UNDERSTANDING JESUS: A GUIDE TO HIS LIFE AND TIMES

He also lowers the word count, keeping only about one-fourth of what Matthew reports. There’s Matthew’s three chapters—5–7—compared to Luke’s 33 verses—6:17–49.

Actually, Jesus may have preached sermons like this many times, to different crowds, as he traveled around—especially this message, a masterpiece that captures the essence of his life and teachings.

But because the message covers so many faith-stretching ideas, many Bible experts say they doubt Jesus preached it in a single sermon. His revolutionary ideas delivered at the rapid-fire pace reflected in this sermon would have overwhelmed any listener. Instead, scholars suggest that Matthew and Luke pulled highlights from many sermons and wove them into one.

Or perhaps Jesus presented the ideas in a series of sermons over several days—a bit like an evangelist on a weekend crusade.

THE BEATITUDES

Matthew’s account starts with the sermon’s most famous section: the Beatitudes.

Some preachers call these sayings the “Be Happy Attitudes”—a prescription for eternal happiness. Beatitudes is from the Latin word beatitudo, meaning “blessed.” Jesus made a list of attitudes that God wants to see in people. These are attitudes for which God blesses people by welcoming them into his Kingdom—a spiritual world ruled by him, now on earth and forever in heaven.

In a swift current of poetry that Jesus could have recited in under 30 seconds, he rattles off his list of Beatitudes—flipping conventional wisdom upside down in the process.

Many Jews of the day thought God blessed people by giving them health, wealth, and happiness. They said this was God’s way of rewarding people for living a good life. The healthiest, wealthiest, and happiest people were considered the cream of God’s crop—the best of the best.

Too bad for the sick, poor, sad folks. God was certainly punishing them. At least that was the conventional way of thinking. That’s why when the disciples saw a blind man, they asked Jesus, “Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” (John 9:2).

As for the question, Jesus said the disease was for this moment in time—to showcase God’s power. Then Jesus healed the man.

And as for the widespread misconception that God limits his blessing to society’s elite, Jesus offered good news and bad news.

First the bad news. It’s for the rich. They might feel blessed now, but Jesus said a lot of them were in for a rude awakening on the flip side of the grave: “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now…. Your laughing will turn to mourning” (Luke 6:24–25).

Now the good news. It’s for society’s bottom dwellers. The healthy, wealthy, and jolly folks may have had a great life, but the sick, poor, and sad are going to have a great eternal life. For God is giving these seemingly unfortunate souls the keys to his kingdom.

So said the Son of God, a pacifist whom the prophets said would be known as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

These Beatitudes came as quite a surprise to many Jews of the day. There’s one particular Beatitude that helps people today see just how surprising these teachings were back then. In our competitive culture, we know that it’s usually the aggressive go-getters and blatant self-promoters who tend to hack off the biggest hunks of real estate, cash, and other trademarks of success—hoarding them all.

But Jesus said, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (Matthew 5:5).

These are people who may not steal off with a huge slice of the fiscal pie. But they have eternal dividends waiting for them in the Kingdom to come. As for the selfishly rich, the happy, and the well fed—Luke says they had better enjoy th mselves while they can, because in God’s spiritual Kingdom, which is as real as the physical world, they’re bankrupt.

TROUBLING SOUND BITES

Jesus followed the Beatitudes with a shopping list of holy behavior he wanted to see in his followers. To some readers, the list seems outrageous, unattainable—and, for that very reason, cruel.

Jesus wasn’t being as stern as it seems, many scholars insist. He was giving us a goal on which to fix our eyes, like a wandering hiker taking bearings from a distant mountain peak. This is a life route Jesus wants us to do the best we can to follow, scholars say, because he knows where the journey leads: to blessings, to the Kingdom of heaven, and to God.

SERMON HIGHLIGHTS

“You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13–14). A Roman encyclopedia writer from Jesus’ time may help explain what Jesus was talking about. His name was Pliny, and he was born in about AD 23—just four or five years before Jesus started his ministry. In Natural History, a collection of 37 volumes mainly about nature, Pliny writes, “There is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine.”

Perhaps Jesus was telling his disciples that the world needs them—so they should make themselves useful.

“I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose” (Matthew 5:17). That seems a strange thing for Jesus to say, given some of the prophecies about him.

The “law of Moses” refers to a contract—or covenant—between God and the Jewish people. If the Jews lived by these rules, which are preserved in the book of Deuteronomy, God promised to bless them. But the prophets said the Jews broke the contract by persistently disobeying God. And the prophet Jeremiah said a day was coming when God would make a new contract with the people. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33).

At the Last Supper, the night before his execution, Jesus raised a cup of wine representing the blood he would shed a few hours later: “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).

New Testament writers later declared that Jesus’ death and resurrection rendered the old set of Jewish laws obsolete. “When God speaks of a ‘new’ covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date” (Hebrews 8:13).

So it seems to some readers that Jesus, contrary to what he said in this sermon, did come to abolish the law—or at least to retire it. That’s the effect his ministry would have on his followers.

But most Bible experts insist that Jesus wasn’t lying. Nor was he trying to ease his Jewish listeners into a false sense of security so he could gently nudge them away from their Jewish faith and toward a new religion. Jesus knew that the law had one purpose, which he summed up in a double-barreled commandment: “ ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).

Many Jewish leaders, on the other hand, got all tangled up in observing the letter of the law and in creating loopholes that allowed them to treat God with disrespect and their neighbors like dirt.

For example, instead of requiring grown children to take care of their needy parents, as required by one of the 10 Commandments—the core Jewish law—“Honor your father and mother,” leaders created an amendment. Children could declare their assets unavailable by setting them aside as an offering for God (Mark 7:11). As if God needed the money. The Jews eventually dropped this amendment, but only after more than a century of debate—which Jesus may have helped to start.

Half a dozen don’ts: anger, lust, divorce, swearing an oath, retaliation, hating enemies (Matthew 5:21–48). Drawing on a phrase that he repeats every time he starts a new topic during this part of the sermon—“You have heard … but I say”—Jesus points people to principles behind several key Jewish laws.

Anger. Jews knew they were not supposed to murder; the law is number six in the 10 Commandments, just after “Honor your parents.” But Jesus said God doesn’t even want people to get angry. But when they do, Jesus offered this advice: “Settle your differences quickly” (Matthew 5:25).

Lust. For married folks, lust is adultery stage one. As a preventative, Jesus advised gouging out the eyeballs. He was exaggerating, though a few unfortunate Christians throughout history took him literally. His point may have been that the pain of gouging out our eyes is nothing compared to the pain we’ll experience from adultery. So we should go to great lengths to avoid committing adultery.

DIVORCE AMONG THE JEWS

Jesus argued for marriage and against divorce. He sided with God, who said, “Remain loyal to the wife of your youth. ‘For I hate divorce!’ ” (Malachi 2:15–16). Consider the following quotes of Jesus:

• “A man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32).

• “Since they [the married couple] are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together” (Matthew 19:6).

These words of Jesus seem harsh and intolerant, especially to women and men trapped in abusive marriages. But many scholars argue otherwise. They say Jesus wasn’t insisting that adultery is the only grounds for divorce. In fact, Jesus forgave an adulterous woman in a moving symbol of what a husband could do instead of divorcing his wife (John 8:4–11). And Paul made a case for abandonment as grounds for divorce (1 Corinthians 7:15).

So the topic is more complicated than it sounds in the Sermon on the Mount. For this reason, many scholars say that Jesus was giving the counterpoint—exaggerated for effect—to the prevailing, male-friendly view of divorce: that it was acceptable for a man to divorce his wife for just about anything. The woman, however, couldn’t divorce her husband, though exceptions were later made in certain cases, such as repeated beatings, failure to support the wife, or refusal to have sex with her.

RABBI MARRIAGE COUNSELORS

For guidance about divorce, the Jews looked to the law of Moses. This law says that a man can write his wife a certificate of divorce if she is “displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her” (Deuteronomy 24:1 NIV).

Swearing an oath. Jesus wasn’t talking about profanity or about swearing “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Some people in his day made promises a bit like the modern variation, “I swear on my mother’s grave.” But they would invoke God’s name instead. Some Jewish scholars in the Pharisee branch of the religion ruled that the only oath that was binding was an oath invoking God’s name. So people wanting a loophole out of their promise could say something like, “I swear by heaven,” which was a bit like making a promise while crossing their fingers. Jesus said that God’s people should skip this dance of the semantics. Instead, they should become trustworthy people who mean what they say: “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t’ ” (Matthew 5:37).

Retaliation. The old Jewish law—“eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth” (Deuteronomy 19:21)—was intended to provide for fair justice, to make sure there was no overdoing it or underdoing it. Jesus told his followers to let go of their desire to get even, probably because he knew that revenge can consume a person. And if a Roman soldier ordered a follower of Jesus to carry something for a mile—as Roman soldiers could do, later forcing a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross—that person shouldn’t resist. Instead, the draftee should offer even more help if it’s needed, earning a reputation as a helper, not a grumbler and resister. And if someone backhanded them on the right cheek—more of an insult than an assault—Jesus didn’t want his followers to retaliate with a counterinsult that could inflame the argument. He advised them to endure the rudeness and walk away.

Rabbis debated what that meant.

Followers of Rabbi Shammai (about 50 BC–AD 30) said indecent (from a Hebrew word that can also be translated as indecency or nakedness) means adultery. But followers of Rabbi Hillel (about 70 BC–AD 10) pointed to the earlier phrase “displeasing to him” and insisted that this allows divorce for anything that displeases a husband, including

• talking with a stranger;

• burning a meal;

• failing to heal quickly from a dog bite; or

• not looking as attractive as another woman.

Rabbi Jesus seemed to offer a third option: Instead of looking for a way to bury your marriage, look for a way to revive it.

Jesus said that God allowed divorce “only as a concession to your hard hearts” (Matthew 19:8). Hard-hearted enough to hurt a spouse. And hard-hearted enough to withhold forgiveness when it’s needed most.

But hard-heartedness that ends in divorce is not what God wants for his people.

A LETTER OF DIVORCE

Jewish law says that a man who wants to divorce his wife has to put it in writing—and then give her the letter.

The Bible doesn’t say how to phrase the letter, but rabbis in the past offered suggestions. Here are two:

• “Behold, you are free [to be married] to any man!”

• “Let this be to you from me a writ of divorce, a letter of release and a decree of dismissal, to permit you to be married to any man you desire.”

WHAT CRIMINALS COULD EXPECT

Jesus preached a gospel of second chances—of compassion and forgiveness incredibly out of sync with Jewish and Roman laws at the time.

“If someone slaps you on the right cheek,” Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “offer the other cheek also.” In the next breath he added, “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:39, 44).

This was not the reality in Israel.

Whether they were standing before Jewish elders in a synagogue or before Roman officials in a palace, reality for convicted criminals spun around the three r’s: retaliation, reparation, and revenge. That’s what they could expect.

The poorer they were and the lower on the social ladder, the worse their punishment. That’s because the people passing judgment were usually the wealthy elite—and they favored their own kind. Ancient records show that this happened among the Romans and the Jews, even though the Jews had a law against it: “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly” (Leviticus 19:15).

JEWISH JUSTICE

Though Rome ruled, they generally deferred to local authorities, allowing the conquered nations to settle their own legal disputes. Roman administrators usually stepped in only for serious cases that threatened the peace and stability of the empire—cases such as murder, robbery, and insurrection.

In Israel, the synagogue elders exercised full jurisdiction over civil and religious matters, deciding which punishment fit the crime. Old Testament laws about restitution and punishment applied. For instance, a person convicted of stealing and slaughtering a single ox had to make restitution with five head of cattle (Exodus 22:1).

Jewish elders could also order a criminal beaten or banned from the synagogue. Some crimes—such as murder, adultery, and blasphemy—called for execution. But there is some evidence that Romans in the Jewish homeland may have reserved the right to final judgment in capital offenses, at least for a time. That’s apparently why the Jewish high council, known as the Sanhedrin, took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and asked him to pass the death sentence. Historians debate the matter, because the Jews occasionally executed people without Roman permission.

ROMAN JUSTICE

Prosecuting attorneys didn’t exist. So it was up to a private individual or group—usually the offended party—to bring a complaint to the Roman official in charge of the region.

False charges were a bad idea. To protect against abuses of the legal system, those who brought fraudulent charges could end up suffering the punishment they had intended for the accused.

In Jesus’ time, the Roman legal system wasn’t consistent throughout the empire. Justice varied from one province to the next. Roman governors had the authority to act on the emperor’s behalf. In dishing out judgment, they had a free hand. They could choose to rely on precedents from past Roman cases, or not.

Civil disputes were often tried by a judge or a jury. Qualifications for jury duty: male, over 25 years of age, with property valued at no less than 7,500 denarii. One denarius was a typical day’s wage for a common laborer. To translate that for today, if we assume a daily wage of $58, based on the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, we would need assets totaling at least $435,000 before we could serve on a jury.

Criminal cases were often heard by the regional governor—a man who commonly held the Roman title of proconsul.

Whether standing in front of a judge or a jury, people on trial usually had to answer questions about their status in society before they could testify. The lower the rank, the worse it would typically go for that person. For example, wealthy Roman citizens generally were not tortured. And when the rich were sentenced to execution (many were merely exiled instead), they were killed as painlessly as possible. The poor, on the other hand, could expect beatings before their execution.

Bribes were expected. Luke confirms this when he reports that Governor Felix held Paul in custody for two years, hoping all the while that Paul would pay him off (Acts 24:26). Wealthy litigants could quickly breeze through a trial by sending gifts to judges, lawyers (including the opposing lawyer), jurors, or witnesses.

Given realities like these, Jesus’ advice to turn the other cheek might have struck a chord of common sense with the crowds of people lashed to the bottom rung of the social ladder.

ROMAN CRIMES AND FINES

CRIME	PUNISHMENT
Cutting down another person’s trees	Fine of 25 coins per tree (currency not stated)
Breaking bone of free person/slave	Fine of 300/150 coins
Killing another’s animal or slave	If crime is admitted, pay owner value of lost property. If contested and found guilty, pay double.
Violent intent causing loss of limb	Amputation of limb, unless defendant settles with victim
Giving a drug to another person, resulting in that person’s death	Taking the same drug
Lying under oath	Execution by being thrown from a cliff
Arson with malicious intent	Execution by burning

Hating enemies. “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy,” Jesus said (Matthew 5:43). Actually, there’s no law in the Bible telling Jews to hate their enemies. But there are songs about it: “O LORD, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies” (Psalm 139:21–22). The monklike community of Jews that produced the famous Dead Sea Scrolls said much the same. These Jews, called Essenes, meaning “pious ones,” lived at Jesus’ time about 14 miles (23 km) from Jerusalem, near the Dead Sea. In Rule of the Community, a book of regulations the Essenes observed, everyone was instructed to “hate the sons of darkness,” generally considered to be the Roman occupiers. Jesus, however, had come to change the world for the better. He didn’t want to further alienate the enemies of God. He wanted to win them over to God’s side. Kindness does that more effectively than a club.

“Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others” (Matthew 6:1). Some religious leaders of Jesus’ day were experts at tooting their own horns, “blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts” (Matthew 6:2). They’d make a big show of giving to charity, praying in public, and fasting.

Like Muslims today, many Jews of the day prayed at set times in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Some Jews apparently timed their prayers so they’d be in public places where they could show off how religious they were by offering long-winded speeches to God. Jesus said to pray privately and to keep the prayers short and simple. Then he gave an example: The Lord’s Prayer, which probably took less than 30 seconds.

Jews, by law, had to fast only one day a year: Yom Kippur. That was the national day of repentance, also known as the Day of Atonement. But some Pharisees fasted “twice a week” (Luke 18:12), skipping meals on Mondays and Thursdays. And they’d dress the part: ragged clothes of mourning, unwashed bodies—making it obvious they were fasting. Jesus said this was a great way to get attention from other people. But he added that those who want God’s attention should be discreet about their fasting. After all, fasting was supposed to be a deep and personal spiritual experience: an expression of heartache, regret, or devotion to God. Not a photo op.

“I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear” (Matthew 6:25). That seems like callous advice, especially given the fiscally struggling farmers and shepherds who were probably in the crowd. One springtime of drought and their gardens and pastures could shrivel into a wasteland—decimating the crops that would have provided food for the winter, and starving the livestock that would have produced meat, clothing, and four-legged currency for trade at the market.

Yet many Bible experts say Jesus wasn’t telling people to repress their legitimate concerns. Everyone needs food, clothing, and shelter. And we should be concerned about these needs—at least concerned enough to work hard to provide for ourselves and our family. But not so concerned that we obsess, worry, stockpile, and hoard. “Don’t store up treasures here on earth,” Jesus had just finished saying before launching into his message about worry. “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be…. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19, 21, 24).

PLANTS IN JESUS’ LAND

“Look at the lilies of the field,” Jesus said to people worried about where they would find money for clothing. “They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you” (Matthew 6:28–30).

When Jesus spoke these words on a Galilean hillside, the crowd may have been standing in a field laced in wildflowers. Dozens of varieties blanket modern Israel in the spring, including scarlet anemones, red corn poppies, and white and yellow chamomiles.

The Bible names 128 plants. In Israel today, there are about 2,400 plant species—though many were imported in recent centuries and didn’t exist there in Bible times. One example is the eucalyptus tree, which now dominates the Israeli landscape. Native to Australia, they were introduced to Israel by the British in the 1920s to provide shade for soldiers and to draw water from mosquito-infested swamps.

SOURCES OF FOOD, CLOTHING, SHELTER

Many plants were important sources of food and clothing, as they are today: barley and wheat for bread, bean-like lentils for soup, cotton for cloth, and flax for linen.

Vegetables and fruits included apricots, cucumbers, dates, figs, grapes, melons, onions, pomegranates, and olives eaten or crushed to produce cooking oil or a dip for bread.

Trees and shrubs included

• the acacia tree, used to build the Ark of the Covenant that held the 10 Commandments;

• cedars of Lebanon (in what was once northern Israel) along with cypress—both used in building the Jerusalem Temple;

• thorny shrubs, which Roman soldiers may have used to produce a mock crown for Jesus; and

• oak and tamarisk.

MUSTARD SEED

There are many kinds of mustard plants with tiny seeds that are crushed to make seasoning. Black mustard (Brassica nigra) grew along the Sea of Galilee and may be the kind of mustard plant Jesus spoke of: “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible” (Matthew 17:20). The seed is about two millimeters or less in size—about a sixteenth of an inch. In Jesus’ time, these seeds weren’t used for seasoning as much as they were used for crushing into cooking oil and for medicine (pungent mustard poultices). In Israel, this shrub generally grows two to five feet high (less than two meters).

We should learn to trust God for the needs we can’t meet on our own. That’s perhaps what Jesus was saying. We might prefer to depend on our own strength and resources, but in the end we really do depend on God. One Jewish rabbi in ancient times put it something like this in his commentary on the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy: “No matter how rich a king is or how much he owns, only God can send him the rain he needs to go on living” (Sifre on Deuteronomy, 42.1.5 AUTHOR’S PARAPHRASE).

Whether we like it or not, in God we trust. Jesus knew that accepting this fact of life can take the edge off worry. “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” he asked the crowd (Matthew 6:27). Quite the contrary, according to a 12-year study of 1,663 men published in the May 2007 issue of Psychological Science. Men who found themselves in the top 50 percent of the group when it came to neurosis testing were more likely to die during the study. For every five low-worry men who died during that study, seven high-worry men died.

“Do not judge others…. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1–2).

Jesus wasn’t saying that good Christians should keep their mouths shut whenever they see someone doing something wrong or hurtful. After all, Jesus and his disciples spoke out against warped ideas about God and against religious teachings that exploited and hurt people.

In his short message about judging others, Jesus was making several points that track with other ancient Jewish teachings—some from his own century. One Jewish saying from the time goes something like this: “The way you dish out judgment is the way people will dish it up for you.” In other words, if you tend to be harsh, people will tend to treat you harshly. If you tend to be compassionate, people will be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt.

One rabbi from Jesus’ century, Hillel, suggested, “Do not judge your neighbor until you have been in his situation.”

When Jesus told people not to criticize the speck in someone’s eye when they had a plank in their own, he was again teaching a common idea, using a metaphor from his carpentry experience. His point was a bit like our “Practice what you preach.” Isocrates, a Greek writer from about 300 years before Jesus, put it this way: “Do nothing in your actions that you condemn in your words.”

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you” (Matthew 7:12).

This is the Golden Rule. But it’s not unique to Jesus, though he’s the one who made it famous. Many others in his century and earlier said much the same thing:

• “Let us show our generosity in the same manner we would want it shown to us” (Roman official Seneca, 4 BC—AD 65).

• “What you consider hateful, don’t do it to your neighbor” (Rabbi Hillel, about 70 BC–10 AD).

• “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you” (Chinese philosopher Confucius, 400s BC).

PETER’S HOUSE CHURCH

Hovering above the ruins of what was probably Peter’s house in Capernaum is a memorial that looks more like a UFO than a chapel. This octagon-shaped chapel was built by Franciscans in 1990, placed several feet above the ruins. It has a window in the floor, allowing tourists to see the ruins below. Many Bible experts are convinced that Peter lived in the house that once stood here and that he hosted Jesus as his guest. Among the clues suggesting this is the fact that sometime during the first century, Christians turned the home into a house church. Graffiti scratched into the plaster walls in several languages—including Aramaic (the language of Jesus) and Latin (the language of the Romans)—bore the words Jesus, Lord, Christ, and Peter. Also, a Spanish pilgrim, the Lady Egeria, visiting the site in the AD 380s, described the “House of Simon, called Peter,” reporting that it had been turned into a church, with the original walls still standing. Later, in the mid-400s, this house that stood just a few yards from the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee was expanded into an octagon-shaped church. This church was destroyed in the 600s, probably by Arab invaders.

CAPERNAUM, HEADQUARTERS OF JESUS

This ancient fishing town and trading hub, nestled on gently rolling ridges along the Sea of Galilee, was Jesus’ base of operation during his ministry, perhaps for several reasons:

• Nearly half of his disciples may have called it home: fishermen Peter and his brother Andrew; tax collector Matthew; and fishermen James and his brother John.

• It was probably a busy border town rather than a quiet fishing village, as previously thought. Located just inside Galilee’s eastern border, on a branch of the trade route called Via Maris (Latin for “Way of the Sea”), the city maintained a customs station that taxed products coming and going. A Roman centurion commanded a small garrison of soldiers there. Population may have been 1,500 or more.

• The city was located near Jesus’ boyhood home of Nazareth, about 20 miles away (32 km), which is a day’s walk.

About 30 yards (27 meters) from Peter’s house are the ruins of the city synagogue. Under the floor of a partially restored synagogue from the fourth century are the foundation stones of the first-century synagogue that the Bible says a Roman centurion helped fund. Here, too, is where Jesus so astonished people with his teachings and healing that “news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee” (Mark 1:28).


Anger	Money
“Settle your differences quickly” (Matthew 5:25).	“You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

Revenge	Assets
“Do not resist an evil person” (Matthew 5:39).	“Don’t store up treasures here on earth…. Store your treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19–21).

Judging	Worry
“The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:2).	“I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear” (Matthew 6:25).

Enemies	Prayer
“Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:44).	“Don’t babble on and on…. Your Father knows exactly what you need” (Matthew 6:7–8).

Charity
“Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others” (Matthew 6:1).

JESUS’ MOST FAMOUS SERMON

THE BEATITUDES

TROUBLING SOUND BITES

SERMON HIGHLIGHTS