The Bible Book

206

success are rejected as Jesus

declares that those who appear

to have been overlooked in their

present life shall receive God’s

reward in heaven.

In Jesus’s inverted vision

of the world, those who follow

Him are to be “salt” and “light,”

bringing out God’s flavor in the

world and shining God’s light into

the darkness. The purpose of the

positive attitudes and actions of

such people is that others “may

see your good deeds and glorify

your Father in heaven” (Matthew

5:16). From just a little salt and

a little light, Jesus knows that God’s

kingdom can reach the world.

A parallel with Moses

Those listening to Jesus are

predominantly Jewish, brought

up to honor and obey the Law

of Moses given centuries earlier.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT

The Roman Catholic Church of the

Beatitudes stands on a hill overlooking

the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It was built

on the traditional site of Jesus’s

Sermon on the Mount.

N

ews of Jesus and His

preaching and healing

ministry was beginning

to spread far and wide. In addition to

His band of 12 close disciples, large

crowds started to follow Jesus,

eager to hear Him teach about the

Kingdom of God and to watch Him

perform miracles.

Seeing an opportunity to

address the crowds one day, Jesus

climbs up a mountainside and sits

down, adopting the typical position

of an authoritative teacher, or rabbi.

The disciples and crowds gather

around and Jesus begins to teach.

Often known as the “Sermon on the

Mount,” His speech to the people

reads as His manifesto, announcing

how life will be in God’s kingdom.

Jesus begins by turning usual

expectations upside down in a

short passage known as “the

beatitudes.” He announces a

blessing on those who are aware

of the powerlessness of their own

lives; it is they, rather than the

strong and self-sufficient, who shall

receive a place in God’s kingdom.

Conventional ideals of wealth and

The Beatitudes

The concept of bestowing a

blessing on those who faithfully

follow God’s commandments is

familiar from the Old Testament.

However, at the beginning of

the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus

delivers His idea of “blessing”

in a different way, through eight

statements that are collectively

known as the “beatitudes,” a

word deriving from the Latin

for “blessed” (beatus).

Instead of saying “you

will be blessed if you do this,”

Jesus’s beatitudes announce

that certain people will be

blessed without condition—

specifically, the poor in spirit,

those who mourn, the meek,

the merciful, those who hunger

and thirst for righteousness, the

pure in heart, the peacemakers,

and the persecuted. Also, God’s

benchmark for blessing is at

odds with that of the earthly

world: people will not be

measured in terms of their

visible successes, but rather

by an awareness of their own

brokenness and dependence

on God for all things.

Some versions of the Bible

translate “blessed are” as

“happy are,” but Jesus’s

teaching remains the same: it

is those who are least expecting

it who will find themselves

recipients of God’s favor.

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Matthew 5:1–7:29

THEME

The wisdom of God’s

Kingdom

SETTING

c. 27–29 ce A mountainside

in Galilee.

KEY FIGURES

Jesus The Messiah and

Son of God at the start of His

ministry in Galilee.

Disciples Jesus’s close group

of 12 followers.

Crowds People from Galilee,

the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and

“beyond the Jordan” who have

begun to follow Jesus out of

curiosity and amazement.

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207

There are several parallels in

Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount that

would not have been lost on His

audience, for it strongly echoes the

giving of the Ten Commandments

to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus

20): just as Moses went up the

mountain and received God’s

word, so Jesus here ascends a

mountainside and teaches with

God’s authority.

Moses’s Law showed the

Israelites how to live as God’s

new community following their

deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

Jesus is less concerned about

establishing a moral code for a

defined earthly kingdom; instead,

He presents a picture of life in

God’s spiritual kingdom of heaven

that is accessible to all people at

all times. To some in His audience,

it may have seemed that Jesus was

contradicting Moses. However, in

a large section of the Sermon on

the Mount, Jesus addresses this

question directly: “Do not think

that I have come to abolish the

Law or the Prophets; I have not

come to abolish them but to fulfill

them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus is

God’s new Moses, instructing the

crowds as they follow Him.

See also: The Ten Commandments 78–83 ■ The Golden Rule 210–11 ■ Parables of Jesus 214–15

THE GOSPELS

In the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, this

fresco of the Sermon on the Mount

(c.1461) by Cosimo Rosselli is opposite

the artist’s fresco of Moses receiving the

Ten Commandments.

Other religious leaders at the time—

in particular, the Pharisees—

encouraged people to follow the law

down to its last letter. However,

Jesus says that such rigid adherence

to Moses’s Law is not sufficient to

guarantee people a place in God’s

kingdom: “I tell you that unless your

righteousness surpasses that of

the Pharisees and the teachers

of the Law, you will certainly not

enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20).

Instead, in the Sermon on the

Mount, Jesus intensifies the

meaning of the Law by declaring

that it is not enough simply to obey

God’s commands outwardly; rather,

His Law must transform the desires

and motivations of the heart of

those who seek to obey Him.

In a series of teachings that

take the form, “You have heard

that it was said ... but I say to you,”

Jesus takes some of the most

familiar commandments from

Moses’s Law and broadens their

application. His disciples must not

simply refrain from murder, but

must avoid anger or ridiculing

others, and prioritize forgiveness

and reconciliation. Lustful looks

are to be considered as perilous as

adultery, and marriage relationships

should not be broken except in

clear cases of unfaithfulness.

Disciples should not merely keep

the oaths they have made to God,

but rather be faithful to every word

that they speak.

Exercising humility

Moses’s law had sought to restrict

overly harsh punishments by

commending the principle of “eye

for eye, tooth for tooth” (Leviticus

24:20); but Jesus rejects the notion

of giving “as good as you get.”

Instead, He tells His disciples to

exercise restraint, never fighting

back, but always praying for those

who would seek to bring harm

to them. By loving their enemies,

they would be showing that they

belonged with Jesus as children ❯❯

Be perfect, therefore,

as your heavenly

Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:48

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