besquared.org Blog

We come to the sermon on the plain. This text is in rough parallel to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthews Gospel. However I think there is good reason to assume that these are different events. There are plenty of wise critics who would argue that these accounts are too similar to be different events. At times they seem to be quoting the same thing. These critics would suggest that what we have are instead to different versions (remembrances) of the same pivotal sermon. In fact this opinion about this (and similar near parallels) was the dominant one for most of the last century. I think that the tide is shifting, however, and for good reason.

Luke Timothy Johnson is one of the leading advocates of rethinking the multiple traditions theory. He writes that these similar events (sermons, healing, controversies, personal encounters, etc) make perfect sense for a traveling preacher. I can tell a few stories of traveling preachers who preach basically the same sermon everywhere they go. In every setting they mix-up the details and “locate” the sermon with the audience, but the basic outline and many of the best lines are the same. I think that it reasonable to assume that in Jesus itinerant ministry he found the occasion to repeat a lot of his material. Indeed why wouldn’t he. If he moved to a new town, he would want them to hear the same message. Naturally it would not be identical in every word, but I expect that if two listeners met one another and related the sermon they heard, each could say, “Yes, I heard the same sermon.”

In this situation, I think we can point to one further distinction. The Sermon on the Mount is recorded in Matthew before any controversy arrives. Luke barely records that honeymoon period. (This is not surprising given the radicality of Mary’s song in the firs chapter.) So by the time Luke records a major sermon from Jesus, the controversy is well underway and it is already clear that Jesus’ ministry is polarizing those he encounters.

Notice that in every section of this sermon, two choices are given. [Blessings vs. woes; Love for all vs. Love for just friends; Nonjudgmental vs. judgmental; Figs vs. thorn bushes; Wise builder vs. foolish builder.] Don’t get me wrong, this pattern occurs in the Sermon on the Mount some too, but in this sermon it is in every section. This is a sermon that grows directly out of the controversies of the last couple of chapters. He is telling his disciples (that is 12 + many more) and any in the crowd who will listen, that they need to choose. He offers a radical new way, (certainly it is true that his new way is just a fulfillment of the law as emphasized in the SOTM but that point is explicitly not made here.) for the new community that he is gathering.

I’ll offer only two comments on the content of the sermon.
The Woes:
I was having a conversation recently about a guy who was very wealthy and was living a very foolish life in order to stay wealthy. The person I was talking to said, “He needs to realize that if he keeps living like this, God will take that blessing away from him.” We talked a while after that. I understand where that perspective comes from. Having the means to purchase what we need feels like such a blessing. And there are all these rather straightforward Old Testament texts that talk about the blessing of provision. But I think that this perspective represent a pretty common confusion. Fortunately Jesus is pretty clear in this text. Wealth is not a blessing. For many people, riches are a curse. In fact I would argue that for all but a very few people riches are a curse. {Just as, “power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely”}

[Note: It probably isn’t necessary to say, but just so our labels are clear. Making lots of money is not wealth. That is provision. Accumulating money for yourself or using the money you make on your own pleasure is wealth.]

I don’t know how to preach this text, but I think that it needs to be preached. Have you visited the Global Rich List Yet?

The Builders:

I love this parable. I will offer one little thing. I was taught as a kid that the foundation being described in this text was the teaching of Christ. I can remember this refrain. Build your house on the words of Jesus as the highlight to sermon from my youth. I was once prepare to give the same talk and was using this text. However in the middle of my preparation, I realized that this text does not say that. This text says that hearing and doing the words of Jesus is the foundation. We cannot build that which God wants us to build unless we live Godly lives. It was this revelation that led me to reinvestigate the empowering [in addition to saving] grace of God.

-Ethan

Ps. If you want to chat about anything else in the sermon, try the comments.