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This week we are going to read the most radical thing that Jesus ever said. Jesus says a lot of great things. But this is world-changing, mess-with-your-head, everybody's-going-to-hate-this, radical. It's so good. And it's part of the pattern that we saw established last week. Jesus is revealing to his followers the principles behind the Old Testament laws. This Law was given to the ancient Hebrew people as they came out of slavery in Egypt, for their own well-being and as a testimony to the other people groups who lived around them.

Before we hear our text this morning, I'd like to drop back for a minute and think again about what the Bible is and why we bother reading it together. This is the holy record of one particular people's experience of God in their individual and corporate lives, as they interpret and reinterpret God's presence and actions in their situations. Over the course of thousands of years, Christians have accepted it as an authority for our individual and corporate life.

This morning we have another reading from the prophets, this time the prophet Isaiah, first a story and then a prophecy. In order for it to make sense, let me give you a little background. After the kingdom split into north Israel and south Judah, things continue to degrade until 721 BC when Assyria invades the northern kingdom of Israel and destroys it. After that the southern kingdom of Judah pays tribute to Assyria so they don't get invaded. Eventually they get tired of that and make a pact with their old enemy Egypt and rebel against Assyria.

For the next four weeks we will be reading from the prophets. Prophets in the ancient Afro-Asiatic world were messengers, delivering words from God to the people. Sometimes these are words of warning, sometimes they are words of comfort, usually they are a combination of both. The prophets we are reading from are referred to as the classical prophets. They aren't miracle workers and they speak mainly to the common people, instead of to the king and the power brokers. Sometimes they do strange things, called prophetic acts, to make a point.

Our Scripture reading for this morning might not be very familiar to you. It's a rather obscure story and has several parts to it. We are only going to read a small portion of it. After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom he ruled split into south and north. The southern portion is called Judah, and the northern portion retains the name Israel. The main action of today's story takes place in Israel. But it starts in far away. It starts in the country of Aram, the city of Damascus, which is modern-day Syria. Because this story is backwards from what we think should happen.