Category: Sermons

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
May 31, 2026
Matthew 7:15-23

At the beginning of worship: 

At the men’s breakfast and Bible study this week, the movie, The Apostle, came up. Some of us watched it one evening during a movie night at Mayberry a few years ago. Robert Devall plays Sonny. A high-flying Pentecostal preacher, Sonny jets around the country preaching revivals. In his absence, his youth pastor and his wife become a little too friendly. Sonny takes a baseball bat to the man who later dies. 

Now wanted by the law, Sonny flees. He heads to the bayous of Louisiana, where he reinvents himself. He starts a church which consists of outcasts and, slowly, it begins to flourish. We get a sense Sonny delights in the joy of working with these people, who are completely different from the affluence of his former suburban church. The church cares for one another and does great things which draws the attention of a local radio station. His ex-wife hears Sonny’s voice on air and reports him. Deputies show up to arrest Sonny. But even then, he continues to witness to the love of Jesus as he encourages his people to keep up the good work. The movie ends with Sonny, on a chain gain, working on a ditch bank, while continuing to witness for Jesus. 

Today we’re looking at a passage where Jesus warns us that even some who seem to do great things for God, are not on God’s side. This is a sobering passage. 

Before reading the Scripture:

We’re in the last section of Jesus Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we began this section looking at the narrow gate and the hard road to which Jesus calls us. This week, we’ll look at the false prophets, those who beckon us through the wrong gate and down the wide path to destruction. 

Here, we learn from Jesus that one of the great dangers of the church is not persecution, something the early church faced, but false teachers. Augustine, the great 4^th Century Theologian, is to have said, “even in the very name of Christ we must be on our guard against heretics.”^[1]

By the 4^th Century, many heretics had come and gone such as the Marcionites and Docetites, along with the Pelagianists, Augustine’s nemeses.^[2] But such heretical teaching wasn’t new. New Testaments writers express concern over “anti-Christs.”^[3]Even in the Old Testament, concerned existed over false prophets and unscrupulous shepherds.^[4]

A danger within religious traditions are those who use such traditions for their own benefit, instead of seeking God’s glory. One of the interesting things we find is that while such teachers are dangerous, God can still work through them and do great things through them, such as casting out demons. Jesus’ concern, as we’ll see here, isn’t in the work of these false prophets, but in how their hearts turn from God. They may do great things, but for the wrong reasons. They may be like the Pharisees who eat up their praise of the people with harden hearts. . 

This is another hard passage, especially for preachers. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t appear in the Revised Common Lectionary. 

Read Matthew 7:15-23

Here’s a question for you. Is Jesus addressing religious leaders in this passage? Or, does this text apply to all of us? If you believe he’s only addressing leaders, then you have my permission to take a nap, and I’ll preach to myself. But only if you’re not in a position of leadership or listen to those in leadership. 

Consider this, all of us, as I have pointed out numerous times, have a Christian vocation. We’re all a priest within the Priesthood of All Believers. So, listen up.

As we are Jesus’ hands and feet and mouths on earth, we have a responsibility as we saw last week, to enter the right or narrow gate and to walk the hard path which leads to life. The gate is our conversion; the walk is our ethics, how we live our lives as followers of Jesus. But, as this passage shows, we can be misled. We can get so excited about results that we fail to look for the rot inside. Results and success do not make us a Christian. This is an important distinction. Faithfulness, regardless of success, is how Christ judges.

In this passage, Jesus uses two different images for the false prophet. The disguised wolf, the enemy of the sheep (including the metaphorical sheep within the church) and a fruit tree. When the wolf removes his clothes, it’s too late. He’s already inside the herd, where he will destroy the sheep. The fruit tree is known by its fruit, but that takes a while. Unlike a wolf, the bad tree is only known after the harvest. 

Jesus then imagines these imposters coming before him at judgment. Despite all they’ve done, their hearts were not right and Jesus, quoting Psalm 8, sends them away.^[5] Despite their good deeds, they are not saved.

In 1913, the Reverend William Laughlin assumed the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Virginia City, Nevada. His story was that while he attended seminary, he didn’t feel ready for the ministry and taught school. He also appeared to have done some lecturing on the Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits of the day. An editor from a newspaper in Elko, Nevada, praised him as a “polished lecturer full of Celtic fire” who “would soon become recognized as one of the most profound pulpit orators in the West.”^[6]

But by 1913, when he accepted the call to the church in Virginia City, the heyday of the Comstock Lode was thirty years in the past. The town continued to lose population. Only a few mines kept digging. The mills which processed the ore, mostly reworked old tailings with better technology to capture the silver and gold missed by previous generations. 

Laughlin was a firebrand. He started new programs at the church including a Boy Scout troop. This was only 3 years after the Boy Scouts of America was organized. His preaching excited people and excerpts from his humorous sermons often appeared in the newspaper. The church started again holding socials and events for the Sunday School. At a time when the city declined, things happened at the Presbyterian Church. 

But then, the Rev. McCleery, Presbyterian pastor in Carson City, became suspicious. I’m not sure why. Maybe someone gave him a tip. He began to dig and found Laughlin had been in a Methodist minister in Franklinville, New York. After facing charges of immortality, he resigned and moved to Canada.

Laughlin later served Methodist Churches there, along with North Dakota and Idaho. In each place, across two countries, his past caught up with him, and he was exposed as an imposter. In Idaho, he abandoned his wife and kids and refused to support them, moving on. Kind of like Sonny in the movie The Apostle. In 1913, you didn’t have a social security number to help track people from one place to another. In June of 1915, to the shock of the congregation, Laughlin abruptly resigned. Then everyone learned the Presbytery were bringing charges against him. They found him guilty. He was defrocked. 

Did Laughlin do some good things in his time in Virginia City? Yes. At least from the newspaper reports, it certainly sounds like he did. The same is true with Sonny in the movie, “The Apostle.”  But both were morally flawed. That doesn’t mean that God can’t use them to achieve certain objectives, just as God used the Persian King Cyrus to allow the Israelites to return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.^[7]

What none of us know is whether either Laughlin or Sonny trusted in Jesus. Were their hearts ever cleansed by Jesus’ saving grace? Or were they just in it for their own benefit. While I would like to think they were in it for more than themselves, that’s between them and God.  

This passage warns those who serve the church to make sure we do God’s work and not work for our own glory own. But there is also a message here for others within the community of believers. Do not be astonished by the powers some portray. The Bible never hides the idea that others may have miraculous powers, so we are not to be lured by their strange abilities. Think of the Egyptian magicians who matched the first of Moses tricks before Pharoah.^[8] For the first several plagues, the magicians went go toe-to-toe with Moses, except that the snake Moses turned his staff into who ate the snake Pharoah’s magicians conjured up. Only after the first few plagues did the magicians give up and say, this is from the hands of God. 

It’s easy for us to be astonished by others who seem to do great things, even those who collect great wealth, but we shouldn’t succumb to envy or covet their position in life. We are unable to know the condition of their hearts, nor can we know their relationship with God. We will all be judged by our hearts and our faithfulness, not our wealth or success. Beware of the wolves hiding in fleece or rotted trees. Instead, seek out those whose hearts are humble and whose lives are faithful. Amen. 

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^[1] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990), 355. Bruner takes this quote of Augustine from the Catena Aurea: A Commentary of the Four Gospels: Collected out of the Works of the Fathers by St. Thomas Aquinas (13^th Century).

^[2] Marcionites (2^nd Century) saw God as only love and no judgment, Docetism (3^rd Century) thought Jesus only “seemed to be” human.” Pelagius (early 4^th Century) seems to have denied Original Sin. 

^[3] 1 John 2:18

^[4] Deuteronomy 18:20-22 and Ezekiel 34 

^[5] Psalm 6:8. Jesus quotes from the Psalm from the Greek Septuagint text. 

^[6] My sources for Laughlin’s story come from a variety of newspapers and minutes of Session and the Presbytery of Nevada. I drew the story from my dissertation, “Presbyterians and Miners: The Church’s Response to the Comstock Lode), San Francisco Theological Seminary, 2002 (see pages 95-100). 

^[7] 2 Chronicles 36:22-23. 

^[8] The Egyptian magicians were able to turn a stick into a snake (Exodus 7:10-12), create dead fish in the Nile (Exodus 7::21-22), and bring forth frogs (Exodus 8:6-7). But they were unable to created gnats (8:19) and the boils Moses called down even fell on the magicians (Exodus 9:11). 

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
May 10, 2026
Matthew 7:1-6

At the beginning of worship:
Are any of you Eeyore’s? You know who I am talking about, don’t you? The donkey with floppy ears in Winnie the Pooh. He’s always down and out. If the sun shines, he worries about a drought. If raining, he knows they’ll be a flood. 

You know, friends who are Eeyores, they drag us down. They take a lot out of us. It’s easy to judge such friends as unworthy of our attention. Yet, the Eeyore’s of the world need friends. And we all know this. All of us have at one time or another, found ourselves in a funk. At such times, friends help us get through the darkness. 

A suicide prevention article from years ago had this take on Eeyore: 

One awesome thing about Eeyore is that even though he is basically clinically depressed, he still gets invited to participate in adventures and shenanigans with all of his friends. And they never expect him to pretend to feel happy. They just love him anyway, and they never leave him behind or ask him to change.^[1]

If you are an Eeyore, I hope you have the same experiences as Pooh’s flea-bitten friend. May you have all kinds of adventures and shenanigans. Who here wants to oversee shenanigans in the church? As a church, we should be willing to welcome all Eeyore’s and others who are easily left behind. We need to create a counterculture community, which pushes back against the common view of Christians as judgmental. We should strive to create a community which displays hospitality, one that not only welcomes the Poohs and Tiggers of the world, but also the Eeyore’s. 

Before reading the Scriptures:
We’re moving into the final chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Chapter 7, verses 1-12 are consider the last section within the meat or the main part of the sermon. Today, we’ll look at the first half of these verses. Next week, will finish the middle section. By splitting these in two, we can focus more in detail. After verse 12, Jesus ends with a few other topics as he brings this all-inclusive sermon to a close. 

Our passage begins with sharp words. “Don’t judge.” What does Jesus mean? 

Read Matthew 7:1-6

Today is Mother’s Day. So let me talk a bit about my mom as one of her traits applies to the broader meaning of this text. Mom had the capacity to always think first about the feelings of others. She also tried to instill such feelings in her children. As we’re talking about judging, I’ll let you be the judge of her success. However, I admit I fall short of what she taught. 

In the 5^th grade at Bradley Creek Elementary School, during the winter when the weather was bad, we held PE on the stage of the auditorium. The school had no gym. There’s not a lot you can do up there on the stage, so our teacher decided we would learn to dance. This brought groans, especially from the guys in the class. And probably a few girls who didn’t want to dance with us. But I’m not sure about that. Among us guys, as we talked about the prospect of dancing, we realized this meant we had to dance with certain girls. One of the girls was the only African American in our class. Of course, that wasn’t how my friends referred to her.

That day, I came home from school, bragging as had my friends that I was not going to dance with her. My mother exploded. “Yes, you will!  You will not hurt that girl’s feelings.” She then picked up the phone and proceeded to call my teacher. She told him I better be willing to dance with her. 

I wonder if my mother’s concern for the feelings of others came from her own background. Her family struggled and she always had a bit of inferiority complex. Part of it may have come from her father, whom she adored, but who also spent time in the slammer for bootlegging. My great-grandmother had such disdain for her son-in-law; she left the land and house she owned to her daughter and granddaughters, to keep it out of his hands. While my father’s family wasn’t rich, they were certainly better off financially and didn’t have such baggage hiding in the closet. At least, not that I know of, for one of the things we see throughout the Sermon of the Mount is that we don’t always know the heart and secrets of others. This is a part of the reason we’re not too quickly judge others. 

Whatever reason, my mom was well tuned to the feelings of others. It’s a noble and Christ-like trait. 

In The Message paraphrase, our text today begins, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.”

I like the fresh way that Eugune Peterson translates this passage in this paraphrase, but I think he may have missed one point. We don’t judge to keep others from judging us. This is not a “tit-for-tat” suggestion. “I won’t judge you if you don’t judge me.”  That’s not even healthy for all of us need healthy criticism to grow and mature spiritually. Otherwise, with no guardrails, we can go astray.

The judgment Matthew speaks of us avoiding by not judging  is not the condemnation of others for our sin, but God’s judgment.^[2] If we judge unfairly, God will judge us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus envisions an accountable community which looks out for one another. 

Often, people cite this passage and use it to condemn all judgment. I recently heard this passage cited against challenging political behavior. This isn’t what Jesus means by not judging. 

Discernment is a Christian discipline which requires us to make judgments. Later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus instructs the disciples on how to confront others guilty of sin.^[3]  Paul, in his writings to the Corinthians, condemns then for not confronting one involved in a grievous sin which has the power to destroy the church.^[4] Again, such a situation requires judgment. In a way, we can’t avoid some judgments.  

One commentary suggests a better translation of the opening verse might be, “Do not judge unfairly.”^[5]  Jesus addresses here a social sin, “judgementalism.”  It’s the sin of constantly finding fault with what others say and do. And not only do we find fault in others, but we also overlook the faults we harbor. Judgmentalism indicates a disease within our spirit, for we assume we are superior to others.^[6]  While there are times we are called to judge, we must do so honestly and with humility and mercy. 

To help clarify what he means, and perhaps to lighten things up with a bit of humor, Jesus tosses in a parable. Don’t go around trying to take a speck out of someone’s eye when you have a log in your own eyes. Try to imagine your optometrist looking at your eyes with a log in his. The verbal picture here is quite funny.

Jesus essentially says need of healing before we can heal someone else. Furthermore, Jesus’ command, “don’t judge,” doesn’t mean “don’t think.”^[7] At times, discernment becomes necessary. But we must be merciful. As Bo Diddley asks in a classic blues tune which was later recorded by Eric Clapton, “Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.” 

Another point to understand. In verse 5, Jesus uses the word “hypocrite.” We’ve heard this word before in the Sermon on the Mount, but this time is different.  Elsewhere in the Sermon, Jesus used it to refer to those outside the community of believers, generally the Pharasees and Sadducees, but here, Jesus refers to those inside the community, believers who don’t live up to their calling.^[8] Yes, as we well know, there are even hypocrites inside the church. We must be careful of how we look at others, considering our own sin and also knowing we don’t know their hearts.  

After the parable, Jesus makes a strange statement in verse 6. “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine.” This is one of the harder sayings of Jesus to understand. It certainly shows the culture of that time and that part of the worlds, where dogs and pigs were considered unclean, so you had to discern what to and not to give them. That which is holy and valuable have other uses.  

Perhaps Jesus adds this statement to remind his listeners we need to discern or make judgments. Otherwise, they might toss away valuables.  

So yes, despite a literal reading of verse 1, judgment may be necessary. But judgment must be done with justice in mind. We must be honest and fair with those we judge, so that we won’t do so prejudicially. Furthermore, we must be honest about our own faults which can prejudice our decisions. 

We all stand in need of forgiveness. We can’t use the sins of others to boost our standing. Instead, in humility, we accept our need of divine forgiveness and, as Jesus and my mom taught, be concerned about others. Amen. 

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^[1] This was from “Suicide Prevention Australia” and found on Facebook in 2014.

^[2] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, A Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 7

^[3] Matthew 18:15ff.

^[4] 1 Corinthians 5:1-2. 

^[5] Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 256.

^[6] Hare, 76. 

^[7] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 340. 

^[8] Pennington, 260.

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
April 26, 2026
Matthew 6:16-24

At the beginning of worship:

When hiking the Appalachian Trail through Pennsylvania, I stopped late one day at a lovely campsite. Thinking I’d spend the evening by myself. Fixing dinner, as the light faded, a family of four trudged in. Dead tired—they set out that morning to hike ten or so miles and had only covered half that distance. The man asked if I would mind if they shared the campsite, as there was a spring for water nearby and plenty of room. “Not a problem,” I said, even though I wasn’t overly excited. 

Continuing with dinner, I glanced over amusingly at the family. The scene could easily have been out of National Lampoon Vacation movie, if they made a backpacking version. The father even resembled Chevy Chase. 

New at backpacking, they had not tried out their brand-new gear. Some of their gear remained in the original packaging. The family appeared to have stepped out of an L.L. Bean catalog. With my dirty and torn clothes and well used equipment, I looked a bit like a hobo. After a comedy of errors, they finally pitched their tent. Then came dinner.   

The dad became frustrated trying to use the stove. Finally, he came over and asked for my help. He had the same stove as mine, an MSR multi-fuel stove. This was preferred by long distance backpackers because it could burn regular gasoline. In 1987, I could top my fuel bottle up at a gas station for 25 cents-it’d be a dollar today. While a good stove, it wasn’t the type of stove most folks used on weekend trips. 

Next, he had the top of the line cook set that all nestled together and included a windscreen for the stove. Knowing this, he left behind the windscreen which came with his stove. But there was a problem. The cook set was designed for a different type of stove. They didn’t go together. No matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t going to work. I showed him how to set up some rocks upon which he could make a windscreen as he cooked. Soon, he was heating up dinner.

After they’d finished eating, his wife put their kids to bed, he came back over to talked. He was a physician. He’d hiked a few times with the Boy Scouts and now thought he’d like to get his family into it. He went to a backpacking store. I’m sure the guy selling gear had a nice dinner later that evening on the commission he earned. Everything this family had with them, and they had way more than they needed, was first class (even if some of it wasn’t designed to work with other pieces of gear). And the sheer volume of their gear was overwhelming. He confided in me that they were probably going to hike back to their car in the morning instead of continuing down the trail, for there was no way they’d make the distance planned.  

Talking with this guy, I realized a couple of things. In the woods, it didn’t matter he had the money to buy fancy gear. It didn’t do him any good. Backpacking is a great equalizer. When you have too many treasures, it weighs you down. This guy carried a pack weighing nearly eighty pounds, and his wife had another fifty. Each of their kids had a small knapsack. All this stuff was killing them. My pack weight was more like his wife’s and that was only when I was fully loaded with ten days of food, a liter of fuel, and two quarts of water. Thinking about this, I felt a tinge of pride.

Then I realized that I, too, was storing up treasures. These were in the form of memories and bragging rights. Idolatry is a sneaking temptation. I wanted to be able to say I hiked the whole trail and at this time had made it halfway to Maine, a goal which became an obsession.

Ultimately, however, whatever we do, God must come first. As we’ll see this morning, it’s not about what you or I can do. It’s about what God can do through us.

Before reading the Scripture: 

We’re continuing in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Two weeks ago, we looked at what Jesus taught about almsgiving and prayer. Through out of this central part of Jesus’ sermon, he uses a similar style. He states a well-known practice or discipline, such as almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, Then, he explores how it can be abused. Finally, Jesus ends by encouraging how we might practice such disciplines by having our priorities right and drawing us closer to God.^[1] Understand this. Jesus criticizes any attempt to use religion for earthly gain! Let’s hear what he has to say. 

Read Matthew 6:16-24

For most Protestant Christians, fasting went out of style centuries ago. We might give up something for Lent, an idea we borrowed from the Roman Catholics, but it never really caught on. There used to be calls for fasting during times of trouble, but that seems to have waned. 

Note that Jesus doesn’t condemn fasting.^[2] He just wants us to do it for the right reasons. If we fast, it should be to draw us closer to God, not to gain the praise of admirers. When we start using religion for personal gain, we’ve fallen into temptation, as Jesus repeatedly shows. 

Next, Jesus moves to the dangers of treasures. He knew “stuff” wouldn’t satisfy us like a relationship with God. When it comes to stuff, be it money, the junk we collect, or our accomplishments, it’s never enough. We will always want more. Last season’s hero soon becomes a has-been.^[3] Supposedly, John D. Rockefeller was asked how much more money he wanted. “Just a little more,” he said. If we try to satisfy our appetites with treasures, our stomachs will always feel empty.  

This passage encourages us to look deeply behind our motives and to get our priorities right. Jesus provides three connected proverbial thoughts for us to see where we place their trust. 

First, we’re not to trust worldly treasures for they have a way of disappearing. A fine wardrobe can be destroyed by nature (moths). Time takes care of objects crafted out of metal as they succumb to rust. And what’s to stop someone from stealing our stuff when we’re not looking? 

Notice, however, Jesus doesn’t say having nice things is bad. He just says we can’t trust them to always be there and that the problem with such niceties is that when we place too much trust in them, we risk not trusting God. Ultimately, our treasures fail us. 

The second proverbial thought is about a “healthy eye.” No, Jesus isn’t making a pitch for eye surgery. Jesus’ listeners would have known right away what he was talking about when he mentioned an unhealthy or evil eye. They understood an evil eye as an envious, grudging or miserly spirit. A good eye connotes a generous and compassionate attitude toward life. 

One of my professors, in his commentary on Matthew, said it’s as if Jesus’ says: “Just as a blind person’s life is darkened because of an eye malfunction, so the miser’s life is darkened by his failure to deal generously with others.”^[4] Generosity brings light into the world; greed darkens it. 

The next statement by Jesus concerns serving two masters. A slave would run ragged if he had to answer to two masters. Likewise, if we try to serve both God and money, we find ourselves with two masters and the latter, money, makes a harsh master. There can never be enough. We need to place our priorities in order. We need to stick with God.

But then again, as I said, Jesus never says that treasures in and of themselves are wrong. He never says our desire to have treasure is wrong. We’re not Buddhists trying to remove desire in search of enlightenment.^[5] Instead, Jesus knows we have desires. So, he encourages us to put our desires into the right channels. “Store your treasures in heaven.”     

It sounds too simple. “Store up your treasures in heaven; don’t worry about things here on earth.” Easier said than done, right? We all worry about having enough for tomorrow—and the day and the year and the decade that follows. We must admit that our prayers for daily bread seem unnecessary when we have a pantry full of food. When we have too much, it’s hard to depend upon God.    

But Jesus wants us to trust in God, which is why we’re to store treasures in heaven. On earth, we’re to be about doing the Father’s work. And when we do what God calls us to do, we store our treasures in heaven. But when we forget about what God wants us to do and focus only on our wants and desires, we lose our way.

How might we learn not to store up our treasures here on earth? First, “Enjoy things, but don’t cherish them.” God created this world good and wants us to enjoy life and the blessings provided, but God gets angry when we see such blessings as being ours. Then we easily serve or worship such stuff. We are given this world as a steward and one day we must give it all back. 

Second, “Share things joyfully, not reluctantly.” If it bugs you to share something you have with someone who needs it, you should then know that item has gotten a hold on you. It’s an earthly treasure, an idol. 

Finally, think of yourself as a pilgrim, not a settler. “The world is not my home, I’m just passin’ thru,” the old gospel song goes.^[6]Store your treasures at your destination, then your journey will then be easier.

Look inside yourself and use these thoughts to evaluate what you have: Enjoy, Share, and think like a pilgrim. A pilgrim is like a backpacker. Remember, you don’t want your pack weighing you down and keeping you from enjoying the view along the way. Amen.  

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^[1] Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 230, 232.

^[2] This is the only place where Jesus addresses fasting. Later in Matthew’s gospel (9:14) as well as Mark 2:18 and Luke 5:33, John’s disciples questioned why Jesus’ disciples don’t fast. There was some fasting in the early church. See Acts 13:2-3, 14:23. 

^[3] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (1990, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004),, 320.

^[4] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation: A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1993), 72. 

^[5] Bruner, 321.

^[6]  Kirk Nowery, The Stewardship of Life (Camarillo, CA: Spire Resources, 2004), 122-123.

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Churches
Matthew 5:37-48
March 22, 2026

At the beginning of worship

A few years ago, there was a video making the rounds of two women in a grocery store parking lot. One carelessly opened her door into the car next to her. Shocked, the woman in that car asked if she was going to apologize. The first woman said a few harsh words to the other, about how she didn’t hurt the resale value of her car. Soon they both began banging their doors into each other’s car. Then they began drove around the parking lot in an improvised demolition derby. Those coming out of the store gathered along the sidewalk to watch. At one point, as one of the women backs her car into the other and the camera focuses on her bumper sticker. “War is not the answer.”^[1]

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever done something that, if it were pointed out that you are Christian when doing it, would be embarrassing? (You don’t have to raise your hands; wait till the Prayer of Confession to make your confessions). Of course, you have. I have; we all have… If we have high values, it’s hard to live up to our standards. Thankfully, we live by grace and not the law.

If you want to see the video on Youtube, look up my sermon online. There’s a link to it. 

Before reading the Scripture:

Today we’ll finish up Jesus’ six commands in the Sermon on the Mount. These reinterpretations of the law seem more difficult to obey. As I said all along, Jesus raises the bar. It’s harder to know which reinterpreted commandment is the hardest, but I suggest it might be the last two. Turn the other cheek and love your enemies… Jesus forces us to look out for the best interest of our enemies. But we don’t like to do that, do we? 

Think about Cuba today. Supposedly the island is again our enemy, and we’ve put a blockade on them, cutting them off from fuel. The nation has gone dark as it struggles to maintain its power grid. Even hospitals have been forced to operate without power. Considering Jesus’ teachings, what kind of reception a politician would receive if he or she suggested we allow the island to receive enough oil to alleviate the suffering of the Cuban people? And consider what would Jesus do?

In these six reinterpretations of commandments from the Old Testament, Jesus mostly follows a similar pattern. He provides the original teaching with “You have heard it said.” Then he gives a new commandment, “But I say.” And he follows this with some suggestions of how we can follow his command.^[2]

In today’s reading, Jesus comes out against revenge, challenging the command, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This law, which isn’t unique to the Hebrews as it was found in even older laws in the region, attempts to limit revenge. Instead of the “Sicilian justice” as seen in the Godfather, the law limits revenge.^[3]

The second law we’ll look at concerns loving our neighbors. Of course, the Jewish people had this law in the Old Testament but tried to limit it to only those neighbors who lived adjacent to them. This is why the Parable of the Good Samaritan is so radical.^[4] In that parable, Jesus extends the neighborhood to include the enemies living across the border. In his teaching here, Jesus does the same thing, expanding those we’re to love. 

The Sermon on the Mount takes us back into its beginning with the Beatitudes. Here, Jesus forces us to reconsider the seventh Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers.^[5]

Read Matthew 5:38-48

“Turn the other cheek, love your enemies,” Jesus tells us. Do we? Do we truly love those who are different from us, who have different ideas about the world, different beliefs? Are we willing to give away what we own to maintain peace? Will we turn the other cheek? Will it work? What does these passages mean to us in a divide world? Do they apply with how we deal with Democrats and Republicans and MAGA and illegal immigrants. 

It seems those on the edges of the political spectrum really hate those who disagree with them. Does this passage apply here? You bet. It says essentially, “if you want to please your Savior, tone down your hateful rhetoric… Actually, it says, do away with such behavior.” And to push this further, what does our passage say about how we relate to Iran, Hezbollah, Cuba, Russia, China, or a New York Yankee fan? I’m sorry, none of us are going to leave today unscathed! 

Jesus begins this section of his sermon with rhetorical statements: “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ and ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” The eye for an eye part, along with the love for our neighbor are found in the Old Testament.^[6] But not the hate for an enemy, unless Jesus summarizes an idea advanced in the Psalms of which a few seem to encourage us to love God so much that we hate the godless.^[7]

Eugene Peterson in The Message, translates this verse in this manner: “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’” Somehow these two ideas have been married together, but Jesus divorces them by insisting his followers love not just their friends, but also their enemies.

Furthermore, this command doesn’t just apply to individuals. Jesus addresses the community here. Not only is this something I’m to do. We’re all to be doing this together. The early church, under Jewish and later Roman persecution, would have heard these words in a different context. Their enemies were real and a threat! They could have them stoned or fed to the lions. Yet they loved those who persecuted them and prayed for them! 

And just to clear up things, in case any of you are thinking—“Sure, I’ll pray for my enemies, I’ll pray for their demise.” That ain’t what Jesus means. We’re to pray for the wellbeing of those who hate and persecute us. Remember, as he was being nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed for his executioners.^[8] Jesus practiced what he preached. 

Now why would we want to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors?  Wouldn’t it be easier to insist on an “eye for an eye”? As I have suggested through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus wants to create a new community of followers who live differently that the world. He suggests we maintain different standards, ones that works for peace and reconciliation. Jesus came to save his people from sin, an angel tells Joseph in Matthew 1.^[9] Sin causes divisions. Freed of sin, we work to restore divisions.  

Our God is good to all creation—those who are gentle and kind and those who are mean and bullies. Everyone benefits from what the Lord provides. The rain falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous. So why would we want to take a risk and give our enemies more than they demand? Why would we want to take a risk and love our enemies? One reason. We want to be more like God. We want to be godly. After all, God took a risk on us. And God loved us before we loved or even knew God!

If we only love those who are like us, Jesus points out, we’re no different than anyone else. It’s easy to love your friends. But the church is different. We’re to be an alternative to the world! We’re to practice radical hospitality, and we’re to love those who, for many, aren’t considered loveable. “Love sought is good,” Lady Olivia says in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, “but giv’n unsought is better.”^[10] As Christians, we’re to give love unsought! 

In the second century, there was a report made to the Roman Emperor Hadria about Christians. Remember, Christians back then were persecuted, but this is what the report said:

They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.^[11]

It was this kind of love which drew the attention of others and helped the church grow even through persecution. At a time when Rome attempted to stamp the church out, the church was known for love… But what about today?

One of the common reasons given by people who no longer attend church is that they feel judged. One study found that 87 percent of Americans say that Christians are judgmental. 87%!^[12]I suppose the good news is that if 87 percent said we’re judgmental means even most of us Christians acknowledge the problem. Of course, Christians know there is a judgmental issue because we do it to one another. We’ve all been judged unfairly! We don’t take Jesus’ admonishment “Judge not” to heart.^[13] Do we really want to be known as judgmental and by what we’re against instead of by what we’re for? 87% doesn’t sound as if we live up to that old song, “They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love”. But let’s strive for it. 

As believers, we acknowledge our brokenness and complete dependence upon God. This should make us more open to our enemies. 

Jesus ends this passage with a command to be perfect as is our heavenly Father. Although perfection is expected of us, we know that on our own, we won’t achieve it. Instead, as I said earlier, we’re driven back to the Beatitudes, back to the realization that we, too, are poor in spirit.  

Despite being poor in spirit, Jesus offers us some helpful ways to live in our faith. We don’t retaliate against our enemies. We are gracious to all people and pray for our enemies. You know, we live in a time when the world appears to be on the verge of exploding. It may sound to some as treasonous, but there’s no better time than now to begin praying for our enemies. Amen. 

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^[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EVxSCcKo8Y

^[2] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12   (1990, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 246. I also covered this structure in my first sermon on the commandments. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2026/02/22/murder-and-anger/

^[3] This law, known as the lex talionis (Law of the Tooth) was found in the Code of Hammurabi in the 18^th Century BC. Bruner, 247. 

^[4] Luke 10:29-37.

^[5] Bruner, 266-7.  Matthew 5:9. 

^[6] Leviticus 19:18

^[7] Bruner, 267.  See Psalm 58, 109, 137:7-9 and 139:21-22.

^[8] Luke 23:34

^[9] Matthew 1:21

^[10] William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 3.1.167.  Of course, Olivia was trying to make a play for someone and not speaking of universal love.

^[11] “Aristides to Emperor Hadria” as quoted in God’s Virtues: An Inspirational Collection of Stories, Quotes, Hymns, Scriptures and Poems (Tulsa, OK:  Honor Books, 1995), 43.

^[12] Thom & Joani Schultz, Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore (Loveland CO: Group Publishing, 2013), 23.

^[13] Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37