Luke 6:20-49

2 d. Luke 6:20-49. The Sermon.

The aim, prevailing thought, and plan of this discourse have been understood in many different ways. The solution of these questions is rendered more difficult by the difference between the two accounts given by Matthew and Luke. As to its aim, Weizsäcker regards the Sermon on the Mount as a grand proclamation of the kingdom of God, addressed to the whole people; and it is in Matthew's version that he finds the best support for this view of it. He acknowledges, nevertheless, that the fact stated in the preface (Luke 6:1-2: “He taught them [His disciples], saying...”) is not in harmony with this design. Luke, according to him, has deviated further even than Matthew from its original aim, by modifying the entire discourse, to make it an address to the disciples alone. Ritschl and Holtzmann, on the contrary, think that the discourse was addressed originally to the disciples alone, and that Luke's version of it has preserved with greater accuracy its real tenor; only the situation described Luke 6:17-19 would not, according to Holtzmann, accord with its being addressed to them. Keim reconciles all these different views by distinguishing two principal discourses, one addressed to all the people, about the time of the Passover feast, of which we have fragments in Matthew 6:19-34; Matthew 7:7-11; Matthew 7:1-5; Matthew 7:24-27. This inaugural discourse would be on the chief care of human life. The second is supposed to have been addressed somewhat later to the disciples only, about the time of Pentecost. Matthew 5 is a summary of it. This would be a word of welcome addressed by Jesus to His disciples, and an exposition of the new law as the fulfilment of the old. As to the criticism on the Pharisaical virtues, Matthew 6:1-18, it is doubtless closely related, both in substance and time, to the preceding discourse; but it did not form part of it.

The prevailing idea, in Matthew, is certainly an exposition of the new law in its relations with the old. In Luke, the subject is simply the law of charity, as the foundation of the new order of things. Many critics deny that any agreement can be found between these two subjects. According to Holtzmann, the 5th chapter of Matthew should be regarded as a separate dissertation which the author of the first Gospel introduced into the Sermon; Keim thinks that Luke, as a disciple of Paul, wanted to detach the new morality completely from the old. The anonymous Saxon even sets himself to prove that the Sermon on the Mount was transformed by Luke into a cutting satire against

Saint Peter!

As to the plan of the discourse, many attempts have been made to systematize it. Beck: (1) the doctrine of happiness (beatitudes); (2) that of righteousness (the central part in Matthew and Luke); (3) that of wisdom (conclusion). Oosterzee: (1) the salutation of love (Luke, Luke 6:20-26); (2) the commandment of love (Luke 6:27-38); (3) the impulse of love (Luke 6:39-49). The best division, regarding it in this abstract way, and taking Matthew as a basis, is certainly that of Gess: (1) the happiness of those who are fit to enter into the kingdom (Matthew 5:3-12); (2) the lofty vocation of the disciples (Matthew 5:13-16); (3) the righteousness, superior to that of the Pharisees, after which they must strive who would enter into the kingdom (v. Luke 6:17-34); the rocks on which they run a risk of striking (the disposition to judge, intemperate proselytizing, being led away by false prophets); next, the help against these dangers, with the conclusion. (Luke 7:1-27).

The solution of these different questions, as it seems to us, must be sought first of all in the position of affairs which gave rise to the Sermon on the Mount. In order to see it reproduced, as it were, before our eyes, we have only to institute a comparison. Picture a leader of one of those great social revolutions, for which preparations seem making in our day. At an appointed hour he presents himself, surrounded by his principal adherents, at some public place; the crowd gathers; he communicates his plans to them. He begins by indicating the class of persons to which he specially addresses himself: you, poor working people, loaded with suffering and toil! and he displays to their view the hopes of the era which is about to dawn. Next, he proclaims the new principle which is to govern humanity in the future: “The mutual service of mankind; justice, universal charity!” Lastly, he points out the sanction of the law which he proclaims, the penalties that await those who violate it, and the rewards of those who faithfully keep it. This is the caricature; and by the aid of its exaggerations, we are able to give some account of the features of the original model. What, in fact, does the Sermon on the Mount contain? Three things: 1 st. An indication of the persons to whom Jesus chiefly addresses Himself, in order to form the new people (Luke, Luke 6:20-26; Matthew 5:1-12); 2 d. The proclamation of the fundamental principle of the new society (Luke, Luke 6:27-45; Matthew 5:13 to Matthew 7:12); 3 d. An announcement of the judgment to which the members of the new kingdom of God will have to submit (Luke, Luke 6:46-49; Matthew 7:13-27). In other words: the call, the declaration of principles, and their sanction. This is the order of the discourse. There is nothing artificial about this plan. It is not a logical outline forcibly fitted to the discourse; it is the result of the actual position of the work of Jesus, just as we have stated it. The discourse itself explains for whom it is intended. Jesus addresses the mass of the people present, as forming the circle within which the new order of things is to be realized, and at the same time the disciples and apostles, by means of whom this revolution is to be brought about. Luke and Matthew, therefore, are not at variance in this matter, either with each other or with themselves. As to the fundamental idea of this discourse, see Luke 6:27.