Bible Study with Tod
Text: Matthew 5:13-20 (from the Common Lectionary readings for February)
Setting the scene:
Our passage comes early in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus opens his talk with mild easy-to-swallow Beatitudes. Then having seized his listeners’ attention with these dynamic images of salt and light, he boldly declares requirements of God’s Law.
Reading the text:
Read all 8 verses of the text, trying to consider each word. Now, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Open your eyes and read the text again. Try reading it aloud, hearing the words.
Reflect with Questions: What is the Word of God saying to you?
- What does it mean to let your light shine before others?
- How have you let your light shine in the past?
- How will you let your light shine today, or in the next few days?
Going deeper… Re-reading the text:
Read verses 17-20. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Open your eyes and read the passage again, aloud perhaps, listening to the spoken words.
Reflect with Questions: What is the Word of God saying to you?
- How do you reconcile what Jesus says here with his actions later on, remembering that he does not always keep himself ritually pure and even openly defies the Law, e.g. Jesus touches lepers and the dead, associates with unclean women and works on the Sabbath? What about his disciples who, also, transgress from the Law, the Torah?
- What meaning do you make of this?
- How does this apply to us today in?
- Jesus teaches his disciples a new way of being (‘A new commandment I give unto you…’). What are the essentials of your faith?
- How do you live by these essentials?
- What relationship have you to these essentials?
- Do you keep them?
- How do you think God feels when you do not keep them?
- What happens when you don’t keep them?
- What do you do to get your life back on track after you have fallen short?
- The Torah, the Law, sets limits and boundaries upon the lives of God’s people, the Jews. How do limits and boundaries help children? Adults?
- What are some boundaries in your life?
- How are those boundaries helpful or hurtful?
- How do you feel about those boundaries?
- What are the important boundaries of your faith? Which boundaries are essential?
- What are some boundaries in your life?
Prayer suggestions:
- Thank God for speaking to you through this Bible passage.
- Thank God for specific boundaries that are helpful in your life.
- Put before God areas of growth for yourself.
-Reprinted from our Church Magazine
