The Sermon On The Mount
An introduction to the teachings of Jesus for people who already think they know.
Author: Randy Pritts
The Sermon on the Mount, given by Jesus, as recorded by His disciple Matthew, is perhaps the most familiar religious text singularly in the world today. Several religions/cults recognize it as most representative of Jesus' teachings, though there is a diversity of opinions held as to what these teachings actually mean. I wonder though, given the frequent divergence of interpretation, if the words being formed that evening from the lips of Jesus mean the same things intended by the time they reach our ears and get filtered down by our presuppositions and bias.
It is my belief that the night he gave this infamous message Jesus was fully aware that not one of these individuals, not even His twelve most trusted disciples, were in a spiritual position yet to hear and understand the message being given; He was laying the foundation for a message payload that would be fully delivered in the future after His death and resurrection and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How anyone could think that they understand this sermon without first having the keys to its' acceptance I do not understand. Every one of the people that night who first heard this, though they left that evening returning home aware of the power and authority with which Jesus spoke, each would either walk away along the course for the sayings being too hard else turn their back at His trial and crucifixion; every one of them.
Is it that the message of the Sermon on the Mount is too hard? Is that why there are so many differing views and philosophies built around it? Or is it here before us to be understood by those brought to a state in their hearts where the keys have been given to unlock and receive its' proper understanding?
I hope that you are in a state in your life where at the very least you won't take it at first glance or by what others incorrectly say about it, but that you will give it the time and the deep searching required to either accept what it is truly saying else know much better what it is that you are rejecting.
It may help to get a top down view of how the first chapter kjv@Matthew:5 is organized.
Introduction and Welcome
The introduction and welcome I will divide into two pieces:
kjv@Matthew:5:1-9 Jesus speaks to the audience of potential listeners in general.
He begins by flooding their minds with some rapid fire bullet points as a means of introduction and welcome. The repetitive theme to each is God's supreme blessing in general (those them they) upon a counterintuitive set of mistreated human heart states (poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungered thirsty for righteousness from others, calling out for mercy, disrupted. pursuing a larger peace. These individual human states are not to be looked down on, but looked for/sought out because these are the kinds of people that will possess his kingdom, who will be comforted and filled and inherit earth and receive God's ultimate mercy.
Welcome to you if you are any of that! We should all be more like that! Ey?
kjv@Matthew:5:10-16 Jesus narrows His introduction slightly to those who have at least made the trip up the hill to hear Him out, who have already considered or perhaps met with the world's mass resistance to His message (even His presence and what it represents and what He intends to bring).
Jesus repeats the idea of "kingdom of heaven" and of "righteousness" in 10 as a "they", but immediately centers our focus on "ye" and "reviling" and "persecution/saying all manner of evil falsely". We can almost sense the change in His temperament and how His words become more piercing.
My guess is that it wasn't comfortable for any one of these audience members to come this distance for this purpose on this particular evening. They were there most likely because they were this "poor of spirit" or this "mourning" or "meek" or "hungry/thirsty for righteousness", this "crying out for mercy" or this "trying find a pathway for building a reasonable peace". Desperate times bring about desperate measures. Israel at that time was in a desperate state; oppressed, depressed, a violent outpost on the frontiers of first the Babylonian then the Persian then the Greek now the Roman Empire. And the religious establishment was just as failing and corrupt. Where were these well intentioned but already meeting resistance "those who" desperates to go?
Well they climbed the mount one evening to listen upon one miraculous healing man Jesus.
Welcome to you if you are any of that! We should all be more like that! Ey?
Introduction - Settling in a little deeper.
Now that we are somewhat seated in the cool breeze on the hillside - before we move on into heart of the message, I think it wise to settle in a little deeper into the introductory "welcome" parts of this evenings' message.
Our world today really isn't all that much different. There are plenty of people out there that Jesus would be calling to that are what this intro is calling "poor of spirit". People that know this world far to well and know that something (a lot of things) about this world just aren't right. People who tried best they can to figure it out enough to fit in, do their part in fixing it, but really this world is bankrupting them all the more they try of their spirit/their identity/their resolve and will power/their disposition and vital essence. "Poor in spirit" best describes it. Religion likely has left them and trying to fit back in to such a heartless puzzle seems just a joke.
There are plenty today also that are "they that mourn". In the struggle they have lost someone, perhaps to war, perhaps to violence, maybe drugs or to depression or unwarranted experimental drugs being mandated or.... There is a whole lot of mourning, not just for neighbors and loved ones, but for mankind as a whole, for men and women past present future that because of universal sin and universal death that have no other choice but to endure this.
People more and more are being made to be meek. As government gets bigger and bigger and authoritarian, as education becomes more collective, as media becomes more one sided and censoring, so the individual and small businesses and minorities effectively become more meek. This of course is a false or imposed upon meekness. "We the collective will determine what is right and what are all the answers because you can't get it right" they impose, when clearly they don't and neither do you; well perhaps that is the best rationalization of meekness.
People today are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, an equity of character or act. They search for it from their governments, from their economies, in their court houses, on their streets. If you bury yourself deep enough in your own safe corner of the world, it might all seem right until one day or night when that seemingly righteous is stolen away from you, you or someone is raped/crippled by a drunk in their car etc... For others, their is no hidding place, unrighteousness has hounded them and their ancestors for years and years now. They speak out and protest, but none of the safely buried onlookers seem to ever listen.
People today cry out for mercy, just as they did in the past. Let's then ask "where shall the mercy they seek come from"? From the courts? From the politicians? From the high priests? From the rich and over privileged? Who then shall answer this call with enough mercy for it to be substantial and life altering?
People today would wrestle about this "pure of heart". The heart here in the original Greek language is pointing to the center of one's identity including the powers of reason/affections/intentions/restraints/imaginations. While we would agree that there are many good people, it would be hard to say any single one of them is objectively pure.
Section 2
Section 3
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