The Sermon on the
Mount
Matthew 5
First of five discourses recorded by
Matthew
The Be-attitudes have been called the
“Blue Print for a Perfect Life” and
“the Constitution for a Perfect Life”
(Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful
Living, 1973, 57, 60).
Some scholars look at it as a “Temple Text.”
The message seemed to be, you’re endowed, now go and do!
Be-Attitudes!
They err who, instead of concentrating on
commandment keeping and personal spiritual
progress, desire sweeping significance and high
visibility in the second estate. Is it really
numbers of people touched at the moment
which measure the impact of an individual? Did
tens of thousands hear the Sermon on the
Mount? Did it make the six o’clock news? (Neal
A. Maxwell, “Grounded, Rooted, Established, and
Settled,” 17).
Matthew 5:1
Jesus ascending the mountain.
This evokes another ancient mountain from the Old
Testament:
Mt. Sinai, where Jehovah delivered the great law of Moses.
This allusion appears to be no accident.
A diverse multitude was following him.
He left them and ascended a mountain leaving the ease
of the valley behind. This forced only true disciples to
follow him (another portrayal of the cost of discipleship).
By following the Savior, the disciples left the world
behind and were taken to a higher level.
At this higher level, the disciples learned things that could
not be learned in any other setting.
He sat down and taught.
This may have reflected synagogue worship as it was practiced at the
time.
As part of synagogue worship, a qualified participant read from the
scriptures while standing. Then they sat down before expounding
upon what they had read.
The Savior expounded upon things that men at that time would have
not known.
In essence, he was giving new scripture!
This was especially true of the Sermon on the Mount.
The message delivered by the Savior on this occasion was
not meant merely to produce some greater ethical living
in his disciples.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said:
“Salvation comes by living the doctrines proclaimed in
the Sermon on the Mount! That sermon - properly
understood - is far more than a recitation of ethical
principles; rather, it summarizes the Christian way of life,
and it charts the course true Saints must pursue to
become even as He is” (The Mortal Messiah, vol. 4, 308).
The Sermon on the Mount has never been recorded in its
entirety as far as we know; at least no scriptural account is
available to us.
It may well be that the most perfect and elaborate sermon
was delivered to the Nephites.
It may be that the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon
contains more of the sermon than is now found in Third
Nephi.
Matthew 5:3-12
The Beatitudes
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit:
Recognize our spiritual need for humility.
3 Nephi 12:3 adds “demonstrate their faith by coming unto
Christ.”
2. Blessed are they that mourn:
Mourn for the spiritual poorness and sins as part of the
process of repentance.
3. Blessed are the meek:
Submitting to the higher power of God. Self-mastery.
Does not meekness mean at least holding back one’s own
ego the only one we can control, after all from the
congested daily collisions of so many other egos in the midst
of life’s fray? Sensitive and defensive driving protects riders
in both cars when a foot is removed from the accelerator of
ego (Neal A. Maxwell, Lord, Increase Our Faith, 115).
The meek…make stepping stones of stumbling blocks (Neal
A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, 57).
If meek, we will place all we have on the altar of the Lord
and will not ask for a receipt! (Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and
Lowly).
Occasionally, as we all know, backing off is really going forward
(Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1989, 62).
If sufficient meekness is in us, it will not only help us to jettison
unneeded burdens, but will also keep us from becoming mired in
the ooze of self-pity. Furthermore, true meekness has a
metabolism that actually requires very little praise or recognition
--- of which there is usually such a shortage anyway. (Neal A.
Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, 55).
Meekness enables us, after a tumble (from the peak of pride), to
pick ourselves up but without putting others down blamefully
(Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, 58).
Human suffering does not automatically
produce sweetness and character unless
meekness is present. Meekness is the
mulch that must go in the soil of adversity
in order for empathy to grow and in order
for character to grow. Jesus could not have
become the most empathetic person had
he not been the most meek person (Neal A.
Maxwell, Build Up My Church).
4. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness:
The desire to remain on the strait
and narrow path and learn the
things of God and eternal life. They
are promised that they shall be
filled. 3 Nephi 12:6 adds, “with the
Holy Ghost.”
The first four beatitudes correspond
well with the first four principles and
ordinances of the gospel (Doctrine &
Covenants 84:26-27).
They serve to initiate one onto the
“strait and narrow path which leads
to eternal life.”
5. Blessed are the merciful:
Those who from their hearts seek to help others in their quest for
God’s mercy. Our salvation rests upon the mercy we show others.
If I make errors, I want them to be on the side of mercy (Hugh B.
Brown).
Let us be merciful with each other. We certainly do not criticize
hospital patients amid intensive care for looking pale and
preoccupied. Why then those recovering from surgery on their souls?
No need for us to stare; those stitches will finally come out. And in
this hospital, too, it is important for everyone to remember that the
hospital chart is not the patient (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1991,
90-91).
6. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God:
They shall see him because of their temple covenants
(Doctrine & Covenants 97:15-16, 93:1).
7. Blessed are the peacemakers:
Like Melchizedek, the “Prince of Peace,” helped others to “enter
into the rest of God” through baptism and temple ordinances
(Joseph Smith Translation, Gen. 14:25-40 and Alma 13:13-19).
8. Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness sake:
Being persecuted is not to be viewed as a negative
thing (The world simply does not like those who are
different).
Remember “blessed-ness” is defined as being higher
than happiness, blessed-ness is an inward fountain of
joy in the soul itself which no outward circumstance
can seriously affect (John R. Dummelow, Dummelow’s
Commentary).
Matthew 5:13
Salt will not lose its savor with age, it is lost through mixture and
contamination.
Salt was prescribed as an essential addition to every meat
offering under the Mosaic Law. Before Christ’s time it had been a
symbol of fidelity, hospitality, and covenant (James E. Talmage,
Jesus the Christ, 217).
Salt is a symbol of indestructibility (Lev. 2:13). In the Book of
Mormon, it reads, “I give unto you to be the salt of the earth” (3
Nephi 12:13). This implies a challenge or invitation.
When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant
with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of
the earth and the savior of men (Doctrine & Covenants 101:39).
Countless families are living in “quiet
desperation,” held together with the Scotch
Tape of sentiment of existing merely on the ice
floes of indifference. The good family is the
salt of society; if it loses its flavor, what will
give savor to a tasteless society --- “wherewith
shall it be salted?” (Neal A. Maxwell, That My
Family Should Partake, 3).
Matthew 5:14-16
“Ye are the Light of the World”
We can be walking witnesses and standing sermons to
which objective onlookers can say a quiet amen (Neal A.
Maxwell, Ensign, November 1980, 15).
When we learn to “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians
2:15) there is no need to seek to be in the spotlight. Such
lesser incandescence is of no interest (Neal A. Maxwell,
Men and Women of Christ, 28).
Personal Radiation
There is a responsibility that no man can evade. That is the
responsibility of personal influence… Every man (& woman) has an
atmosphere or a radiation that is affecting every person in the
world. You cannot escape it… It is simply the constant radiation of
what a man (or woman) really is. Every man (& woman) by his
mere living is radiating positive or negative qualities. Life is a state
of radiation. To exist is to be the radiation of our feelings, natures,
doubts, schemes, or to be the recipient of those things from
somebody else. You cannot escape it. Man (& women) cannot
escape for one moment the radiation of his (or her) character. You
will select the qualities that you will permit to be radiated. That
reminds me of the following poem, the author of which is
unknown.
You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime.
You tell what you are by the things you wear,
And even by the way you wear your hair,
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on your phonograph.
You tell what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bury deceit,
By so simple a thing as how you eat.
By the books you choose from the well fitted shelf.
In these ways and more you tell on yourself.
(President David O. McKay, Conference Report, Oct. 1969, 87)
Matthew 5:17
The Greek word translated “fulfill”
means to bring to completion.
Christ has come to fulfill the intent of
the Law of Moses.
Matthew 5:18
Jot
=
Smallest letter of the Hebrew
alphabet.
Tittle
=
A small part of a Hebrew letter that
distinguishes it from another letter.
Like when we cross the “t” or dot
the “i.”
Jot and Tittle
Matthew 5:22
The phrase, “without a cause” does not appear in
the Greek text nor in the Joseph Smith
Translation. It was added by the King James
translators (It should not be there).
The moment a man or a woman becomes angry
they show great weakness (Brigham Young,
Journal of Discourses, 98).
Matthew 5:29
When the Lord spoke of body parts, it
was evident that he had in mind close
friends or relatives who endeavor to lead
us from the path.
It was simply excluded from the Book of
Mormon.
Matthew 5:37
Yea, yea; Nay, nay = “Honesty”
We are either honest or not!
There is no middle ground with
honesty.
Matthew 5:45
How can it rain on the just and the unjust
alike without occasionally raining on our
personal parade? (Neal A. Maxwell,
Ensign, November 1989, 84).
Matthew 5:48
Perfect in Greek means complete, brought to an end, finished, full
grown or mature.
The Savior taught that each commandment or law should become
fully complete in our lives.
The command to be perfect was a plea to endure to end of the strait
and narrow path.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell pointed out that “it is
much easier to believe in eternal progression
than to practice daily improvement” (All These
Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 71).
Someone once said, “You earn what you
learn.”
It was a heavenly mandate to rise
up to our full potential and become
like God our Father. C.S. Lewis, an
articulate advocate of this simple
but glorious truth, wrote:
“The command ‘Be ye perfect’ is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command
to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can
command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to
make good His words….The process will be long and in parts very
painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he
said….Those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as
He is perfect---perfect in love, wisdom, joy, beauty, and immortality”
(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 176-77).
It was C.S. Lewis who again reaffirmed this divine proposition: “It is
a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses,
to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you
talk to may one day be a creature which…you would be strongly
tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you
now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some
degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It
is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe
and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all
our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all
politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a
mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization---these are mortal,
and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals
whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit---immortal
horrors or everlasting splendors” (C. S. Lewis, Joyful Christian, 197).
Before President Snow was a member of the Church,
Joseph Smith Sr., then patriarch of the Church, prophesied
that Lorenzo would be baptized, and the added this
postscript, “You will become as great as you can possibly
wish---even as great as God, and you cannot wish to be
greater” (Lorenzo Snow, Biography and Family Record of
Lorenzo Snow, 10).
Two weeks later Lorenzo was baptized, but the rest of the
promise remained a “dark parable” to him until four years
later when a burst of revelation came upon him,
enlightening his mind on the subject. He tells of his
extraordinary experience:
“The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon me---the eyes of my
understanding were opened, and I saw as clear as the sun at noonday,
with wonder and astonishment, the pathway of God and man. I
formed the following couplet with expresses the revelation, as it was
shown me, and explains Father Smith’s dark saying to me at a blessing
meeting in the Kirtland Temple, prior to my baptism, as previously
mentioned in my first interview with the Patriarch.
As man now is, God once was:
As God now is, man may be.
(Lorenzo Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, 10)
Lorenzo Snow wrote the following poem:
Dear Brother:
Hast thou not been unwisely bold,
Man’s destiny to thus unfold?
To raise, promote such high desire,
Such vast ambition thus inspire?
Still, ‘tis no phantom that we trace
Man’s ultimatum in life’s race;
This royal path has long been trod
By righteous men, each now a God:
As Abra’m, Isaac, Jacob too,
First babes, then men---to gods they grew.
As man now is, our God once was;
As now God is, so man may be,---
The boy, like to is father grown,
Has but attained unto his own;
To grow to sire from state of son,
Is not ‘gainst Nature’s course to run.
A son of God, like God to be,
Would not be robbing Deity;
And he who has this hope within,
Will purify himself from sin.
(Lorenzo Snow, Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 8-9.)
The Gospel of Philip, one of the Nag Hammadi
discoveries, makes this simple statement of logic: “A
horse sires a horse, a man begets a man, a god brings
forth a god” (“Gospel of Philip,” 145).
That is exactly what John Taylor taught: “As the horse,
the ox, the sheep, and every living creature, including
man, propagates its own species and perpetuates its
own kind, so does God perpetuate His” (John Taylor,
Mediation and Atonement, 165).
Joseph Smith so declared: “All those who keep the commandments
shall grow up from grace to grace, and become heirs of the heavenly
kingdom, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; possessing the same mind,
being transformed into the same image or likeness, even the express
image of him who fills all in all; being filled with the fullness of is glory,
and become one in him” (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, 60).
C.S. Lewis reminds us, “The job will not be completed in this life: but
He means to get us as far as possible before death” (C. S. Lewis, Mere
Christianity, 175).
The First Presidency of the Church in 1909 reiterated the promise and
also the timetable: “Undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is
capable, by experience through ages and eons, of evolving into a God”
(Joseph Smith, “The Origin of Man,” 81).
C.S. Lewis exposed the one obstacle to “absolute perfection” and
godhood---ourselves. He teaches the principle by way of a childhood
experience. He recalls his repeated toothaches and his desire for
relief---but likewise the nagging fear that if he disclosed his pain, his
mother would take him to the dentist. He said, “I knew those
dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other
teeth which had not yet begun to ache….{I}f you gave them an inch,
they took an ell.” Then he made this comparison: “Our Lord is like
the dentists….Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one
particular sin which they are ashamed of….Well, He will cure it all
right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if you
once call him in, He will give you the full treatment.
“…’Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let Me, I will make you perfect.
The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for.
Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose,
you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand
that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost
you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost
you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, not let you rest,
until you are literally perfect---until my Father can say without
reservation that He is well please with you, as He said he was well
pleased with Me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything
less.’
“…You must realize from the outset that the goal toward which He is
beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the
whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you
to that goal. That is what you are in for. And it is very important to
realize that” (C. S. Lewis, Joyful Christian, 77-78).
If we are not destined for godhood, the critic must answer, “Why
not?” Perhaps we could suggest three answers for the critic’s
consideration.
Maybe man cannot become like God because God does not have the
power to create celestial offspring. It is beyond his present level of
comprehension and intelligence. “Blasphemous,” responds the critic.
“He has all knowledge and all power.”
Perhaps God does not create such a diving offspring because he does
not love us. “Ridiculous,” the critic replies. “’For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son’’ (John 3:16).
Well, perhaps God has not planted within us the divine spark because
he wants to retain godhood for himself; he is threatened by our
progress; he can retain his superiority only by asserting man’s
inferiority. “No, no, insists the critic. “Have you ever known a loving,
kindly father who did not want his children to become all that he is and
more?” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 246).