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ince Matthew 5:21, Jesus has boldly and directly challenged the teachings of the Jewish leaders of His day. How many of them were present. we do not know; but if any were present, we can be sure they were not very happy. Jesus corrected their teaching about heart-murder (v. 21), heart-adultery (v. 27), divorce and remarriage (v. 31), commitments and honesty (v. 33), and selfishness and vengeance (v. 38). He has said, “You have heard . . .” five times. He has addressed a significant number of key topics found in the Mishnah which is a Jewish commentary on the Pentateuch. It is also called the Oral Law. Jesus has one more “You have heard . . .” This is His sixth and final one. It is a summary. His statements so far have talked about the fruit produced from a bad heart. Now Jesus aims right at the heart.
You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies . . . (NASB) Matthew 5:43-44 You Have Heard. Jesus closes this section of the Sermon on the Mount with Leviticus 19:18.
. . . but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.. (NASB) Lev. 19:18 Notice there is a difference between Leviticus’ and Jesus’ statements (Matt. 5:43). Jesus did not include “as yourself.” Did the Jews leave this off, or did Jesus just not include it? The other New Testament passages (Matt. 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31-33; Luke 10:27-29; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14 and James 2:8) all include it. What we do know from the Bible and the Mishnah is that these religious leaders considered their neighbors to be only other Jews.
Hate Your Enemy. The Mishnah does quote all of Lev. 19:18 (Nedarin 9.4), but it is apparent from the rest of the Mishnah that Gentiles and Samaritans (John 4:9) were generally not loved. They did not treat the Gentiles as themselves. They were partial. The Mishnah is proof that they were taught to not help Gentiles enjoy their holidays. In a number of cases, they could only sell them inferior items; and there were items they would not sell to a gentile. They taught that God did not allow the Gentiles to divorce their wives - only Jews could. The Jews loved other Jews. Even converts to the Jewish faith were second class Jews. In short, they were actively taught not to love non-Jews.
Does this sound like some of us today? Christians who see problems with the food, drink and sexual lives of non-Christians, as a result largely ignore non-Christians. In some cases, Christians focus almost exclusively on their own church. Yes, they agree with Jesus just as the Jews agreed with Lev. 19:18; and just as the Jews, they practice “us and no more.” |
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| Sermon on the Mount | |||||
