Now when he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and he began to teach them, saying….”
Matthew. 5:1-2
We continue with Jesus’ sermon from Matthew’s gospel, considering something I believe to be foundational to the rest of his sermon. The disciples are learning life in the Kingdom of God. Simply put, the Kingdom of God is about a King, his rule, and his territory. Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world,’ establishing for all time that the Kingdom he rules over is the heart and soul of His disciples.
The teachings of Jesus had to be believed then as they must now. Jesus sets before them a new identity. Have you noticed, from verse sixteen, that Jesus tells them God is their “Father in heaven”?
Just for further thought and consideration, ChatGPT, 2024 notes, “When Jesus referred to God as his Father, he was implying a unique, intimate relationship that went beyond the general notion of God as the Father of Israel. Jesus' claim was more personal and direct, suggesting a unique and unparalleled relationship. While the Old Testament referred to God and the Father of Israel in a metaphorical and communal sense, Jesus’ claim to divine sonship was understood as unique, literal, and equal relationship with God, which was considered blasphemous by the Jewish leaders of His time, This profound theological claim and its implications for Jewish monotheism and the established religious order were key reasons for their anger and accusations against Him.”
Can you imagine how this would have had to be heard, received, and believed by those culturally raised with the Old Testament understanding? Jesus’ life was spent displaying the expressed image, the fullness, of the Father’s heart and mind. We learn this consistently conflicted with what the religious teachers were showing and teaching.
Jesus brings them into this new identity as children, salt and light, who are now to reflect this nature before others. Salt must season and preserve. Light mustshine. All must be done to glorify our Father in heaven. So much can be said here for the born-again believer to understand the identity given in Christ, which is sonship, salt, and light. We can only reflect His nature to the degree of our revelation. Every disciple continues to grow in this revelation. Jesus’ prayer from John 17 is for his disciples to know the Father and His son to experience eternal life (both quality and quantity). In this prayer, he highlights the words that he has been faithful in giving them and the work he has done to keep and guard them. On a side note, there is much we can learn about discipling others from Jesus’ prayer in this portion of John’s gospel.
The place of guarding and keeping that Jesus does comes about not only through his prayers for them but also through the words he has given them. We see now, in these next verses, 17-20, that Jesus must be addressing the questions that they are holding within their own thinking. “Don’t suppose.” His teaching conflicts with everything they have ever learned.
I have personally heard things that challenged my understanding at the time, and I am thankful for my teachers’ patience, who allowed me the freedom to ask questions, enabling me to process the truth. Earlier, we find Jesus as a child, in the midst of the religious teachers of his day, both listening and asking questions, Luke 2: 26. The word righteously applied consistently always leads one to life. Jesus said that we might have life and have it more abundantly, and it is through the entrance of His word, with the breath of the Holy One, that we are illuminated.
Thus, Jesus continues to set things in order. Lifelong teachings and mindsets, strongholds, must first be brought down through the teaching and preaching of truths his disciples must know and hold.
“Think not; I have come to destroy the law of the prophets; I did not come to destroy them; I came to fulfill them!”
N.T. Wright, A Contemporary Translation of The Kingdom New Testament uses the phrase “covenant behaviour” in the place of “righteousness” in this portion of scripture. The life of a disciple must be far superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The teaching and practice of the commandments are to be upheld. As born-again, spirit-filled believers, we understand, from Romans 13:he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law, for love does no wrong to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
We will continue next week to see how this law of love is the backbone, the foundation, of all of Jesus’ teaching as we consider Jesus’ words, “You’ve heard it said,… but I say to you…”