Sermon on the Mount (2) Matthew 5:13-20

Matthew 5:13-20 Gospel Reading for Sunday 6th February 2011 

As mentioned last week, we are journeying through sections of The sermon on the mount - a major discourse that continues for three chapters in Matthew 5-7. (Just around the corner are some of the most difficult sayings of Jesus.)

I think that verse 20 of this week's reading gives us a really good clue as to what this is all about: (Contemporary English version)

²⁰You must obey God's commands better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obey them. If you don't, I promise you that you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

The Pharisees were highly religious people they were driven by the need to carry out the laws that God had given them through their ancestors. In the main they did a very good job at "doing the right thing" - such a good job in fact that it would be very difficult to imagine how one could possibly live according to the rules any better than they did. Jesus then speaks these peculiar words ... unless you do BETTER than the Pharisees and teachers of the law you have no show of entering God's kingdom. (Hardly a gospel message, given that all of the emphasis is on DOING stuff to get into God's kingdom!)

It is impossible to make sense of much of "The sermon on the mount" without understanding the underlying motive of Jesus at this stage in His teaching ministry. Jesus is trying to emphasise the futility of the law. This will become even more obvious in the readings over the next couple of weeks! He is pointing out that there is in fact no way that we can measure up to the demands of the law, as he lays the foundation for ushering in the good news that under the new arrangement that he brings with him, it is all a done deal, no more having to measure up. The kingdom is ours already!

Meanwhile, as a new school year gets under way, a reminder (from verse 13) that we are the salt of the earth. The biblical image of salt and what Jesus had in mind with that phrase is possibly a little lost in the English translation. Perhaps Eugene Peterson in "The Message" version gives us a better picture ...

¹³"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth."

Lutheran schools bringing out the God flavours of this earth ... I like that!

Nev