Matthew 5-10

The beginning feature for Thursday is the famous "Sermon on the Mount," recorded in Matthew 5-7. It is called a "sermon," but most scholars see this as a collection of the teachings of Jesus. Interestingly, Luke has some similar material (6:17-49)which some refer to as the "Sermon on the Plain". Luke's version is much more combative than Matthew's.

Some class members may well have had to learn "The Beatitudes"(5:1-12), like I did. Again, I would urge you to read Luke's version of them along side each other (Lk. 6:20-26). When you go back then and read Matthew, it makes you wonder if we have read Matthew too gently. Barclay's commentary on Matthew still is one of the best on the Beatitudes, giving us what it means to be meek ("strength under control," not weakness)and to "hunger and thirst" (Greek refers to the point of near starvation and dehydration), etc. The Greek word translated "blessed" is makarios, which means happy in the terms of being content and joyous.

Matthew 5:17-37 is Jesus' commentary on the sixth,seventh and ninth of the ten commandments - killing, adultery, and truth telling. What has Jesus done to these commandments and why do you think he did it? And how do you make sense of Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect?." The bishop asks every pastor at ordination, "Will you be made perfect in love in this life?" The expected answer is "yes." How can anyone do that with any sense of self-knowledge and integrity?

Matthew 6:1-18 gives Jesus commentary on three major forms of religious devotion: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. These were practiced strongly by the religious leaders of the day. What is Jesus' concern about them? How might we face the same difficulties in our worship and spiritual devotion? "The Lord's Prayer" in verses 9-13 has one major difference from Luke, the end part "for thine is the kingdom...". That part is also not found in the early manuscripts of Matthew. But if you have ever been in a Roman Catholic service and found you were the only one talking after "deliver us from evil," it was because you learned it from Matthew and the Roman Catholics learned it from Luke (11:2-4). How might we in the way we pray the Lord's Prayer be in violation of this passage?


Matthew 7 is a series of teachings very much in the Rabbinical style of Jesus' day. The whole direction of Jesus' commentary on the commandments now becomes explicit. Since none of us can hit the mark (sin literally means "to miss the mark") judging one another is ridiculous. Jesus uses the technique of "reductio ad absurdum" to show the foolishness of judging (the speck of sawdust and the plank in the eye), actually quite comical when you think about it. Another technique Jesus uses was not only common to the Rabbis but also of several religions , "the two ways" comparison (Buddhist monks use this prolifically). Here Jesus talks about the wide and narrow gates & the wise and foolish builders.

What follows is a miracle crusade. Each one is told with purpose and most of them happen to people who were considered rejects of society and examples of God's rejection - the leper, the Gerasene or Gadarene demoniac (two of them in Matthew), the paralytic and the blind and speech-impaired. By the time you get to Matthew 10, Jesus, overwhelmed with the great need, then sends the disciples out two-by-two to do their own miracles. And they are surprised - faith in Jesus works!

Mixed in the miracle crusade are several discussions on what it means to be a disciple. What do you think about Matthew 8:18-22? How might we as the church have toned down the radical nature of Jesus' call and even more, how can we translate such a call to our own day? Matthew's own call is placed during this crusade. He is a tax collector who then hosts a dinner with other tax collectors - witness by networking! What does he have in common with all those rejects who get touched and forever changed by Jesus?

You have just done a very rapid run through material on which you could have spent several hours. But you also have a picture of Jesus as the expert teacher and healer and the early impact of his ministry. He was fascinating, magnetic and powerful.