Sermon on the Mount time.

The importance of this sermon can’t be overstated and gives direct practical systems of ethics for believers to follow.

Begins by saying he went up a mountain, but this should be understood to thought of as a steep hill.

He begins with a section called the “Beatitudes” and each one begins with “blessed are”. The “poor in spirit” are those who are aware they need God’s help rather than relying on their own power. You can’t fight or earn your way to heaven and the people who understand they don’t deserve heaven are the closest to it. Blessed are those who mourn. Note that they’re not happy, they’re blessed. In this context, this mourning is over your sins and the thousand deaths of your soul as you betray God daily and long for forgiveness and healing.

Blessed are the meek. Alright we’re giving this special attention because it’s used to either justify a Christian pacifism or anti-Christians point to it as ordering weakness. Meekness is not weakness, it’s gentleness. Think of a big strong Rambo lookin guy holding his baby. He doesn’t crush it in his hands and if the baby cries, he doesn’t throw it into orbit. Meekness is about faith in God rather than your own strength of force or manipulation. God owns the world and if you submit to Him, it’s already yours by inheritance. Power under control (God’s control) means you don’t get a big head about your ability and you have a reluctance to use that power strictly for your own benefit. It’s better to serve others than avenge wrongs done to you. If you truly understand the weight of your own sin, how can you really look to someone else as so much more deserving of wrath than you? Meek in this context could better be interpreted as humble and disciplined. You see in the Christian Nationalist sphere a lot of guys go gloves off online to attack “the enemies of God” (as they understand) but there’s no self-control, discipline, or humility in their method. It’s one thing to correct a brother in error and be stern with him, another entirely to reduce the discussion to fruitless slurs and slander.

A hunger for righteousness is blessed because you’ll get what you want. God wins. If you see injustice and demand righteousness, great news: you’re gonna come out on top because your wants align with God’s wants. An alternative reading is a desire not to see righteousness done but to become righteous. Also, good news: God wants that too. Go ahead and assume both interpretations are correct.

The merciful shall receive mercy. This is an aspect of God’s character as we learn in Psalm 18:25. Blessed are the pure of heart. Jews of the time would’ve (might’ve?) associated this with racial purity, that is, lineage to Abraham or possibly purity through adherence to the law of Moses. But Jesus was more concerned with the heart. Anyone can donate to church or hold a door open. A serial killer can help a little old lady cross the street as setup to kill her or something. It’s about your heart, not mere performance. The true love of God being the driving force behind your every word, thought, and deed.

The peacemakers! They are blessed and will be called the children of God. One who reconciles people who are in conflict. Mediators basically. If you see someone getting dogpiled on twitter for example, you don’t have to join in. Even if it feels righteous. If some woman comes to you saying, “oh I hate my husband so much”, you can encourage her to seek counseling rather than tell her to ditch him for a better guy. Persecution in the next two verses is pretty straightforward but let’s take a quick pit stop for something important.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account”

Nice yes very straightforward, one would think. This is another abused verse. You’ll see people reference this to prove their righteousness when they’re deceived. “Jesus loves me and also we should murder all puppies. Oh look, now everyone’s mad at me. Jesus spoke of this, I must be doing good.”

Not all hate from your peers is secretly a sign that you’re blessed. You might just be in severe error and provoking an intense rebuke. Often this is paired with another abused quote. A Christian brother will rebuke this person in error using scripture and the next defense will be “Ah, see? Even Satan can use scripture!”

Yes, I know, he’s doing it right now through your mouth. Please stop.

Salt was used to preserve meat prior to the fridge, it’s a seasoning, all kinds of stuff. As salt preserves meat, so must the Christian preserve humanity by living according to Christ and spreading the word. Salt flavors a food like Christians flavor the culture. If you don’t execute the purpose of salt using the attributes of salt, of what worth are you?

Part 2 of “salt and light” is light. Christians should shine like a beacon and not just any beacon, one at the top of a hill. A “you can’t miss it” situation. You are meant to be discovered by those in darkness and guide them home. Hiding your light through cowardice or inaction defeats your purpose. “Oh, I don’t want to offend anyone”. Okay well now they’re in Hell, is that better? You are a representative of God. Promote Him. Good works amplify this light (we’re not discussing salvation) except where it would only amplify YOUR glory. If you’re going to donate some of the billions of dollars you have laying around, do it anonymously.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come to fulfill them.” Big stuff. Jesus didn’t arrive and okay that’s that, the Old Testament is over. We can ignore that now, we got this New one. No, He was predicted by the OT and all the OT was building to him. Certain requirements and rituals were only being done because Jesus wasn’t present on earth yet. THOSE changed to reflect His sacrifice, but the OT isn’t obsolete. Jewish leaders of the time believed Jesus was telling people to blow off the law because it was over now, but that’s not what happened. This is why Christians today are expected to keep the commandments.

That said….. Jesus doesn’t say you have to keep the commandments to attain heaven. Human work and human effort don’t merit heaven. Jesus did. Salvation is by faith alone. “BUT AREN’T YOU CATHOL—” Slow down boss. “Faith without works is dead”. As in, your works won’t get you to heaven, but if works aren’t flowing out of you, it seems like your faith may not be genuine. In any case, Christians are not meant to adopt “antinomianism” which is the idea that there’s no laws or standards we have to follow at all. “Oh, Jesus died for us, time to burn down a hospital because you can’t lose salvation.” Regardless of denomination, we should be able to agree that if you love God, you don’t want to actively engage in behavior He hates because you know (or think) you can get away with it. You wouldn’t tolerate it from your spouse, don’t pull it on God.

Comparing his followers to scribes and Pharisees is neat because it’s simultaneously asking a huge amount of them but also another jab at their supposed righteousness. It makes two points.

“Don’t murder.” Super easy, barely an inconvenience. Oh really? Even murder that starts in your heart? “But I say” makes this a COMMAND from Jesus (God, if you’ve forgotten). Obedience to the command begins in the heart where you eliminate even ANGER. Even a bad ATTITUDE makes you subject to God’s judgement. This is the level that GOD’S standard of right and wrong are at. Jesus is teaching people (especially Pharisees and Sadducees) that any ideas of being perfectly righteous as they walk this earth are pure delusion. Reconciling with your brother even takes priority over your holy obligations. Leave your gift at the altar and go fix things, then come back. And if you’ve wronged someone, seek out reconciliation before they seek to escalate and punish you for it.

Lust and adultery are addressed similarly. It’s not enough to not steal your neighbor’s wife or fornicate with a woman, you can’t allow lust to enter your heart. This is different from mere sexual attraction. That’s baked in. God put that there, He’s not going to burn you for it. So, if you look and you’re like “Oh man she’s hot.” Fine. Idk ask for her number. But if you’re lingering and getting a better look and imagining without clothes— Are we all on board the difference? We got frog Catholics saying you can’t eyeball your wife which is insane in the opposite direction, so you never know.

Now we get into a little hyperbole. No, Jesus isn’t asking you to ACTUALLY rip your parts off to avoid sin, just emphasizing the importance of avoidance. I’m not exactly sure what sin He was referring to with the eye and the right hand right after the lust section but I can come back to that later. If you want to go the Origen of Alexandria route and castrate yourself to avoid sin you technically can but he regretted it and the Church condemns it as self-mutilation. Idk, google the “EZ PZ method” if you have a problem.

Jesus rebukes divorce except in cases of sexual immorality so those of us who are too old for singles and too young for widows uh… Well, model kits have been a nice way to pass the time. Lets say that. Don’t take oaths. Specifically, don’t say things like “I swear to God I’ll pay you back”. Jesus extends this to “really just don’t swear to anything at all”. When you say yes or no, that should be sufficient. A Christian should be in good enough standing for your word to carry value.

“Eye for an eye” carries a really negative connotation these day but it was actually the standard prescribed by God as justice in Deuteronomy. This was means as a cutoff point. Like if you’re wronged, meet them there and no further, that way it didn’t get out of control. But Jesus builds on this, really the preferred model is no revenge at all. The eye for an eye system can still work with courts. Robbed for $300, resolve $300. Don’t squeeze them for $300,000 just because you can. Punishment should be proportional to the crime. Besides, with regard to personal matters, you should turn the —

Turn the other cheek… This is a tough one for people. This is about refusing revenge. This doesn’t mean you can’t flee persecution because you have to sit there and take it. This doesn’t mean you have to meet violence and evil with doormat pacifism, you just don’t return evil for evil. Based on the cheek, hand used, and customs at the time, Jesus was referring to a strike that was an INSULT, not a blow meant to injure the body. If you receive a backhand, your life is not in danger. You don’t whip out your .38 and start blasting. And in fact you should expect another attack on your pride. Take it. The idea is a Christian is going to be hated and abused by a fallen world as you try to spread good. Hold your head high and don’t turn into an attack dog. Jesus got slapped. He could’ve grabbed them and thrown them into the sun but that wouldn’t make His point and serve the glory and goodness of God. “Do not resist one who is evil” means when your 85 yr old jerkass neighbor screams some nonsense at you, let it go, not let the town build another abortion clinic.

Giving the tunic and walking the extra mile are meant to be acts of holy defiance in the face of evil extortion. Getting robbed for $5 so you give them $10. You’re in control. You’re being selfless. It’s a holy and noble form of resistance. This puts your trust in God too that you will be restored.

Love. Thy. Neighbor. Oh boy here we go. “What is my neighbor? What is love? Baby don’t hurt me”. Oh deary dear. God never gave a command to hate the enemy, hence “you have heard it was said”. Religious leaders may have taught that since God hates evil, hating evildoers must be required of us. It can’t possibly be clearer: love your ENEMIES and PRAY for those who PERSECUTE you. This is meant to be a RADICAL and bizarre command to the listener because it is in complete defiance of human nature. So, ask yourself, what is human nature? Is it holy? No? It’s evil. You are GOD’S enemy, but He loves you and wants the best for you (namely that you turn from evil). And we are called to emulate……?