Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too.
Imagine all the people living life in peace…
You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.
– John Lennon (1940-1980), from “Imagine” (1971)
It is essential as we read the Lord’s Gospel words that we always keep in mind the fact that nothing Jesus is quoted as saying is a straight transcription. On the contrary! Our having even an approximation of the Lord’s truths today is a miracle. Here are some of the reasons why:
- For Jesus to have spoken against the prevailing religion was a crime punishable by death. Yet resetting our understanding of all things spiritual was precisely what He came to do! And He managed by some clever devices to effectively teach what in His day was heresy. For example, He would deliver innocuous-sounding bits of information over days of time, knowing that the Temple guards would change so often that they were unlikely to catch on while his constant followers could put those bits together. He would tell simple stories and then say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (wink-wink) so His listeners would know to seek His deeper message. He would firmly state some Old Testament truth, and then add a sentence that transformed its meaning.
- The Lord’s words as we have them in the Gospels come from people who actually heard Him speak. But their accounts were then passed down orally for a couple of generations before anything was written down.
- The First Council of Nicaea in 325 both added to and subtracted from the four Gospels they included in their Christian Bible. We know, for example, that they added various anachronistic and erroneous bits about church-building, sheep-and-goats, predestination and election, hellfire and damnation, and end-times nonsense.
- Jesus spoke Aramaic. His remembered words were later translated into Greek, and then from Greek into modern English. The dead tell us that these two-step translations are more faithful to what Jesus came to teach than are modern translations made directly from Aramaic into English. That truly does look like a miracle.
When we read it cold, the Sermon on the Mount seems to hold some contradictions. But when we keep these four issues with the Gospels in mind, we are sitting at the feet of a master Teacher! Making allowances for the obstacles He faced, we see that everything Jesus said really does fit together and make sense. Furthermore, now we can check with the dead, and they consistently tell us all the same truths. Jesus couldn’t speak freely. His words were likely garbled by repetition and then edited for religious reasons. Still, by nothing less than the Grace of God His truth survives today!
Chapter Five of the Gospel Book of Matthew seems to be more randomly assembled than it is. Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes that begin the chapter how our spiritual growth will feel; then in the rest of it He shows us how to free ourselves from fear-based religious rules so we can rely on God’s Law of Love to help us begin to grow naturally. What follows the Beatitudes are two transitional statements, the first of which is a brief exhortation that we use the example of our lives well lived to share the truths that Jesus taught:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (MT 5:14-16).
Then comes the puzzling statement that despite His having replaced the Old Testament laws with God’s Law of Love, those old laws still survive. No doubt when He was saying these words He could see the Temple guards listening closely, so He was putting on a show to reassure them of His old-time orthodoxy. Note, though, how His last sentence transforms the meaning of this entire paragraph:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (MT 5:17-20).
So, is He now contradicting His replacement of the Old Testament laws with God’s Law of Love? Not at all. He is instead providing an essential bridge between the “Thou shall” and “Thou shalt not” external laws that are taught by the scribes and Pharisees, and His new spiritual version of the Law which demands that everything we do must be done from love. He is saying that the Old Testament laws have not been abolished, but rather they have been fulfilled and perfected by the new and greater command that we love God and love our fellow man in ways that will internally transform us.
From now on we won’t need inflexible external laws, because our living in righteousness will be just the beautiful, natural fruit of our spiritually transformed being. That this is what the Lord is actually saying is borne out by the fact that the balance of Chapter Five is His explanation of how the new Law of Love applies to those now-outmoded Old Testament laws! Let’s sit at His feet and marvel:
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into Gehenna. Therefore if you are presenting your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your gift. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.
“It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of un-chastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may show yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (MT 5:21-48).
Chapter Five of the Book of Matthew gives us the core of the Lord’s spiritual teachings in one place. First the Beatitudes summarize our goal of internal transformation; then Jesus shows us how God’s Law of Love goes far beyond the Old Testament laws to empower us to at last achieve the spiritual perfection that must be our goal. What more is there to be said? Stay tuned! As the wise and loving master Teacher that He is, Jesus uses the rest of His Sermon on the Mount to give us gentle advice about how we can better live on earth as the eternal beings that we are. His advice was timely when He spoke it on the hill. It is every bit as timely today.
Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people sharing all the world…
You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.
– John Lennon (1940-1980), from “Imagine” (1971)