Jesus sits down
and says to burdened people,
Blessed.
Blessed?
Under Rome?
Under law?
Under shame?
Under the endless need to prove ourselves?
They know the weight of commandments,
the crushing pressure of getting it right.
And Jesus says:
I have not come to abolish the Law,
but to fulfil it.
Not a dot will be lost.
No wonder they slump in the dust.
We know that dust too—
the right job,
the right image,
the right address,
the tired attempt
to justify ourselves.
It does not free us.
It crushes us.
There are only two paths:
our own effort,
or Jesus’ way.
Mr Guo had one mission in life:
to find his son.
He crossed China on a motorbike,
chasing tip-offs,
sleeping under bridges.
Ten motorbikes.
Twenty-four years.
Then a DNA match.
He found him.
And then came the harder work:
building trust,
building relationship.#
That is what Jesus is doing on the mountain.
He comes looking for lost sons and daughters.
He does not abolish the Law.
He fulfils it.
If you cut up the Law and the Prophets,
put every command in a box,
and shake it—
what rises is a portrait of God
that looks like Jesus.
The law foreshadows.
Jesus reveals.
As a young man I pursued my own way.
Hong Kong.
Global investment management.
Travel, responsibility, momentum.
Then in 2010, I walked away.
I was convicted by Matthew 5.
All my credits would pass.
Only Jesus would last.
I realised I was a poor manager
of what had been entrusted to me.
And I realised something better:
there is nothing I can add to Jesus,
nothing I can subtract from him.
Only receive.
Grace.
Undeserved favour, yes—
but also power.
God’s strength at work in us.
What the law could not do,
God has done in Christ.
By faith.
For all who believe.
Jesus carries what crushes us.
He lifts the rock from our shoulders.
He sets us free.
So what now?
We become vessels of grace.
Salt. Light.
When people encounter us,
they should taste something of Christ—
grace upon grace.
That is why Jesus goes deeper:
not only murder, but anger.
not only adultery, but lust.
not only legal words, but truth.
not only surface behaviour, but the heart.
He wants to make us righteous,
not merely managed.
If this finds you in failure—
in anger, addiction, brokenness, divorce—
I am sorry.
Jesus fulfilled the Law for you.
Ask forgiveness.
Receive grace.
Begin again.
Choose grace.
Choose Jesus’ way.
Always.
Original message by Sean Tan, The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
22 February 2025
The Afterword 
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