Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks…
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted…
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called daughters and sons of God.” –Matthew 8:9 I begin this day with a confession that I daresay most of you would voice also. I detest partisan politics. Partisan politics, regardless of the side of the aisle on which one may find themselves, is a selfishness that…
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” –Matthew 5:8 Earlier this week Jeni Furr shared with me a poem composed about these days of coronavirus. It is written by Lynn Ungar and titled “Pandemic.” What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times?…
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Matthew 5:7 I have for some time been infatuated with words or phrases that have changed their meaning over the years or disappeared altogether. One example of this is when the architect, Christopher Wren, was showing off the completed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to King…
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 This past weekend Lisa put in a call to the manager of our H-E-B store here in New Braunfels. She was wanting to simply ask if he had such-and-such a product in stock before driving over to get it.…
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 Newsweek magazine was one of the first news agencies to report the growing hysteria in stores about, of all things, toilet paper. The report went: Amid fears about the global coronavirus outbreak, fights broke out in Australian supermarkets over toilet paper over…
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. –Matthew 5:4 This past weekend I saw a newscast where the anchorperson was interviewing Cristina Higgins, an American woman currently living under the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Ms. Higgins, married to an Italian, and the mother of two children, lives near Milan. The interview was…
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. –Matthew 5:3 One of the common beginnings in homiletics is for the preacher to begin with some kind of invitational device to pull her/his listeners into the sermon. Oftentimes it is a joke or a humorous story that creates some kind of…
An Introduction One of the curious ironies of preaching is that what a preacher says and what members of the congregation hear are sometimes different things. The prism of context can change the shape and sometimes the meaning of what is preached. A marvelous example of that comes from a satire created by the Monty…