9. the sermon on the mount, part 4

8/13/2019 9. the Sermon on the Mount, Part 4

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Lesson #9The Sermon on the Mount, Part 4

(Matthew 7: 729)


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In Lesson #8 we studied Part 3 of the Sermon on the

Mount: Six Concrete Actions to Implement the Law.

As Jesus probed the inner dynamics of the Six

Propositions in Part 2, so does he probe the motives

and means of the righteous acts in Part 3, Lesson #8.


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Lesson #9 draws the Sermon on the Mount to a

dramatic close with a rapid-fire, 3-part Call to

Action, lit by vivid imagery.

Probably drawn from a collection of Jesussayingsperhaps from the hypothetical Q

document (since none of the sayings appears in

Mark)Matthew takes a seemingly random set of

sayings and crafts them into a brilliant coda, a

glittering conclusion that reinforces the themes

introduced and developed in the previous sections.


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The Gospel according to Matthews overall

mirrored chiastic structure

A Narrative: Jesus as Messiah, Son of God (1-4)

Minor discourse: John the Baptist identifies the authority of Jesus (3:7-12)

B Great Discourse #1: Demands of true discipleship (5-7) [SERMON ON THE MOUNT]

C Narrative: The supernatural authority of Jesus (8-9)

D Great Discourse #2: Charge and authority of disciples (10)E Narrative: Jews reject Jesus (11-12)

F Great Discourse #3: Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (13)

E Narrative: Disciples accept Jesus (14-17)

D Great Discourse #4: Charge and authority of church (18)

C Narrative: Authority and invitation (19-22)

B Great Discourse #5: Judgment on false discipleship (23-25)A Narrative: Jesus as Messiah, suffering and vindicated (26-28)

Minor discourse: Jesus identifies the authority of the church (28:18-20)


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William Holman Hunt, Light of the World (oil on canvas), 1854.

[Hunts original is in the side chapel at Keble College, Oxford. A 2nd, larger copy painted

by Hunt in 1900 is in St. Pauls Cathedral, London.]


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Call to Action, Part 1

Ask . . . Seek . . . Knock . . . (7: 7-12)

1. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will beopened to you.

This 1stseries of ask . . .seek . . . knock consists of present, imperative, plural verbs in the active voice, and

the yous are 2ndperson plural pronouns. Grammatically, this sequence addresses Jesus entire audience,

forcefully commanding them to engage in a set of on-going, repetitive actions.

2. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who

knocks, the door will be opened.

The 2ndseries consists of masculine, singular, present participles in the active voice, making the on-going

commandspersonalto each individual.

3. Which one of you would hand his son a stonewhen he asks for aloaf of bread, or a

snake when he asks for a fish? Ifyou [plural] who are wicked know how to give

good gifts to your [plural] children, [then] how much more will your [plural]heavenly Father give good thins to those who ask him.

[Therefore], do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law

and the Prophets (7: 7-12).


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Detail from stained-glass window (c. 1175). Victoria and Albert Museum, London.


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Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

YIKES!!!!


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Charlotte Reihlen. Der Breite und der Schmale Weg

*The Broad and Narrow Way+, English version, lithograph, c. 1860.


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The Narrow Gate

(Matthew 7: 13-14)

Jesus metaphor of the narrow gate and the wide vs.

constricted road recalls the basic dichotomy posed by God

for the Hebrew people in Deuteronomy 30: 15-19 and

echoed by Jeremiah in 21: 8.


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The Narrow Gate (7: 13-14)

1. Enter through the narrow gate; STATEMENTA B C

C B *reversed+

2. for the gate is wide and STATEMENT REVERSED

the road broad that leads to destruction,

C B *intensified+

and those who enter through it are many.

A

3. How narrow the gate and RE-STATEMENT

B C

B *reversed+ C

constricted the road that leads to life.

And those who find it are few. CONCLUSION


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The False Prophets (7: 15-23)

The Hebrew Scriptures include three major figures:

1. Priest

The priest stands between the people and God and speaks to God

on behalf of the people.

2. Prophet

The prophet stands between God and the people and speaks to the

people on behalf of God.

3. King

The king is anointed by God to manage the affairs of God and the

people in the world.


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In the New Testament Jesus fulfills and

completes all three roles:

1. PriestJesus is our great high priest, seated at the right hand of the

Father, interceding on our behalf (Hebrews 6: 19).

2. Prophet

Jesus is the great prophet promised by God, the one who willfollow Moses and speak to us definitively on behalf of God

(Deuteronomy 18: 15).

3. King

Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19: 11-16).


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False prophets abound in Scripture!

These prophets utter lies in my name, the Lord said to me: I did

not send them; I gave them no command, nor did I speak to them.

They prophesy to you lying visions, foolish divination, deceptions

from their own imagination (Jeremiah 14: 14).

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will

judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly

power: proclaim the word . . .. For the time will come when people

will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires

and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop

listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths (2 Timothy 4: 1-

4).


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Not many of you should become

teachers, my brothers, for you realize

that we will be judged more strictly.

(James 1: 1)


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Call to Action, Conclusion

The Two Foundations (7: 24-27)


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Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount

2,000 years have passed since Jesus taught the material we have in

Matthew 5-7. Clearly, Jesus teaching raises the bar of the Law,presenting the Gold Standard of Christian ethics and morality.

But it is a bar set impossibly high. As a result, brilliant and sincere

people have made great efforts to take it seriously, while finding

ways of living with it. Historically, readers have approached Jesus

teaching in one of three ways.

1. St. Augustine, the giant of 4th-century Christendom and one of the

greatest scholars and theologians who ever lived, proposed that to

accommodate Jesus teaching to the world we live in, we should

understand its eschatological context and add interpretative

phrases that clarify its meaning, suggesting, for example, that we

should not judge othersfalsely; we should not be angry without

cause; and that we should accept Jesus teaching in spirit, if not in

actuality.


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Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount,

cont.

2. During the Middle Ages some read the Sermon on the Mount as

addressing only Jesus disciples, his select inner circle. We read, after

all, that when Jesus went up on the mountain . . . his disciples came

to him. He began teaching them . . . (5: 1-2).

St. Thomas Aquinas, the great angelic doctor of the medievalChurch, linked Jesus teaching to a program of discipline addressed to

men and women called to religious vocation as cloistered monks and

nunsJesus inner circle, as it werestriving to fulfill the Gospel

injunction to be perfect (5: 48). That was their job as spiritual

warriors. In Aquinas mind, ordinary people struggling withmarriage, family, work and day-to-day life could be content with

faith in Christ and obeying the Ten Commandments.


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cont.

During the 16th-century Reformation, Martin Luther stronglyobjected to what he saw in Aquinas thinking as spiritual class

distinction, arguing that Jesus teaching applied equally to all who

heard him, not just to his inner circle. With Martin Luther religious

vocation came out of the cloister and into the home and shop.

In countering Aquinas, however, Luther introduced another

bifurcation, that between ones private life and the body politic. The

Sermon on the Mount may apply to ones personal and family life,

but obviously it cannot apply to ones public and political life. A

society could not survive if it gave to everyone who asked and turned

the other cheek to every thug or barbarian beating down the gates.

Ultimately, both Aquinas and Luther totter dangerously on the

precipice of moral and ethical schizophrenia, an untenable place to

be.


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cont.

3. A third reading of the Sermon on the Mount takes Jesus teachingseriously as the moral and ethical requirements of the eschatological

Kingdom of Heaven, the end goal of Gods plan of redemption. As

such, all Christians should strive to emulate those standards as we

pass through a fallen world as pilgrims on the journey to our eternal

home.

In this view we are all called to be the salt of the earth and the

light of the world, shining examples of what God intended us to be,

recognizing that we will often fail in the effort, but knowing that

though our journey may be troubled, our destination is secure.


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How did Jesus audience react to the

Sermon on the Mount?

When Jesus finished these words, the crowds

were astonished at his teaching, for he taughtthem as one having authority, and not as their

scribes (7: 28-29)


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1. Although Matthew draws material from Markand from other written and oral sources, howdoes he structure the Sermon on the Mountinto a carefully planned, unified teaching?

2. What literary devices does Matthew use to make

Jesus teaching striking and memorable?3. The Sermon on the Mount presents an

impossibly high bar, the Gold Standard forChristian moral and ethical behavior. How thenshould we approach its teaching?

4. Did God purposely make the gate narrow and

the road constricted to limit the number ofpeople who enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

5. How do you distinguish a false teacher from anauthentic one?


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Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy

All rights reserved. No part of this courseaudio, video,

photography, maps, timelines or other mediamay be

reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic

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9. the sermon on the mount, part 4

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