Lecture

Jesus of Nazareth, nearly two thousand years ago, spoke these words:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

These words are found today in the gospel of Matthew. I read from 5:3–12 from the New International Version. These words are the beginning of what has come to be called Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It is one of five key messages that occupy a full chapter or more in the gospel of Matthew; and his is the only gospel that is designed that way. These messages appear in chapters 5–7, the full text of the Sermon on the Mount; in chapter 10, a sermon on missions; in chapter 13 (except for the very last verses), a sermon on parables in parables, we might say; in chapter 18, the themes of humility and forgiveness; and chapters 24–25, the sermon on the Mount of Olives, about the end of times—some people combine this with nearly the entire chapter of chapter 23 of His woes to the scribes and Pharisees—just like there were five books of Moses, five books of the law.

Some commentators have seen Matthew as having these five major blocks of sermons to show Jesus as a new Moses or one greater than Moses. Matthew is, after all, the gospel that most stresses Jesus’ teaching, and particularly His ethical teaching. And it was interesting that in the earliest centuries of church history Matthew’s was the most popular gospel precisely for that reason: people wanted to know how God wanted them to live perhaps a little bit different from our world. Today, years ago, I once heard a sermon in which the pastor said, “If Jesus were giving this today, somebody would package it and publish it.” I heard this so long ago, it was said about a record album, but we could do it with a DVD today, that this would be the best of Jesus. Matthew himself recognizes that this is uniquely authoritative teaching as chapter 7, as the sermon concludes in verses 28 and 29, says this: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority and not as the teachers of the law.”

But of course the teachers of the law had authority. So what does Matthew mean? The ancient rabbis who were the successors of the Pharisees and scribes of the early first century always taught by referring back to Scripture to support their viewpoints or by quoting earlier rabbis. Jesus never quotes an earlier rabbi. And most of the time, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, when He does quote Scripture, it’s to contrast His teaching with it. That reflects a uniquely authoritative attitude.

But chapter 4, at its end, introduces the Sermon on the Mount, and therefore the Beatitudes, by saying that Jesus’ ministry of teaching was also part of His wider ministry of traveling throughout Galilee—this is 4:23—“teaching in their synagogues [to the people of Galilee], proclaiming the good news of the kingdom [there’s the teaching ministry], and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Not that He healed every sick person, but He healed every kind of disease that He was confronted with (chapters 8–9) in a unique organization found only in Matthew grouped together: ten major miracles of Jesus. And those two chapters end with a similar refrain in 9:35, where “Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” Matthew puts an inclusio, a framing device, around the Sermon on the Mount and a collection of ten great, powerful, and authoritative miracles to show . . . how Jesus taught with authority and worked in miracles with authority. If we then focus in just on the Sermon on the Mount, we see signs of careful organization every place we turn to. There are, in fact, nine beatitudes that I read at the beginning of the sermon. If there’s one thing they have in common, it’s the sense that Jesus is blessing those who have values very countercultural to the world of His day that could suggest to some, like the Essenes in ancient Israel, that Jesus’ followers should form a holy huddle retreat into community, but He immediately provides the teachings about them being salt of the earth and light of the world.

No, they are to live these countercultural values out in full view of their world. Well, how does that fit in with the law? That still seems very countercultural. And so the thesis statement (a short paragraph that summarizes the point of Jesus’ sermon and indeed of His ethics more generally) is that this is a greater righteousness even than the scribes and Pharisees have. And that means things are going to be different in some respects with respect to the law, with respect to the law of Moses, six antitheses or contrasts where Jesus says, “You have heard it said of old, . . . but I say to you” then to illustrate the new law, the new teaching of the new Moses, if you like, three examples of true versus hypocritical piety: common Jewish practices of fasting and almsgiving and praying. And tucked into the teaching on prayer is the Lord’s Prayer that we cherish and use widely to this day.

Then come three teachings that contrast right and wrong attitudes toward possessions, not something we should worry about [haha]. A greater righteousness looks for seeking the kingdom of God first (as verse 33 puts it). And then “all these things shall be added unto you.” In 7:1–12, we have three examples of how to treat others first, not in an overly judgmental way. And then, treating them as God treats us, wishing to give them good gifts, eagerly followed by what appears to be the closing of the main of the sermon in 7:12, the famous golden rule to “do to others as [we] would have them do to [us],” because this is the summary of the law as Jesus understands it, as He brings fulfillment in the new age. The sermon concludes finally with three illustrations—the narrow path with a narrow gate leading up to it, the wide path with its wide gate; those who produce good fruit, and those who don’t; and those who are built on a good foundation, and those who are not—to say with all the diversity of people in our world, basically it boils down to, Are you going to follow Jesus or not?

That’s the outline. That’s the framework for understanding the Beatitudes. And we’ll unpack that in our next video.