God’s Word for You – Luke 6:17 The Sermon on the Mount

GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 6:17

The Sermon on the Mount
(or, The Sermon on the Plain)
(Matthew 5-7)

17 He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples. A large number of people were there from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon.

In Matthew’s account, the Sermon on the Mount consists of three long chapters beginning with a series of Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-12) and ending with the lesson about the wise and foolish builders (Mt. 7:24-27). These and other portions are repeated here in Luke’s Gospel.

Are they two separate events, or the same one? Lenski argues that they cannot be different events (“It is contrary to the facts to think of two sermons”). Wenzel says more soberly, “whether or not the two accounts of Matthew and Luke of a sermon on a mount are those of the same sermon cannot be definitely decided despite the cocksure assertion of commentators on both sides of the question” (p. 171).

They certainly could be descriptions of two different occasions. Luke places this event “down…on a level place” (vs. 17), although some think this could have been (or “must have been”) a level place on a mountain. It’s likely that many of Jesus sermons were repeated, just as preachers still do today, especially missionaries who preach in more than one place, or those who have a congregation that requires more than one service each week. In my church in New Ulm, the pastors preach a single sermon five times in a weekend, and a shorter version may appear when we visit senior living centers and nursing homes in the area. Clearly Matthew and Luke present the same basic material.

The two accounts compare this way (the order is from Matthew’s longer version). Some of the sections appear in other parts of Luke:

In both Gospels, the Sermon is closely followed by the story of the Centurion (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10).

In this sermon, Jesus does not establish a new law, nor does he abolish the old law (“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law,” Matthew 5:17). The sermon is for his disciples, and we need to remember the audience throughout. It is not a sermon about repentance and conversion. It is about the life of the Christian. It is a sermon on the third use of the law, which is the law as a guide for us as we strive to live in a way that pleases God.

Ylvisaker is almost poetic in his description of the scene: “Even nature is differently clothed. Sinai rose from a wild, barren mountain region. But the countryside about Capernaum is… fruitful and fair.” He goes on: “On Sinai God descended in a thundercloud with lightning and the blare of trumpets. Here the Son speaks with the gentle voice of the soul-winner. There the people kept at a distance; for Moses was directed to warn them against breaking into the presence of the Lord (Exodus 19:21). Here there is the invitation to approach; for in Jesus who speaks there is access for all to the Father.” (The Gospels p. 251).

Jesus preaches without threats even though he says “Woe to you…” (Luke 6:24,25,26). He preaches to explain and to make us understand, not to terrify us. He does not draw lines that cannot be crossed, but invites us in from outside the boundaries to learn how to please God by loving God and by loving each other. He uses the language of simple and clear commands: Give. Do. Love. Be merciful. Do not judge. Bear good fruit. These are rules to live by, not because we earn salvation by doing them, but because salvation has been earned by Christ, we do them out of thanks.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota