Daily Archives: June 10, 2026

The Foundation

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Today is the third of three days reflecting on the daily gospels all taken from Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. They are not merely three disconnected sections of the Sermon on the Mount; they describe a progression in Christian discipleship:

Monday, the question was: Who is God shaping me to become? Yesterday we asked: what effect does that transformed life have on others? The answer is simple: a life formed by the Beatitudes becomes salt for and light that changes the world. Over the last two days, Jesus has shown us the shape of the Christian life and its mission. Today he reveals its foundation: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

At first glance, this may seem like a change of subject. But it answers an important question. Why should we live according to the Beatitudes? Why should we strive to be salt and light? Why not simply follow our own preferences, the latest trends, or whatever the culture happens to value at the moment? That’s modern life, not Christian life. Jesus tells us that the Christian life is rooted in God’s eternal plan.

The Law and the Prophets were not mistakes to be discarded. Together they describe what it means to be a covenant people – and they were preparing the way for Jesus, the one who would fulfill all that the Law and Prophets required. In Jesus, God’s purpose for humanity reaches its fulfillment – true sons and daughters of God. The Beatitudes are not simply beautiful ideals, they are the Wisdom of God to invite us into participation in God’s work. The Christian life is not self-invention or some vague moral life. We are not creating our own morality or choosing values that happen to feel attractive.

If we are swayed by public opinion, social trends, or personal preference, then we are but a thermometer simply reflecting the temperature in the room. The Christian life is to be on mission for Christ. The mission is founded on Christ himself. Things in the world change; they come, they go. But Christ remains. The disciple who builds on Christ discovers a foundation that can withstand uncertainty, suffering, and change.

Jesus fulfills the Law by revealing its deepest purpose. He reveals the meaning of the law – not a life regulated by do’s and don’t’s but a life ordered toward love of God and neighbor.

Over these three days, Jesus has led us on a journey. First, he showed us the shape of the Christian life: the Beatitudes. Then he showed us its mission: to be salt and light. Today he reveals its foundation: God’s saving plan fulfilled in Christ.

The challenge before us is simple.  Let Christ shape our hearts. Let our lives become light for others. And let us build everything upon the One who came not to abolish, but to fulfill the deepest desire of God – that all be saved.

Amen.

Image credit: Sermon on the Mount (1877) by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Public Domain

The Commission

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This Sunday is the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The gospel is from the opening verses of the Matthean Missionary Discourse. In the previous post we discussed the summoning and significance of the 12 disciples called “apostles” (this one and only time in Matthew) and later called “the Twelve.” In this post The commission of the Twelve is spelled out in strictly functional terms as an extension of Jesus’ mission described in Mt 8 and 9. Note that the commission and its terms are also found in in Mark 6:7–11; Luke 9:1–5; 10:1–12.

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

The text of the commissioning covers three aspects of their mission: to whom they are to go (vv. 5–6); the nature of their mission in both word and deed (vv. 7–8); and although not part of our gospel the natural boundaries of Matthew’s pericope (a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought) extend to v.15 and includes the familiar:

Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;  no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. (Matthew 10:9–15)

Many people note that the commission is given with geographical boundaries established: “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” How does this make sense in the final mission statement in Mt 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? There is an argument to be made that Jesus’ mission and the commissioning of the Twelve was to engage the God’s people Israel to be the light to all the nations – the work for which they were commissioned. By Mt 28, Jesus has been firmly rejected as Messiah, but the larger mission of drawing in all the nations remains. In this God’s people Israel are replaced by the Twelve.

Image credit: Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311, National Gallery of Art, Public Domain