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Every ruled human entity has a political machine of one sort or another running it. The machine might be very, very simple or it may be extremely complex. The Pharisees and Lawyers who held sway over the hearts of many Jews in and around Jerusalem was a formidable political force. They withstood the pressures of the Roman Empire and still maintained to a large degree the power to rule that had historically belonged to Jerusalem, the seat of political power in Israel. Hence, the foe against which Jesus pitted Himself by means of the Sermon on the Mount was one which could not be taken lightly. Yet, truth was at stake, and Jesus simply could not allow their debauchery and decadence to go unchallenged! The extent to which He opposed the Pharisees and the political machine in Jerusalem was directly proportionate to the degree to which He loved the truth.

Matthew chapter five of The Sermon on the Mount contains six sayings of Jesus which are exactly the same. These utterances are sayings of contrast; they contrast the doctrine of the Pharisees with the doctrine of Jesus. Six times Jesus cited the sayings of the Pharisees, sayings that were entrenched in tradition, and followed them with the statement, “But I say…!” These six expressions (see Matthew 5.22,26,28,32,34, & 44) clearly mark out the differences in doctrine that existed between the Pharisees and Jesus. There was no sugarcoating the fact that there was disagreement; in fact, there was just the opposite. Jesus made it abundantly clear and patently obvious that His teachings differed with those of the Pharisees and Lawyers! Furthermore, the differences were not incidental or non-consequential! Jesus warned on about half of these occasions that if one chose to listen to the Pharisees, hell would be the resultant reward. In a similar vein, he warned about false oaths and stated that such practices “come from the evil one” (see Matthew 5.37).

The publicly avowed difference between the doctrines of Jesus and the doctrines of the Pharisees was the difference between day and night, light and darkness, heaven and hell, God and Satan, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, and wisdom and foolishness! Nothing could have been more obvious to someone hearing this masterful sermon than the fact that Jesus deplored and opposed the doctrine of the Pharisees with every ounce of strength in His body. There was no room for compromise, period!

Truth was and is an integral part of the heart of Jesus Christ. His purposes hinged on the fact that men would hear the truth and embrace it. The success of the Christ would not be measured by how many disciples He could garner; rather it would be measured by how faithfully His disciples followed the truth He loved so dearly!

Had Jesus not loved truth the way He did, the Sermon on the Mount would likely not be remembered today! His fiery and controversial message was merely the opening volley to the war that would seem to be won when Jesus was put to death on the Cross. However, the real story only began there! His love for truth enabled Him to appear sinless before God and redeem the souls of all who had been bitten by the adder of sin. His success and ours is bound up in the truth and how we wholeheartedly embrace it!

Questions:

1. How many times did Jesus say, “But I say…” in the Sermon on the Mount?

2. Against whose sayings were His sayings put in contrast?

3. What strength did the Pharisees have in Jerusalem? How had they managed to maintain their strength in spite of Roman domination?

4. In terms of directness and controversy, would you say the Sermon on the Mount was mildly direct and controversial, moderately direct and controversial, highly direct and controversial, or extremely direct and controversial?

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