All Episodes
Displaying 61 - 83 of 83 in total
Episode 61: Why worry?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his hearers not to worry about food and clothing. He points them beyond the necessities of earthly life to the bigger picture o...
Episode 62: Do I have enough faith?
Some of us have been taught that any prayer will be answered if we just have enough faith. And against that background, it’s easy to criticize ourselves or others for ...
Episode 63: The worries of the world
It’s possible to read Jesus as preaching a lofty and ideal kind of kingdom in which people transcend such earthly needs as food and clothing. And again, it’s true that...
Episode 64: Seeking the kingdom
Jesus’ instruction to seek God’s kingdom above all is one of the best-known lines of the sermon. But we have to read it rightly. It can sound like he’s saying, “Do a g...
Episode 65: You will have trouble
Jesus has told his hearers not to worry; it’s unnecessary and pointless. But that’s not to say that worrisome things won’t happen. Whether large or small, troubles wil...
Episode 66: Finding fault
Many if not most of us have been judged unfairly at one time or another. And we have done the same to others, though we may not have known it. At the beginning of Matt...
Episode 67: Baked-in bias
In teaching about hypocritical judgment, Jesus uses the humorous metaphor of someone with a plank in his eye trying to take a speck out of someone else’s eye. Indeed, ...
Episode 68: Pearls before pigs
One of the oddest verses in the sermon refers to dogs and pigs—and not surprisingly, scholars have debated its meaning for centuries. The language seems harsh and off-...
Episode 69: What has God promised?
We sometimes come to Scripture looking for promises that God will give us whatever we ask. Virtually any Bible verse about God's care and compassion can be turned into...
Episode 70: Loaves and fishes
In the sermon, Jesus teaches his hearers to pray for what they need. And he insists that God, as our trustworthy and loving Father, gives only good gifts to his childr...
Episode 71: Do unto others (part 1)
One of the most famous lines from the sermon is what we know as the Golden Rule. Others before Jesus had taught similar principles, including the great Rabbi Hillel. B...
Episode 72: Do unto others (part 2)
The Old Testament contains 39 books, many of which are quite different from each other in style and content. Who would dare to distill all of that wondrous complexity ...
Episode 73: Love your enemies. Really.
We may not have enemies of the kind that crucified Jesus. But we do have people we don’t want to love. We know that Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. How might t...
Episode 74: Final warnings
We expect to be encouraged and uplifted when we listen to sermons; we don’t hear someone preach “hellfire and damnation”—like the famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards, "S...
Episode 75: It’s your choice (part 1)
Psalm 1 portrays life as a continual choice of which path we will walk: the path of righteousness that leads to blessedness, or the path of wickedness that leads to de...
Episode 76: It’s your choice (part 2)
Sometimes, the gospel is presented as a choice between two destinies: heaven and hell. Choose Jesus and go to heaven, or refuse Jesus and go to hell. But the Christian...
Episode 77: Wolves in sheep’s clothing
Jesus’ second warning is about false prophets, whom he likens to wolves disguised as sheep so they can infiltrate and devour the flock. False prophets claim to speak G...
Episode 78: A fruitful ministry?
How can one tell between a sheep and a wolf? Jesus answers the question by shifting metaphors: you can tell what kind of a tree you’re looking at by the fruit it produ...
Episode 79: Applause, applause
What do we count as admirable or worthy of applause among Christians? What kinds of things win the approval of others? Jesus’ third warning, again, suggests that we ma...
Episode 80: I’ve never known you
Jesus’ third warning overlaps with the second. Whereas before he warned against false prophets, now he warns against false disciples, some of whom claim to have prophe...
Episode 81: Obedience in the ordinary
I imagine Jesus’ hearers being shocked by Jesus’ words in the third warning. How can people who do such amazing things as casting out demons and miraculous healings be...
Episode 82: Flood warning
Jesus’ first warning at the end of the sermon was that there are two roads from which to choose. Only one leads to life; the other leads to destruction. Similarly, his...
Episode 83: With authority
The sermon is over. But before moving on to the next part of the story, Matthew adds a closing comment, an observation about how the crowd reacted to Jesus’ preaching....