Response to Sermon on the Mount 09/01/06

As I re-read Matthew 5-7 in an attempt to narrow down a journal topic, I found it difficult to focus on just one passage. The sermon really does summarize the guidelines for a Christian lifestyle and provides poignant examples to illustrate God's "instructions." I discovered in reading from an unmarked text that I could interprate the passage in an unbiased manner, without being immediately drawn to the verses that are marked and highlighted in my own Bibles. However, I had the idea to circle my "favorite" parts and then go back to my other two Bibles in which I have actually done some studying and see how the notes compared. It was interesting to find some of the different areas in which I found special meaning at the different times that I studied Matthew--and even more interesting to find that I had some of the same things marked in all three Bibles.
Particularly, I seem to have always taken to heart verses 22-23: "...and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable...." This apparently never ceases to hit home for me--while a sin is a sin, we tend to qualify them, and murder is obviously much worse than anger--or is it? Jesus questions this assumption by stating that, no, it can be equally sinful to submit to the temptation of anger and insults. That certainly puts a spin on my common feelings of "justified" anger. I am forced to consider my fault and question the need for my temper "flare-ups."
Another part that has always drawn my attention is found in the first few verses of chapter 6. Jesus says, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven (vs 1)." He continues with examples of "private worship," or worship done not to prove your faith to others, but to express it to God. He continues in verse 5: "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners...." I have a note in a different Bible with the reference to Acts 9:40, made during a Bible study last year. Acts 9:40 in my NIV Bible breaks into the middle of the story of Peter healing Dorcas. "Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed (9:40)." At first I did not realize why this reference was made, but I realized the point after a moment--the hypocrites of which Jesus speaks love to stand up and pray loudly in the middle of the street. Peter, however, gets down on his knees, after sending everyone out of the room, and then prays to God.
These passages about prayer again brought into my head the question of motives. What are my motives in becoming angry and insulting someone? What are my motives when I pray? I think, on a broader scale, Jesus asks us this question throughout his sermon on the mount. Do we obey God's laws because we love Him or so that we can say that we are good? For what do we hunger and thirst, and will that fill us up? When we do not get what we want or we have to give something up, how do we react and how does that reveal where our treasure is truly stored? Jesus is challenging us with his sermon, to examine ourselves before we examine others and to recognize our faults and faulty motives, and do something to fix them--focusing on Him, rather than Me.