The Belt of Truth

Jesus heals two parallel accounts of two daughters who are unclean, dead or dying, to demonstrate that Jesus is bringing the new kingdom of God on earth that is located in his being and he can bring with just a touch.

Jesus teaches the disciples of John that he is not some patch to an old system or is to be regarded as an ongoing way of an old life. Jesus comes to bring something new and he can’t fit inside the methods of the old, but rather as their fulfillment. 

Jesus calls surprising people to belong to him. When asked why Jesus calls the people he does, he notes that sick people need a doctor not people who feel good.  Jesus comes to call and heal sinners and to invite them into fellowship with God by trusting him and following him. 

Jesus has authority on earth to forgive sins and proves it. 

Jesus comes to the Gadarenes and is met by two demon possessed men. After their confrontation, the people of the city also come to meet Jesus in an eerie way that only unbelief can. 

Jesus continues to heal and to bring about God’s kingdom. His authority is even over demons and the creation itself, showing him to be very God of very God himself.  People also respond to him and his claims. His disciples follow him but there are also those who do not understand the extent of his claim and Jesus will correct them so that they might know him and so he saved. 

As Jesus comes down off the mountain, people begin to respond to him by faith. We hear of a Leper who was healed and also of a centurion asking for the health of his servant.  Both of these people are surprising people to respond to faith, and Jesus has much to say to both in regards to receiving him by faith.  By extension we are also exhorted to respond to Jesus’ call in the same way. God grant...

Jesus concludes the sermon on the Mount, encouraging those to hear and do and warning those who do not, since the final judgment is in view. Jesus’ words are truth and can save us in the final judgment.  The crowds are amazed by his authority, that being a key theme in Matthew’s gospel.  Jesus now goes out to extend God’s reign on earth through his mercy and grace. 

Jesus ends his sermon by exhorting and warning us about hearing a false Jesus and the consequences of not heeding his words. 

Jesus wraps up his sermon’s main body with an encouragement that God is ever ready to give and therefore we are called to live in a world that depends on God’s generosity that enables us to be generous as well. 

Our Lord wants us to be careful with judgment. None of us can go about it without sin, and so our attitude and direction with judging is for the restoring of a brother who has fallen into sin. But checking our motives for doing so. 

Jesus calms worried hearts by pointing us to the fact that we live under the care of our Heavenly Father who sees all that we need. We are to seek for the more important matters of life. We are made to be in God’s eternal kingdom. And so we seek that and God will make sure to handle what we need. 

Jesus gives the warning about idolatry and how possessions end up possessing us and capturing all our attention and worship.

Jesus tells his disciples how he desires for them to fast, not to gain favor with men, but to do so in honor of our Father in Heaven.

Jesus expands on the topic of prayer and how he wants his disciples to posture and approach prayer. Not as something to gain favor with God, but to approach in trust as beloved children and ask for those things that God desires to give. 

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount with the topic of piety. He focuses his last triad on three aspects of righteousness. Giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting.  His intent is to focus on the motivations for doing good works. He expects his people to do them but how they do them matters. How we do them shows that we are either faithful or self-serving.  Jesus notes that the Father will work...

The 5th petition has us asking God for forgiveness.  We see that forgiveness with God is also tied with forgiving others. In effect, we ask God for the Gospel to impact how we relate and treat others.  Forgiveness is not something that humans can generate. It is a gift that God gives. Not because we deserve it, but because our Heavenly Father is gracious to us. So we also extend that gift to other...

Jesus gives us the attitude and action we should have toward our enemies. To love them and care for them as God our Father does.  We are called to be perfect, complete. This is rhetorical demand of the law and it is also the gift that Jesus comes to give to us by his life and atonement for us. 

God is our Creator and cares for our daily needs. He gives and we don’t even realize it. But here we pray that we would and that give thanks for it! 

Thy will be done! This is a battle cry as we enter the fray of the enemies of God who would seek to deter God’s kingdom from coming and from us being made holy! 

As Jesus continues the discussion during his Sermon on the Mount, he moves into oaths and retaliation.  He fights ideas popular in his day about ranking oaths and getting even. Things still popular today . As salt and light Jesus wants to live in a way that doesn’t fit this age but does fit the age to come.  As we put our lives out in risk, we hope and pray for God’s vindication. 

Jesus continues his authoritative sermon on those who are blessed to be his disciples.  In this part, Jesus gives us God’s intention for sexual purity and marriage. He pushes back on the legality of divorce in his day and gives God’s will for it. Jesus also shows us that sexual purity is not just something we have with our hands but first in our hearts.  By this Jesus calls us from the world’s way...

We pray for God’s kingdom to come. This means we want God’s kingdom to come to us when God sends his kingdom. And God’s kingdom comes now when we receive God’s Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word and the giving of the Sacraments.  This leads us to become holy, believe in Christ and to lead holy lives now and forever! 

Jesus gives us God’s intention of the law as he aims at the 5th commandment which says, “you shall not murder.” While Jesus does not give us case law, he gives us the intention of God’s law which does more than look at our actions but directs us to the sin which is born in our hearts.  Rather we seek to reconcile and make right, especially before The Day comes.

We pray for God’s name to be holy. But what does that mean? Isn’t God holy already? Of course!  But what does it mean that I should keep God holy? That is the question. Here we take a look at how we ask God to make us holy in all that we say and do.