Matthew chapter 7, we are teaching through the sermon on the mount, which is

Jesus' vision for the kind of life that is possible if we apprentice under him

as our rabbi. If we organize our life around three goals to be with Jesus, to

become like Jesus, and to do what he did. That is what it means to apprentice

under or just in our language to follow Jesus. And we're nearing the end, it's

Matthew 5, 6, and 7. We left off a few weeks ago with Bethany in verse 11, let's

read the next line, verse 12. So in everything, due to others, what you would

have them, due to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets. Read that out

loud with me. So in everything, due to others, what you would have them, due to you,

for this sums up the law and the prophets. There's a story from the first

century about two rabbis, rabbi Shema and rabbi Halal. Rabbi Shema was the

more kind of closed off and conservative, a bit more grumpy of the two. While Halal

was the Portlander, he was more open and progressive, went to Berkeley, something

like that. And as you can imagine, there was a running feud between the two. And in

this story, a Gentile traveler comes to visit Israel and goes straight to Rabbi

Shema first. And he says, if you can tell me the whole Torah, well I'm standing on

one foot, I will convert and worship the God Yahweh or whatever. And in one

telling of the story, Shema is so angry at his blasphemy that he takes a stick

and starts to beat the man and chase him away. So the man goes then to Halal. And

same question, if you can tell me the whole Torah, well I'm standing on one leg,

I will convert. And Halal says this, what is hateful to you, do not do to your

neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. How good is that? Now

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