Sermon Tone Analysis

Andrew Hodge                                                                                               12th February 2007

 

 

NTES 111 Seminar 2

 

 

Gospel of Matthew

 

 

Jensen, Irving L. /Jensen’s Survey of the New Testament /1981, Moody Press, Chicago  pp 38-133; /Libronix DLS/; Guthrie, Donald  /New Testament Introduction  /Apollos, Leicester, England 4th Ed  1990  Ch 2

 

 

 

/Expound the main theme of the Gospel:/

            “The main purpose of Matthew in writing this account was to show Jesus as King of the promised kingdom” (Jensen p 126).

This could be rephrased as ‘The Holy Spirit caused Matthew to write to the early Church that the prophecies of the OT scriptures were to be fulfilled in the promised Messiah Who was the Lord of the Christian’.

This is not to say that this Gospel is written only for the Jew.

There is much in it for the whole of humanity, consistent with the OT, and is intended to be read by all.

Matthew gave the early Jewish Christian the ammunition he needed to counteract the arguments of the traditional, unsaved Jew, and also armed the pagan convert to Christianity in the ethics and practice of their new religion, modelled on the words and works of the Saviour Himself.

Of all the Gospels, Matthew is emphatic in declaring that the major events in Jesus’ life occurred in fulfillment of prophecy, starting with His Jewish heritage - the genealogy descending from Abraham; but ending with the Commission which was for the whole world, expanding the initial Jewish flavour to all the Gentiles.

For traditional Jews this was heresy.

To the Jewish Christian it was sweet reconciliation.

“Here was Old Testament fulfilment in the widest possible sense.”[1]

The theme of the Gospel is expressed in a very orderly manner - Guthrie p 39: “The most obvious feature of Matthew’s structure is the alternation of large blocks of teaching material with narrative sections.

These teaching sections are all concluded with a similar formula (‘when Jesus had finished these sayings’).

These occur at 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1.

The five discourses may be classified as The Sermon on the Mount (5–7); Missionary Discourse (10); Parable Discourse (13); Church Discourse (18); and Eschatological Discourse (24–25).”[2]

/ /

/Prioritise the Life and Ministry of Christ in Matthew:/

            Jensen uses the following schemes for this (p 117):

* Preparation - Chh1-3 -Birth to His introduction by John

* Public Ministry - Chh 4-20 - Popularity (Chh 4:12-14:36)

                                                  Opposition (Chh15-20)

* Sacrifice - Chh 21-28

 

Compared to the sum total of Jesus’ ministry as contained in all four Gospels together, Matthew has about the same quantity as Luke and John (cf Jensen Charts 21, 35 and 44) but more than Mark (Chart 29).

The emphases of each of the Gospels is different and each contains material unique to itself, but each one concentrates on Christ’s Passion as the main event and devotes the most space to this.

Jensen further divides the ministry of Christ into regions, constructing a composite chart of the whole of His life which is useful as a framework to fit each of the Gospels into.

I found these Charts very helpful.

Matthew describes Christ’s ministry in Galilee (early, middle and late) and the later Judean ministry, keeping the bookends of Preparation and Sacrifice in place, but recording little of the ‘Opening Events’, ‘Early Ministries’ and much of the ‘Perean concluding ministries’ (Jensen Chart 21 p117).

Jensen also outlines this Gospel on p 132:

* Presentation - Birth and Infancy                                             1:1-2:23

                              Preparation of the King                                   3:1-4:11

* Proclamation - First Ministries                                                4:12-25

                               Discourse: Sermon on the Mount                  5:1-7:29

                               Power of the King                                          8:1-9:34

                               Discourse: Charge of the Twelve                  9:35-11:1

                               Rejection of the King                                      11:2-12:50

                               Discourse: Parables                                      13:1-53

                               Mission of the King                                         13:54-16:20

* Passion - Death foretold                                                         16:21-17:27

                      Discourse: Relationships                                       18:1-19:1a

                      Final Ministries of the King                                      19:1b-23:39

                      Discourse: Second Coming                                   24:1-25:46

                      Death and Resurrection of the King                       26:1-28:20

/ /

/ /

/Analyse the Sermon on the Mount and its meaning:/

/            /Contained in Matthew 5:3-7:27.

Primarily for the disciples (Matthew 5:1), having gone up a mountain (to escape the multitudes?), but heard by “the people” anyway (Matthew 7:28).

Luke’s account has Him going up a mountain to pray all night, choose His disciples in the morning, coming down from the mountain onto the plain and preaching the Sermon to “the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon” (Luke 6:17).

Matthew’s shorter account is obviously consistent with Luke’s, but perhaps Luke’s should be called “The Sermon on the Plain” (!).

The Sermon comes near the time of Jesus’ peak public popularity when not only did multitudes come to listen but also to bring their sick for healing (Luke 6:17-19).

The healing aspect of the Sermon in Matthew is limited to one man - a leper (Matthew 8:1-4).

The disciples had already been drawn close to Jesus by His invitation to which they had responded.

The Sermon is now telling them how to live their lives given this new relationship.

The multitudes did not have this advantage, but to both groups the words were revolutionary, nice in theory but impossible in practice.

This is the essence of walking by faith and not by sight - it is only possible by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

This Sermon is important in Jesus’ ministry because He knew not only what the Jews expected of a new leader - socially and politically - but also that as a nation they would fail to understand His true purpose.

Kingdom Living as described in this passage is entirely different to what His Chosen nation expected or wanted - although it is clearly what they needed.

An example is the “Disciple’s Prayer” of Matthew 6:9-13.

There is no mention here of the overthrow of the Roman yoke and the re-establishment of autonomous rule.

Instead there is a reverent plea for the establishment of a true Theocracy, for daily needs, for forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil.

These words might have offended Jewish militants, but would have intrigued those who were seeking spiritual meaning and fulfilment.

There were plenty of these who were hungry to hear at this stage in His Galilean popularity.

Guthrie summarises the Sermon as follows: “Introduction (5:1, 22).

The Beatitudes (5:3–12).

Illustrations from salt and light (5:13–16).

Jesus’ attitude towards the ancient law (5:17–48).

His teaching on religious practices (6:1–7:27).

The effect on the hearers (7:28–29).”[3]

Note the use of illustrations and the success of this method of instruction in the hearers’ responses.

/ /

/Explain the parables of the Gospel (Kingdom?) and their meanings and applications:/

/            /“Earthly stories with heavenly meanings” are just that and should be interpreted according to the spiritual intention rather than any literal physical methods of expression.

They are ‘true to life’ illustrations readily recognised by the listeners, but only understood spiritually by those capable of this.

The spiritual truth remains dark to those who are not (“Who hath ears to hear let him hear”).

This make a parable an effective way of communicating spiritual truth in that it is either understood or not understood (Matthew 13:11-17).

It is only misunderstood by those who deliberately seek to discredit the Teller.

It should be remembered that no parable, allegory, analogy, metaphor, simile or simple comparison can of itself fully represent its spiritual counterpart, which always remains greater than what it has been compared to.

Nevertheless all of these devices remain useful teaching tools.

Parables generally teach one major spiritual truth and are used to elicit a specific response from the hearers eg the sower and the seed, the very first parable in this section Matthew 13:1-53.

The disciples did not understand why Jesus spoke to them in a parable in the first place, and clearly did not understand the spiritual intent of the story.

Their response was to ask the Teller for answers which He willingly gave, without changing the story but re-phrasing it so that the spiritual intent was made clear (Matthew 13:18-23).

They understood because they were capable of understanding (Matthew 13:16-17).

Why didn’t they get it the first time around?

Matthew 13:1-52 tells eight parables relating to the Kingdom of heaven - the sower and the seed, the tares, the mustard seed, the yeast, the hidden treasure, the valuable pearl, the net and the teacher of the law.

Interspersed amongst the telling are passages supporting the reason why parables are used, OT support for the use of parables, and specific interpretation of the meaning of two of the parables.

When taken literally, the parabolic spiritual meaning is readily apparent - although at a number of levels from superficial to increasingly deep, without allegorisation, comparing scripture with scripture.

Application of these spiritual truths may be made to Christian attitudes and practice, the value of the reality of spiritual truth above everything material, the blessing of being a fit instrument in the Master’s hand, the greatness of the Kingdom of God in which we live spiritually and in His creation, the evil pseudo-Christians expected amongst Christians and their angelic separation in the fullness of time.

An adequate analysis of these parables is beyond the scope of these notes.

/ /

/Compare the phrases “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God”:/

/            /“Kingdom of heaven” is used only in Matthew out of all the scriptures (31 times).

“Kingdom of God” is used in Matthew 5 times (in Mark 15 times, Luke 32 times, John twice, Acts 7 times and in assorted NT books a further 9 times).

Neither phrase is present in the OT, although the idea of the Kingdom is spoken of in a non-spiritual socio-political sense eg the throne of David.

In the NT a similar OT idea is expressed in the rule of Satan over this world (John 12:31, 13:40, etc).

The use of these two Kingdom terms generally reflect the audience likely to read the particular Gospel, and the particular aspect of the picture that God wished to paint.

The following list is taken from /New Nave’s Topical Bible /and shows the aspects of the Kingdom referred to by either “Kingdom of Heaven” or “Kingdom of God”:  “*KINGDOM.*

Likened to one who sowed good seed, Matt.

13:24–30, 38–43; Mark 4:26–29; to a grain of mustard seed, Matt.

13:31, 32; Mark 4:30, 31; Luke 13:18, 19; to leaven, Matt.

13:33; Luke 13:21; to a treasure, Matt.

13:44; to a pearl, Matt.

13:45; to a net, Matt.