Reading the Gospels Together The Storyline of Matthew’s Gospel – Part 4 At this point Matthew breaks into the flow of Mark’s narrative which he will pick up again later in exactly the place where he left it and provides for his readers a lengthy discourse of Jesus almost all of which is not found in Mark but is found scattered throughout the book of Luke. This is the first of five major discourses that Matthew will insert into Mark’s skeleton. The setting of the discourse is critically important. Jesus goes up on a mountain to teach. Who else went up on a mountain? Matthew’s readers remember that Moses went up on the mountain to receive God’s word and God’s commandments. Matthew’s readers cannot miss Matthew’s connection between Jesus and Moses. We have come to know this discourse as the Sermon on the Mount. The content of Jesus’ teaching in this discourse is bold and confronting. Matthew begins the Sermon on the Mount with Jesus delivering a series of beatitudes to his disciples. These beatitude have a way of turning the world upside down. Being a follower of Jesus will be a peculiar existence. Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Lest anyone think that being a follower of Jesus gives license to do whatever we might want, Jesus tells his disciples that he has not come to abrogate the law but to fulfill it. And he tells his followers that their righteousness must exceed that of the religious leaders. What does that mean? Matthew now depicts Jesus as the new Moses – the new lawgiver who is superior to Moses. Jesus does not make what Moses said easier but harder. Jesus raises the bar on proper behavior through a series of examples of how Jesus supersedes Moses. “You have heard that it was said of old, but I say to you…” Next Jesus takes on the false piety of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and of Matthew’s. Piety is not an outward appearance but something that is deep and within. And so the practice of piety is to be hidden so that only God will see and only God will know. Three examples are provided – almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. More could be added. And while talking about prayer Jesus provides his followers with a prayer that we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is simple and profound at the same time. Still continuing on the theme of proper piety Jesus warns his followers of the dangers of letting the treasures of this world overcome them. Was Matthew’s community a community that knew some wealth? Likely this is the case and so Jesus must warn them about the dangers of wealth. Next, Jesus addresses the issue of worry. Life can be a challenge for all of us. Jesus directs his followers to believe that they can trust God for what they need. Then, Jesus addresses the matter of judging others. His clear message is that we are not to judge. Was judgmentalism a problem for Matthew’s community? Most likely this was also true. In a later discourse Jesus will address conflicts once again. Matthew goes on to string together a few other teachings of Jesus and concludes by reminding his followers again that the practice of piety may be only skin deep. The wise person is one who invests fully in the words of Jesus like a person who builds on solid ground rather than sand. The sermon defines a new community and a new ethic centered on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Likely this message would have only heightened the conflict between the Jewish followers of Jesus who were a part of Matthew’s community and the community of Jewish people who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. We could say more about the content of this first discourse but it will enough for now to simply note that this is a new and major part of the storyline of Matthew’s gospel. We will need to talk about the significance of it more at a later time.