This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

The Old Testament encouraged the poor to eat from
the edges of farmers’ fields when they were hungry.

Jesus and his disciples take
advantage of this law and pick

some heads of grain as they walk
by an open field on the Sabbath.

But the Pharisees took issue with this.

They had added extra laws alongside
the Old Testament.

These additions included restrictions
on gathering grain on the Sabbath.

The Pharisees were so strict on their Sabbath
commandments that they objected when

Jesus healed a man’s
deformed hand on a Sabbath.

Jesus points out their deep misunderstanding about
God’s laws, which are meant to give life, not withhold it.

In their zeal to obey the law, the Pharisees
had lost sight of the purpose of the law—

to empower God’s people to love God
and love their neighbor.

Jesus rebukes the
Pharisees for their hypocrisy.

Jesus then calls twelve disciples
together at a mountain, and from there

he comes down the mountain
and begins teaching the crowds.

In this, Jesus mirrors Moses, who gathered
the twelve tribes of Israel at Mount Sinai

and came down
with the law of God.

As Jesus delivers the law, he highlights
the upside-down nature of God’s Kingdom

—one that brings blessing to the poor, hungry, and
weeping but judgment on the rich, full, and happy.

Like Moses, Jesus underscores that love of
neighbor is the clearest evidence of love for God.

Jesus says that healthy people are
like healthy trees—they bear fruit.

When we hate our enemies, refuse to
be generous, are stubborn to forgive,

or always expect a favor
for a favor, we show that

we are not God’s people because, ultimately,
we have not loved God.

God gave the law in the Old Testament to
bring blessing and life, but no one could keep it.

Worse, the Pharisees had exchanged the
purpose of the law for rote obedience,

at the expense of the
needy in their community.

The law was good, but it could not produce
people who could carry it out.

But Jesus is the bringer of a better law.

He fulfills the entire purpose of the law
by upholding all of it, and he does what

the law could never do by becoming
the pathway to a renewed heart.

Jesus isn’t just offering a better
interpretation of the law; he’s presenting
himself as the better law.

He calls people to come to him,
hear his words, and do them.

Like a house built on a solid
foundation, those who

do what Jesus says will
dwell secure and be blessed.

The storms of life aren’t able to
overcome a house firmly built on a rock.

But for those who hear and do not obey, they are like
a house that is built on the sand, just waiting to fall.

Jesus is the firm foundation, and
he invites those who call him “Lord”

to bear fruit that shows their
allegiance not only to a written code,

but to the flesh and blood life of
love manifested in Jesus himself.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see
the God who gives us laws to bless us.

And may you see Jesus as the one who
is the true and better law that leads to life.