THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: INTRODUCTION

Quiz: Where is the Sermon on the Mount located in the Bible? Matthew 5-7 and perhaps Luke 6:17-49 (The Sermon on the Plain).

What kind of material does it contain? Beatitudes, salt and light saying, “you have heard it said, but I say,” practicing piety openly like hypocrites (contains Lord's Prayer), store up treasures in heaven, don't worry about tomorrow, don't judge, the parable of the man who built his house on the rock, and much more.

Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount....(choose the best two answers and discuss results)

    1. on more than one occasion.

    2. in a deliberate imitation of Moses' 10 Commandments.

    3. to show how mankind will live during the Millennium.

    4. to show how mankind will live in heaven.

    5. as guidelines to practical Christian living.

    6. to demonstrate that living according to the OT law is not sufficient to gain salvation.

    7 as an ethical ideal to strive for.

    8. to form a visible people of God.

Differing points of view concerning the Sermon on the Mount:

1. ethical teachings that are a practical way to transform society (Social Gospel) trying to make people moral without converting them.

2. a carry-over from the legalism of the Old Testament that must be rejected in favor of the Gospel of grace. I attended one church which had actually stopped teaching from the OT because of the denomination's past history of legalism.

3. a set of impossible standards that cannot be taken seriously by the church

4. a description of the ethical principles governing the world during the Millennium and therefore not applicable to today's situation (extreme Dispensationalism – This is the teaching found in the original Scofield Bible notes)

5. high standards that reveal our own weaknesses and drive us in desperation to the cross (James Boice, The Sermon on the Mount)

6. a guide for Christians on how to please God

7. Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens: “The Sermon, by its announcement and its demands, makes necessary the formation of a colony – because the Sermon, if believed and lived, makes us different, shows the world to be an alien, odd place where what makes sense to everybody else is revealed to be opposed to what God is doing among us.”

Five-Part Divisions

This view of Matthew’s Gospel is perhaps the most popular. It begins by recognition of five similar statements in the book, each of which directly follows a block of teaching material by Jesus.

“And when Jesus finished these sayings...” (7:28) ethical

            “And when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples...” (11:1) missionary

            “And when Jesus had finished these parables...” (13:53) kergymatic (preaching the good news)

            “Now when Jesus had finished these sayings...” (19:1) ecclesiastical

            “When Jesus had finished all these sayings...” (26:1) eschatological

Those who hold that these passages constitute the main structural markers for Matthew’s composition generally emphasize Jesus’ teaching ministry as the major theme of the Gospel. According to this view, Jesus is portrayed as the new Moses in his giving the fulfilled law to the people in five sermons that parallel the five books of the Pentateuch.

Unity of the Sermon: Chapters 5-7 contain exactly seven instances of the phrase “Father in heaven” and three of “heavenly father.” The outline parallels the rabbinical teaching recorded in the Mishnah (~200 AD oral law dating from Intertestamental Period): the world stands on three bases – the Law (Matthew 5:17-48), Worship (Matthew 6:1-7:6) and Deeds of Kindness (Matthew 7:7-27).

Literary Setting of Matthew's Account

A. Calling of disciples by the sea (4:18-22)

B. Healing ministry in all of Galilee (4:23-25)

C. Sermon on the Mount (Ch. 5-7)

1. Introduction (5:1)

2. Blessings (5:1-16)

                                                                3. Fulfillment of the law (5:17-48)

                                                                3'. True piety, riches and faith (6:1-34)

2'. Judgment (7:1-27)

1'. Conclusion (7:28-29)

B'. Healing ministry in Capernaum (8:1-17)

A'. Disciples who did and did not follow; sea episodes (8:18-34)

Each of the five major sections above begins with Jesus initiating a move from one location to another and concludes by describing the reaction of the disciples or the crowds.

Working outward in both directions from the Sermon, one encounters similar accounts of Jesus’ healing ministry (sections B and B') and paired episodes that take place by the sea (sections A and A'). The conclusions of these last two units provide a purposeful contrast in that Section A pictures those who leave everything to follow Jesus while in A' the people beg Jesus to leave them. An even more obvious contrast is provided between the story of Peter and Andrew who without hesitation leave their living father to follow Jesus (4:22) and the disciple who doesn’t want to leave his dead father (8:21). Importantly, the bracketing stories of Jesus' mercy (B and B') provide a useful corrective to the high moral demands of the Sermon itself. Without this framework, it would be easy to treat the Sermon on the Mount as replacing the Ten Commandments with an even more legalistic set of demands. There is an interesting parallel between C1 and C1' in that both sections contain judgment stories of something being cast down and trampled upon (see 5:13 and 7:6).

One issue regarding the Sermon on the Mount hasn't been brought up yet, the relationship of this sermon to the apparently parallel sermon found in Luke's Gospel.

Luke's Sermon on the Plain

Setting (Luke 6:17-19)

    A. Blessings and curses: four pairs (20-26)

        B. Love your enemies (27-30)

            C. The Golden Rule (31)

        B'. Love your enemies (32-36)

    A'. Blessings and curses: four examples (37-49)

Look first at how these two passages begin:

Matthew: “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.” It is not known how many disciples Jesus might have had at this early stage of his ministry.
Luke: “He went out to the mountain to pray...He called his disciples and chose twelve of them...He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people...”

Similarities:

Audience – Matthew = crowds, his disciples; Luke = crowds of disciples (and others)

Time Frame – both occur after the multitudes flock to Jesus to be healed and before the centurion's servant is healed.

Organization – both begin with beatitudes and end with the parable of the wise man building his house on a rock. Both have the Lord's Prayer near the center of the sermons, and both have contrasting blessings and curses.

Differences:

Location – Matthew's account is on a mountain while Luke's takes place on a plain, which, however, may indicate a level spot just down from the mountaintop.

Wording of Parallel Sayings – for example, instead of Matthew's eight beatitudes, Luke has four beatitudes and four curses. And some of Jesus' sayings appear in Luke in a completely different context.

Order – Matthew has the Golden Rule being given before the sayings on judging, Luke reverses that order.

Length – Whereas Matthew's version is 111 verses long, Luke's is only 33.

How do we deal with such apparent inconsistencies? Does this sort of thing bother you, and how would you explain it to others? If both are reporting the same sermon, each account is an edited version; for example, Luke is dealing with a Gentile audience so he leaves out the “you have heard it said...” section. Also, each of the evangelists may have ordered his material topically rather than chronologically. But if they are different sermons, how do we explain the similarities? Several times Jesus told the exact same story in different settings, and sometimes even put different punch lines at the end.

Luke 6:17-38 is either a shorter version of Matthew's account or an entirely different event. In either case, we will be looking at specific parallels between these two accounts in subsequent lessons.