Imagine you are aloft in a plane, but you don’t know the first thing about flying. The pilot unexpectedly dies and you must take his seat and land the aircraft.
You put on the headset and hear the calm voice of the air traffic controller who says to you, “Just do as I say and you’ll be fine.” In this life and death situation, how attentive do you think you would be to his instructions? Me too.
Why is it, then, that we Christians pay such little heed to Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7? At the end of this block of instruction, Jesus offers a parable about a wise and foolish builder. The wise builder is the one who “hears these words of mine and does them;” the foolish man “hears these words of mine and does not do them.” The effect of obeying the teachings of Jesus is that the house built on the solid foundation survives the storms of life; ignoring his instructions results in the collapse of one’s life’s work.
Matthew tells us that when Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, “the crowds were astonished by his teaching because he taught with authority, and not as their scribe” (7:29). Jesus spoke as if he knew inherently how human beings were supposed to live, as if he knew unquestionably the mind and heart of God. His authority was not based on the opinions of past rabbis, nor on his thirty years of lived experience, but on some reality beyond the reach ordinary mortals.
Within the Sermon on the Mount we are given some hints about Jesus’ own view of his matchless authority. First, in the last of the beatitudes (5:12), Jesus compares those who suffer persecution on his account to those OT prophets who suffered persecution for their allegiance to God. To liken his disciples to the prophets in this regard is radical enough. But for him to place himself on the same level as God in this comparison is stunning. No Jewish man in his right mind would claim equality with God – that would be the height of blasphemy. Unless, of course, that man was God incarnate.
Second, in Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus shows his authority over the Mosaic Law and its human interpretations. Repeatedly he uses the formula, “You have heard it was said …, but I say to you….” In the first two instances, Jesus quotes from the Ten Commandments. In the next four, he cites further commands from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Over against each of these he either intensifies their application or he refashions them through the lens of sacrificial love. In any case, what shines clearly through this teaching is that Jesus positions himself as an authority over the Law. For the Jew, only God can give or modify His Law. Jesus’ words here are an implicit claim to divine authority.
Third, in Matthew 7, Jesus envisions the Day of Judgment, when all mortals will stand before God and learn their final destiny. The Jews believed that God alone would sit on the Judgment Throne – no human being had sufficient stature to serve as Judge of mankind. Yet in vv. 21-23 Jesus envisions himself as the Judge. “On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord…” and will plead that their works in Jesus’ name should exonerate them. To this group, Jesus will answer, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” Two things stand out immediately. Jesus embraces the eschatological term Lord. Here, the Greek word kurios cannot mean simply “Sir” or “Master”, but must refer to the One who hold human fates in His hand. The issue, after all, is whether the supplicant will “enter the Kingdom of heaven” or not. This can only refer to the Lord Almighty. Jesus then indicates that he will render judgment on these false disciples – “Depart from me, you evildoers.” In the short span of three verses, Jesus acknowledges his divine stature as Lord and Judge of mankind.
It’s no wonder his receptive listeners received these teachings with astonishment, for they were backed with the same authority that thundered from Mt. Sinai some fifteen centuries before. But now, instead of speaking out of a fiery mountain peak and shaking the earth, God speaks to His listeners from the human lips of Jesus and shakes human souls.
Yearning to reach earth safely from that pilot’s seat, you would strain to hear every word and follow every command of your air traffic controller. Yearning to reach the safety of heaven, wouldn’t you do whatever it takes to follow the guidance of Jesus? “Just do as I say, and you’ll be fine,” he says. Do we trust him enough to obey?
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