The first thing I need to say is to point out that the story today picks up right where we left off last time. Jesus was sitting somewhere near the Sea of Galilee teaching a large crowd of people who had come to hear him. Along with the usual people who lived and worked in the villages and towns around the sea, there was a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who had been sent up from Jerusalem to check this Jesus out and determine if he was going to become a problem. So far, they had taken a lot of notes. Jesus started off with those lines we call the Beatitudes, eight things that Jesus said people needed to do if they were going to be one of his followers. In short, they all simply said that if you want to follow Jesus and be true to God, you needed to do everything exactly opposite of what…