Matthew indicates that Jesus delivered a lesson [his longest recorded sermon] to the Jewish people on a mountain early in his ministry (Matthew 5:1). He did so because multitudes were following him (Matthew 5:l,2). It seems that the primary target of Jesus' remarks on that occasion were those who were his disciples--those who looked to him as their teacher. While many of Jesus' sayings are quite familiar to us, his thoughts were radical to Israelites two thousand years ago. [Perhaps his thoughts are so familiar to us that we do not 'hear' just how radical they are.]
Do not assume that Jesus taught a lesson or emphasized a point only one time. When I used to do guest speaking work, I often took with me what I considered "the best of David" to teach in a different situation. If we use the same material in different situations, how much more so would Jesus in the absence of our communication advantages?
A disciple was a person who looked to Jesus as his/her teacher. Jesus' likely gave this sermon before he selected the twelve in Matthew 10 or Mark 3:13-15.
Please understand that Jesus did not emphasize God's values and priorities in his ministry just a single time in a single situation and 'go on' from that one declaration. There was no printing press or printed materials available to him. The printing press with moveable type would not be invented for over 1400 years after Jesus' death. Not even the gospels we have in our New Testaments appeared in handwritten form until 30 to 50 years after Jesus' death. Since the primary means of distributing information to the masses was by word of mouth, Jesus often found it needful to repeat information and again teach lessons that he already taught. That likely happened often when he entered new areas. Today's preachers/teachers will confirm that people do not understand or remember a point merely because the point was presented once verbally to a single audience. The more different the information is, the less likely it is to be accurately remembered in one verbal presentation. Jesus' emphasis was often radically different to the emphasis his audience heard in synagogues!
The importance of having "advance men" increased in the absence of our common means of mass media. [Consider Mark 6:7 and Luke 10:1.] Especially in Jesus' earlier ministry before he had widespread popularity, he would need to generate expectation if he expected to teach large audiences. Remember, in those days in Israel Jesus was not the only man with a message who wanted contact with many people. He wanted to teach many Israelites, but no teacher could teach a lot of people unless a lot of people gathered to hear him.
In what we refer to as 'the sermon on the mount' (Matthew 5-7), Jesus emphasized human to human relationships in a unique manner. In the beginning of Matthew 7, he stressed four responsibilities in human to human interaction. (a) Do not yield to the temptation to be unjust to others by functioning as their judge. One learns in order to care for his own needs. He does not learn to point out everyone else's problems. (b) Respect precious understandings as being precious. Not everyone wishes to understand. Do not try to give precious understandings to those who would destroy you for caring about them. They will have no appreciation for what you share with them. (c) Accept responsibility to pursue God's values and priorities [ask, seek (keep on asking), and knock]. This is a continuing responsibility. One had to be determined to locate and understand truth. Discovery would be difficult and demanding [contentment with what one always has 'known' is a curse]. (d) If they, being evil, knew how to respond to their children's request to meet needs, God in whom there is no evil knows how to bless His children. God knows how to take care of His family even when we children do not understand what He is doing!
There is a radical difference in a message that says, "Comply with the system and its structure," and a message that says, "Understand God's concerns and concepts." While Jesus respected structures that respected God (consider Matthew 12:1-8 to see the contrast with Jesus' emphasis on Hosea 6:6. Also consider Matthew 15:1-11.)
They [as we] needed to make certain their expressions of religious practice coincided with God's concerns and concepts. They needed to assume responsibility for their own spirituality. They needed to be concerned about others. They needed to understand not everyone would welcome this focus.
Verse 12 in chapter 7 begins with 'therefore'. The statement that followed served as a summation of his lesson. His summation statement was not unique to him. A number of prominent people in and out of Judaism acknowledged a form of Jesus' summation statement. The contrast is not seen in the thought of the statement but in the contrast of the statement. Others stressed the thought in negative, defensive terms--do not do things to others you do not want done to you. Jesus stressed the thought in positive, proactive terms--do things for others you would appreciate being done for you.
People who belong to God aggressively care about other people (just as God does!) It is always fatal spiritually to conclude that "God cares only about us." God cares about all individuals in all cultures!
The contrast is striking! If you want to see the contrast, look at the actions of the Samaritan in contrast to the priest and Levite in Luke 10:31-33. The actions of the priest and Levite were negative--they did not hurt the man and were in no way responsible for his condition. The actions of the Samaritan were positive--he helped the man in his need. The priest and the Levite did no harm. The Samaritan did good. The Samaritan, not the priest and Levite, symbolized God's meaning of neighbor.
If we understand Jews' attitudes toward Samaritans and Samaritans attitudes toward Jews, a helpful insight is provided in Jesus' concepts by understanding the parable of the good Samaritan. (Consult a Jewish Mishna in Shebiith 8:10; Rosh Ha-Shanah l:3 with 2:2; Ketuboth 3:1; Gittin 1:5; Kiddushin 4:3; Oholoth 17:3; and Niddah 4:1 and 7:4.). Attitudes of each toward the other were openly horrible. Jesus picked an interesting, insightful racial contrast for his parable. It was the Samaritan who was aggressively good.
Jesus said being aggressive in accepting opportunity to do good was the fulfillment of God's concerns in the Law and the prophets. We would say, "Doing good to other people is the core of God's ethical concern in the Old Testament." Such action represents the true concern of God's instructions. It represents the soul of the prophets' encouragement to practice righteousness. Jesus did not say this would comply with God's ritual instructions, but he said it would comply fully with God's concern of humans treating humans ethically.
God had and continues to have an enormous concern for all people. Perfunctory religious ritual without submitting to God's concern is meaningless. It is so easy to substitute compliance with religious instructions for maintaining God's concern.
Whereas the measuring stick of the moral person was not to hurt anyone else, Jesus changed the measuring stick for morality. The moral person seeks to help those in need. It is much easier to do no harm than it is to do good. One can do nothing and do no harm. However, if one seeks to be helpful to others, it is impossible to do nothing.
Care needs to be exercised by a Christian to surrender to doing good to others by taking initiative rather than being careful to do no harm.
(a) If the theme of the sermon on the mount is Matthew 5:20 with the emphasis of having a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees and (b) if the summation of Jesus' lesson is Matthew 7:12 with the emphasis of aggressively seeking to do good, then the way for anyone to fulfill God's expectations [even stated in the Law and the prophets] is to be helpful to people in need.
This conclusion is demanding as it challenges each of us to consider the purposes of our lives.
God's measuring stick: treat them as you would like someone to treat you if you were in his or her circumstance. It seems that is what God did when He was moved by our need to restore relationship with Him and sent us His son.
The emphasis: God wants His children to treat people as He seeks to treat them--with forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and grace.
It is extremely difficult to be self-righteous if we use Jesus' measuring stick.
We are able to function in reaching out to others in God's concern because we are aware of how we need and receive God's forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and grace.
This is a powerful statement of the importance of human to human actions to God. It underlines the fact that our human to human acts and relationships are the mirror of a Christian's relationship with God.
The only way we actively can show God how much we appreciate His kindness in our lives is by being kind to other people. We cannot do anything to help God. We can do things for people. God does not depend on us for help. People need our help!
For Thought and Discussion:
The disciples of Jesus seem to be the primary target of the lesson.
A disciple is one who looked (looks) to Jesus as his/her teacher.
It should be understood that Jesus did not emphasize God's values and priorities a single time in a single situation and never revisit the lesson again when in new circumstances.
It begins with 'therefore.' The word indicates a summation statement is presented.
The parable of 'the good Samaritan' in Luke 10:30-37 provides a good example of the contrast.
Aggressively doing good to others fulfills God's concerns.
The moral person is the person who seeks to help those in need. The moral person treats others as he/she would like to be treated
It is hard to be self-righteous because you must make choices to be helpful to others every day. What you did in the past is gone. The need is an ever present now.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 2
