Jewish-Christian Group Study of the Gospel of Matthew on 27th May 2008:

In the encounter of May 27th we continued to study Jesus' sermon.

In Matthew there are five central speeches and five series of miracles. The Sermon of the Mount is considered essential in Christianity – Jesus goes up to the mount like Moses. As for the sermon – Jesus is perceived today not as introducing new content, compared to what is written in the Torah, but as actually realizing them.

Matthew 5, 21

Jesus starts the sermons by quoting a verse and then adds his interpretations. In Matthew there are five sermons that are parallel to the Five Books of Moses. Matthew emphasizes "the community"|, unlike Mark that is considered by researchers earlier than Matthew.

The first sermon is here, the second in chapter 10 – about mission, the third – teaching fables that reveal the divine kingdom, the fourth – about community life (which is unique to Matthew) and the fifth – about the end of days.

Matthew takes from Mark only the third and fifth sermons. The third teaches about the kingdom that is here and now (and was said in the Galilee) and the second is said in Jerusalem and deals with the end of days – the divine kingdom that will come.

Jesus takes the commandments and verses of the Torah and deepens them in a way that is committing also for regular people. For example: the prohibition to commit murder is not relevant to most people (who do not kill) but Jesus interprets it in a way that shows the connection between everyday actions (such as anger) and extreme actions (such as killing).

In the imperative concerning adultery Jesus determines that even looking at another woman is adultery – a radical strictness that describes levels of adultery. But on the other hand we mentioned Eurigenes, who was one of the great interpreters of the New Testament, who castrated himself in order to not to stumble and brought upon himself the anger of the Church that rejected his deed and did not declare him as a saint after his death.

Reported by Yoav Frankel


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