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In this week’s passage, Jesus talks about the sin of lust. Just like anger, it is a far deeper issue than what we see on the surface. For citizens of His kingdom, it is not only a matter of how we outwardly act, but also of what we entertain inwardly. Jesus is calling us to a fuller righteousness.

As we enter into the main body of Jesus’ teaching, he begins with a word on anger and dissension amongst brothers. And while it may seem excessive at first glance, Jesus’ instruction on these matters is a testimony to how serious God takes our relationships with one another.

After a break for Holy Week, we are now back to our Lord’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. This passage is the first one that comes after the Beatitudes and connects us into the main body of Jesus’ sermon. Here, the Lord shows us that following him is a higher call than what we may expect.

Today, we celebrate together the resurrection of our Lord as Holy Week and the Lenten season come to a close. Resurrection Sunday is the highest holy day in our calendar because if Jesus isn’t raised from the dead, then we don't have a foundation for our faith. As we see in Psalm 16, not only has God raised him, but this was the plan all along.

We begin Holy Week by celebrating Palm Sunday together and walking through Psalm 118. Throughout the week we will dive into psalms that apply to the events of Christ’s passion throughout the week. Psalm 118 is not only quoted during the events of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, but it also tells us so much about our Savior and the nature of his deliverance.

We have now come to the end of this section called the beatitudes, and Jesus concludes it by comparing his people to salt and light. We get a chance here to see the impact that living rightly has for those who witness it. If last week’s passage (Matthew 5:10-12) was about the world’s effect on God’s people, this is about the effect of God’s people on the world.