Comparative Characterization in the Sermon on the Mount

Characterization of the Ideal Disciple

Lawrence

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781532613524
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The Sermon on the Mount contains many comparisons. In this book, the functions of these comparisons are studied by the methodology called comparative characterization. Characterization is the way a character is characterized in a narrative. Comparative characterization is the characterization of a character using comparisons. In comparative characterization, another character is used as a foil to bring out a characteristic trait of a concerned character. Jesus characterized the ideal disciple in the Sermon on the Mount with many descriptions and imperatives. To characterize the ideal disciple Jesus used many comparisons and highlighted the characteristic features that embody the ideal disciple.The many comparisons used in the Sermon on the Mount are identified in this study through comparative characterization. In addition, the teleological purpose of the comparisons, which is to play as foil to the characterization of the ideal disciple, is identified and highlighted. Thus, this study identifies Jesus' characterization of the ideal disciple and his complex portrayal of the ideal disciple with the many uses of comparisons in the descriptions and imperatives of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Chapter 1

Comparative Characterization as a Methodology to Interpret the Comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount has been an important document in the history of Christianity. Luke Timothy Johnson says, “In the history of Christian thought—indeed in the history of those observing Christianity—the Sermon on the Mount has been considered an epitome of the teaching of Jesus and therefore, for many, the essence of Christianity.”1 In addition, W. D. Davies highlights the importance of the Sermon on the Mount in these words: some “have seen in it the finest statement of the highest ethic that mankind has known.”2 The Sermon on the Mount gives the essence of Jesus’ teaching in three chapters, Matt 5, 6 and 7. However, though it is an important document of Christianity, it was not accepted and understood by all in the same way. Claurence Bauman says, “The Sermon on the Mount is the most important and most controversial biblical text.”3 John Stott adds, “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed.”4 One of the reasons for the complexities of the Sermon on the Mount is its comparisons.

Many comparisons are found in the Sermon on the Mount. While some are explicit others are subtle. The following are some of the verses where the comparisons come to the fore in Matt 5–7:

5:17	Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
5:20	For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven
5:21	You have heard that the ancients were told, v.22 But I say to you . . .
5:27	You have heard that the ancients were told, v.28 But I say to you . . .
5:31	And it was said, v.32 but I say to you . . .
5:33	Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, v.34 But I say to you . . .
5:38	You have heard that it was said, v.39 But I say to you . . .
5:43	You have heard that it was said, v.44 But I say to you . . .
5:47	“And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
6:2	When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites
6:5	And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites
6:7	And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles
6:8	Therefore do not be like them
6:16	And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do
6:19	Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth
6:32	For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek
7:15	Beware of the false prophets

Many questions arise with the number of comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount: Why did Matthean Jesus use so many comparisons in this Sermon? Why did Matthean Jesus use the comparisons while he was teaching about the way in which the disciples should live? These questions are highlighted when we see how the interpreters of the Sermon on the Mount interpret this literature.

For John Stott, comparisons are an essential part of the Sermon on the Mount. He says, “To me the key text in the Sermon on the Mount is Matt 6:8: ‘Do not be like them.’”5 Comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount call for difference in the disciples from the others. Comparisons call for repentance and to be different from the others. John Stott shows the importance of comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount in these words: “There is no single paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount where this contrast between Christian and non-Christian standards is not drawn. It is the underlying and uniting theme of the sermon; everything else is a variation of it. Sometimes it is the Gentiles or pagan nations with which Jesus contrasts his followers. At other times he contrasts them with Jews.”6 One must take note of these words: comparisons are “the underlying and uniting theme” of the Sermon on the Mount. This is how comparisons are important in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, this study is about comparisons and their function in the Sermon on the Mount.

1.1 The Role of Comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount

Comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount could function as a key in understanding Jesus’ characterization of the ideal disciple. The research question of this study is this: what is the function of the comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount? Could the comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount function as a key to understand Jesus’ characterization of the ideal disciple? Jesus uses many comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount. In addition, Jesus also portrays how a disciple should live. This portrayal is done in several ways. In the first part, in 5:1–16, Jesus describes who his disciple is. Jesus describes the disciple as the one who is blessed. In addition, this blessed disciple is the one who is poor in spirit (v.3), the one who mourns (v.4), who is gentle (v.5), who hungers and thirsts for righteousness (v.6), who is merciful (v.7), who is pure in heart (v.8), and the one who is a peacemaker (v.9). Through these descriptions Jesus describes who this ideal disciple is in 5:1–16.

Moreover, from 5:17–48, Jesus compares his teachings with the Old Testament Law and teaches how the disciple must obey the Law in a better way. The comparisons are obvious in his formula suc...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Comparative Characterization as a Methodology to Interpret the Comparisons in the Sermon on the Mount
• Chapter 2: Sermon on the Mount in Literature
• Chapter 3: Narrative Criticism in New Testament
• Chapter 4: Comparative Characterization as a Methodology to Interpret Matthew 5–7
• Chapter 5: Characterization of the Ideal Disciple in Matthew 5:1–16
• Chapter 6: Comparative Characterization in Matthew 5:17–48
• Chapter 7: Comparative Characterization in Matthew 6:1—7:29
• Chapter 8: Comparative Characterization of the Ideal Disciple in the Sermon on the Mount and Its Implications
• Bibliography