As a conclusion to the collection of life lessons and spiritual challenges that people call The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus dropped this truth bomb in the lap of each person who likes to call him a great teacher and leave it at that.
You know the kind of person I mean: "I'm not really a religious person, but I think the world would be a better place if we all paid attention to how Jesus talked about loving our neighbor and getting along."
While I agree that Jesus talked about loving our neighbor ... even to the point of calling it the second-greatest commandment ... I'm not so sure the phrase "getting along" fully summarizes what he meant.
I mean, the same Jesus who said "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) also said "Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) So don't think you can fully understand Jesus in the space of a single sentence.
Besides, it's not about intellectual assent or curious contemplation. Jesus doesn't intend for us to hear his words and mentally agree with him, as if to say, "That's really good to think about."
He intends for us to do something about it.
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Truth is... Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of this verse in The Message makes it pretty clear: "If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach."
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