Jesus taught that obeying the commandments is a matter of the heart; He moved beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. He challenged His hearers to look at their own hearts for lust and hate; He redefined idolatry beyond image making to things like serving money and materialism. This kind of teaching did not destroy the law, but brought it around to what the commands of God were all about. He taught that the religious acts of prayer, fasting, and giving were about serving the Father and not serving our own image. He warned against anger and retaliation; He taught that we should love our enemies just like God loved His enemies. Other teachers laid heavy loads on their hearers (Matthew 23:2-4); Jesus’ “yoke was easy” (Matthew 11:28-30). The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) gives us the heart of His teachings. Read it regularly.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” Matthew 7:24–29 (NRSV)
