Quotes from Scot McKnight

There are no options here: Jesus calls his followers to be people of reconciliation. In fact, he warns his followers of final destruction if they walk away from that path.

Some people read the Bible as if its passages were Rorschach inkblots. They see what is in their head. In more sophisticated language, they project onto the Bible what they want to see.

we must learn to distinguish moral discernment from personal condemnation.2 This distinction—the ability to know what is good from what is bad and to be able to discern the difference versus the posture of condemning another person—enables us to see what Jesus prohibits in this passage.

the consistency of the Old Testament warnings for the covenant community formed a natural bridge to the New Testament warnings.

Jesus is the gospel-shaped King. There is no other messianic story like the one Jesus told and lived.

I'd like to suggest that the Golden Rule is perhaps the most potent political weapon we Christians have today. And I don't say this because I'm Anabaptist but because empathy is at the bottom of the Golden Rule. If we as Christians with a faithful witness would set the example, not by way of reaction but by way of reasoned empathy, we might set the tone for more shalom in our world.

The gospel is capable and designed to strike home in every culture, in every age, and in every language.

Perhaps it is easiest to define "meek" by saying Jesus was meek: "for I am gentle [same word as our beatitude] and humble31 in heart" (11:29). Moreover, in entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus fulfilled an Old Testament expectation of the meek king (21:5).

John Wesley said this well: "The judging that Jesus condemns here is thinking about another person in a way that is contrary to love."3

Knowing God's love, knowing God's goodness, and learning to embrace those attributes of God prompt us to pray.

Yahweh is the sort who sticks with what he is stuck with.

If we as Christians with a faithful witness would set the example, not by way of reaction but by way of reasoned empathy, we might set the tone for more shalom in our world.