Essay on the Sermon on the Mount - Part 4

Materialism. - Matthew 6:19-24
The first half of Matthew six was a call for individuals not to use their religiosity to dominate those around them, in this section, Jesus is identifying another way that people can dominate others, and that is through the acquisition of wealth and material possessions. The dominating effects of storing up treasures are seen in a brutal reality in our own global context today;

The most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken also reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth. (Kazandjian, 2006: NP)

The western world’s hording of wealth has relegated the other 90% of the world to the status of slaves, forced to do backbreaking labor for little or no pay. The Kingdom community is called to stand against this injustice, sharing its wealth with those in need, both inside and outside the community and through doing this breaking their own slavery to mammon and storing up for themselves riches in heaven.

Don’t Worry – Anti-Materialism – Matthew 6:25-34
Worry is indicative of one’s dependence on mammon rather than God. “But how will we survive?” is the question that instantly pops to the mind when considering being free with material possessions, Jesus’ answer is both spiritual and practical. The spiritual aspect is one of trust, if they do what the Lord has required of them he will look after their needs (Mt 6:33). The practical aspect is that within the context of the Kingdom Community none will be in need as the wealth and possessions of the group are shared around, just like it was with the early church (Acts 2:44-47). This concept is a real source of liberation for the poor as their needs are met, however it is a real area of trust for the rich as they learn to let go of the security of their wealth and learn to rely on the security that God through the Kingdom Community has to offer.

The Shelter of the Community – Matthew 7:24-27
The final section of Jesus’ sermon is a parable about two men, one who builds his house on the rock of Jesus teaching and another who builds his house of the sand of his own desires and understandings. This parable is a beautifully poetic conclusion to Jesus’ teaching, and a great reflection of his heart for the poor. A house is a symbol of security, particularly for the poor, who often may not have a place of their own. Jesus’ parable shows that if a person holds to his teachings (remembering that it is all set within the context of the Kingdom Community) that they will have the security they need. The house is figurative, but it represents the care of the community in looking after the needs of the poor, which in many ways makes it literal, as the protection that the community offers is as good as (and will always include) a physical house for that person to reside in.

The foolish man however is the man who tries to build his own Kingdom without the support of the Kingdom Community. Because this person puts his own resources into the house it costs him a lot more than the shared resources of the community, however when the opposition comes this foolish, independent man is left crushed under the rubble of his own desires.

Conclusion.
Studying the Sermon on the Mount gives us an amazing insight into how the Lord wants to see his Kingdom operate. It is an in-depth guide to living as a Kingdom Community, in opposition to the values, systems and powers of the Status Quo. Probably the most remarkable aspect of this guide to the Kingdom however, is the importance that it puts on the care for and inclusion of the poor and marginalised both within its community and outside. Such a teaching truly is foolishness to the wise and attests to the compassion and majesty of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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Kazandjian A. (2006) Pioneering Study Shows Richest Two Percent Own Half World Wealth. In United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research. Press Release: (http://www.wider.unu.edu/events/past-events/2006-events/en_GB/05-12-2006/) (18th March 2008)

Essay on the Sermon on the Mount - Part 3

Subversive Weakness. – Matthew 5:33-48
Jesus, after dealing with the need for being true to your word, turns his attention to how to deal with those who use their positions of power to oppress the poor. Jesus uses three scenarios to highlight the need for passive resistance towards the community’s oppressors; they are the concept of turning the other cheek, giving your cloak as well as your tunic, and going the extra mile. These scenarios present two obvious courses of action, to fight back or to passively accept the abuse of power. Jesus however is suggesting a third course of action. Walter Wink suggests that turning the other cheek is a way to level the playing field against those who are oppressing you;

… [Jesus] is saying to them, “Refuse to accept this kind of treatment anymore. If they backhand you, turn the other cheek.” By turning the cheek, the servant makes it impossible for the master to use the backhand again: his nose is in the way. …The left cheek now offers a perfect target for a blow with the right fist; but only equals fought with fists …and the last thing the master wishes to do is establish the underling’s equality. This act of defiance renders the master incapable of asserting his dominance in the relationship. (Wink, 1998: 102)

This popular interpretation however ignores the text that follows. If we look at this example in conjunction with the other two examples (walking the extra mile and giving your cloak) and the dialogue about loving your neighbour, it is clear that these passages are not about establishing equality. Rather, in going further than demanded, these examples seem to highlight the oppressive actions of one’s enemies, bringing shame upon their actions and bringing the cultural values that would allow such behaviour into question. The values of the Kingdom do not espouse power or equality, but rather a subversive use of the weak and powerless to shame the structures of the status quo (1 Cor 1:18-31).

Actors for World Domination – Matthew 6:1-18
The first half of chapter six deals with three different religious practices; giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. In all three examples, the disciples are told not to be like the hypocrites, a term Jesus uses to describe the Pharisees. The term hypocrite actually originates from the Greek theatre, where the ‘hypokrites’ (ύπόκριτής) was an actor who played a part and often wore a mask. The references that Jesus gave, though probably somewhat hyperbolic, capture this metaphor beautifully, as the hypocrites seem to do these things only “to be honoured by men” (Carson, 1978: 57). The major problem with the hypocritical nature of these acts however, is not that they are an ego boost for the Pharisees. The sinister reality is that they used these acts to build up their standing within society.

Jesus was warning against this sort of ladder climbing within the Kingdom Community, those who had the finances to give alms, or the theological knowledge to pray impressive prayers, or the self control to fast should not use those ‘powers’ to build themselves up over the others in the community (the poor, the uneducated or the struggling addict). Such actions and motivations are about domination and stand in direct opposition to the values of the Kingdom Community.

Transformative Prayer – Matthew 6:9-13
Amongst all this talk of hypocrites is a passage often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer, though a more accurate name for in might be the Community’s prayer. For many this passage is purely a guideline for what we should pray for (that Jesus would return and establish his kingdom, that our needs would be met, that our sins would be forgiven, and that God would protect us from stumbling), but it is much more than that, it is a recognition that the light of the Kingdom is breaking through into a corrupt system;

…Every clause [of the Lord’s Prayer] resonates with Jesus’ announcement that God’s kingdom is breaking into the story of Israel and the world, opening up God’s long-promised new world and summoning people to share it. If this context is marginalized… the prayer loses its peculiar force and falls back into a generalized petition for things to improve, albeit still admittedly to God’s glory. (Wright,2001: NP)

Verse ten then is a call on the Lord to continue the transformative work in the world through the community, it is a refusal to see the present corruption as normal, but to see the will of God as the goal. Verse eleven is a call for the Lord to supply us with our daily bread, this is a call to have our needs met, but also a call to not become greedy or want more than we need.

Verse twelve is a recognition of the need to keep short accounts as the disciples live in community together (Mt 5:21-26). Verse thirteen calls for us not to be lead into temptation. This verse is a call for the disciples not to fall back into the rut of living a life that embraces the status quo, another temptation may be a tendency to look at the troubles around and fret that the darkness is winning.

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Carson, D. A. (1978) The Sermon on the Mount. An Evangelical exposition of Matthew 5-7. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Wink, W. (1998) The powers that be. New York: Doubleday Publishing.
Wright, N. T. (2001) The Lord’s Prayer as a Paradigm of Christian Prayer. In ntwrightpage.com.( http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Christian_Prayer.htm) (17th March 2008)

Essay on the Sermon on the Mount - Part 2

The Beatitudes – a Kingdom Community. – Matthew 5:3-12
In studying the Sermon on the Mount, it is essential that we keep in mind that this passage is describing the way that a community within the Kingdom of Heaven should behave (herein referred to as a Kingdom Community as it is not the Kingdom of Heaven in its entirety, nor is it yet the church as the church was not established until after Christ’s assertion). Many suggest that the sermon is a guide for Christian ethics (Lloyd-Jones, ND: 33), but this is to set an impossible task before the individual believer. The result of this is the spiritualising of the passage and the reduction of it into a general guide to live by. The regrettably clichéd “…do to others what you would have them do to you...” (NIV, Mt 7:12) is a prime example of this, where the whole sermon is reduced to one line that mothers can tell their children to stop them arguing with their siblings.

But if the Sermon is seen as the framework of the Kingdom, then the impossible becomes possible. Within this understanding then, the beatitudes are seen as a description of who will be part of this new Kingdom Community. The first four beatitudes listed represent the poor who will be drawn into the community, the outcast of the society. It is within this setting that these outcasts will begin to find the promised blessings;

…these four beatitudes describe not personal qualities but oppressive situations of distress or bad fortune, which are honoured or esteemed because God’s reign reverses them. This reversal is under way in Jesus’ ministry but is not yet complete. The First four beatitudes critique the political, economic, social, religious and personal distress that results from the powerful elite who enrich their own position at the expense of the rest. (Carter, 2003: 131).

If we hold to this view, then the poor in spirit are literally the poor, rather than some spiritualised form of humble Christian. Carter suggest that the “spirit” in this passage refers to the spirit of the poor that has been crushed by economic injustice (2003: 131); likewise, those who mourn are those who have suffered at the hand of the corrupt and evil; The Meek are those who have no voice in society and so have no choice but to stand by passively as their situations are exploited; And finally, Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, as Bosch argues (1991: 71-73), are those who yearn for justice but do not receive it.

The use of the present tense “is” in the first and last beatitudes suggests that indeed the kingdom of heaven is not limited to an eschatological understanding, but rather, the kingdom is to reverse these sufferings both now and more fully in the future. This brings the beatitudes and indeed the entire Sermon on the Mount into a present reality rather than a spiritual set of moralities that we are to live by in order to attain entrance into heaven.

The final four beatitudes in a similar way represent those that are fighting for the rights of the poor within society. Therefore, those in the Kingdom Community should display mercy to all, especially the poor; their actions should show that they are pure in heart, not having any deceitfulness or malice; the peacemakers stand in direct contrast to the occupying forces of the day who forced their “peace” upon the people; persecution is a direct result of standing up against the dominant and oppressive kingdom of this age.

Societal Transformation – Matthew 5:13-16
The next section of the sermon talks about salt and light. Salt is a preserving agent as well as a flavour enhancer, light breaks through the darkness. Both elements are seen as agents of change within culture. The salt preserves the world from going off as well as supplying flavour, whilst the light breaks through the darkness of an oppressive system. These elements highlight the dialectic between the kingdom of heaven and the present age, but they operate on two different levels;

So Jesus calls his disciples to exert a double influence on the secular community, a negative influence by arresting its decay and a positive influence by bringing light into its darkness. For it is one thing to stop the spread of evil; it is another to promote the spread of truth, beauty and goodness. (Stott, 1978: 64-65)

The salt is the Kingdom Community’s ability to arrest the suffering and evil that is happening in the world. With this in mind, the eschatological excitement that many in today’s church display over the decay of this present age as a supposed sign of the imminent return of Christ actually stand in stark contrast to Jesus’ teaching here. It is not Jesus’ will that the world get worse and more people suffer due to greed, it is the Kingdom Communities role to arrest the decay of this age.The light then, is the missional reality of the Kingdom Community. When the world sees what this community is doing it will be drawn to it as a moth to a flame. For the marginalised of the world it will mean good news, however it will also bring with it persecution from the powers that control the status quo. This is why Christ teaches against hiding the light under a bowl (Mt 5:15). Hiding would keep the community safe from persecution (Mt 5:11-12), but keeping the blessing to themselves would mean that those in need of the ministry of the community would never receive it

Respecting Women - Matthew 5:27- 32
In talking about how the values of the Kingdom community fulfil and take seriously the law and the prophets, Jesus sneaks in an important lesson about one of the marginalised groups in society, women. Many see Jesus’ teaching on lust, adultery and divorce, as nothing more than dealing with sexual immorality and the sanctity of marriage (see for example Boice, 1972:134-141). However a deeper look into the passages will show that there is more to Jesus’ teachings;

While women are mentioned merely as an example, the example is significant because it involves a cultural criticism of the status of women. When the Gospel presents Jesus' discussion of divorce and adultery, the dignity of women (and perhaps even their rights) is clearly implied. Jesus says that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully commits adultery in his heart. Clearly the entire discussion of the collected sayings is geared toward the relation of action and faith. But, at the same time, it undeniably insists that women are not to be regarded as objects to be discarded at will. (Kopas, 1990: 15)

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Boice, J. M. (1972) The Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Bosch, D. J(1991) Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Carter, W. (2003) Matthew and the margins. A socio-political and religious reading. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Kopas, J. (1990) Jesus and Women in Matthew. in Theology Today. 1990, University of Scranton. ( http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1990/v47-1-article2.htm#Kopas) (17th March 2008)

Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (N.D.) Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Stott, J. R. W. (1978) The Bible speaks today. The Sermon on the Mount. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press.