What we call the Sermon on the Mount is misunderstood because it is misnamed. It was not a sermon, preached from a pulpit to religious people; but an edict or ukase, promulgated for all His subjects, by a Sovereign seated on a throne of His own choosing-not designed by men, but one of the eternal hills. He did not consult the Emperor, or the Church, or the Sanhedrin, or the Parliament, or the Electors, but spoke with sole and personal authority-"l say unto you." And His law was delivered in terms as clear and as challenging as the commands of Moses or the Code Napoléon.
Moses legislated as a minister of state, who transmits the will of a Greater than himself. It was from Another that he received the tables of stone. But Jesus, in His own royal Person, wrote His law upon the living tablets of men's hearts, with a hand as yet unpierced by the rebels who afterwards rejected Him. As He was in all points tempted as we are, so, unlike the lawyers of Jerusalem, He laid no burden of obligation on others which He had not Himself first lifted. He commanded only where He had--in that amazing phrase--"learned obedience." And when He told us to be perfect, as our Father is perfect, He set the very standard to which He had attained as the Beloved Son, in whom God was "well pleased." He was thus the last and greatest of the Judges, summing up for all time the long Jewish tradition of righteousness.
Matthew tells us that our Lord, seeing the multitudes, ascended a mountain and taught. Luke adds that He selected one of those level places which are to be found in every such upland. On that level place, as by the seashore, men and women, old and young, courtiers, merchants and artisans, all stood side by side, with no privilege save His presence. In His synagogue there are no chief seats. In His banqueting house of love there are many mansions, but no uppermost rooms. He condemned the assumption of titles. "One is your Master," He said, "and all ye are brethren." He founded no caste. He wore and He authorized no special costume; and vestments, as displayed to-day, though we regard them as ecclesiastical and sacred, are often the survival of the common clothes which were good enough for the earliest Christians.
The Mountains of Scripture
Yet the level place was not in a valley, bounded by Nature, or a street, confined by art, and home, and commerce, and pleasures, and politics, and temples. It was on a mountain, and the mountains of the Bible are not without meaning. It was on a mountain that Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son. It was on a mountain that Moses received the law from God; and Elijah, the fire. It was on a mountain that our Lord was tempted, that He taught, and prayed, and was transfigured, and suffered; from a mountain, He ascended to heaven. All the supreme events of His life were thus lofty and universal. As He spoke, He could look north, south, east, and west, and no obstacle interrupted His view. However profoundly climates may modify the character of races in every zone, His law, His glory, His redeeming sacrifice are the same. The air of the mountain was untainted either by the breath of man or by the fumes of industry. If a cloud came there, it was not smoke or fog, but the glowing garment of the love of God. On that mountain there was no roar of traffic; and if in the stillness the people did not hear, it was because they were deaf. His teaching applied to every circumstance, and transcended all environment. His word was a direct message to every nation, at every period.
When Moses received the Law, he climbed the mountain alone, and there were thunderings and lightnings. Jesus encouraged the people to follow Him, as if He knew that they could best keep the Law when in His company. That reads as if it were simple; yet it was not so, for many of the people were too lame to climb with Him, too deaf to hear His voice, too blind to see His face. His teaching was not enough without His miracles. God is not only Truth, but Power; so that, throughout our Lord's career, we have the word and the work in close alliance, each inseparable from the other. I say this with emphasis, because there is often a complete misapprehension of the scope of this sermon." People think that it contains the Gospel of salvation, and is, therefore, the essence of Christianity. I venture to assert that the Sermon on the Mount did not save one person who heard it! We read therein not what we can be, but what we should be, and the question how we are to be what we ought to be is left deliberately unanswered. It was just because Christ's law was unattainable that His Redemption had to be freely accessible to everyone.
The Legislation of Christ
The judgment-seat of Moses determined in the main our acts. Men were to be good to their parents, to keep the Sabbath, to refrain from murder and theft and other offenses, to give a tenth to the community, to attend Divine worship, and so on. Jesus legislated for a glance of the eye, a contemptuous thought, an angry word. Before His judgment-seat prayer was not enough, and fasting was not enough, and almsgiving was not enough. He asked why men prayed and fasted and gave alms. With Him the motive, being of the heart, was everything. If we seek reward from men, we lose reward from God. Whatever good thing we do should be secret and confidential. We should conceal it, not from others merely, but from ourselves. The left hand must not know what the right hand doeth. Omniscience alone must detect the good things we do. It was His own rule. We know that Jesus arranged with Judas for gifts to be made to the poor. On no single occasion was His benevolence seen of men. We know that, in the wilderness, He fasted. But there was not one witness. We know that He devoted much time to prayer. And here again it was His custom to be alone, and for a disciple to be admitted to that intimacy was a rare and valued privilege. The blatancy of bazaars, the parade of patriotic economy and spectacular intercession--all this would have disappointed Him. He wanted goodness to be a gift for God alone.
The old law was enforced by terrible punishments, like stoning or stripes, inflicted by man on man, which deterrents still enshadow our criminal system. Sinai was a mountain of thunder and lightning. Where Jesus spoke, whether on the upland or on the lake, there was no storm, but the peace of which He is the Prince. He would win us to goodness by persuasion. He does not need to institute a trial or call evidence, to guide Him in His verdict. His omniscience is instant. "Go, call thy husband," said He to the woman of Samaria, and she pleaded guilty. "Go, sell all thou hast and give to the poor," was His answer to the rich man, whose self-righteousness withered into sorrow. Nor does He require a policeman, or prosecutor, or warder, with whose help to punish disobedience. On the contrary, He mistrusted the sentences pronounced by the State. He saw that good men are often wrongly accused and despitefully treated, while yet remaining happy, and indeed joyful, since to rejoice and be glad is happiness His sentence is thus independent of public opinion. It is blessing on the one hand, woe on the other--a reward and a punishment, not of the body, but of the soul.
The only evidence that He admitted was of character. He did not ask a man's age, or nationality, or where he had been educated, or what income he receives, or what is his social status, or trade, or profession. The questions on His registration forms were these: Is this person meek? and poor in spirit? a mourner? a peace-maker? These are the people whom He declared to be "blessed." The Beatitudes that so deal with character are seven; one only, and this the last, is sufficient for circumstances.
About our Lord's judgments there is thus a large and inevitable range from which not one of us can escape. To penal servitude or imprisonment with hard labor there is set a term of years, limited by the span of this mortal life. But the happiness or misery of our souls is not bounded by time, being eternal as the soul itself; nor is there any tribunal, whether of Church or State, that caa grant reprieve or deny the benediction.