many people could live such a life as this and would twist the words around to say, but ah, this does not apply to us in this day and time. I believe these words have purpose for us. The majority of us will probably never face such a thing, but if we are put to the test, would we be able to pass? Of course, no one is expected to stand and take continual abuse. In a situation such as this, it is better to flee from the evil of abuse. Jesus tells us that two wrongs do not make things better.
I believe the main purpose of all these teachings of Jesus is to tell us to be good to each other and that most of our righteousness depends upon just how well we treat other people. Jesus went into great detail using many examples to tell us this one simple lesson he so desired from us. Be good to one another. We are commanded to move toward perfection in our quest for salvation even as the father who is in heaven is perfect, and if we love only those who love us, or salute only those who salute us, what real thanks have we, or how are we different from the publicans. The publicans love their own and those who love them only. To be different and set apart means to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us so that we may be the children of our Father which is in heaven because he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. He makes no respect in persons, good or evil.
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© 2007 Connie Limon. All Rights Reserved
Connie Limon Visit us at The Spiritual Guide, http://www.thespiritualguide.info for spiritual teachings and guidance. Visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com for a variety of FREE reprint articles for your websites, newsletters or blog.