Sermon on the Mount, part 13

Ask for wisdom

 ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
‘Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Mat 7:7-12)

The law and the prophets that Jesus did not come to abolish is the underlying principle of ‘do no harm to a neighbour’ (Rom 13:8-10) or ‘do unto others what you would have them do unto you.’ On this point Jesus has little to say, because he is not changing it. However, when it comes to the new law prohibiting wrongs as responses to breaches of the law, it is here that we do need wisdom from God to understand, accept and follow the teaching. Putting this new law into practice may require costly sacrifices, even to the point of laying down one’s life rather than resorting to ‘justified’ wrongs to defend it.