A
comparative study of Sermon on the Mount in Mathew and the Sermon on the Plain in
Luke. The structure and significance of Lord’s Prayer
Introduction
The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five major
discourses in the Gospel. It is Mathew’s masterpiece and was early the most frequently
cited section. Philosophically it holds
that it is analysed as a piece of deliberative rhetoric that persuades us to
take action in the future and that serves as a proposition or thesis of the
whole Gospel giving intellectual satisfaction and security. Biblically, one can
consider it to be eschatological, ethical, legal wisdom, or law as instruction
in view of the Kingdom not coercively but eschatologically enforced, a fusion
of several OT genres. The dominant themes of the Sermon are the Kingdom of God and
Justice. The Sermon is fairly systematic, covering the main areas of ethical
and religious life as understood in Israel. It is neither purely arbitrary nor
exhaustive but a series of pointers illustrated by focal instances. The Sermon
has been criticized as setting too high a standard, which remains unfulfilled
but, understood against its Jewish background; it becomes a possible but still
high standard of moral wisdom of life. The Sermon on the Mount has its genesis
in a Jewish Christian community which was engaged in a polemical dialogue with
Hellenistic philosophy, concerned not with the passion and resurrection of
Jesus but with his moral teaching, cherished by a relatively concept in which
Jesus was neither Son of Man nor Son of God. The title “Sermon on the Mount”
goes back to the title Augustine gave tohis important commentary on Mathew 5-7,
De Sermon Domini Monte which was probably written between 392-96. The title
“Sermon on the Plain” is a modern term given in order to distinguish Luke’s
Sermon from Mathew.
1. Setting of
the Sermon
1.1 Social
Setting
® Place:
In Mathew 5:1 the Sermon is on the Mountain while in Luke it is in the plain,on
a level place (Lk. 6:17).
® Audience:
In Mathew Jesus speaks to people in general, particularly to his disciples(5:1);
in Luke Jesus speaks a great multitude of people standing before him most of them
were people from Galilee (6:17-19).
® Content:
Mathew gives a list of precepts for Christian living, a picture of perfect
disciple of Jesus. In Luke it announces in reversal of situations to the
concrete people to whom it is written. For Mathew, one must hunger and thirst
for what is right and for Luke Jesus speaks to people who are actually hungry
and thirsty.
It has been said that the beatitudes would be better
called bombshells. This is just to say how revolutionary they appear to man’
ordinary thinking, yet they are not revolutionary to the Bible’s way of
thinking because NT is the completion of the OT. Through the sermon Jesus
echoes the message of the prophets and He completes it.
1.2 Is
the Sermon on the Mount or on the Plain?
According to Mathew sermon is taking place on the Mountain
(5:1) but according to Luke it is on the plain (6:17).
® Geographically:
it is on the northern shore of Galilee, on the ring of hills surrounding the lake
where a great part of the ministry of Jesus took place. The lake of Galilee is
situated around 200 meters below the sea level. The surrounding ring of hills
may be 100 to 150meters above the lake and so still below the sea level.
® Traditionally
it is believed that the Sermon took place on the “Mount of Beatitudes” on the
northern shore of the lake of Galilee which is a cluster of hills. In fact, the
Sermon can be located anywhere on that ring of hills around the lake, where
Jesus used to withdraw “to a dessert
place”, away from the hubbub of the cities along the shore. In short, the
sermon is located on this ring of hill which can be called either a mount or a
plain. So both Mathew and Luke are right in their own way.
2. Context
2.1 Mt 5:1-2
“Seeing the
Crowds, he went up to the mountain”: Mt shows Jesus departing from the crowds. The
mountain is a place of exclusion where a more intimate form of teaching will be
imparted. In Mt the mountain (oros)
has a theological significance. The sermon, the transfiguration, crucifixion
and resurrection etc. are taking place in the mountain. The mountain evokes
also the Mt Sinai, especially in the context of the composition of Mt’s Gospel
in the frame of 5 books of the Old Law. On the new Sinai, the new Moses will
promulgate the New Law.
“He sat down”: sitting in the posture of the teacher. It is the
attitude of the teacher, of the rabbi, teaching ex cathedra. His audience is
made of disciples. The doctoral attitude is reinforced in v.2: “opening his mouth” he taught. The
solemn prologue to a magisterial and rabbinical teaching will stretch over 3 chapters
and will be addressed to the disciples about the poor. The “poor” in this
passage is referred in the third person.
2.2 Luke 6: 17
In Luke for the sermon on the plane we have distant
context and immediate context. The distant context is in 6:12 and the immediate
context is seen in v.17.
® Distant Context (6:12)
“He went out
into the hill to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God”:
Lukan prologue in prayer before the choice of the apostles (13-16): the
mountain is the place of encounter with God to which he calls his disciples.
® Immediate Context (6:17)
From the hill where he was with the disciples, “He came down with them and stood on the
place of level ground” to meet a crowd: “From Judea and Jerusalem” (Jews)
and “from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidom” (Gentiles). The Plain where he meets
the crowd is the mission field of the whole earth where he leads his disciples
and meets the representatives of the entire world. It is also constitutive of
the Christian mission He addresses them in the second and here Luke uses the
verb “said” and not “taught.”
3. Great
Differences between Mt. and Lk.
3.1 Differences
in the vocabulary
|
Mathew
|
Luke
|
|
Goes up
|
Comes down
|
|
To the mountain
|
To the plain
|
|
Away from the Crowd
|
To meet the crowd
|
|
Teaching
|
Speaking
|
|
In
3rd person: addressing the
disciples about the People
|
In
2nd person: addressing people in
suffering
|
|
So a didactic
elaborate teaching to that implies a
veiled catechesis to the Church
|
General
message to the poor: proclamation to the
poor in the world
|
3.2 Rhetoric of
the Differences
The differences point out that both the evangelists
have modified the original sermon for their particular audiences.
3.4 The Absence
of the Subject in Mathew
Jesus the subject is absent in the two verbs: (He) “saw”, (He) “went up.” The absence
of a subject requires the audience to review the previous material to locate
the subject in Mt 4:17 in Mt 6:9 in Lk. This review links the subject sections
and underlines Jesus’ identity. Jesus, Son of David and Abraham (Mt 1:1), the
Christ (Mt 1:17), commissioned by God to manifest God’s saving presence (1:21, 23);
King of the Jews and the ruler (Mt 2:2-6); God’s child (Mt 2:15); the light (4:16);
the one who announces and manifest’s God’s reign (4:17-25) and it is this one
who speaks the Sermon. It expresses his mission and God- given commission.
4. Global
Synoptic Comparison
4.1 With Mark
Mark has no Sermon on the Mount or plain. The
absence of the sermon in Mark is a major element in favour of the priority of
Mark. He could not have been too intensive to omit such a beautiful piece of teaching.
The agreement between Mathew and Luke presupposes an additional source Q.
4.2 Mathew and
Luke
Mathew is much longer with three full chapters
amounting to 107 verses. Luke is much shorter amounting to only 30verses. The
presumption is that Mathew would have expanded and Luke abridged the common
material, the Q source. Mathew might have gathered the scattered materials
which has the theme and has put together that is the theme of Kingdom: we get a
complete chart of speaking of kingdom through analogy. Connections between
materials are only relative but not absolute.
5. Global
Comparisons of Mathew and Luke
5.1 Beatitudes
in Mathew
As in the case of the Sermon on the Mount in
general, the presumption is that Mathew expands the original beatitudes. This
presumption is confirmed by the following observations.
Mt’s beatitudes have twice the
specification “for righteousness” (Vv 6 & 10). Righteousness is a favourite
word for Jewish – Christian vocabulary of Mathew. He uses the term “dikaiosune” seven times in addition to the
adjective “dikaios 17 times. Mathew
explicated those beatitudes by inserting one of his favourite concepts, doing
which he moralized the beatitudes. There is great difference between being
simply “hungry” (Lk) and “hungry and thirsty for righteousness” (Mt).
Once we have observed Mt’s
emphasizing tendency, we note the same trend of the beatitudes for the meek (v.6),
the merciful (v.7), the pure of heart (v.8) the peace makers (v.9). They are
beatitudes of action or of virtue against Lukan beatitudes which are beatitudes
of situation.
5.2 Beatitudes
in Luke
a. The
main addition of Luke has been that of the ‘woes.’ It is from some other context. He may also have added them
to sharpen the message of the beatitudes. As they are, they intensify the
sociological thrust of the Lukan beatitudes and of the sermon.
b. It
may be for the same reason that the reference to the ‘thirst of the poor is
omitted. Luke speaks of the physical hunger of the materially poor.
c. Another
addition of Luke is the tow ‘now’
added respectively to ‘weeping’
& ‘being hungry.’ ‘Now’ is a favourite word of Luke(14
times in Lk. & 25 time in acts Vs Mt.4 & Lk.3 times) to which can be
added the word ‘today’ (11 times).
Here as in general in Lk his stress on the contrast between the present
situations ‘now’ going on history & the eschatological ‘then’ of God’s
saving action. It follows both Mt. & Lk. Therefore it is evident that they have
done some relational activity on the original tradition.
6. Comparison
between Mathew and Luke
6.1 Mathew -
Sermon on the Mount: Mt is long and composite - How did he do it?
®
Mt has made a synthesis
of the teaching of Jesus. He gathered material from various contexts. Mt
connected together fragments of the same type so as to produce a complete chart
of the kingdom.
®
He put together
scattered pieces. Yet some loose connections can be seen.
1. Five
sayings are nearly built on the pattern - “you have heard that it was said….but
I say to you…” (On murder 5:21, on swearing 5:33, on retaliation 5:38, on love
of enemies 5:43). In between the saying on Divorce (5:31-32) follows a different
pattern (… “it was also said”). It
breaks the pattern of 5 to bring to an awkward number of 6 saying and the
parallels of Mk and Lk show tht it comes from another context.
2. In
6:9-15: the teaching of a prayer formula is not consistent with a context on
wordless prayer (6: 5-8).
3. As
it is, the Matthean Sermon on the Mount follows a logical construction well
outlined in the statement of thesis of 5:20; “if your righteousness does not
exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of
heaven.” It follows a plan in three
parts.
a)
The
Righteousness of the Scribes: 5:20-48 - it was the role of the scribes to explain the law. Jesus,
the rabbi explains the law in the form of six antitheses. But his
interpretation of the old Text is done in a radical manner with all the
authority of the son.
b)
The
Righteousness of the Pharisees: 6:2-18
- the Pharisees were men of action, those who applied the law in the most exact
manner. They considered themselves as virtuous. They consider righteousness
with almsgiving (6:2-4), of prayer (6:5-15) and fasting (6:16-18). For each of
these, Jesus like the prophets of the old proposes a new manner, stressing
interiority.
c)
The
new Righteousness: The new righteousness
illustrates the various aspect of right living in right relationship with God
and others. Most of the material that follows (6:19 - 7:27) comes from other
contexts of Lk and illustrates various aspects of the new righteousness. This
corresponds to his rabbinical turn of mind and his desire t set forth the new
law promulgated by the New Moses on the New Sinai.
6.2 Luke- Sermon
on the Plain
1. Contrary to Mt, Lk
has shortened the Discourse: he has only one
substantial addition: that is ‘woes.’
2. He has
suppressed a number of sayings
a. Either
because they were too Judeo-Christian in tone (Mt 5: 7-20 on law and general
theme; 5:21, 33-37 on murder and swearing: most of Mt 6:1-18 on Pharisees’
justice).
b. Or
because they are too rude and lacking in Hellenistic refinement (Mt 5:27-30) on
plucking out the eye: 7: 6 on pearls to swine.
3. Thus
shortened
a. The
Lukan discourse loses its Judaic characteristics and finds a universal value.
b. Lk’s
focus is the theme of charity. Only the elements pertaining to that theme have
been preserved. They are also
emphasized: in v.33, we must not only “salute: the enemies but “do them good,”
in v. 30 we do not only give to those who ask but give “always” to all who ask.
“The Gospel message is no longer defined in terms of requirements of religious
and moral perfection: it is enough to stress the most characteristic feature:
“Charity.” (Duporit 1:202)
4. The plan of
the Lukan discourse is very simple
a. Introduction:
Beatitudes and woes (vv. 20b-26).
b. Part
1: Love of enemies (vv 27-36).
c. Part
2: Fraternal Charity (vv. 37-42).
d. Conclusion:
Putting Charity in Practice.
7. The Original
Source
7.1
Omitting
Mt’s additions and Luke’s omission, we come to Basic source according to the
following structure:
a.
Introduction:
The Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12)
b. Part 1: the
perfect righteousness
General
statement (5:17-20)
Five concrete
examples (5:21-24, 27-28, 33-37, 37-42, 43-48)
c. Part 2:
Good works
General
statement (6:1)
Three concrete
examples (6:2-4, 5-6, 16-18)
d. Part 3:
Warnings
About judging
(7:12) with illustrative parable of log and speck (7:3-5)
About false
prophets (v.15) with illustrative parable of tree and fruits (7:16-20)
Put in practice
(v.21) with illustrative parable of two houses (7:24-27)
7.2
Historical?
a. This
discourse appears as a vigorous and original work. It reflects homogenous
thinking developed in lively manner without unnecessary digressions. It is not
a loose connection of sayings. Its unity is deep and solid.
b. Moreover
it presents some of the distinctive characteristics of Jesus’ ipsissima verba such as the theological
passive (“it has been said”), three fold pattern (vv. 5:22, 34-35; Lk 6:27-28,
32-34), Christology is implicit in this sermon.
7.3
The
Discourse is a Proclamation
(cf. J. Jeremias, the
Sermon on the Mount, Facet Books, TPI reprint).
a.
What
it is not?
1) Not “counsels” reserved
to an elite of chosen few (priests and nuns): Nothing
such in text and anyway not observed by elite.
2) Not “perfectionist
conception”: In that case, it would be return
to legalism and so “perfectionist” a law that it cannot be observed.
3) Not “theory of
impossible ideal” (Luther) to make us certainly sinners: Nothing such
suggested in text and aberrant.
4) Not “interim-ethic”
in context imminent expectation of end of the world, radical eschatology
attributed to Jesus: highly hypothetical reconstruction of Jesus mind.
b.
What
it is: Proclamation of the Good News that the Kingdom i.e.
1) God’s saving
intervention in favour of the poor is now available.
“These sayings of Jesus delineate the lived faith. They say: You are forgiven;
you are the child of God; you belong to his kingdom. The sun of righteousness
has risen over your life. You no longer belong to yourself; rather you belong
to the city of God, the light of which shines in the darkness. Now you may also
experience it: out of the thankfulness of a redeemed child a new life is
growing. This is the meaning in the “Sermon on the Mount” (J. Jeremias. P, 47).
2) The good news is quite
demanding. God’s ways are not ways (Is 55:8ff). The holiness of God is not a comfortable
environment to live in. the grace and the power of God entering human existence
are very disturbing and exigent. The new righteousness is that of the kingdom
i,e., of transforming action of God changing radically the human heart, at the
same time as it questions the whole psychological, sociological and anthropological
framework of “man’s thought”.
3) The discourse reveals
also the messianic consciousness of Jesus.
The implicit messianism appears:
a) In the implications of
the preliminary declaration: “Blessed are you poor
= Good news to you poor” - here Jesus identifies himself with the messianic
figure of Is 61:1; “The spirit of Lord us upon me; the Lord has anointed me
(made me messiah to bring Good News to the Poor).
b) In the authority with
which Jesus declares: “I say unto you” - thus
transcending the authority of Moses as a son only can do who knows the Father
(Mt 11:27).
Conclusion
Such as the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount at
the level of Jesus, Mt and Lk, each in their own way and in view of the
concrete setting of their communities, developed this proclamation (Kerygma) into a teaching (Didache) on how to live concretely. Mt
did it in the form of New Torah: Lk in the form of a teaching on effective
charity.
8. Structure and
Significance of Lord’s Prayer
® Structure
1. Address
2. Three
“thou” petitions
3. Four
“We” Petitions
8.1 The Address
® ‘Father’
in Luke and ‘Our Father in heaven’ in Mathew
The one whom Jesus calls Father is Yahweh the
Supreme holy (is 6, 3) and thrice holy in the OT. Jesus the Jew grew up in the spirituality
of the OT. “Father “expresses the intimate relationship between faithful and
their God (Is 63, 16; 64, 8).
® The use of the term Father
before Jesus
1) In
the non – Jewish world : God was held as father often in a genetic sense, that
they were viewed as begetters of humanity
2) In
the OT, the title was used as an expression of the covenantal fidelity between
God and his people (2Sam 7,14; Is 64,8; Jer3,4;17)
® The use of the term by
Jesus
With
Jesus of Nazareth a new attitude towards God among the Jewish people takes
place. This newness can be seen in a number of ways:
1) Frequency
of the use of the title: In the NT 265 times against 20 times in the OT. The title
becomes the main title for God -187 times in the gospels and in the lips of
Jesus 174times
2) Individual
use of the title: Jesus as an individual addresses god as father and ask others
to call God so (Mk 14:36, Gal 4:4-6, Rom 8:11-16)
3) Daily
language of Common people: The newness in the Jesus’ consists in that He uses
the Aramaic language of daily life Abba, a word of endearment that is used by
the toddlers.
4) Abba
is the essence of the good news of the kingdom: Though the theme of Good News
goes back to Is 40:9 it was rarely used. Prophets in general presented God as a
judge condemning the sinfulness of the people they called for conversion that
God might forgive. But Jesus by teaching to address God as Abba assures another
experience – the Abba experience.
5) A new relationship: personal intimate concrete and warm relationship to God is
ensured by the term Abba
8.2
Thou Petitions
a. Hallowed
be thy name: The first petition is
addressed in theological passive. Holy qadosh
is equivalent to God’s transcendence. The first petition reflects the
significance of person’s name in the Ancient world: to act in the name of
someone was to exercise that person’s power and authority. It also denotes to
call on the name of someone was to put oneself under the person’s protection
and command. The request here is that god might be known for whom He is that
the people must recognize and acknowledge the power and authority of God as
God. The allusion here is to the compliant of the prophets (Is 5:5, Ez 36:17-25)
that Israel by its conduct and disloyalty had dishonoured God’s name caused
God’s reputation to be despised and profaned. Prayer for God’s name to be made
holy indicate that God may so act in creation through his people that the rest
of the human kind may in turn come to honour him as God.
b. Thy
Kingdom come: it reflects the
contemporary Jewish prayer and brings to focus one of the most characteristic
features of Jesus’ preaching the kingdom of God. It is asking for the rule of
God where the primary action is to establish the rule of justice and love. For
this the main activity of the Christian is to pray which is the first form of
the Christian action. The expectation of the rule has the eschatological
connotation but in the context of Jesus’ stand eschatology begins here and now.
c. Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven:
(absent in Lk) Expansion of the previous one. Where God’s rule is acknowledged
God’s will is done. The fulfilment of God’s will have a double dimension: the
internal dimension of conversion, of identification of god’s mind in the
context of agony and the external dimension of God sets right whatever is wrong
at the cosmic, political and socio-economic level.
8.3 The “We
Petitions”
We petitions cover the three petitions of
human time: the present, the past and the future
1. Give us this / each day
our daily bread:
It is an expression of trust and
dependence. Theme of bread comprises three areas:
® Theme of material food:
God’s provision of the material food receives some support in the book of proverb
(Prov. 30: 8).
® Theme of Manna:
Ex. 16, Dt. 8:3 the symbol of all the gift of God recalled in John 6 implying
the real food for the hungry, the bread of the Word of God and the bread of the
Eucharist.
® Theme of the Banquet:
banquet
§
as the symbol of
covenant (Ex 24:9) and communion sacrifice (Lev 3)
§
as the symbol of
heavenly life (Is 15:6-8, Mt 8:11ff, Rev 3:21)
§
as the symbol of wisdom
in the banquet of wisdom (Prov9,1-6).
§
In the context of
Jesus’ several parables of ‘banquet’
§
Gospel insistence on
participation in banquet.
§
In short, the various
meaning of bread can be summarised as food for the poor, gift of God and
eschatological joy.
Social
Thrust of this petition:
The petition recognizes that the basic resources are not justly distributed,
that many lack adequate access to what they need to sustain (Sir. 31:23) and
some procure successive bread by unjust means, which deprive others. By asking
God to give us our bread, the petition also asks god to ensure that others
co-operate in and not hinder this daily supply of what is necessary. It is a
petition against who hoard property and enjoys the bread of injustice. God’s
salvific reign reverse this injustice perpetuated by the elite.
2.
Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors (Mt);
Forgive
us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us (Lk)
Debtors (Mt) is Semitic; Sin (Lk) is Greek
translation. Semitic Mathew would be more original.
Debts:
This language is drawn from commerce and law (Dt 24:10, Mt 18:21-35) and is
applied to relationship with God and others. Both forgiveness and debts appear in
the Sabbatical year regulation (Dt 15) which requires cancellation of debts. It
signified that no one is permanently indebted and ensured justice to the poor.
It recognized humans who are deeply enmeshed in sinful acts. Relationship and
structures are always in need of renewal.
The use of this language in prayer
recalls the prophetic theme that worship and doing justice are interconnected (Is
1:10 - 17, 58:5 - 9). The language debts depicts sin here as in Mt 18:21-35 as
an injustice of not meeting one’s obligation.
The request for forgiveness
recognizes that the one praying has violated human dignity and not met divine
and human demands. Thus is underlined the importance for community of giving
and receiving of forgiveness and the interdependence of divine forgiveness with
human forgiveness. This is one condition Jesus sets for those who would pray
this prayer: readiness to forgive.
3.
Lead us not into temptation
Despite the
assertion that God does not tempt anyone (Jas 1:13) the tradition records
numerous temptations by God (Abraham Gen. 22, Job, Tobit 12: 14-15). So the
meaning could be permit not or make us not to go into temptation.
Temptation:
is pre-eminently the period of eschatological testing that will precede the
coming of God’s kingdom (Is18:9-13). The trial of the Church is apocalyptic (Lk
22:28; 1Pet 1:6, 4:13).
4.
Deliver us from Evil
The petition for rescue is very broad and concrete.
It is God’s overcoming of all that results God’s life giving and just reign.
As a conclusion
to the Prayer we can say that the prayer constructs a world view and shapes the
community which prays to live accordingly. It builds a world of heaven the
abode of Our Father and the place where God’s will be done. It reinforces the
existence and identity of a community of children of God on earth. To pray this prayer is to seek nothing less
than the transformation of life on earth based on trust. Forgiveness,
persistence, community are the main focus of the prayer.
Fr. Albert Leo, CPPS
Precious Blood Missionaries
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