Sermon on the Mount PDF

## The Sermon on the Mount What was the message that Jesus preached as he traveled through the towns and villages of Galilee, announcing the coming of God's kingdom? Unfortunately, there was no video back then, but still we know the central elements of his message from that magnificent compendium...

## The Sermon on the Mount What was the message that Jesus preached as he traveled through the towns and villages of Galilee, announcing the coming of God's kingdom? Unfortunately, there was no video back then, but still we know the central elements of his message from that magnificent compendium of his teaching - "a perfect standard of the Christian life", Saint Augustine called it - known as the Sermon on the Mount. The Synoptic Gospels contain two versions of the sermon. Luke's, the shorter one, is said to have been delivered in a "level place", while Matthew situates his longer version, occupying three full chapters in his Gospel, on a mountain. Mountain, plain - does it make a difference? In fact, it does. Luke's choice of a plain suggests the universality of the message, while Matthew places it on a mountain to emphasize a recurring theme of his Gospel: Jesus is a new Moses, delivering the message of the New Covenant from the side of a mountain, much as Moses brought the Ten Commandments of the Old Covenant down from a mountain. Here we follow Matthew's version of the sermon as the longer, ### Matthew's Version Seeing the crowds, Matthew begins, "he went up on the mountain" and there began to teach. First come the Beatitudes, each beginning with the word "Blessed" (the state or condition signified by the word "beatitude"). Calling the Beatitudes “the theological and moral heart of God's kingdom,” theologian Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap, points to a "fundamental difference" between them and the Ten Commandments. The Beatitudes “enhance the significance” of the commandments; but more significantly, Father Weinandy says, the Mosaic law is perfectly fulfilled by Jesus' enactment of the Beatitudes “within his own life.” Here, then, are the Beatitudes: - Blessed are the poor *in spirit*, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. - Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. - Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. - Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. - Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. Chesterton remarks bluntly that, with few exceptions, the doctrine of teachers of morality past and present amounts to a "solid and polished cataract of platitudes." But it’s very different with Jesus. "If we could read the Gospel reports as things as new as newspaper reports," Chesterton adds, "they would puzzle us and perhaps terrify us," but they would certainly not appear as platitudes. Instead, they would be seen as paradoxical assertions turning worldly values upside down and asserting that the humble, disregarded people whom the world customarily treats with contempt (when it isn’t simply ignoring them) are - or soon will be - the truly blessed ones. The first Beatitude — “Blessed are the poor *in spirit*" - sums up the rest, so that St. Francis de Sales concentrates on it in his *Introduction to the Devout Life*. In contrast to those people, poor in spirit, whose blessedness Jesus affirms, Saint Francis says, "Cursed ... are the rich in spirit, for the misery of hell is their portion." This is strong language for a saint justly famous for his kindliness and good humor. That in itself suggests the importance of the virtuous attitude - its traditional name is *detachment* - which this Beatitude commends. Saint Francis has detachment in view when he says, "Whatever portion of them [worldly goods] you may possess, keep your heart free from the least affection toward them." Saint John Henry Newman makes a similar point in one of his homilies. Although, he says, the "goods of this life and the applause of men" are genuinely good things - as far as they go - there is no escaping the fact that they are always "short-lived." Then Newman sounds this cautionary note: "As the traveler set on serious business may be tempted to interrupt his trip to linger over a beautiful view, so this well-ordered and divinely governed world, with all its blessings of sense and knowledge, may lead us to neglect those interests which will endure when itself has passed away.” ### Principles for Daily Life After laying his foundation, the Beatitudes, Jesus next applies their principles to various situations in everyday life. In doing this, he systematically expands and enriches the commandments of the Jewish Torah. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the *law* and the *prophets*', Christ says. “I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them." Repeatedly, he calls attention to what he is doing - namely, filling out the ancient precepts by extending them with the formula, "You have heard that it was said. But I say to you..." For instance: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council [the Jewish Sanhedrin], and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire." Other forms of misconduct are treated in the same stern fashion, which repeatedly passes beyond conventional moral standards. Thus: - **Adultery:** “[Every] one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." - **Divorce and remarriage: **“Every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." - **Casual oath-taking: **“Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from the Evil One." - **Revenge:** “If any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." - **Love of enemies:** “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” - **Almsgiving:** “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." ### The Our Father Next, Jesus turns to that most perfect of prayers, the Our Father. Pope Benedict makes the powerful point that when praying this prayer, “we are praying to God with words given by God." Jesus introduces it by warning against making a show of prayerfulness (“go into your room and shut the door and pray") or multiplying words, as if saying more improved the chances of getting a favorable response. Instead, the Lord’s Prayer is short and simple in its structure. The first three petitions speak of giving God the place of honor that is his due in the broader world and in our individual lives. The next four petitions present our needs and hopes and problems, asking God for fatherly help in dealing with them. The prayer is this: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Next, the Sermon on the Mount offers practical advice on observing the genuine priorities of Christian living: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be.” Needless to say, this is not a condemnation of responsible saving to meet future needs. The point of the saying - as of much else in the sermon - is that we have to have our priorities in order: Save for the future first and foremost. This serves as an introduction to Jesus' famous words about trusting God. "Do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." Similarly, in a passage mentioned earlier, the sermon delivers a blunt warning against judging others while excusing our own evil deeds. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” This is followed by words of encouragement, expressed with a touch of irony: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” ### Conclusion of the Sermon Near the close of the sermon, Jesus offers terse guidance for obtaining a place in God’s kingdom: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” "Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Finally, he warns against hearing him with the appearance of attention, then proceeding to do just as one likes: instead, his hearers (including us) must take his message to heart and organize their lives accordingly: “Every one who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” When Jesus had finished, Matthew writes, "the crowds were astonished, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." ### The Realism of the Sermon Over the centuries, the Sermon on the Mount has had countless admirers, but it has also had critics. In modern times, the best known of these is the German philosopher and social critic Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), whose strenuous advocacy of heroic moral nihilism Adolf Hitler claimed to admire. Nietzsche took violent exception to Jesus’ moral teaching on the grounds that it expressed a “slave morality” that supposedly turned those foolish enough to accept it into wimps. “I do not like the ‘New Testament,” Nietzsche proudly announced, deploring the “almost voluntary degeneration and stunting of mankind” that he claimed was produced by the morality of Jesus Christ. There have been many responses to Nietzsche’s critique. Pope Benedict put his like this: “The true morality of Christianity is love. And love does admittedly run counter to self-seeking - it is an exodus out of oneself, and yet this is precisely the way in which man comes to himself. ... It is only on the way of love, whose paths are described in the Sermon on the Mount, that the richness of life and the greatness of man’s calling are opened up.” Yes, someone might reply, but is this way of life realistic? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to "be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." But how can any human being possibly do that? Good question! There are two answers. First, as a recent writer on Matthew’s Gospel, Leroy A. Huizenga, points out, the word for "perfect" used in the Gospel’s Greek text comes from *telos*, which means end or purpose. Thus, Jesus is telling us to pursue our true end consistently and wholeheartedly - something we do by a lifestyle in conformity with God’s law, which leads to eternal happiness in heaven, very much as God does by pursuing his end in creating us. “Perfection isn’t meeting God’s own standard of flawlessness,” Huizenga explains, "but it does mean acting fundamentally in the way we should, doing as followers of Jesus’ kingdom are supposed to do.” Second, Jesus does not tell us to be identically as perfect as God, in the exact manner of God; rather, he tells us to seek perfection in a fully human way that somehow mirrors God by sharing in God’s mode of being and life. That is precisely what we do by living in God’s grace - which, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, is “a participation in the life of God” (1997). Jesus’ call to perfection is something like telling a small child to be like his or her father or mother - not literally possible here and now, but increasingly possible as the child grows up. Similarly, the human lives of grace that we live here and now will be perfected by God in the kingdom of heaven. As the Second Vatican Council teaches: "When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise - human dignity, brotherly communion, and freedom according to the command of the Lord and in his Spirit, we will find them once again, illuminated and transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom" (*Gaudium et Spes*, 39). Jesus’ way can be difficult. It is certainly challenging. But, with the help of grace, it is possible, and far more realistic than any alternative.