Today I want to present an example of just how similar Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount is to Moses’ Sermon on the Mount here in Deuteronomy.
Recall a couple of days ago when I showed you how Moses inserted the SHEMA, the all-encompassing and main foundational principle upon which not only all the Torah but all the Scriptures rest, right in the middle of his sermon.
Well, in the same way, Yeshua injected a very pivotal and very central principle, a teaching foundational to his ministry, right into the middle of his sermon on the mount as well.
I find this quite fascinating especially in light of the fact that Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount is widely considered to be the core of the Christian faith which is for the most part a lawless or anti-Torah religion.
Yeshua’s famous Sermon on the Mount can be found in Matthew Chapter Five and starts off with the high and lofty sayings the church calls the Beatitudes.
Yeshua begins with the following positive statements…
“How blessed are the poor in spirit!
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
“How blessed are those who mourn!
for they will be comforted.
“How blessed are the meek!
for they will inherit the Land!
And then he says something that seems a bit negative…
“blessed are you when
men cast insults at you,
and persecute you,
and say all kinds of evil
against you falsely,
on account of Me”
He next goes on to say…
“You are the salt of the earth;
you are a light to the world”
Then…
….all of sudden…
….while deep in the the thick of his sermon…
…Yeshua stops speaking.
He takes a deep breath and says…
“Don’t think that I have come
to abolish the Torah or the Prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to complete.
Yes indeed!
I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away,
not so much as a yud or a stroke
will pass from the Torah
– not until everything
that must happen has happened.
So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot
and teaches others to do so will be called
the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But whoever obeys them and
so teaches will be called great
in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Just as Moses inserted the SHEMA smack dab in the middle of his sermon on the mount, so did Yeshua insert a very foundational teaching right into the middle of his mountaintop sermon.
It’s almost as if Yeshua knew beforehand the lawless blasphemies that would be committed in his name.
So he wanted to insert a safeguard so to speak right in the middle of his discourse on the Law of Moses so that nobody listening to him would ever mistakenly conclude he had done away with the Torah.
After letting his audience know in no uncertain terms that the Torah still stands Yeshua continues to speak on several basic tenets of the law expounding on their meaning.
Yeshua is essentially reminding his audience that the laws of God are not to be mindless physical ritual that had been corrupted by men’s philosophies but spirit-filled obedience.
How is this relevant to our day and age?
Simple.
Just as Israelite society in Yeshua’s day had forgotten the grace and mercy that was so deeply connected to the Laws and its rituals, I suspect many of us have relegated the Law to the trash bin and as a result severed God’s Love and Grace from God’s Laws when the two were supposed to go hand-in-hand.
I believe both extremes are not good.
A mechanical and mindless following of religious ritual is just as dead of a faith as a high display of emotions and bouncing over benches is minus the Law.
Again, our obedience to God’s commands is the true evidence of our love for Him.
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