Sermon: Is Jesus Smart?

We readily say we have tremendous love and respect for Jesus. We think of Jesus as our savior, the divine God, a wise teacher … but typically we don’t think of Jesus as “smart.”

We don’t tend to rely on the advice of Jesus when it goes about living our daily lives. The booming market of self-help books, TED Talks lectures and memoirs from business and political leaders is driven by our desire to find ways to improve our lives and to be successful. When we think of smart people, we think of people like Albert Einstein or Steve Jobs. Meanwhile, we leave Jesus to Sunday morning.

But Jesus tells us to leave our lifestyle and follow him, and his early disciples did just that. In Matthew, Jesus gives us a guidebook of how to get along with people, how to see yourself as God sees you, how to pray, how to love and how to not get trapped by wealth. But before we get there, we have to be open to the fact that maybe Jesus knows what he’s talking about.

Sermon