Calvin Synod Herald, 2009 (110. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2009-03-01 / 3-4. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 The Sermon on the Mount A Brief Introduction The Sermon on the Mount, composed of Matthew chapters 5 to 7, are pivotal for the Christian understanding of the Old Testament and it’s application in the time after the Resurrection and the end of the Mosaic era after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. But the Sermon’s role has been confused by well meaning people who find it easier to divorce the New Testament from the Old Testament. Others read these chapters apart from their historical context. When the Sermon is read apart from its Old Testament context and historical context, it breeds many misunderstandings. Certain sects use the Sermon to justify complete pacifism. Some have used the Sermon in an attempt to justify homosexual lust! In doing so they pit the Sermon not only against the Old Testament but against the New Testament as well. This brief readers’ guide is offered not to explain every word in the Sermon on the Mount but to help people read the Sermon in light of its Old Testament roots and historical context in Jesus’ day. The Sermon on the Mount is found in the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Matthew is written after approximately four hundred years of prophetic silence. While there are a well recognized body of religious books written during the “intertestamental period” that are helpful in providing certain historical information and to document the progress of theological thought between the two Testaments, they were never considered what today we know as “Holy Scripture” by either the Jews or Early Christians. These books are known as the “Apocrypha”. Because the people of God did not recognize these as inspired works, Protestants have continued that tradition and not accorded them a place in our Bibles generally. When included in English Bibles, they were understood to be useful for informative or devotional purposes but not authoritative for proving essential doctrines of the faith. So as the revelation of God comes first in the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and ultimately written in the Gospels, they come after years of silence and longing for God to fulfill the promises made to the prophets. As you will recall from the works of Ezra andNehemiah as well as the prophets such as Haggai and Zechariah, the last we see of God’s work was to restore a remnant of the people from bondage in Babylon, establish them, and encourage them to act upon His promises though - at that time — the people recognized God’s promised blessings were far from fulfilled! The Temple according to Haggai was unremarkable. Zechariah 3 illustrates the High Priest, Joshua, as anything but “Joshua like”... he is defiled, accused by Satan, and a defeated figure. The land, despite the return, still seems more accursed than blessed. God encourages this Joshua in a wonderful way. But if things were living up to their expectations and “going their way”, it is hard to imagine that they would need this type of divine encouragement! Israel’s love affair with idolatry has been gutted by their release from Babylonian Captivity, so they no longer go after the “quick fix” promises of paganism. In what would become a lengthy providential test of this new spiritual resolve, the people experience the partial fulfillment of God’s promises yet long for their greater fulfillment. The Christmas Hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” captures the sense of longing well, though it is only traceable to the Christian Church sometime after 1000 AD and not specifically from ancient Israel per se: O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death’s dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. Matthew (all the Gospels really) come into this era of longing to declare how Jesus of Nazareth IS the Messiah long expected who WILL bring to fulfillment ALL that has been promised by the prophets (see 2 Corinthians 1:20). As such, Matthew’s arguments are designed to organize both events and sermons from Jesus’ ministry in such a way that the people of Israel who longed for God’s promise to be realized would see how wonderfully they were fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah, our Lord! These elements are crucial to understanding the Sermon on the Mount. The people of God have, despite any other faults, been weaned from their lust for idols. By Jesus’ day they have been wedded to the Torah in a way never before seen in Israel’s history. The Maccabean rebels preferred death to betraying the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as one sees while reading the Apocryphal books of Maccabees. Hebrews 11 may even allude to these “covenant heroes” in verses 35-39. The environment Jesus the Messiah enters, then, is not one of overt rebellion. These people can be said to be faithful in a way. The Sadducees limit their obedience, however, by disregarding the prophets and any other scripture besides the Five Books of Moses. The Pharisees are “orthodox” by our standards in accepting all the books we call the “Old Testament”, but as Jesus encounters with them continually show, their obedience is often superficial and hypocritical. Some of the rabbis of Jesus day are more faithful to God’s intent than others. Their faithfulness, or lack thereof, form the immediate backdrop of the controversies Jesus enters into. When we understand these things, we can begin to read the Sermon on the Mount in light of the larger Old Testament context and with special reference to the situation Jesus our Lord faces as He confronts the particular sins of His generation. How does Matthew argue for Jesus as Messiah the fulfillment of the Promised Prophet, Priest, and King? And where does the Sermon on the Mount fit into this purpose? In Matthew 1, this argument is made based first on Jesus’ genealogy. Jesus is, for starters, the son of Abraham and the Continued on page 8
