the Sermon on the Mount calls us as individuals to examine our lives at their deepest levels and to work strenuously on our own, ongoing transformation. It is a handbook for disciples who wish to shape their interior lives in such a way that, no matter what the practical daily functions of a community of disciples may look like, the disciple’s personal ethic and behavior remains consistent with the character of God’s kingdom and righteousness. Jesus may not teach anything like an Emersonian version of self-reliance, but he does teach us to take responsibility for our individual lives before
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