Explain the ethical teachings of Jesus with special reference to the Sermon on the mount.
Jesus of Nazareth was born a Jew. He was raised in the Jewish faith, as both his parents were Jewish, and some theologians would argue that Jesus never taught anything that was against the Jewish faith, and was just another new thinking Rabbi. The understand Jesus’ teachings, however, it is fundamental to have a comprehension of the Jewish way of like, and their rules. The Hebrew word for this is Halakah, which translates exactly as ‘the path that one walks...’ Halakah is made up of a series of Mitzvot Aseh (positive commandments ‘to do’) and Mitzvot lo ta’aseh (negative commandments ‘do not’) which are Mitzvot D’oraita (Laws directly from the torah). Then there are Mitzvot D’rabbanan which are Laws instituted by the Rabbis. There are 613 Mitzvot, made up of 248 mitzvot aseh and 365 mitzvot lo ta’aseh, which some of the early Jews claimed to have special meaning because there are 365 days in a year, and 248 bones in the body, but this is actually wrong, and just something said to make the numbers appear to be a sign from God, which they do not appear to be. Also, Manson says that the numbers are not important, merely the content that is of importance. The main teaching of Jesus was Love. He said that love should be the reason for any action. There are 3 types of love mentioned in the bible, Agape which is unconditional love e.g. for one’s family, Phila which is the love for a friend (from Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love) and Eros which is sexual love, all of which Jesus preached about at different occasions. As well as loving the obvious, he says you should also love your enemies, which is harder to do, as an obvious. However, this is also another fundamental point of Jesus’ ethics, they are impossible to follow exactly. The Point of them is to be God like, and as Jesus knows, because it says in the first book of the bible genesis, or the first book of the Torah, we are born into sin because of Adam and Eve, so we therefore cannot be sinless, however, the message is to be as good as possible, and to strive to be like God.
Looking at the sermon the mount, Jesus seems to be teaching that if you have had a hard time on earth you shall be rewarded in heaven. This is called the beatitudes, which are the halakic statements that Jesus makes, which have a stricter stance that actual Halakah, one of the most famous verses of the beatitudes is verse 9 “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” This also, the most important part of the Beatitudes, because it shows that if you are peaceful, (by being peaceful you are being loving to others) you shall be called the children of God, so accepted by God. However, this is not too dissimilar from what the Jewish Law says. The Jewish law, if kept properly should entail peace, but Jesus’ ethic means for you to be peaceful in action and mind, to never be angry or hold a grudge towards anyone. This concept is called idealistic perfectionism, where Sanders says that ‘Jesus cites the law and then says, in effect, that it is not good enough. For example, in the Antitheses, Jesus says
“ 27 ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
In effect, Jesus is setting higher standards, he is not only asking for actions, but for thoughts as well. God knows our hearts and will know if you have committed adultery in your heart. The Antitheses bring about the process of atonement by becoming like God, and even though this is impossible, the beauty of Jesus’ ethic, is that if God can know our hearts, he can know that we have tried to do our best, and when we have got it wrong, we have repented. It also works Vice Versa, if you do the actions for selfish reasons, then you are defeating the point of the object, and so forfeit becoming God’s Child.
Another ethic of Jesus is your relationship with people, and how to treat them in the right manner. In the Sermon on the Mount it says:
“ 23 Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
Sanders points out that the sacrifice would not count if the wrong was not put right first. Jesus was encouraging “self examination”. Sanders also points out that “Jesus may as well have warned against harbouring one’s anger”. This is possibly one of Jesus’ main ethics, treating people in the right way. Also, Jesus seems to be different to normal rabbis, as he does not condemn people for their minor lapses. He shows this by working with people who are not among the powerful, but the lowly, and he did not want to harsh with people, or judge them, as he did not want to add to their burdens. This also proves that Jesus’ whole ethic turned into idealistic perfectionism, because by not judging anyone, he shows what he expects, and has humans we are naturally judging, not necessarily negatively, however we are still judgemental. It is possible that the reason behind Jesus’ belief against being judgemental came from the critical rabbis, who are quoted, by Jesus to have said
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
If being judged all your life by critics you come to a conclusion that being judged is bad, we should not be at all surprised by this. He expects the same from everyone, from sinners to Rabbis, however he befriended the sinner, and not the rabbi, possibly because the rabbi cannot admit sin easily, where as the sinners he befriend had been excluded from society, and they knew what they had done wrong, and were repentant, and Jesus saw this. Jesus, was however still a perfectionist. His view was that in the kingdom of heaven, human values will be reversed. His ethic is suitable for the poor, and poor in spirit: the perfection of mercy and humility. He displayed this by being gentle and loving towards others, including sinners.
The idea that that human values will be reversed in the kingdom of heaven is not a very difficult one at first, but after you look into it some more, it does become slightly more difficult to comprehend. The beatitudes are the main place in the Sermon on the Mount where this idea is brought up. “ 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This seems to be a reasonable thing to say, as long as the people who are being rewarded for their lack of luck in the human life are in that situation due to nothing they have done wrong in that life. It does, however make Jesus seem very forgiving and merciful, which all changes when the antithesis come along, which are a stricter version of Halakah. The beatitudes however seem a bit like Jesus is rewarding people who give up, not in faith but life. If you tell someone that they are going to be rewarded for an unfortunate life that they have lived, they can turn to self pity, which is not what Jesus wanted. But they do seem to offer a big different to the traditional Jewish view. This is because a Jewish Point of view, if you have a hard life, and have afflictions of poor health or ‘luck’, it is the result of yours, or your families faults that your life is like this, so like a punishment from God that is carrying on through generations. Jesus seems to get rid of this idea, by saying that if you have a bad life now, it will be reversed in the Kingdom of God, as long as you believe in him. The rabbis would not have liked this because it does not follow with their stance on pain and suffering. However the God that Jesus presents to the people he is teaching to, who are probably Jews as Jesus is a Jewish teacher, is a God who is more merciful than the one that they know, and a God who knows their hearts, and knows them personally, even if they have done wrong. This makes Jesus’ more appealing than Judaism, which is a possible explanation as to why he created a following, which has lasted 2000 years.
To conclude, Love is at the heart of Jesus’ ethic. He bases everything around love, whether he is acting on love, or if we have to act in a loving way. By this Jesus expects a standard that is higher than the Jewish standards, but he doesn’t say that you should stop following the Jewish laws. By putting love as the threshold of his ethics, it encourages our human nature to be kind to other people, and to want to be the best we can be. Even though Jesus’ ethic is impossible, that is to say that it is difficult to keep due to the fact that you have to be perfect and God like, it is still a goal to work towards, which is what God looks for, not the perfection, but the want and strive to be so.