Summer Reading: Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7

 

Mount of Beatitudes (chapel on top), Sea of Galilee 
--not a mountain like Sinai, but a beautiful view!

Background:

            This week we read the whole Sermon on the Mount (remember the Moses/Jesus parallel? Here Jesus shows up on a “mountain”, reminding us of Moses getting the 10 Commandments from the mountain). This is a long teaching section, which fits in with the emphasis on Torah as “teaching” or “instruction” rather than “law”. Matthew focuses on right living more than right believing, and here we have it right from Jesus’s mouth: how are we to live together faithfully and well? 

Beatitudes, verse 7: merciful is one of the primary attributes of God (the other is “just”). My friend Richard (1) translates YHWH (the unspeakable name of God, told to Moses at the burning bush) “The God Whose Name Is Mercy”. Being faithful means being merciful and just, as God is. 

In the “You have heard…” section (5:21-48), notice that Jesus doesn’t say his followers don’t have to follow the law/instructions any more; rather, he doubles down on how much they are to follow them, extending the meaning of the laws beyond what is found in Torah. Some of these choices are designed to expose the abuse of power inherent in the system, such as turning the other cheek and giving away all your clothes. 

The Golden Rule is here in chapter 7:12. Rather than replacing all the other rules, or reducing them to this one, Matthew views it as a lens through which to interpret all the rest. (2)


Key Themes: 

  • What faithful living looks like for God’s people– practical instructions, including imitating God in mercy and justice. 

  • How we treat others, including strangers, foreigners, and enemies, matters to God, and God’s love is made known through our merciful and just actions toward the vulnerable and marginalized. 


Questions: 

  • “Jews were required to seek peace with their neighbors before reconciliation with God was possible”. (3) What would that look like for you? What does it feel like to you that our relationship with God is so tied to our relationship with other humans? 

  • If you can put yourself in the context of the story– living in occupied territory, not having governmental autonomy as a community, the danger of violence surrounding you– how do you hear the Beatitudes? What would it mean to be “blessed”, and how would you feel that you were blessed? 


Notes:
1. Dr. Richard Swanson of Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD, uses this language for God in his Provoking the Gospel series of commentaries.
2. Levine, Amy Jill and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. Jewish Annotated New Testament, 15.
3. Ibid, 11.

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