The Sermon On The Mount
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
Our outline of Matthew's Gospel presented Matthew 1:1--4:16 as Part One which introduces Jesus of Nazareth. The genealogy tells us who he is; his birth of the Spirit tells us who he is; the coming of the Wise Ones portends who he is; his baptism tells us who he is; and his temptation in the wilderness tells us who he is.
Part Two of our outline of Matthew begins in 4:17: "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' " This section of Matthew which we entitled "The Ministry of Jesus to Israel and Israel's Repudiation of Jesus" (Kingsbury) opens with the ministry of Jesus. In chapters 5-7 we hear the heart of Jesus' teaching. In chapters 8-9 we witness the many deeds of Jesus' ministry. Matthew presents Jesus Christ to us as the One who brings in the kingdom in his teaching and preaching. In the latter part of this section of the Gospel Matthew presents Israel's response to Jesus' words and deeds. Needless to say, Israel is not presented as a model of reception for the words and deeds of the Messiah, Son of God!
The first four chapters in Matthew have built to a climax as they present to us Jesus Christ. We now know who Jesus is. We're ready to hear what he has to say. We're ready for his ministry to begin. And begin it does--with the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew carefully has been setting the stage for the centerpiece of his presentation of Jesus: the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount will be Matthew's first detailed report on Jesus' public ministry. Matthew permits nothing to overshadow it or even compete with it. The Sermon on the Mount sets its stamp on the whole of Matthew's Gospel. Everything so far has been leading up to it. The entire rest of the Gospel will flow from it, and the resurrected Jesus will underscore its centrality, its primacy, its foundational character, in his solemn charge to his disciples at the end (28:19).1
The Revised Common Lectionary appoints seven of these texts from the Sermon on the Mount for Sundays in the "Year of Matthew." Those texts and their appointed days are as follows:
Matthew 5:1-12
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:13-20
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:21-37
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:38-48
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Ash Wednesday
Matthew 6:24-34
Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday Between May 24 and 28.
Proper 3
Matthew 7:21-29
Sunday Between May 29 and June 4.
Proper 4
Our approach in this work is on the narrative connections in Matthew's telling of the Jesus story. In the Sermon on the Mount we encounter Jesus' teaching. This is not narrative material! This is teaching material. Sermons on these texts, therefore, will be primarily didactic in character. We will, therefore, offer no "Homiletical Directions" for the seven texts from the Sermon on the Mount. You are advised to consult standard commentaries for information concerning these texts. Study the teaching of Jesus and teach it well!
Jesus Interprets the Law
It is important, however, to identify themes from the Sermon on the Mount which flow through Matthew's narrative. From these themes you may wish to create narrative flow for some of your Sermon on the Mount preaching. We will begin this approach to Matthew by undergirding the theme of Jesus as Teacher.
Fundamentally, the teaching of Jesus envisages human conduct as it comports itself amid life in this sphere [kingdom]. By citing "teaching" ahead of preaching and healing in the summary passages (4:23; 9:35; 11:1), Matthew gives it the position of stress and invites the reader to attach special importance to it.... In substance, Jesus' teaching is the exposition of the will of God in terms of its original intention (19:4, 8).... Plainly, Jesus advances the claim in his teaching that he is the supreme arbiter of the will of God...what he teaches is of permanent validity...when it comes to teaching, Jesus alone is the one who undertakes this. Never is it even intimated that John or the post-Easter disciples teach, and when the exalted Jesus commissions the post-Easter disciples to go to the nations, it is no accident that what they are given to teach is "all that I have commanded you" (28:20).2
Jesus is the only one who teaches in Matthew's Gospel! It seems obvious that Matthew presents Jesus as a kind of new Moses. Jesus teaches on the mountain (4:8; 17:1; 28:16). His teaching is divided into five great discourses reminiscent of the five books of Moses. He teaches with authority, an authority that goes beyond Moses. Time and again in his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus cites the law of Moses and adds, "But I say to you..." (5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44).
Jesus is the new interpreter of the law. The law stands, but not as it was. The law stands in a new formulation of its function. The law is no longer that which the people serve. The people of Israel had begun to serve the law in the time of the exile. Jesus turns the law around. Humans are not meant to serve the law. The law is meant to serve humans!
The law serves us as we seek to identify the neighbor and the neighbor's need. The law is not only about us and our relationship with God. The law is also about us and our relationship with our neighbor.
The law as interpreted by Jesus puts the spotlight on the neighbor. People are more important than laws. We should not be angry with our brother, let alone determine to kill him. We should be reconciled with others (5:24). We should not think lustful thoughts, let alone commit adultery (5:27-30).
We should love our enemies (5:43-48). And so on it goes. Jesus puts the spotlight on the neighbor and rejects those ways in which human beings use the law as a guide to their own righteousness.
It would appear that Jesus is saying that righteousness is never that which exists purely in our relationship to God. Righteousness has to do with loving God and loving neighbor. Love of God and neighbor is the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees or of self-congratulatory Christians. (See also Matthew 22:34-40.) There is a way in which loving God and neighbor is the theme of the entire Sermon on the Mount. Some sections of the sermon put a focus on our relationship to God: 5:1-20; 6:1-34; 7:13-27. Other sections are focused on our relationship with our neighbor: 5:21-48; 7:1-12.
Most interpreters of Matthew see identity as a key to understanding the purpose of this Gospel. Whether Matthew writes to a group of Christians that are seeking to understand themselves over and against Jewish communities or charismatic Christian communities the notion of identity--who are we as a people?--is central to Matthew's intent. Part of Matthew's answer to the identity question is that this community is to be the people founded on true and proper teaching. "In the post-70 era the Matthean community understands that in Jesus, not in Moses or in Jewish traditions or in the claims of other revealer figures, is the definitive and authoritative manifestation of God's will."3
Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets! (5:17)
It is not the Mosaic law in and of itself that has normative and abiding character for disciples, but the Mosaic law as it has passed through the crucible of Jesus' teaching.4
The exalted Jesus, resurrected from the dead, is the community's one Teacher and one Master, and the centerpiece of his teaching is the Sermon on the Mount.5
Jesus' Word of Blessing
The Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus' word of blessing upon the disciples. These words are so familiar to us that we can easily miss their power. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." So we begin. The kingdom that Jesus came to bring (4:17) is indeed at hand. Those poor in spirit are pronounced to be members of the kingdom.
The kingdom, we note, begins in the indicative mood.
"You are!" Not, you might be. Not, you can be a member of the kingdom if you do this or that. Not, you should strive to be. Simply, you are! This is a powerful word of gospel proclamation right at the beginning of this sermon. Imperatives will follow. But the imperatives must grow out of the indicatives. A sound tree, that is, bears good fruit (7:15-20). Good fruit grows on good trees. Good works are the fruits of the lives of those who are blessed . Hearing turns into doing for those who hear the word of God's blessing (7:24-27). The imperative of neighbor love is carried out by those whom God pronounces blessed (indicative).
Jesus' indicative word of blessing is pronounced over the least likely folk of all. Mourners are blessed. The meek are blessed. Those who hunger for righteousness are blessed, and so forth.
To such belong the kingdom of God. To such! To the "little ones" (10:42; 18:6; 10:14); to the "least" (11:11; 25:40, 45). There is a powerful transformation of values taking place here. We don't normally associate the glories and wonders of a kingdom, even the kingdom of God, with the "little ones." This is an affront to every mighty kingdom on earth. Who wants a kingdom made up of such people? Who? God! God in Jesus Christ pronounces blessed, pronounces kingdom place, to the little ones. The beatitudes turn the world upside down. The beatitudes proclaim the graceful nature of God in a most incredible way. God's grace, God's blessing, is the only way to life in the kingdom. First, we must be blessed by God in Jesus Christ. Grace is first. Grace is always first!
The Law and the Prophets
Jesus is the true teacher of the law. In his teaching he attempts to demonstrate for people that his teaching is that which fulfills both the law and the prophets.
After pronouncing his blessing on the "little ones" Jesus says clearly: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (5:17). What does it mean to fulfill the law and the prophets? Jesus puts the matter clearly in 7:12: "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." Neighbor-love is that which fulfills the law. That's what Jesus appears to be saying in his version of the Golden Rule.
In Matthew 11 Jesus would appear to point to himself as the One in whom the law and the prophets are fulfilled. "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah..." (11:13-14). The people of Israel expected Elijah to come to prepare the way for the day of the Lord: Malachi 4:5. Jesus implies here that John the Baptist prepared his way! Jesus stands at the end of the line. He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
Jesus' teaching is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. One day the Pharisees came to Jesus to ask him about the law. They had many laws, of course. But which was the greatest law? That's what the Pharisees debated. That's what they wanted to find out from Jesus. What did he think? Jesus said:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:38-40).
Jesus quotes the Hebrew Scriptures in giving forth this answer. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Love God and love your neighbor. This is the fulfillment of the law. This is the structure of the Sermon on the Mount, as we have already indicated. Some sections of this sermon deal with our relationship to God. Other sections deal with our relationship with other people.
Kingsbury argues that for Jesus love is the fulfillment of the law.
Is there a center to Jesus' radical teaching concerning the life of the greater righteousness, the law, and, in general, the will of God? The answer is yes, and this center is "love." ...Jesus advances no less a claim than that keeping the law or doing the will of God is always, in essence, an exercise in love. That "love" is the deepest intention of the will of God as taught by Jesus is also apparent from other passages in Matthew's story.6
The story of the rich young ruler is a story in which love of God and neighbor are set forth as the good thing one can do to enter eternal life. The rich one who asked about eternal life, however, did not like the answer. He was not prepared to sell all that he had in order truly to love God and neighbor (19:16-30).
In his pronouncement of woe upon the Pharisees Jesus finally calls them to stop neglecting the weightier matters of the law which are justice, mercy, and faith. "It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others" (23:23). Matthew 23 stands almost as a parallel story to the story of the blessing theme in Matthew 5. In chapter 23 the word from Jesus' mouth is woe, not blessing. A series of woes. A series of blessings. There is much at stake in the life of the kingdom. Blessing and woe are at stake. Judgment and life are at stake.
Again, Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. We might be able to put some of these stories together in narrative form in order to create this reality in the minds of our people. We dare not stray, however, from the reality that it is the word of blessing from God that will empower our love for our neighbor. Indicative precedes imperative.
The Righteousness of God
Another theme that runs through the Sermon on the Mount is the theme of righteousness. (See the discussion in Chapter 5.) Jesus allowed John to baptize him. "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" (3:15). Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is the righteousness of God. We touched upon this theme in Chapter 5.
Hear Robert Smith:
The one indispensable fruit of the Spirit desired by Jesus is righteousness. Righteousness may be defined now as hearts set on the will of God, on love toward God and toward the neighbor, and even toward the enemy. But the reality of righteousness surpasses easy definition. Matthew spends 28 chapters describing its contours and singing its praise.7
We note that in the Beatitudes Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (5:6). He blesses as well those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (5:10). In discussing the fact that he has come to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill the law and the prophets, Jesus calls his followers to a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). The remainder of the Sermon on the Mount may well be a description of this "exceeding" righteousness of which Jesus speaks!
One of the biggest problems with the righteousness of Matthew's opponents (whether the opponents be Jewish or Christian) is the matter of hypocrisy, 6:5. This word in Matthew may mean that one is "under judgment" due to an inconsistency, a double mindedness by which people are convicted by their own standards. "It is this inconsistency, this double mindedness, this hypocrisy, this lack of integrity which Matthew sees as the problematic human condition...."8
David Rhoads proposes four types of hypocrisy in Matthew: (1) inner motives contradict outward actions; (2) inner attitudes are the opposite of the outward appearance of righteousness; (3) people act morally in some situations but not in others; (4) the inconsistency between relating to God one way and treating others another way. These types of hypocrisy are all present in Matthew's narrative.
Etymologically, the Greek word for hypocrisy means actor! Acting is just what Jesus describes in chapter 6. Righteousness is put on public display by those practicing a false righteousness.
Matthew holds forth for a kind of hidden righteousness. True righteousness is a secret matter between one and God (6:4, 6, 18). The truly righteous one is one whose left hand doesn't know the righteousness being done by one's right hand! (6:3)
Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven..." (7:21). This is borne out in the parable of the judgment day story in Matthew 25. For the truly righteous ones in that parable, their acceptance into the blessings of the kingdom on the basis of their good deeds comes as a surprise. "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?" (25:37). The issue is clear. Righteous people do not know their own righteousness. Their righteousness is hidden from their eyes. It is a secret. This is the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees!
Those who are judged in this Matthew 25 parable are those crying out, "Lord, Lord, when did we not see you and come to your aid?" They cry out, "Lord, Lord." They are very sure of their deeds. They have counted on their deeds of public righteousness. The judge on the last day does not see this as righteousness at all. Neither did Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus calls upon his hearers to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" (6:33). Kingdom and righteousness are inseparable. The One who brings the kingdom has been introduced to us already in Matthew 1 as "God with us" and as the one who will save us from our sin (1:21, 23). Those who receive Jesus receive the kingdom. Those who receive the kingdom receive the power of the kingdom. Those who receive the power of the kingdom are enabled to live lives of righteousness. Those who receive the kingdom are blessed. Blessed are you! "As God lays healing hands on the universe and makes it 'all right' again, human beings are freed and made whole to live anew as trusting children in a family of love."9
Hearing and Doing God's Word
The Sermon on the Mount closes with a parable about a wise man who builds his house on a rock (7:24-27). Such is the case with those who hear and do God's word. Hearing, they do. Hearing, they are blessed. Blessed are you! That's what Jesus says. Jesus' word turns to deed. The hearing is done. The blessing is real. The heart is open. This is life firmly grounded on the rock.
There is another way. There are always two ways. Isn't that what this whole sermon is about? Blessings. Woes. Two ways. Secret righteousness. Public righteousness. Two ways. Hearing and not hearing. Two ways. Hearing and doing, and life is solid. Not hearing and not doing, and life is built on sand.
At the end of this great sermon we hear again of the indicative of grace. God speaks blessings. We hear. The Spirit drives this word deep into our lives. We do what we hear. The imperative of love gushes forth from the indicative of grace.
"Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes" (7:28-29). (Cf. the endings of the other four blocks of material in Matthew: 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1.) With these words the sermon ends. Jesus' teaching was teaching with authority. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (28:18). His word of blessing has authority! It changes us! It equips us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (28:19-20).
In the Gospel of Matthew it is only Jesus who teaches. "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher" (Matthew 23:8). As heirs of his teaching we are commanded to become teachers ourselves. We teach what he commanded. We are blessed to be a blessing. We speak his authoritative and creative word in order that people might hear and do the gospel.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 76.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), pp. 62, 63, 64.
3. Warren Carter, Matthew: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), p. 87.
4. Kingsbury, op. cit., p. 65.
5. Smith, op. cit., p. 78
6. Kingsbury, op. cit., pp. 66-67.
7. Smith, op. cit., p. 81.
8. David Rhoads, "The Gospel of Matthew. The Two Ways: Hypocrisy or Righteousness," Currents in Theology and Mission 19:6 (December 1992), p. 456.
9. Smith, op. cit., p. 119.
Part Two of our outline of Matthew begins in 4:17: "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' " This section of Matthew which we entitled "The Ministry of Jesus to Israel and Israel's Repudiation of Jesus" (Kingsbury) opens with the ministry of Jesus. In chapters 5-7 we hear the heart of Jesus' teaching. In chapters 8-9 we witness the many deeds of Jesus' ministry. Matthew presents Jesus Christ to us as the One who brings in the kingdom in his teaching and preaching. In the latter part of this section of the Gospel Matthew presents Israel's response to Jesus' words and deeds. Needless to say, Israel is not presented as a model of reception for the words and deeds of the Messiah, Son of God!
The first four chapters in Matthew have built to a climax as they present to us Jesus Christ. We now know who Jesus is. We're ready to hear what he has to say. We're ready for his ministry to begin. And begin it does--with the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew carefully has been setting the stage for the centerpiece of his presentation of Jesus: the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount will be Matthew's first detailed report on Jesus' public ministry. Matthew permits nothing to overshadow it or even compete with it. The Sermon on the Mount sets its stamp on the whole of Matthew's Gospel. Everything so far has been leading up to it. The entire rest of the Gospel will flow from it, and the resurrected Jesus will underscore its centrality, its primacy, its foundational character, in his solemn charge to his disciples at the end (28:19).1
The Revised Common Lectionary appoints seven of these texts from the Sermon on the Mount for Sundays in the "Year of Matthew." Those texts and their appointed days are as follows:
Matthew 5:1-12
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:13-20
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:21-37
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:38-48
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Ash Wednesday
Matthew 6:24-34
Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday Between May 24 and 28.
Proper 3
Matthew 7:21-29
Sunday Between May 29 and June 4.
Proper 4
Our approach in this work is on the narrative connections in Matthew's telling of the Jesus story. In the Sermon on the Mount we encounter Jesus' teaching. This is not narrative material! This is teaching material. Sermons on these texts, therefore, will be primarily didactic in character. We will, therefore, offer no "Homiletical Directions" for the seven texts from the Sermon on the Mount. You are advised to consult standard commentaries for information concerning these texts. Study the teaching of Jesus and teach it well!
Jesus Interprets the Law
It is important, however, to identify themes from the Sermon on the Mount which flow through Matthew's narrative. From these themes you may wish to create narrative flow for some of your Sermon on the Mount preaching. We will begin this approach to Matthew by undergirding the theme of Jesus as Teacher.
Fundamentally, the teaching of Jesus envisages human conduct as it comports itself amid life in this sphere [kingdom]. By citing "teaching" ahead of preaching and healing in the summary passages (4:23; 9:35; 11:1), Matthew gives it the position of stress and invites the reader to attach special importance to it.... In substance, Jesus' teaching is the exposition of the will of God in terms of its original intention (19:4, 8).... Plainly, Jesus advances the claim in his teaching that he is the supreme arbiter of the will of God...what he teaches is of permanent validity...when it comes to teaching, Jesus alone is the one who undertakes this. Never is it even intimated that John or the post-Easter disciples teach, and when the exalted Jesus commissions the post-Easter disciples to go to the nations, it is no accident that what they are given to teach is "all that I have commanded you" (28:20).2
Jesus is the only one who teaches in Matthew's Gospel! It seems obvious that Matthew presents Jesus as a kind of new Moses. Jesus teaches on the mountain (4:8; 17:1; 28:16). His teaching is divided into five great discourses reminiscent of the five books of Moses. He teaches with authority, an authority that goes beyond Moses. Time and again in his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus cites the law of Moses and adds, "But I say to you..." (5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44).
Jesus is the new interpreter of the law. The law stands, but not as it was. The law stands in a new formulation of its function. The law is no longer that which the people serve. The people of Israel had begun to serve the law in the time of the exile. Jesus turns the law around. Humans are not meant to serve the law. The law is meant to serve humans!
The law serves us as we seek to identify the neighbor and the neighbor's need. The law is not only about us and our relationship with God. The law is also about us and our relationship with our neighbor.
The law as interpreted by Jesus puts the spotlight on the neighbor. People are more important than laws. We should not be angry with our brother, let alone determine to kill him. We should be reconciled with others (5:24). We should not think lustful thoughts, let alone commit adultery (5:27-30).
We should love our enemies (5:43-48). And so on it goes. Jesus puts the spotlight on the neighbor and rejects those ways in which human beings use the law as a guide to their own righteousness.
It would appear that Jesus is saying that righteousness is never that which exists purely in our relationship to God. Righteousness has to do with loving God and loving neighbor. Love of God and neighbor is the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees or of self-congratulatory Christians. (See also Matthew 22:34-40.) There is a way in which loving God and neighbor is the theme of the entire Sermon on the Mount. Some sections of the sermon put a focus on our relationship to God: 5:1-20; 6:1-34; 7:13-27. Other sections are focused on our relationship with our neighbor: 5:21-48; 7:1-12.
Most interpreters of Matthew see identity as a key to understanding the purpose of this Gospel. Whether Matthew writes to a group of Christians that are seeking to understand themselves over and against Jewish communities or charismatic Christian communities the notion of identity--who are we as a people?--is central to Matthew's intent. Part of Matthew's answer to the identity question is that this community is to be the people founded on true and proper teaching. "In the post-70 era the Matthean community understands that in Jesus, not in Moses or in Jewish traditions or in the claims of other revealer figures, is the definitive and authoritative manifestation of God's will."3
Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets! (5:17)
It is not the Mosaic law in and of itself that has normative and abiding character for disciples, but the Mosaic law as it has passed through the crucible of Jesus' teaching.4
The exalted Jesus, resurrected from the dead, is the community's one Teacher and one Master, and the centerpiece of his teaching is the Sermon on the Mount.5
Jesus' Word of Blessing
The Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus' word of blessing upon the disciples. These words are so familiar to us that we can easily miss their power. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." So we begin. The kingdom that Jesus came to bring (4:17) is indeed at hand. Those poor in spirit are pronounced to be members of the kingdom.
The kingdom, we note, begins in the indicative mood.
"You are!" Not, you might be. Not, you can be a member of the kingdom if you do this or that. Not, you should strive to be. Simply, you are! This is a powerful word of gospel proclamation right at the beginning of this sermon. Imperatives will follow. But the imperatives must grow out of the indicatives. A sound tree, that is, bears good fruit (7:15-20). Good fruit grows on good trees. Good works are the fruits of the lives of those who are blessed . Hearing turns into doing for those who hear the word of God's blessing (7:24-27). The imperative of neighbor love is carried out by those whom God pronounces blessed (indicative).
Jesus' indicative word of blessing is pronounced over the least likely folk of all. Mourners are blessed. The meek are blessed. Those who hunger for righteousness are blessed, and so forth.
To such belong the kingdom of God. To such! To the "little ones" (10:42; 18:6; 10:14); to the "least" (11:11; 25:40, 45). There is a powerful transformation of values taking place here. We don't normally associate the glories and wonders of a kingdom, even the kingdom of God, with the "little ones." This is an affront to every mighty kingdom on earth. Who wants a kingdom made up of such people? Who? God! God in Jesus Christ pronounces blessed, pronounces kingdom place, to the little ones. The beatitudes turn the world upside down. The beatitudes proclaim the graceful nature of God in a most incredible way. God's grace, God's blessing, is the only way to life in the kingdom. First, we must be blessed by God in Jesus Christ. Grace is first. Grace is always first!
The Law and the Prophets
Jesus is the true teacher of the law. In his teaching he attempts to demonstrate for people that his teaching is that which fulfills both the law and the prophets.
After pronouncing his blessing on the "little ones" Jesus says clearly: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (5:17). What does it mean to fulfill the law and the prophets? Jesus puts the matter clearly in 7:12: "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." Neighbor-love is that which fulfills the law. That's what Jesus appears to be saying in his version of the Golden Rule.
In Matthew 11 Jesus would appear to point to himself as the One in whom the law and the prophets are fulfilled. "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah..." (11:13-14). The people of Israel expected Elijah to come to prepare the way for the day of the Lord: Malachi 4:5. Jesus implies here that John the Baptist prepared his way! Jesus stands at the end of the line. He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
Jesus' teaching is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. One day the Pharisees came to Jesus to ask him about the law. They had many laws, of course. But which was the greatest law? That's what the Pharisees debated. That's what they wanted to find out from Jesus. What did he think? Jesus said:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:38-40).
Jesus quotes the Hebrew Scriptures in giving forth this answer. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Love God and love your neighbor. This is the fulfillment of the law. This is the structure of the Sermon on the Mount, as we have already indicated. Some sections of this sermon deal with our relationship to God. Other sections deal with our relationship with other people.
Kingsbury argues that for Jesus love is the fulfillment of the law.
Is there a center to Jesus' radical teaching concerning the life of the greater righteousness, the law, and, in general, the will of God? The answer is yes, and this center is "love." ...Jesus advances no less a claim than that keeping the law or doing the will of God is always, in essence, an exercise in love. That "love" is the deepest intention of the will of God as taught by Jesus is also apparent from other passages in Matthew's story.6
The story of the rich young ruler is a story in which love of God and neighbor are set forth as the good thing one can do to enter eternal life. The rich one who asked about eternal life, however, did not like the answer. He was not prepared to sell all that he had in order truly to love God and neighbor (19:16-30).
In his pronouncement of woe upon the Pharisees Jesus finally calls them to stop neglecting the weightier matters of the law which are justice, mercy, and faith. "It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others" (23:23). Matthew 23 stands almost as a parallel story to the story of the blessing theme in Matthew 5. In chapter 23 the word from Jesus' mouth is woe, not blessing. A series of woes. A series of blessings. There is much at stake in the life of the kingdom. Blessing and woe are at stake. Judgment and life are at stake.
Again, Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. We might be able to put some of these stories together in narrative form in order to create this reality in the minds of our people. We dare not stray, however, from the reality that it is the word of blessing from God that will empower our love for our neighbor. Indicative precedes imperative.
The Righteousness of God
Another theme that runs through the Sermon on the Mount is the theme of righteousness. (See the discussion in Chapter 5.) Jesus allowed John to baptize him. "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" (3:15). Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is the righteousness of God. We touched upon this theme in Chapter 5.
Hear Robert Smith:
The one indispensable fruit of the Spirit desired by Jesus is righteousness. Righteousness may be defined now as hearts set on the will of God, on love toward God and toward the neighbor, and even toward the enemy. But the reality of righteousness surpasses easy definition. Matthew spends 28 chapters describing its contours and singing its praise.7
We note that in the Beatitudes Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (5:6). He blesses as well those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (5:10). In discussing the fact that he has come to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill the law and the prophets, Jesus calls his followers to a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). The remainder of the Sermon on the Mount may well be a description of this "exceeding" righteousness of which Jesus speaks!
One of the biggest problems with the righteousness of Matthew's opponents (whether the opponents be Jewish or Christian) is the matter of hypocrisy, 6:5. This word in Matthew may mean that one is "under judgment" due to an inconsistency, a double mindedness by which people are convicted by their own standards. "It is this inconsistency, this double mindedness, this hypocrisy, this lack of integrity which Matthew sees as the problematic human condition...."8
David Rhoads proposes four types of hypocrisy in Matthew: (1) inner motives contradict outward actions; (2) inner attitudes are the opposite of the outward appearance of righteousness; (3) people act morally in some situations but not in others; (4) the inconsistency between relating to God one way and treating others another way. These types of hypocrisy are all present in Matthew's narrative.
Etymologically, the Greek word for hypocrisy means actor! Acting is just what Jesus describes in chapter 6. Righteousness is put on public display by those practicing a false righteousness.
Matthew holds forth for a kind of hidden righteousness. True righteousness is a secret matter between one and God (6:4, 6, 18). The truly righteous one is one whose left hand doesn't know the righteousness being done by one's right hand! (6:3)
Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven..." (7:21). This is borne out in the parable of the judgment day story in Matthew 25. For the truly righteous ones in that parable, their acceptance into the blessings of the kingdom on the basis of their good deeds comes as a surprise. "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?" (25:37). The issue is clear. Righteous people do not know their own righteousness. Their righteousness is hidden from their eyes. It is a secret. This is the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees!
Those who are judged in this Matthew 25 parable are those crying out, "Lord, Lord, when did we not see you and come to your aid?" They cry out, "Lord, Lord." They are very sure of their deeds. They have counted on their deeds of public righteousness. The judge on the last day does not see this as righteousness at all. Neither did Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus calls upon his hearers to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" (6:33). Kingdom and righteousness are inseparable. The One who brings the kingdom has been introduced to us already in Matthew 1 as "God with us" and as the one who will save us from our sin (1:21, 23). Those who receive Jesus receive the kingdom. Those who receive the kingdom receive the power of the kingdom. Those who receive the power of the kingdom are enabled to live lives of righteousness. Those who receive the kingdom are blessed. Blessed are you! "As God lays healing hands on the universe and makes it 'all right' again, human beings are freed and made whole to live anew as trusting children in a family of love."9
Hearing and Doing God's Word
The Sermon on the Mount closes with a parable about a wise man who builds his house on a rock (7:24-27). Such is the case with those who hear and do God's word. Hearing, they do. Hearing, they are blessed. Blessed are you! That's what Jesus says. Jesus' word turns to deed. The hearing is done. The blessing is real. The heart is open. This is life firmly grounded on the rock.
There is another way. There are always two ways. Isn't that what this whole sermon is about? Blessings. Woes. Two ways. Secret righteousness. Public righteousness. Two ways. Hearing and not hearing. Two ways. Hearing and doing, and life is solid. Not hearing and not doing, and life is built on sand.
At the end of this great sermon we hear again of the indicative of grace. God speaks blessings. We hear. The Spirit drives this word deep into our lives. We do what we hear. The imperative of love gushes forth from the indicative of grace.
"Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes" (7:28-29). (Cf. the endings of the other four blocks of material in Matthew: 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1.) With these words the sermon ends. Jesus' teaching was teaching with authority. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (28:18). His word of blessing has authority! It changes us! It equips us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (28:19-20).
In the Gospel of Matthew it is only Jesus who teaches. "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher" (Matthew 23:8). As heirs of his teaching we are commanded to become teachers ourselves. We teach what he commanded. We are blessed to be a blessing. We speak his authoritative and creative word in order that people might hear and do the gospel.
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1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 76.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), pp. 62, 63, 64.
3. Warren Carter, Matthew: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), p. 87.
4. Kingsbury, op. cit., p. 65.
5. Smith, op. cit., p. 78
6. Kingsbury, op. cit., pp. 66-67.
7. Smith, op. cit., p. 81.
8. David Rhoads, "The Gospel of Matthew. The Two Ways: Hypocrisy or Righteousness," Currents in Theology and Mission 19:6 (December 1992), p. 456.
9. Smith, op. cit., p. 119.
