Matthew 5 is famous for what are known as the beatitudes. Essentially this is a list of blessings which are found in Matthew and Luke, although Matthew is generally better known. To get a better understanding of the situation you can view this short video, kindly made for the bibledex channel by some of the faculty of the University of Nottingham.
For a more full reading of the sermon on the mount please see Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship. I would argue for an eschatological reading of the beatitudes. By this I mean we are not waiting for an end to suffering in the world we know, but in the new creation that is to come. We can see instances of this new kingdom or new creation breaking out in Acts 4:34-35. "There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need." While we have been aware of the poor, the mourners, the weak and the persecuted for a very long time, and in Deuteronomy 15:4 God Himself says that "There should be no poor among you," He later says in verse 11 that "There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor."
The real situation is that in the world, we hurt. In fallen creation not everything is as it should be. What remains is our ethics. Creation may have fallen but we are still expected to try and live up to the holy standard. We can't, but there was one who could. Matthew 5:17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No I came to accomplish their purpose." Or as the NSRV puts it, Jesus came "not to abolish but to fulfil." Across Matthew 5-7 Jesus lays out the ethical expectation of those who truly claim to love God. In each case, the Law is built upon. Jesus makes the radical case not for outward law abiding, but inner obedience of faith. The Gospel is about a change of heart. We no longer have to sin because of the Cross. We can opt out of what the world would have us do, and into what we were made to do. If you want to know what a heart changed by Christ should look like, Matthew 5-7 is a good place to start. I will make the point that this is a journey of life, so please do not feel like you have to suddenly be this 'Ultra-holy person', but instead strive towards this Christlike ideal. The road will be hard. Jesus said as much. "The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult." (Matt. 7:14)
I will make a mention of the Lord's Prayer, which comes up in the longer form in Matthew 6:9-13. I particularly like this prayer as Jesus gives us a nice formula to pray with. We pray knowing that God is already aware of what exactly our hearts desire. It can take the pressure off of getting every word right. Instead we praise God for who He is and we pray for our own inequities. First we get ourselves right, then we can help sort out everything else, or rather God can sort everything else out through us once our selves stop getting in the way.
Matthew 6:19-34 is a long passage but I would advise you read it, then read it again. I would suggest that the point is we order our priorities correctly. The rich man who will shall cover in a few weeks places his wealth between God and himself. We are told that we cannot serve two masters. God should take his rightful place as the centre and then we can order the rest of our lives. Once we have sorted out our relationship with our creator and saviour, we can then interact with the world properly. We realign what we think it means to be a human being with the ideal we are presented in Christ.
I will make a side note on Matthew 7:12. A point was made in a recent lecture that when the Golden Rule is stated, most cultures tend to portray it negatively. That is to say, don't do to people what you don't want done to yourself. Jesus brings this home but in a different shape. He says "do to others whatever you would like them to do to you."
There is a portion of behaviour that will appear in both instances. However when we really examine what you would have to do Jesus presents us with a method of looking outwardly to those that need us, instead of inwardly to our own desires. Hopefully my diagram made it clearer.
Bless you guys, thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts please comment, although all comments are moderated to cut out abuse etc. Hopefully you are getting excited for Easter, not only for the chocolate but for the Cross and the empty tomb.
Joe x
*Unless otherwise stated I have used the NLT Bible translation.
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