It might seem difficult to prove that the Sermon on the Mount is the same as this discourse which has been called by some the Sermon on the Plain. The exact relation between the sermon reported by Matthew and this great address recorded by Luke has long been a subject of debate. It is quite probable, however, that they are identical. After Jesus had chosen the twelve apostles on the summit of the mountain where he had spent the night, he descended to a level place on the mountain side and there met the multitude and delivered the sermon which holds first place among all the discourses in the world.
If this address is the same as the Sermon on the Mount, it is to be noted that each account begins with beatitudes and closes with a warning, while the main body of the discourse differs only in the aspect of truth emphasized by the two writers. In Matthew the essence of the Christian life is described as true righteousness in distinction from the formalism of the Pharisees. In Luke the essence of righteousness is found in love. Matthew was writing with Jewish Christians in mind. The Gospel of Luke was for the world and many of his readers would not have appreciated the distinction which Matthew was emphasizing. The word which would describe the sermon as recorded by Matthew is spirituality, but the substance of the Christian life as here indicated by Luke is charity.
The Beatitudes here recorded are four in number, while Matthew mentions eight or nine; but Luke adds four woes, each one of which is in striking contrast with the parallel Beatitude, vs. 20-26. The sermon begins, therefore, by pronouncing blessings upon the followers of Christ and contrasted woes upon those who reject him. Those who are declared to be blessed are the poor, the hungry, the mourners, and the despised; while woes are pronounced upon the rich, the satisfied, the joyous, and the praised. It is, of course, understood that there are spiritual implications in these different terms. Poverty, hunger, sorrow, reproach, have no merit in themselves and issue in present and eternal blessedness only when accompanied by humility, trust, and patience, and when endured for the sake of Christ. So, too, there is no wrong in riches and satisfaction and laughter and praise unless these are accompanied by the selfishness and greed and frivolity and unworthiness with which they are so often identified. By these blessings and woes the Master indicated the real character as well as the abiding blessedness of those who are his true disciples.
The burden of the discourse, vs. 27-45, sets forth the Christian life as being in essence a life of love. This sermon on love might be accompanied properly by the “hymn of love” composed by Paul, 1 Cor., ch. 13, and by the “Scripture lesson” on love written by John, 1 John 4:7-21.
First then, in place of all revenge, vs. 27-30, Jesus established the Golden Rule: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” V. 31. Then, in contrast with the self-interest and desire for recompense which so often passes among men as charity, vs. 32-34, he pointed to the perfect example of God and intimated that his mercy should incline us to kindly judgments of our fellows, assuring us of the boundless liberality with which our Father will reward our unselfish love. Vs. 35-38.
The second portion of the main discussion, vs. 39-45, dwells still more definitely upon the fault of unkindly judgments to which Jesus had just referred and which constitutes such a common infraction of the law of love. A man who is unkind in his criticisms and unconscious of his own faults cannot help his fellow man; he is like a blind man trying to lead the blind, like one in whose eye there is a beam trying to help one in whose eye there is a mote. As good fruit is produced only by good trees, only out of hearts full of love can real helpfulness come.
To warn men against calling themselves Christians while they do not observe the law of love, and to encourage his disciples in faithfully keeping his commandments, Jesus concluded this sermon with the familiar figure of the two houses, founded one upon the sand and the other upon the rock. Amid the storms and tempests and floods of the time of judgment, only the latter will stand secure.
3. The Centurion of Capernaum. Ch. 7:1-10
1 After he had ended all his sayings in the ears of the people, he entered into Capernaum.