# Matthew Chapter 5 (Part 2)
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## Summary (Recap)
Jesus goes up the mountain sits down to teach his disciples. He commences with the beatitudes, offers metaphors to explain how the Hebrews have fallen, discusses his fulfilment of the law before offering a series of six 'culmination' statements that outline what is written and what Jesus commands.

## Imagery and Theme's
In part two I intend to focus on the first two culmination statements present within chapter five alongside claims around who Jesus disciples are, and his mission on earth. Whilst I had planned to complete the remains of this chapter in Part 2, there is too much here for me to lightly gloss over. As such I'll cover the remaining four statements another day.

We observe Jesus describe his disciples as *salt* and *light*. Salt has been associated with images of seasoning, preserving and purifying but also with powerful images of death, desolation and curse[^1]. Jesus contrasts the positive and negative potential of salt drawing attention to the worthlessness of salt that has become tasteless. In relation to *light* then deities of surrounding nations were often named after planets and considered to be light-giving. In contrast Jesus here denotes that his disciples were the *light of the world*, not God or the *son of man*. For Jesus then this light, his disciples, are an index or pointer to the divine. As such their behaviour should be consistent with the reality of what they represent.

From v17 onwards we can see that Jesus is outlining his mission to be the fulfilment of both the Law and the Prophets. This means that for those alive at the time of Jesus the law was still a requirement. This might seem an odd thing to say, but if we think back to Mark 2 where Jesus is criticised for his disciples not fasting, we might see why such a claim was warranted. Ultimately there might be some tempted to lower standards fundamentally, or see Jesus commands as licence to do as one pleases. Jesus is explicit so that there is no misunderstanding about the purpose of his involvement in human affairs.

Verse 21 onwards explores anger, a theme often linked with Fire. The metaphorical imagery around fire may be observed in its spontaneity, in the difficulty with which it is contained and in its destructive power. The contrast between the chaos and spontaneity of fire and the logical, procedural role of the Judge is stark. So is the absence of a *solution* to the problem of burning with anger. Perhaps then the purpose of this passage is not to solve the issue but instead outline the need for one's actions, or response to be appropriate. Jesus seems to suggest that consideration of how ones action will be judged by God might be sufficient motivation to avoid poor decision making.

An whilst we're talking about poor decision making...Verse 27 onwards denotes the seriousness with which one should consider adultery. That thoughts entertained about another is sufficient to have already acted inappropriately in one's heart. Given the emotional carnage to both parties (and their children) that accompanies infidelity; we can readily agree that it is better to come away scarred from an experience than to have one's life go to hell. Hence avoiding the entertainment of such idea may well prevent us from falling into such a snare.

These statements follow the pattern we already observed within the Beatitudes where the authors concern is not with the concrete. It is a move from a single minded focus on what is enacted, to the private realm of the thought life - Don't even think about dropping standards, being angry or lustful, it's as bad as the real thing. Not only is wrong-act problematic, but also wrong-think.

[^1]: See [The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery](https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Dictionary_of_Biblical_Imagery.html?id=qjEYEjVVEosC&redir_esc=y) (p.2528)