“When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through their midst, he went away, down to the city of Capernaum.”
“A simple statement of fact in Matthew conceals a great deal,” he concluded.
Al was rather taken by surprise. “I see what you meant when you spoke last week about Gospel Parallels. Matthew says he moved house in order to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah but one could argue from Luke’s Gospel that he went away because Nazareth was too hot to hold him!” And, to clinch the point, Webster reported that he had made a check of references to Nazareth and found that nothing is said about Jesus ever visiting it again.
So to the next section: Al began by observing that it would be natural for Jesus to continue John’s preaching. “I spent a bit of time on the question of whether Jesus baptized anyone.” He outlined his findings and was disappointed that no one responded. And indeed he realized that he had strayed away from the text. He was now feeling that things hadn’t gone well and he looked over to Melanie, who had been silent for most of the evening, for rescue.
She was ready to take over the reins. “Thanks, Al. You’ve given us plenty to think about. But the big question remains: what did Jesus mean by the Kingdom of Heaven?” She paused to let that sink in. Then she continued. “In the package which I received from Aunt Matty, there was a copy of a book by the American biblical scholar, Norman Perrin. It’s called ‘The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus’ and it tells me more than I want to know on the subject.” She paused and tried to relax. “Perrin’s book shows that the scholars agree that ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ in Matthew’s Gospel and ‘The Kingdom of God’ in Mark and Luke can be regarded as meaning exactly the same thing and that the term ‘Kingdom’ means the ‘reign of God’ rather than a physical area. It would seem, however, that everything else is disputed. One of the main issues is whether the Kingdom is present in the new community being formed around Jesus or whether it is something yet to come, and to come with an overthrow of the world’s powers by God’s intervention. Or somehow, that both can be true!”
She paused again, realizing that she had little more to contribute. “Let’s put such questions to one side and check them out as we continue though Matthew. Right now, I am looking at the clock and thinking about next week.”
Al said, “I want to thank Melanie for her graciousness. I made a foolish offer last week and have had the whole week to regret it. I’m not eager to do it again.” No one else showed any keenness to substitute as leader and Melanie said, “Just when I was thinking I was off the hook . . . But get ready to roll up your sleeves. The next three weeks will be devoted to the Sermon on the Mount. Lots to talk about.”
They went off, continuing the discussion in the parking lot. And she went off, feeling pleased that calm had been restored.
Chapter 5
That night, Melanie lay awake for some time. She realized that she had used the reference to Perrin’s book and her little exposition about the Kingdom of God partly to show Al that she was in charge. Perrin’s book, which she had only skimmed, reminded her that she could easily get into deep water. She felt like someone overhearing a conversation which had been going on for hours and trying to participate. Except that in this case the conversation had been going on for generations. Aunt Matty’s choice to include such a book in the package was not helpful. She wondered if Matty had read it. There were no signs of her characteristic underlinings. Worse yet, there was no escaping from further discussions of the Kingdom of Heaven. She had a count of more than fifty references in the remainder of the Gospel. And she had realized, too late, that she had cut off the discussion of the calling of the first disciples and the summary of the powerful actions of Jesus at the end of the chapter.
Eventually she drifted off to sleep, glad that the morrow would present her with legal matters on which she felt she was on firm ground.
Throughout the week, she read the text for the next meeting with some care. Keeping a respectful distance from any expert opinion, she could see that what was commonly called “The Sermon on the Mount” was not like any sermon she had ever heard. Admittedly her experience in such matters was limited but she could see that there were at least seven separate units and she also discovered, on her own, that bits of the “Sermon” were scattered through the other Gospels in a disconnected fashion. It gave her some solace to discover later that she was making the right judgement: that “The Sermon on the Mount” was in fact a collection of the sayings of Jesus that must have been given at different times and to different audiences. This would explain why Jesus could be talking about the permanence of the Law (of Moses) at one time and, at another, giving instructions which seemed to allow for contradiction to the Law, such as the prohibition of oath taking.
She also had a feeling that the Sermon on the Mount was awkwardly placed: at the end of Chapter 4 of Matthew is the summary of the healing ministry, then three chapters devoted to the Sermon, and finally in Chapter 8, three specific examples of healings. It was as though Matthew had this collection of sayings and was uncertain where to put it.
But when Tuesday came along again, as it did on a regular basis, she felt more comfortable with herself and had decided how she would handle the next session. Webster had been in touch and asked for a little time for his precious Parallels, this time to give Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. He had gone to the trouble of preparing the text to be included in her PowerPoint presentation. Melanie was somewhat concerned, feeling that Matthew’s Gospel was more than enough without distracting their thoughts by comparisons. But, out of her regard for Webster, she had agreed and determined that she would make it clear that this wasn’t to be a regular occurrence. Really, Webster could be a bit of a nuisance!
After the preliminaries, she urged them to put to one side conventional thinking about the “Sermon”; for example, the idea that Jesus was somehow following Moses “up the mountain” and coming down with a new Law. “It’s really not a sermon at all. It’s a kind of anthology of the sayings of Jesus, delivered at different times and to different situations. Maybe the writer of Matthew’s Gospel contrived a context for the whole collection rather than have them unattached to any historical setting.” There was some muted grumbling that she was rather imposing her ideas ahead of time. “All right,” she conceded, “let’s take a look.”
And there on the screen they could consider the first section:
Seeing the multitude of people, Jesus went up the hill. There he seated himself, and when his disciples came to him, he proceeded to teach them, and said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall obtain possession of the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied.
Blessed are the compassionate, for they shall receive compassion.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for it is they who will be recognized as sons of God.
Blessed are those who have borne persecution in the cause of righteousness, for to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they have insulted and persecuted you, and have said every cruel thing about you falsely for my sake.
Be