056. Chapter 35 - The Sermon on the Mount

Chapter 35 - The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 3:1-17;Matthew 4:1-25;Matthew 5:1-48;Matthew 6:1-34;Matthew 7:1-29;Mark 3:13-19;Luke 6:12-49 The Time and the Place

Efforts to arrange the records of this section of Jesus’ ministry in chronological order are hound to be conjectural. None of the writers offers a strict chronological narrative. Matthew places the Sermon on the Mount earlier in his Gospel but he evidently uses a topical arrangement, grouping together examples of the teaching and of the healing ministry of Jesus. He places the Sermon on the Mount to the forefront as the keynote sermon of His early ministry and a superb example of His preaching. Mark does not record this sermon and hence offers no assistance in determining the time of its delivery. Luke furnishes the data upon which is based the usual placing of the sermon at this juncture in the ministry of Jesus. All three Synoptics agree in affirming a retirement of Jesus after this Sabbath controversy. All declare that tremendous crowds followed Him and that He continued His ministry in the open country. Mark and Luke place the selection of the twelve apostles at this time and Luke places at the same time the so-called “Sermon on the Plain” which is so similar to the Sermon on the Mount that they are usually identified. Luke really locates the sermon on a mountain, for he describes how Jesus spent a night in prayer on an isolated mountain peak and then came down “to a level place” (presumably some natural amphitheater on the plateau) and delivered this message. The Preaching Methods of Jesus The problem as to whether Matthew and Luke have given free reports of the same sermon or more accurate records of similar sermons causes one to reflect on whether Jesus was accustomed to repeat His messages. We know that He had a number of favorite sayings which He frequently uttered. The logic of effective preaching as well is the needs of many new people in His audiences on different occasions would naturally lead Him to repeat in varying forms some of the same fundamental messages which all should hear. Most of the time the preaching of Jesus was spontaneous in the sense that the sermon of the day was a direct answer to a question or a criticism; or an explanation of a miracle, a situation, or a problem. This made His preaching timely in the highest degree and caused His audiences to be constantly on fire to hear His pronouncement upon the subject which had arisen. At times, however, He came with a set message which was in no sense suggested by the events of the day. Examples of this type of preaching are the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon in Parables (Matthew 13:1-58). Was Jesus a Preacher? The idea is sometimes advanced today that Jesus was not a preacher, in the modern sense, but that He was merely a teacher. His audiences were free to interrupt with a question, and His speeches were as informal as the classroom lectures of a college professor today. This is evidently true of many of the speeches of Jesus as the recorded interruptions show. But the Gospel writers discriminate carefully between two types of public address which Jesus used: preaching and teaching. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease” (Matthew 4:23). While much of the ministry of Jesus was devoted to teaching, there were those times when He addressed the throngs in thrilling and majestic sermons. There is no indication of any interruptions during the Sermon on the Mount. The people were so filled with awe at the authority and sublime majesty of His utterance that they could talk of nothing else as they went down the mountain side at the close of the service. On what other basis can modern critics contend that Jesus was not a preacher but only a teacher? Is it argued that Jesus did not use the complex, flowing, oratorical periods and perorations of the orators of Greece and Rome? The pompous style of the orator, Tertullus (Acts 24:2-8), and the flowing oratory of Paul’s sermons do show entirely different styles from that indicated in the speeches of Jesus. But this is not to say that Jesus was not the Sublime Preacher as well as the Great Teacher. Will someone arise to assure us that the immortal Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln is not really an address because it is couched in simple language and is devoid of ornate construction? Jesus spoke to men with the simplicity of heaven, hut the emotional depths of some of His fervid appeals and the startling grandeur of many of His exalted sermons cause His utterances to stand apart, without parallel and beyond all comparison. Can anyone produce a more stirring combination of withering sarcasm, thundering denunciation, gracious thanksgiving, heartbroken, intense appeal, and tender invitation than pours forth in rapid succession in the sermon of Jesus on John the Baptist and the Unbelief of the Generation? (Matthew 11:1-30). Matthew opens his report of the Sermon on the Mount by saying that Jesus “sat down” and “taught them.” But neither the calm posture of Jesus nor the simplicity of speech furnishes ground for affirming that this was really not a sermon. The circus gymnastics and the violent, uncouth utterance of many modern pulpiteers can hardly be said to furnish adequate criteria for the definition of a sermon. Jesus usually sat as He addressed the people, but this was not always true: “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). The restrained manner in which Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount thrills one with the depth of thought and emotion of the Speaker. The amazing, dramatic climax with which it closes is without parallel in the literature of the world. The Foolishness of Preaching The method Jesus adopted for the conquest of the world seemed utter folly. It mystified the loyal disciples. It caused John the Baptist to doubt. It stirred the scorn of the Jewish hierarchy and brought about His rejection by the nation and His death on the cross. But time has established the divine wisdom of His ways. Military kingdoms rise and fall, but the kingdom of heaven goes on encompassing the earth. It has been eclipsed at times, but like “truth crushed to earth” it rises again conquering and to conquer. “For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God….Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Corinthians 1:21).

Jesus preached. The nation paused to listen in amazement, but stopped its ears, rejected, and crucified Him. But Jesus died preaching and rose again to send His disciples to preach. The disciples risked death to proclaim the message. and the stubborn nation yielded and came to its knees. Paul preached, and his enemies called him the man who had turned the world upside down. Preaching is the heart of Christianity. It is God’s plan or saving the world.

Whenever the church has faithfully obeyed the final command, “Go preach my gospel,” Christianity has prevailed. Whenever the church has gone to sleep and failed to raise its voice, or become fearful and talked in whispers, or, Judas-like, has betrayed its message, the light has been dimmed and the world slipped into the valley of shadows. Has a pulpit lost its power today? Not when Christian martyrs, instead of craven cowards or selfish worldlings, stand in the pulpit. Whenever the gospel is proclaimed, victory is nigh. When the churches substitute theatrical performances, pie suppers, and pool tables for the preaching of the gospel, then downfall is inevitable. When the husks of philosophical and scientific speculation, modernism, and infidelity are substituted for the gospel, God’s people are starved and the kingdom suffers defeat.

Natural Amphitheaters The Sermon on the Mount delivered to the vast, assembled throng leads one to reflect upon how Jesus managed to make Himself heard and understood by so many thousands. open-air amphitheaters often supply marvelous acoustics. The narrow valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim where Joshua read the law to the whole nation is a good illustration. Jesus seems to have selected carefully the amphitheater in which the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. This was doubtless true of many similar occasions, as when the five thousand were fed. At other times the circumstances gave little opportunity for choice of location for His preaching in the out-of-doors. William Jennings Bryan probably had the most remarkable voice of any modern orator. How many times when some local celebrity, chosen to introduce him, had attempted in vain to make himself heard even though he shouted frantically, Bryan would arise to stir ten thousand people with his calm but powerful tones. John the Baptist must have had a wonderful voice. Isaiah described him as “A voice crying in the wilderness.” The voice of Jesus must have been inimitable. The rapt attention with which the people listened must have added many thousands to those who could hear distinctly. The Power of Personality

Personal magnetism plays an important part in the effect of a public address. The biographers of Jesus make no effort to describe this phase of His preaching, although the effects of His divine personality are continually in evidence. Isaiah in describing the Messiah had said, “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). But this does not necessarily mean that Jesus was ugly and misshapen in form and feature, but rather that .the humble character of His birth and life and His whole approach to men was so devoid of pomp and circumstances and so full of the simplicity of heaven that the worldly-minded were not attracted to Him. No artifice of manner and appearance nor stratagem of speech was used to add mysterious glamour to One who needed no worldly devices. How often a speech credited with thrilling a great audience appears cold and lifeless upon a printed page. The skillful finesse of personal delivery, rather than any momentous import of the thought, had produced the effect. But the words of Jesus have stirred the ages. As we read the Gospel narratives we immediately feel again the matchless power of His person and of the divine truth He reveals. We cannot paint a satisfying picture of how Jesus appeared in towering utterance or tender exhortation. How His eyes must have flamed and His whole being glowed with the divine fire of love for lost men! If it was true of Stephen when he arose at his trial to speak and to die for his Christ, that they “saw his face as it had been the face of an angel,” how much of veiled glory shone in the face of Jesus as He preached to the multitudes?

Limitations of the Sermon The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest statement ever made on the general subject of religion and morals. It is at once profound and practical. It offers full and final discussion of some of the most elemental and persistent problems concerning our relation to God and to our fellow men. However, in regard to some of these problems, it gives only a preliminary statement. The gospel is based upon the divine person of the Son of God and the divine program of redemption through His death and resurrection. Quite obviously all of this could not be clearly stated as yet. Peter’s sermon at Pentecost offers the necessary complement to the Sermon on the Mount. It is not intimated in any way that Jesus has given a complete statement of His message in this opening sermon. It is not to be isolated from the rest of the teaching of Jesus, but must be joined inseparably with it.

Outline of the Sermon

Jesus discusses in quick succession certain of the natural questions in the minds of His hearers and certain of the universal problems of mankind. The Characteristics and Mission of the Ideal Disciple (Matthew 5:3-20); The Relation of the Gospel to the Law: Murder, Adultery and Divorce, Swearing, Revenge, and Attitude toward Enemies (vv. 21-48); Common Faults of Worship such as Vain Display in the Giving of Alms and in Praying and Fasting (6:1-18); Warnings against Hoarding of Earthly Treasures and Appeals for Trust in God (vv. 19-34); Exhortations to Generous Conduct toward Others (Matthew 7:1-12); Solemn Command to Accept the Gospel as the Means of Eternal Salvation (Matthew 7:13-27). The Sermon on the Mount presents the highest ideals of living the world has ever received, in the most beautiful language ever conceived. It opens with a series of sayings which sum up the ideal life of the Christian and it closes with a passionate appeal to the world to accept and follow these ideals and thus build on the rock instead of the sand. It gives this beautiful view of the ideal life, swiftly contrasts the teaching of Jesus with the law and then presents the all-encompassing love of God which will uplift and sustain us if we will obey Him. It should enable us to see clearly the absolute perfection of Jesus’ teaching, the universality of its application to every life, the universal failure of mankind to attain to these ideals, and our dependence upon God’s love for forgiveness and help.

Emphasis on the Inner Life This sermon and, in fact, the whole teaching of Jesus and His inspired apostles place a profound emphasis on the inner life. The Old Testament occasionally gives forth such a sweeping challenge as “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” But the Old Testament system was one of innumerable regulations and ceremonies which were the prolific ground for the growth of formalism. The prophets cry out in protest against the empty form which carries out the letter, but has no life. But Jesus gave the supreme declarations on the final importance of the inner life. Notice how completely the Beatitudes centralize on the spirit: “Poor in spirit,” “mourn,” “meek,” “hunger and thirst after righteousness, “merciful,” “pure in heart,” “peacemakers,” “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Again, in the criticisms of the Old Testament law which follow, Jesus emphasized the inner life, making the thought and intent to do evil as sinful as the deed itself. It is not enough to avoid murder, but we must not hate. Adultery is to be shunned, but lust also must be crushed. Evil words and deeds rise out of the heart. We must guard the heart as the very citadel of life. Jesus passes from the negative to the positive phase of this teaching. Good deeds and true worship must rise out of the heart. If they do not, they are mere forms and selfishness, and find no recognition with God.

Fundamental Contrasts

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased” might well be written over the Sermon on the Mount as a text. The whole message breathes love and mercy, but it is no mere sentimental outpouring. It is far from being spineless. It places the glory of God first; it subordinates peace among men to obedience to God. It urges peace among men, but it provides for war. It shows men the way to peace, but warns that there is no peace for those who defy God. The last Beatitude offers a ringing conclusion to the group and the last two Beatitudes give lucid and powerful expression to the fundamental contrast of the sermon: peace and war. Matthew 5:9 breathes peace, good fellowship, reconciliation, and love: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.” But the final Beatitude talks of hatred, abuse, violence, persecution, and death: “Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:11). in Matthew 5:9, the disciple is pictured as giving his life to the cause of harmony and reaching out in love to get his fellow men to live in peace. In Matthew 5:10-12, he stands forth in full armor wielding the sword of the Spirit, fighting with a song on his lips, fighting to the death if need be. Thus the heart of the entire sermon is made clear: implicit and absolute devotion to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The result should be “peace on earth among men in whom he is well pleased” but it is bound to be spiritual warfare with those in the service of the devil. The prophets fearlessly arraigning the wickedness of Israel, and suffering persecution and death as a result, are represented as the pioneers blazing the path for the disciples. Peace and war: peace on earth, the persistent ideal and the great objective of human endeavor which is to be sought by forgiveness of personal wrongs and reconciliation of personal differences; war on earth, the constant and terrible reality: war with the devil and his cohorts which is to allow no cessation of hostilities; but demands loyalty to God and His truth regardless of the consequences; and promises joy amid the conflict and eternal rewards at its close.

Jesus’ Attitude toward the Law At the outset of this sermon, Jesus outlined His attitude toward the Old Testament law. He introduced a general statement that He was not undertaking to destroy the law. This denial was timely because: (1) the Jewish nation would expect Him, in the light of His revolutionary teachings and methods, to make clear His attitude toward the law; (2) this general statement is an introduction to some sweeping criticisms of the law; (3) the conflict between Himself and the Pharisees would suggest that He was destroying the law. This subject remained the major source of contention during His whole ministry and furnished the primary charges at His trial and crucifixion. Through the centuries it has remained a subject of misunderstanding anti discussion. Both the Catholics and Protestants have gone astray in this field. The modernist, with his customary perversity, holds that Jesus and Paul are the two separate sources of Christianity, and that they are in complete and irreconcilable contradiction. They maintain that Jesus was a Jew who lived under the law, revered and taught the law and had no thought of setting it aside; and that Paul hated the law, and, of his own initiative and in violent contradiction to Jesus, repudiated the law and set up Christianity on an independent basis. Even a cursory study of the Gospels will show that this theory is a rope of sand. Catholicism is a hopelessly confused mixture of Christianity, Judaism and heathenism. Protestantism has shaken off these shackles only in part. One of the great contributions of the Restoration Movement has been the insistence on rightly dividing the Word of truth. The relation of the Old and New Testaments is the elemental problem here. Alexander Campbell’s “Sermon on the Law” is a document so revolutionary as to deserve a place with the great pronouncements of Luther, Calvin, and Wesley. A great need of the Christian world today is the clear recognition that we are not under the law, but the gospel; that the law was nailed to the cross and passed out of force when the new will was probated at Pentecost; that the whole Old Testament law in its abiding features is included in the great principles of life upon which Jesus established Christianity: (1) love God with all your heart; (2) love your neighbor is yourself, do to others as you would have them do to you; (3) follow Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Everything in the realm of morals and religion is included here in its supreme form. The Epistles of the New Testament argue this powerfully. The Epistle to the Hebrews is completely devoted to this discussion. But a close study of the life and teaching of Jesus will show that this whole position is not to be attributed to Paul alone, but to Jesus. The full and complete revelation was given to Paul, but Jesus clearly intimates during His ministry the passing of the law. His declaration that not one jot or tittle of the law is to pass away is joined immediately to the phrase, “till all things be accomplished.” The implication is that the law is to pass away when its purposes are fulfilled, and He declares in the same breath, “I came...to fulfill.” The view that He merely deepened and emphasized the law in the Sermon on the Mount will not bear investigation. His teaching on oaths, hating enemies and retaliation does not deepen, but revokes, the Old Testament. In the case of divorce, He absolutely sets aside the law.

Methods and Motives The central portion of the sermon strikes hard at hypocrisy of all kinds. Jesus passes from a discussion of evil deeds to be avoided to that of the manner in which good deeds are to be done. After declaring in such astounding fashion that God considers the man who harbors murder and adultery in his heart, as guilty of the deed, He turns to explain how a bad motive vitiates a good deed. We are to watch the motives from which our good deeds spring and keep them pure even as we guard against evil thoughts and intent which lead to wicked conduct. The Greek word for hypocrites means (1) a play-actor, (2) a pretender or deceiver. We usually consider a hypocrite as a rare specimen who is seldom met. But a hypocrite is the genus homo. We are all hypocrites at some time or in some degree. Whenever we commit a sin and try to hide it or pretend to be wiser or better than we are, we play the hypocrite. The Pharisees were flagrant offenders, but the warning should be heeded by every man. The Pharisees did not actually sound a trumpet before they did a good deed, but they might as well have done so. They furnish an extreme and repulsive example of a universal weakness of humanity. We like to “show off.” The praise of them is sweet to our ears. We can hardly hold our tongues and refrain from telling the world how good and how wise we are, and what good deeds we have done. But God sees, and that should be sufficient. And the world will see and glorify God. Boasting may bring some praise from men. But such praise is base alloy. The pure metal is given only to the humble and sincere.

Mechanical Religion

Jesus warns us against the peril of indulging in mechanical worship. He concentrates upon the danger of prayer offered in a mechanical way. But the same principle applies to all of our religious life. Baptism, unless it be accompanied by the profound spiritual experience of faith and repentance, is a mere form. When Jesus was baptized He was praying. The Lord’s Supper brings condemnation to those who make it a mere form, not discerning the Lord’s body. The prayer of a little child, “Now I lay me,” readily becomes a mere string of heads. So does the prayer of an adult who goes over the same routine of requests and words each day. Break up the routine. Pray at different times, for new things and in different order. Widen your vision. Give careful attention to what you are going to say to God before you ask for an audience. The sublime model prayer found in this sermon often becomes nothing more than a collection of phrases when mechanically repeated by congregations. Shakespeare has given impressive utterance to this principle which he learned from the Master. As the play Hamlet rises to its climax, the king, who had murdered his brother, weary of the terrifying torture of a guilty conscience, seeks relief in an unaccustomed manner. He attempts to pray. But the effort is futile. He rises from his knees in despair crying out: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” The Sermon on the Mount and the Epistle of James A close comparison of the Sermon on the Mount and the Epistle of James is a most fruitful undertaking. Professor Ropes attempts to reduce the message of James to two words: “Against Shams.” What a slashing attack on hypocrisy is to he found in this Epistle! And yet at every turn, James seems to be quoting freely and applying the incomparable words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Compare the following passages: (1) James 1:5 with Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9; (2) James 2:5 with Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20; (3) James 3:8 with Matthew 5:9; (4) James 4:4 with Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4 and Mark 8:38; (5) James 5:1-6 with Luke 6:24; (6) James 5:12 with Matthew 5:34-37. The joyful endurance of suffering and resisting of temptation; the search for wisdom from God; the simplicity of true faith in prayer; the scorn of earthly riches; the unfailing love and care of God; the great need for mercy and generosity in our dealings with our fellow men, especially in guarding our words; the folly of a sham faith and the necessity of actually doing the will of Christ; the earnest endeavor for peace with our fellow men but the urgent necessity of fighting the devil; the joyful privilege of leading lost men to light and life; all these great topics are discussed by James in a manner that is strikingly reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount. At every turn James reflects the gleams of divine light from this great utterance of Jesus. The Parables of the Sermon

We are accustomed to think of Jesus’ sermon in parables (Matthew 13:1-58) as the beginning of this method of teaching and preaching. While this sermon was a surprising departure from His previous method in that the sermon was given completely in parables without explanation, this general method is seen in the sermons of Jesus from the beginning and is clearly illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount. It closes with the parable of the house built on the rock. It contains a marvelous collection of brief, undeveloped parables, sometimes called “Germ Parables.” They are more than mere figures of speech or comparisons. They reveal one of the fascinating characteristics of the sermon as they suggest so much more than is said and lead the mind to complete and apply in detail the parable which is suggested. This is always a hidden source of power in effective preaching. The picture of men knocking at the gate of heaven for admittance; the orchard being purged of the worthless trees by the husbandman; the masquerade of false prophets like wolves cunningly concealing their identity from the sheep they desire to destroy; the parable of the two gates and the two ways of life and death; all these searching comparisons are made in the last fourteen verses of the sermon. The preceding sections offer a like amount of exquisite or harrowing illustrations. Here is another line of contact between the Epistle of James and this sermon. The ordinary scenes of nature are the prolific source of illustration in both: the flowers of the field, the birds of the air, the animals of the field, the fountain of water, the fruit of fig and vine, the rain, the moth and rust that consume.

Humor in the Sermon

There is little of the sound of laughter in the Bible. It is a life and death message from heaven to earth. Such a message does not allow much room for mere humor. The serious and tragic aspects of life fill the mind of each messenger who stands forth to speak for God. It is natural that a historical narrative should recount some humorous situations that were inextricably bound to the salient facts and events. A comical illustration is the excited conduct of the girl Rhoda who forgot to open the door and then stood arguing with the members of the church gathered in the night assembly, while Peter kept knocking desperately for admittance (Acts 12:14-15). Such humor as is found in the speeches of the Bible is usually confined to penetrating sarcasm. There is never the effort to create a laugh or to be funny. If something humorous is said, it has a profoundly serious point. Even the amusing fable of Jotham (Judges 9:7-21) was a stinging indictment of the murderers who must have listened in impotent rage to the sarcasm of Jotham. We never read of Jesus’ laughing and yet we are sure that He must have smiled often and laughed occasionally for this is a part of the natural perfection of manhood. There is even in the majestic sweep of this great Sermon on the Mount an occasional glint of humor which, if it did not cause the audience to laugh, at least communicated itself in a subtle manner from the Speaker to His hearers. The touches of humor consist in extremely exaggerated comparisons. “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). A mote is a tiny speck of straw or dirt; a beam is a saw-log or rafter of a house. The picture of a man with a saw-log in his eye offering to remove the speck of straw from his neighbor’s eye is so exaggerated as to be full of pungent humor. “When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.” Here, again, is an exaggerated figure of a man blowing a trumpet before he performs a good deed, which reveals a type of humor so effective as to set going through the ages, the adage: “Blow your own horn.” “Neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.” No one, of course, ever really attempted to feed pearls to hogs. The figure is so extreme as to be ludicrous but it is so pithy and trenchant that the reader can never forget man’s bestial contempt and wanton destruction of spiritual things in his crazed haste to secure worldly trifles. The Close The most astounding feature of this sermon is its dramatic conclusion. Where else in all literature is to be found a great sermon with an ending so negative, tragic, disastrous? “And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the flood came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:26, Matthew 7:27). Hear the wild, rushing roar of the storm as blinding lightning pierces the night sky! See the swift destruction descending upon the heedless! Hear the crash of falling timbers and stones and the shrieks of those caught in the toils of their own folly!