The 6th Sunday after Epiphany

This week, we get our last little taste for this year of Jesus' first major episode of teaching in the gospel of Matthew, known as the "Sermon on the Mount."  This week's section is one of the most difficult and challenging sections of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus seems to be setting impossible standards for his followers.  But perhaps that's the point.  A 'narrow path', a true and radical alternative to what seems reasonable, easy, or normal, may very well be the point, because there can actually be life and grace in holding to a higher standard. The teachings in this week's reading are, at their core, a call to see the humanity in one another first and foremost, treating one another with the grace we would want for ourselves.