10/1 Sermon on the Mount part 1

Fun in-class spontaneous quiz:

1. Who would you vote for: Obama or Romney?
2. If you could make a case for not voting, what would be the reason?
3. Which party should get all the donuts in class today?
4. Which is harder to do: a)keep from murdering or b)Keep from getting angry with someone?
5. Which is the worst sin: a)telling a lie  b) losing your temper?
6. What was the central message of Jesus in one word?
7. Which yearbook would you  most like to see: 

• a)my parents college 
• b)my high school
• b)my college
• c)my son's Bullard High yearbook

8.Were the Pharisees and Sadducees  a)religious parties   b)political parties?  (answer: see Upside, p 64))
9.What's an Old Order Amish computer?  (answer, see Amish Grace)
10.What was the most dramatic stage entrance/concert intro you have ever heard about or seen
(If you can't think of any, create one)

We'll talk about why I asked some of these questions today and tomorrow .

By the way, here are the results of  your election (question#1)..

And since most of you chose b for number 7, check this lovely photo:





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Real Quiz  (#3)for this Friday: 
1)What is the central message of Jesus?  (Upside Down, ch, 1)
2)Explain and compare "aggregate" and "collectivity"   (Upside Down, ch, 1)
3)Name and describe one of the "detours"  (Upside Down, chapter 1)
4)Explain  "building a fence around the Torah"  (H and Y page 201, and class discussion post 10/1)
5)Summarize the story of "Amish Grace" so far (from   10/1 /reading and class)

We'll cover 1 and 4 today. For the rest , see assigned reading;


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Remember how risky it was for Jesus to make his
CENTRAL MESSAGE the Kingdom..


Kingdom is such a political term.
This could really lead to misunderstandings (or "detours," as Kraybill calls them (chapter 1)

Sermon on the Mount, in a way, is King Jesus' party platform/manifesto/convention speech for his Kingdom.. Kingdom is counter-cultural community.

By the way, we would some on the Mennonite tradition not make a big deal about voting?
Do you tremember?

Most people would answer "Because it doesn't make a difference"...as we saw on two magazine covers today, and your answers to #2 on the fun quiz...but Mennonites (like Kraybilll) really believe we are a counter0cultural Upside Down Kingdom..and often have not  been involved politically (sometimes not voting) because the "world" (state) is not the Kingdom we live in.



SERMON ON THE MOUNT, Mathew chapter  5 

Remeber:

• Who was the sermon addressed to?
• Why did he teach on a MOUNTAIN?
• Why did Jesus sit down to teach?

When we read the "beatitudes," the first section of the Sermon on the Mount: -- do you catch any inclusio? (Note the first and last beatitudes (only) of chapter 5 end
with a promise of the kingdom of heaven, implying that the other promises in between "being filled," "inherit the earth," "be comforted" all have to do with Kingdom







And if Jesus is a NEW MOSES of sorts, then we should look at

 how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48) om the 6 antithesis/case studies



How do you name the difference in the shift of the 6 antitheses?
  What does it feel like Jesus is doing?

I love that you called out things like

• simplifying it'
• making it mote specific
•  

  He's making the law______:

• harder?
• easier?

Is he making it impossible on purpose?

See 5:17 as a GENERALIZATION and the rest of the chapter as 6 PARTICULARIZATIONS


 

The Mennonite tradition, unlike many Protestant traditions, believe that the Sermon is actually to ne lived out, and not merely to make us feel hopeless to carry ot out, so we give up.. ..or only for a future millenium/


Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the TORAH" or "LAW"

 See  discussion below, and PAGE 201 OF YOUR H AND Y textbook for this term)

For example, if you are tempted to overeat, one strategy would be to build a literal fence around the refrigerator...or the equivalent: don't keep snacks around.

See

What does building a fence around the Torah mean? 

Some wonder of this is what Jesus is doing here.  See:
Jesus' Antitheses - Could they be his attempt to build a fence around the Torah?

Greg Camp and Laura Roberts  of FPU write:

In each of the  examples, Jesus begins by citing an existing commandment. His following statement may be translated as either "And I say to you... " or as "But I say to you ...” The first option shows Jesus' comments to be in keeping with the commandments, therefore his words will be an expansion or commentary on the law. This is good, standard rabbinic technique. He is offering his authoritative interpretation, or amplification, to God's torah, as rabbis would do after reading the torah aloud in the synagogue. The second translation puts Jesus in tension with the law, or at least with the contemporary interpretations that were being offered. Jesus is being established as an authoritative teacher who stands in the same rabbinic tradition of other rabbis, but is being portrayed as qualitatively superior to their legal reasoning.

After citing a law Jesus then proceeds to amplify, or "build a hedge" around the law. This was a common practice of commenting on how to put a law into practice or on how to take steps to avoid breaking the law. The idea was that if you built a safe wall of auxiliary laws around the central law, then you would have ample warning before you ever came close to breaking the central law. A modern example might be that if you were trying to diet you would need to exercise more and eat less. In order to make sure that that happened you might dispose of all fats and sweets in the house so as not to be tempted. Additionally, you might begin to carry other types of snacks or drink with you so as to have a substitute if temptation came around, and so forth. In the first example of not killing, Jesus builds a hedge that involves not being angry and not using certain types of language about others. One of the difficulties is that it becomes very difficult not to break his hedges. This might drive his hearers to believe that he is a hyper-Pharisee. Some interpreters have wanted to argue that Jesus does this in order to drive us to grace—except grace is never mentioned in this context. This is a wrong-headed approach to get out of the clear message that Jesus is proclaiming: you must have a transformed life. By building his hedges, Jesus is really getting to the heart of what the law was about. In the first example, the intent is not just to get people not to kill each other (though that is a good thing to avoid), rather it is there to promote a different attitude about how to live together. Taken together, the 10 Words (Commandments) and the other laws which follow in Exodus-Numbers paint a picture of a people who will look out for one another rather than just avoiding doing injury to one another. This becomes clear in Jesus’ solution at the end of the first example. The solution is not to throw yourself on grace or to become paralyzed by fear, but to seek right relations with the other person. There seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that problems will arise. The solution is to seek the best for the other person and for the relationship. This is the heart of the law.  The problem with the law is that it can only keep you from sin, but it cannot make you do good.  The rabbi Hillel said “what is hateful to you, do not do to others.”  In 7:12, Jesus provides his own interpretation “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”  He changes the saying from refraining from sin, to actively doing good.  The thesis statement in 5:20 is “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This then is how to exceed, or go beyond the law.  In each of the five examples, the way to exceed the law is to make the relationship right.

Instead of drawing a new line in the sand that you are not supposed to cross before you are considered guilty, Jesus, confirms that the center is "love your neighbor" and then just draws an arrow (vector) and tells you to go do it. There is never a point at which you are able to finally fulfill the commandment to love. You can never say that you have loved enough. In the gospel of Matthew, the supreme example of this is Jesus' own life and death. His obedience and love knew no boundaries.  --by Greg Camp and Laura Roberts




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One can see how this could turn to legalism...and when do you stop building fences? See:
A Fence Around the Law

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on the 6 antitheses of the Sermon on The Mount, remember my Paraguay stories?

 "Ever committed adultery, John?"
 (oops...)

OK,  below is the backstory of the "LAUGHING BRIDE," which illustrates "building a fence around the Torah":

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