Matthew: Chapters 5 to 8

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CHAPTER 5

Now for one of the main events – the Sermon on the Mount!  It’s three chapters long and is simply put “Jesus Christ’s Greatest Hits.” Sure, he has plenty of other famous statements in the Bible, put do they ever come off at such a fast and furious pace as they do here? 

People have been attracted to him so far as a faith healer.  That’s given him plenty willing to hear him out, so he goes to a hill where they can hear him.  And he starts off with the Beatitudes.  Good idea.  Always give them some real A-list material to grab their attention right off the bat.

The Beatitudes are the “Blessed are the ___” things. For example, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  In all, Christ blesses: the poor in spirit, they who mourn, the meek, they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and they who are persecuted for righteousness.

That’s a pretty nice cross-section of people to bless.  Looking at the list, this appeals to people who are out of power and/or down on their luck.  It’s not appealing to the content who are healthy and happy.  What need do they have some prophet or messiah?  They’re already doing well.  Twice Christ appeals to those who seek righteousness.  Who would seek that the most?  Those who feel we sorely lack it.  Those are rarely the movers and shakers in society. They can already do something about it.

The weird one is “the poor in spirit.”   What does that phrase mean?  You’d expect that a religion would want to focus on those strong in spirit.  They are the ones who it sounds like the most faith.  I suppose poor in spirit means the ones with the blues.  They are down in the dumps, but fear not – God will come to help you as well.

Christ moves on and says something else famous.  He calls the people “the salt of the earth” and then says something I don’t get.  If salt loses its taste, can it be seasoned?  No, it’s good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled afoot.  Uhhh…huh?  These are the people you’re talking about, Jesus.  I guess he means that this shouldn’t happen to him, but it’s not really clear. 

Oh, since he’s making analogies, he also calls people “the light of the world.”  That sounds nice.  He says, “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.”  I suppose that’s the basis of John Winthrop’s City on a Hill sermon he made when the Pilgrims landed at Boston in 1630.  That speech itself served as the basis for another speech – Ronald Reagan’s 1980 talk upon receiving the presidential nomination. 

The next part indicates that the gospel was likely written after St. Paul’s time as Christian leader.  (Not because it shows a big St. Paul influence – just the opposite.  It shows an idea so opposed to Paul’s thought that it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t have denounced this gospel for being so wrong).  Christ makes clear how he relates to the old Laws of Moses: “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  Yeah – St. Paul had the exact opposite approach.  He believed Christ’s crucifixion freed us from the old Jewish laws. 

In fact, so far Matthew has shown a positive mania to align Christ with the laws and the prophets.  Whenever he can, he shows how Christ upholds the prophecies that came before him.  Thus we get his unlikely birth in Bethlehem, and even his fleeing to the sea after John the Baptist’s arrest as a supposed fulfilling of Old Testament notions.  Matthew and Paul have very different approaches when it comes to Christ.

Christ next shows he not only supports the law, but intends to go beyond it.  Does the old law say not to kill?  Well Christ says that’s not enough. You can’t even be angry with your brother.  If you ever, best you make up first and then give an offering at the temple second.  For if you give an offering first, then God may not accept it.  The thought process behind this is simple: it’s what you feel that matters most of all, not what you do.  So being angry is the same as murder, because the feeling leads to the action, so deal with your feelings first.  For that matter, since feelings mean more than actions, that’s why the sacrifice should be made secondary.

And Christ goes on from there to give a host of similar ideas.  Not only is adultery bad, but if you sin in your heart, that’s the same thing.  In fact, Christ goes so far as to call for self-mutilation.  If your right eye causes you to sin in your heart, rip out your right eye.  If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  WHOAH!  This is as radical as radical gets.

And really, the main theme of this section is how radically stringent Christ’s morality is.  This is as high a standard as humanly possible.  In fact, it’s higher than what’s humanly possible, which strikes me as a bad thing.  It’s no wonder why all Christian denominations try to handle the impact of people being unable to achieve these values rather than try to force people to live up to them. Jesus goes on and denounces divorce.  If you marry a divorced woman, you commit adultery.  You only get one marriage. 

Oh, and oaths suck.  All oaths.  The old law said don’t give a false oath, but Christ wants to be clear: don’t give oaths.  Instead, you should, “Let your `Yes’ mean `Yes’ and your `No’ mean `No.’”  Hey – that’s a nice Brownsville Station song!  This is radical, but it’s something the Quakers will attempt. They’ll oppose taking oaths for just this reason; it calls into question their word at other times.

Next, Christ takes his radical morality to the notion of revenge.  Christ denies the notion of “an eye for an eye” and instead calls for no resistance.  If someone strikes your right cheek – you know what comes next, right? – “turn the other one to him as well.”  Turn the other check.  No matter what someone does to you, don’t fight back.  He doesn’t give a rationale for this.  He just doesn’t think you should fight back. 

This chapter ends with Christ explaining why you should turn the cheek – it’s so you can love your enemies.  He denies the old notion that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  He wants you to love all, even you enemy.

One thing that oddly happens in this chapter: early on he says he comes to fulfill the law, but at times he openly contradicts it.  Turning the cheek, not giving oaths – these things go against traditional law; as Christ himself notes.  But he still wants people to do it.  How does he square this with his claim to stand for the old law?  I guess he means that we should appeal to the higher morality in the law – love and forgiveness, not revenge.  That’s my best guess.

CHAPTER 6

Christ brings his particular moral slant to charitable donations.  It’s not enough that you do it, you have to do it for the right reasons.  A person who does it to show off, someone who wants everyone to see him give aid – fuck that guy.  He may as well not even do it because his motivations are all wrong.  He wants people to be impressed with him, when the focus should be on helping the needy.  When you give to charity, you should do it in such secrecy that your left hand doesn’t even know what the right hand is doing.  Huh.  So that’s where that line comes from.

The same goes for prayer.  When you pray, do it in your own room, behind closed doors, and in secret.  People who show off are hypocrites.  They want people to look at them while they pray; making the focus themselves instead of God.  In other words, Jesus Christ really doesn’t think much of Tim Tebow.  Similarly, fasting shouldn’t be done really showy, either.  The overriding theme is humbleness towards doing the right action.  It’s the action, not the actor.

But since Jesus brought up prayer, time for Christ to bust out the proper way to pray – The Lord’s Prayer.  It’s so famous it’s hardly worth quoting.  The main themes are paying homage to God and then giving thanks.  From him, comes all.   So fittingly, right after the prayer, Christ tells us that we must forgive others. If you don’t, why would God forgive you?  It all comes back from him.  Again – be humble.  Always be humble. 

Similarly, don’t be greedy.  Those who focus on treasures on earth will get theirs.  In fact, Christ even says, “No one can serve two masters” so you must choose between God and mammon.  Damn – you can’t swing a dead cat in this speech without hitting a half-dozen famous lines.

There is one weird thing in the middle of the money section.  He tells you that the lamp of the body is the eye, so take care of it.  Ummmm .. .. Christ is really into optometry?  I don’t quite get that part.

As the chapter nears an end, Christ starts combining threads.  He makes some general statements opposing materialism.  Why do you care about your clothing?   Why do you care about the next day? Don’t.  “O you of little faith” don’t worry about that.  God will provide.  “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”  This passage really goes against America.  We’ve long been a nation of strivers who aren’t content with what we have but always seek more.  People noted that about us in the 1830s and it is still true now.  Going by this passage, this nation really falls short of Christ’s goals.

CHAPTER 7

The last chapter of the Sermon of the Mount gets off with a famous line: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.”  I’ve usually seen it as “judge not lest ye be judged yourself”.  I guess that’s the King James Bible.  Christ follows this line up with maybe the oddest point in the Sermon – he compares it to two people with splinters in their eye.  Don’t try to help the other guy if you have a splinter in your eye.  Huh?  Great speech so far, Jesus, but that line sure was a clunker.

But it’s back to great lines.  Don’t give holy things to dogs or pearls to swine.  Oh, that’s where that line comes from.  It’s actually a bit nasty.  It seems to go against a lot of the ideas here that you should always give of yourself.  This wants you to not give some things.  Heck, it can be used to nullify the call not to judge others.  A person can judge you a swine and use that as a reason not to help you.  How can you reconcile them?  (This speech is so good, I feel the need to try to reconcile the parts that are at ends to me).  Well, I don’t think it refers to charity.  Always give aid to people who need it.  But don’t put yourself out giving help to loathsome people – and we all know so people like that – you don’t need it and won’t do right with it.  In other words, don’t break your neck helping Donald Trump.  Maybe it means something like that.

That said, the next part strikes me as transparent bullshit.  Christ says prayers will be answered – “seek and you fill find.” That’s a nice line and I have no problem with it per say, but it leads to a section that concludes, “heavenly Father give good things to those who ask.”  This goes against the Book of Job, one of my favorite books.  Life isn’t always a moral wonderland.  I can make a partial defense.  Though prayer may not have a 100% success rate, it can help. Hell, even people with mental illness show an improved tendency to recover if they are religious and pray for help.  It can help.  But it’s not guaranteed. 

Oh, and we get to the Golden Rule.  It’s a sign just how good this overall speech is that it’s just another great moment within it.  This might be the key to Christian day-to-day ethics, and it’s easy to overlook because Christ keeps saying so many wonderful things.  But you can see why this line is so central.  Throughout the goal is to act well to others, to strive for the highest level of thought and behavior – so of course it can all boil down to “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” 

Also, like Amos in the Old Testament, Christ’s philosophy is heavily centered on just treatment of each other. 

There is a bit more Sermon on the Mount left, but it’s something of an anti-climax.  He’s winding down, and has hit almost all of his main famous lines. He compares following his way to entering a narrow gate.  He denounces false prophets – who are like wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Ah, still got time for a few more great lines, I see.  And Christ notes that just because you think you’re a true disciple of his doesn’t mean you are.  If you assume that you are, you might get your comeuppance from Christ himself.  That is a profound reason for the self-righteous to pause and reflect. 

Christ wants his church to be built on those who not only listen, but also act as he says they should.

I like how Matthew wraps it up.  After the Sermon on the Mount is finished, Matthew reports, “When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”  I’ll bet they were astonished.  This is fantastic stuff.  It’s up there with the best moments of the Old Testament – and we’re just seven chapters into the New.  In a Bible full of great ideas, rhetoric, and speeches, this one is the tops.

CHAPTER 8

OK, I like how this chapter begins.  Now that the Sermon on the Mount is over, Matthew begins by telling us, “When Jesus came down from the mountain” – like Moses!  Get it?  God gave Moses the law from the mountain.  And now Christ – y’know, the Son of God – gives laws from the mount, and comes down.  Well played, Matthew, well played.

Anyhow, much of the rest of the chapter is Christ healing people.  He heels a leper and tells the leper to keep this quiet.  Well, that fits with Christ’s admonishment in the Sermon to not be all showy in your piety.  However, this is clearly coming immediately after the Sermon, and so there should be a lot of people around to see this miracle.  Ah, never mind.

Next Christ heals the servant of a Roman centurion.  It’s interesting because the official tells Christ – look, you don’t have to actually touch the guy.  Just say you’ll heal him and I’ll take your word for it.  Christ then applauds the man’s faith, saying, “in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”  Yeah, that’s a shot being taken at the Jews – and a compliment to the Gentiles.  Though Matthew seems respectful towards Jewish law, he also has some problems with the Jews. 

Welcome to early Christianity, where the split between Jews and Christians has already begun.  Christians are sure that Jesus was the savior promised them in holy scripture – Matthew makes this point as often as he can (including in this chapter, where he quotes some random bit of Isaiah about how the messiah will take away their diseases) - the Jews themselves don’t buy it.  Well then, either the Christians are wrong or the Jews lack faith.  Obviously, the Christians put the blame on the Jews, and you can an example of it here with the centurion story.  It gets even darker, as Christ says of his fellow Jews, “the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  Oh, I think this qualifies as indirect evidence that Matthew was written after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.

One final thing – by making the Roman the good guy, the new religious is showing its willingness to gain supporters among the gentiles.  Yeah, that approach has a future before itself.  Boy, does it ever.

After healing some more people (including Peter’s mom), Christ makes one of his more extraordinary statements.  He calls for people to follow him, and to prioritize him over all else.  A man says he’ll follow Christ, but first must bury his dad.  “Follow me and let the dead bury their dead.”  Clearly, Jesus has an ego.

After a few more miracles, the chapter ends with a weird story I can’t quite follow.  He’s with some people possessed by demons and some pigs and the people of the town here what Jesus did and beg him to leave.  Up at the end, I figured that Christ was healing people and making everything good, so I was really thrown by the end where people told him to amscray.  

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