Sermon Tone Analysis
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Setting the Stage
Introduction
Good Morning,
Its great to be hear this morning and excited about walking through this Sermon on the Mount.
In introduction - most of my life I had never really considered the sermon on the mount
Matthew is setting the stage for Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in chapter 4. In , Matthew records the account of Jesus in Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.
Remember that phrasing, The Gospel of the Kingdom.
- Remember that phrase: “The Gospel of the Kingdom”
- Remember that phrase: “The Gospel of the Kingdom”
Notes for the Gospel of the Kingdom -
Along with proclaiming the kingdom of God Jesus was healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Healing along with with preaching this gospel is not incidental for Jesus.
Instead it is absolutely purposeful.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is a powerful phrase because it describes the all consuming nature the gospel.
I think many of us have been taught a weak gospel.
I say weak because it is leaning mostly to one aspect of the kingdom, the spiritual aspect.
Jesus came not only to take care of sin but the consequences of sin, the effects of sin.
There is spiritual healing but there is also physical healing as well.
Jesus came not only to restore the personal spiritual brokenness that results from sin, but the physical, emotional, relational, institutional, psychological brokenness that results as well.
His kingdom is being brought to bear over all things, now it might be slower than we would like but he is doing it and using us to do it (which is probably why it is taking so long).
- Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.
- Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.
- Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.
Imagine if there was a physician in town to whom you could take every disease, every ailment, every cancer, every broken bone, every psychological issue and he was able to make them well.
That is what this is like I imagine.
And I imagine that the hype about Jesus that these verses describe is real.
If there was social media this would probably be trending and trending for a good little while due to the nature of this trend.
The fact that Jesus healed every disease, every ailment, every pain, every epileptic, every paralytic, every person who was oppressed by demon make Jesus desirable to most people.
And these folks are following him everywhere he goes.
But the question is how does he have the time to do this.
Let us consider another aspect of this crowd.
Matthew describes the crowds as coming from all over the place — Galilee, the Decapolis, Judea, Jerusalem, and from beyond the Jordan.
Upon seeing these crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciple came to him.
He open up his mouth and taught them saying…and Jesus begins to teach.
But lets think about this.
Using the process of elimination, it is probably not night time because there were no street lights and thus too dark and too dangerous to be sitting outside giving a lesson.
So most likely, it is daytime.
If it is day time, in those days people worked from sun up to sun down.
Now the question is “why in the world aren’t these folks at work?” “How do they have the time leave their homes and follow Jesus around Galilee?”
This is where we need to understand the social and economic climate of the time as it will give us a deeper understanding of what Jesus is about to say.
Social and Economic Context
As you know probably know, Palestine was under the rule of the Roman empire.
At a cursory reading of the New Testament it can be difficult to understand the weight of the Romans hand upon Ancient Palestine.
It can seem as if they had a lot of flexibility and freedom because they were allowed to worship their own God without any interference from the Roman government, at least that was my thinking, “The Romans weren’t so bad.”
Well...
The Romans were oppressive
During this time their were three classes of people
The Wealthy
“Middle Class”
The Poor
The Wealthy
This was the smallest demographic.
About 2% of the Roman population were wealthy and most of the wealth was in Rome, not in Palestine.
And this wealth was exuberant and lavish.
There were some Jews who were wealthy as well and their wealth was just as gaudy.
One example given was that when they bundled branches for burning at the tabernacle, they would tie strings around the made of gold to bundle them for burning.
It is likely that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea belonged to that “class of people.”
Bribery was a way of life in those time, many
The mentality of the Romans was — Everybody else owed them.
Thus they taxed the people of Judea and surrounding territories and taxed the like crazy.
For example, we are used to paying property taxes, sales tax, income tax.
Folk were not only responsible for paying those taxes but paying other taxes like fishermen for example, were responsible for paying fishing pole taxes, that is tax for owning a fishing pole.
Or if you were a maker of nets, you had to pay taxes on the nets you made.
In fact, in the Roman empire, because everyone else owed them you were taxed for just existing.
You were taxed about 50% percent of what you possessed if you lived in Galilee.
This wasn’t too much of a problem for the wealthy, because they were able to pay of tax collectors and the political elites used taxes paid for their lavish life styles.
Middle Class
The Middle class were folks who owned shops or had businesses they ran out of their houses.
Joseph, Jesus’ step-father was probably in this category
The Poor (this composed most of the population in Palestine)
These were day laborers, folks who came into the city in the morning to hire themselves out.
Similar to what can been seen in some areas where folks will congregate and wait for someone to come and say, “I need this many men for this job today.”
So if you were lucky, you got picked for that particular job that day
So there was no guarantee of employment
Most survived off of begging and sweating
And if you were lame, blind or incapable of working and had no help then you were left to die
To be poor is to be powerless
Remember the Romans said that everyone else exist for their well being (The Roman well-being that is) which meant no government programs so the destitution of the poor was worse than it is for us today.
So why weren’t those folks at work in the middle of the day, how did they have the time to follow Jesus around for days at a time?
Because they were poor and were unable to find a job.
And if they were looked at or given attention to it was primarily because they’re sweat was needed for that particular day.
Otherwise, these folks were literally left to die.
So , Jesus seeing these crowds sits down and opens his mouth and begins to teach them
Im not sure about now-a-days but back then whenever a Rabbi taught he sat down to teach
After seeing these crowd of poor, destitute, desperate, and hurting people he makes it a point teach them.
The first thing that comes out of his mouth is blessed are the poor in Spirit.
This is a paradigm shift, because what Jesus said is a contradiction in terms
The Paradigm Shift
is a paradigm shift for these folks.
What Jesus just said is a contradiction in terms.
To be poor in anything and to be blessed did not go together.
They had no category for that.
Yet Jesus describes a realm in which those who are poor in spirit are blessed, because to those who are poor in spirit belong the kingdom of God.
They are blessed because the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is theirs.
The contradiction in terms continues, blessed are those who mourn
Jesus us speaking to them in terms that they understand yet he associating those terms they couldn’t fathom being associated with.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes a realm that is contrary to the norm and he prescribes a life that is contrary to the norm.
This word is for us.
In the gospel of his kingdom, he does the same for us...
-Terms like Identity, Love,
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