And now we get into the meat of Jesus' teachings. He goes up a mountain and instructs His Followers. Up first are the "Blessed are..."s. Of note, Jesus says God blesses the "peacemakers", not just the peaceable. That takes some effort on your part.
Jesus then has some strong instructions on divorce. No divorce, unless it is for unchastity, because that makes the woman an adultress. Anyone who marries a divorced woman is an adulterer. (Verses 31-32) So take that Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich the next time you bloviate on marriage.
Jesus then has a lot of instructions to his followers regarding being submissive to authority, the evil done against one (turn the other cheek), defending lawsuits. Hmmm, the people I see that pound the Bible the hardest don't seem to follow many of these. Just my observation, though.
Jesus also notes that the sun shines on the good and the evil and the rain falls on the just and unjust. (Verse 45) Your reward is not on this earth, that's not the reason to lead a righteous life. As a side note, this is one of my favorite observations from the Bible.
Asimov is still on Jesus' ancestry. He notes that for Matthew to get to his number of fourteen direct ancestors from David to Jesus, he left out some kings that clearly are in David's bloodline and are in the OT.
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