The Word in Focus with Dr Larry Taylor

Thoughts on the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5-7

Part 20

The King’s manifesto has five movements:

1. Life in Kingdom of the Heavens begins with reliance on Jesus. (Mt. 4:17-25)
2. Ordinary people are the salt and light of the Kingdom of God. (Mt. 5:1-20)
3. This kingdom begins in the heart. A Kingdom heart of goodness means having a heart like God’s. (Mt. 5:21-48)
4. Beware of anything that might capture our hearts and turn us away from pure love and devotion to the King. Be forewarned about false securities, such as reputation or wealth.  (Mt. 6)
5. We can fail to do what this discourse requires. (Mt. 7:13-27) It is imperative that we actually do what Jesus said to do in daily life.

The sermon proper falls into three sections:

1. The Kingdom of the heavens is here now, embracing outsiders (5:1-16)
2. Teachings on how to have righteousness that exceeds religiosity (5:17-7:12)
3. Three contrasts to keep us from missing the pathway that leads into the beloved community (7:13-27) 

Matthew structures the Sermon on the Mount as a chiasm. A chiastic literary structure looks like a pyramid in which the apex is the main point, or like an arrowhead where the point is the main point. It might look something like this:

A Blessed are those who live “above” the Law (5:3-10) 

B Disciples do good works despite persecution (5:11-16) 

C Jesus will fill the Law full (5:17-20) 

D Greater righteous than the Law (5:21-48) 

E Acts of greater righteous (5:43-6:4) 

F Acting in greater righteousness in secret (6:5-8) 

X The Lord’s Prayer/Our Father (6:9-13) 

F’ Acting in greater righteousness in public (6:14-18) 

E’ Rewards of greater righteousness (6:19-24) 

D’ Living with greater righteous (6:25-7:11) 

C’ How others are treated sums up the Law & Prophets (7:12) 

B’ All will be known by their deeds (7:13-20) 

A’ Blessed are those who act upon Jesus’ words (7:21-27)

Notice how in a chiasm the first thought reflects the last, the second relates to the penultimate, and so on until you get to the center.

The heart of this sermon is the famous prayer.

The Sermon on the Mount is King Jesus’ manifesto. A manifesto is a declaration of intentions, motives, views, and principles of a kingdom, empire, or people group. In this case, it is a declaration of the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Heavens. The Sermon on the Mount is a manifesto on how to live in the way of Jesus.

But we live in an empire ruled by demonic principalities and powers who have installed a kakistocracy that is flooded with nationalism, violence, greed, grift, xenophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, misogyny, and transphobia. How can we on a practical daily basis live out the Sermon on the Mount? 

How do I stand with the oppressed? How do I promote peace and justice in a world that knows little of either?

I begin by relying on Jesus, even as Ceasar roars. Being salt and light means standing in solidarity with women, people of color, undocumented immigrants, the mentally ill, the homeless, the incarcerated, and people of other religions and cultures. 

Doing so is hard. The culture tugs me towards American exceptionalism, white nationalism, consumerism, and science denial. Standing with the marginalized makes me a target. 

Following Jesus could get you crucified. Where do we find the courage to do justly, love kindness and mercy, and walk humbly with God? 

We need the ongoing enabling of the Holy Spirit. We need to be continuously filled with Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-18 Greek) Spiritual people run on the contact principle. We have no spiritual fuel tanks. Like a monorail, we have to be in constant contact with the source of power. We must be in contact with Jesus all the time.

We can’t do this alone. We need one another. Fellowship with those of like precious faith is vital – people who grieve over injustice, long for righteousness, eschew violence, and are filled with other-oriented unconditional love.

Over the next few years, the church in America will either catch the fire our sisters and brothers of the first three centuries of Christianity had, or be swallowed up by authoritarian impulses. The church will either be a refuge for the discounted, prophetically speaking truth to power, or simply a chaplain to empire. It will either be increasingly a beloved community where all are loved and embraced, or a voice seeking control, power, and wealth. We will either be known for washing feet or for turning our backs on the most vulnerable. 

We will either be consistently prolife, opposing not only abortion as a form of birth-control, but also opposing capital punishment, and working to end poverty, lift people out of despair, provide universal healthcare, care for immigrants, refugees, the physically and mentally ill, treat addictions, oppose violence, wars and killing, and work to end bigotry –  or, we will be indistinguishable from the world. 

We will either become good stewards of God’s earth, helping slow global warming, working for environmental justice, calling for clean air and water and proper sanitation for everyone, promoting safe permanent affordable housing and walkable/bikeable cities, or we will join with those destroying the earth. “The time has come to … destroy the destroyers of earth.” (Revelation 11:18 MSG) 

We will either speak truth or promote falsehoods, misconceptions, and outright lies, if not actively, then by our silence.

We are called to be with Jesus, learning from Jesus how to be like Jesus. God desires to mold us in Christlikeness. If we are followers of King Jesus, our goal is Christoformity. 

Our goal is love. 

Love for God. God is exactly like Jesus. There is nothing unchristlike in God. 

Love of others, all others, even enemies – seeing other people as bearing the imago Dei, having unsurpassable worth, and as deeply loved by God, so much so that God gave the Son up to crucifixion for them as well as for us.

Love of God’s creation, promoting environmental justice and healing, embracing well established science, and preserving lands and seas.

We seek to rid ourselves, our communities, and our churches of everything contrary to the Sermon on the Mount. 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37)

They will know we are Christians by our consistent cruciform love.