Ep. 174 - From Sinai to the Beatitudes: The New Moses and the New Law
Mass Readings for February 8, 2026
This week, Jesus ascends the mountain and delivers his most famous sermon—ushering in a new law that echoes Moses, but sets the bar even higher. We’ll unpack the Beatitudes, peeling back layers of ancient Greek, historical context, and spiritual paradox, to discover why “blessed” doesn’t always mean what we think. Then, we’ll fast-forward to Jesus’ call for us to be salt and light—what does that really mean for our everyday lives, especially as laypeople in a secular world? Listen in and see how nothing in life, not even suffering, can block the path to happiness when we’re close to Christ.
Diving deep into our Gospel we'll spend our episode looking closer at:
How Matthew’s Gospel sets up a striking parallel between Jesus and Moses, with both seen as liberators passing through water and ascending a mountain to bring a new law, and how the phrase “going up the mountain” appears 24 times in the Greek Old Testament, usually about Moses [07:29]
How the practice of sitting to teach, which Jesus adopts at the Sermon on the Mount, signaled authority in first-century Judaism and is still echoed today when the Pope sits to declare a saint [12:32]
The hidden structure of the Beatitudes, with the first and second sets containing exactly 36 words each in Greek, and how this division underlines a profound spiritual symmetry [15:10]
Why the Greek word “makarios,” used for “blessed” in the Beatitudes, actually refers to the blissful state of the gods—free from toil and suffering—and then is astonishingly used by Jesus to describe those enduring hardship and persecution [17:08]
That salt in the Old Testament was so precious Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with it, how it symbolized loyalty, purity, and covenant, and what it means when Jesus says, “if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?”—an actually absurd rhetorical question [40:01]
The ancient Christian letter to Diognetus and its vivid claim that what the soul is to the body, the Christian is to the world, showing just how essential your everyday witness truly is [45:16]
References
“The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith in Christ.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1966)
“The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it: ‘We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1718)
Makarios “basically means ‘free from daily cares and worries’, ‘prosperous’, and was used of the blessed state of the gods, who neither toiled nor suffered.” (Davies 431)
Regarding makarios, it is “not part of a wish and to not invoke a blessing. Rather they recognize an existing state of happiness or good fortune.” Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, Anchor Bible (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), p. 553.
"When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Deuteronomy 9:9)
"At the time of the Babylonian conquest of Judea, ninety percent of Judeans would have been counted among the poor; Persian tax policy resulted in another situation of dramatic poverty after the Exile. It was no longer possible to maintain the older vision according to which the righteous prosper and poverty is a consequence of a bad life." (Benedict XVI 75)
"This term [’poor in spirit’] figures in the Qumran scrolls as the self-designation of the pious." (Benedict XVI 74)
“Before the crowds hear the Messiah’s word they are the object of his compassion and healing. Having done nothing, nothing at all, they are benefited. So grace comes before task, [...] healing before imperative. The first act of the Messiah is not the imposition of his commandments but the giving of himself. Today’s command presupposes yesterday’s gift.” (Davies 427)
"What the soul is to the body, the Christian is to the world.” (Epistle to Diognetus)
Leviticus 2:13 and Ezekiel 43:24 tell us that salt is added to sacrifices in the temple.
Numbers 18:19 and Leviticus 2:13 speak of the salt of the covenant.
2 Kings 2:19–22 speaks of the prophet Elisha using salt to purify bad drinking water.
Exodus 30:35 tell us that salt is mixed with incense and therefore is called pure and holy.
Ezra 4:14 talks about taking salt with someone as a sign of loyalty.
“For I seem to myself to see this city [Rome], the light of the world and the citadel of all nations.” (M. Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Literally Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A., ed. C. D. Yonge (Medford, MA: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden., 1856), 322.)
“The Mishnah includes an entire division on the subject titled ‘Ṭohoroth’ (cleannesses) that continues for nearly two hundred pages and includes eleven tractates [...] It includes tractates on vessels, tents, immersion pools and hands, but not hearts.” (Bailey 83)
Bibliography
Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008.
Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. Translated by Adrian J Walker. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Davies, W. D., and Dale C. Allison Jr. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. International Critical Commentary. London; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004.
Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009.
Discussion Questions
Katie discusses the parallelism between Moses and Jesus presented in the Gospel of Matthew. Why do you think Matthew wanted to draw such strong connections between these two figures? How does understanding this influence your reading of the Beatitudes?
In the episode, the Beatitudes are referred to as a portrait of the "New Law" given by Jesus. How is this New Law different from the Old Law, and what role does the Holy Spirit play in this distinction?
The Greek word "makarios" is used repeatedly in the Beatitudes, signifying a type of happiness or blessedness. How does the Biblical definition of happiness in the Beatitudes differ from today's popular understanding of happiness?
Katie mentions that the first and eighth Beatitude promise the same thing: the kingdom of heaven. What is the significance of this “inclusio?” How does it frame the other Beatitudes?
When talking about suffering, Katie asserts that “nothing that happens to you in life is an obstacle to happiness, so long as you have Jesus.” How does this perspective challenge common attitudes toward suffering and hardship?
The episode highlights the importance of being “poor in spirit.” Why is this quality positioned at the beginning of the Beatitudes, and how do you interpret its spiritual significance?
According to Katie, Jesus first offers healing and compassion before calling people to action or commandments. What does this say about the nature of discipleship and spiritual transformation?
The metaphors of salt and light are used to describe the role of disciples in the world. What practical implications do these metaphors have for living out the Christian lay vocation today?
The Letter to Diognetus describes Christians as being “in the world but not of the world,” animating society like the soul animates the body. How can Christians meaningfully apply this image in their daily lives and interactions?
Katie challenges the audience to consider the paradox that one can mourn or suffer and still be happy in Christ. In what ways have you experienced or witnessed this paradox, and how might it serve as a witness to others?