The People Were Astonished

DMLJ: In the last two verses of this chapter we are told by the sacred writer what effect this famous Sermon on the Mount produced upon its auditors.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Matthew 7: 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

These verses should not be seen as an epilogue, or an idle comment.  With these verses, we are directed to something of the Teacher, a focus on just who it was that was speaking this Sermon.  We should practice this Sermon precisely because of who it was that preached it – the authority of the Sermon derives from the authority of the one who spoke the words.

DMLJ: With all other teachers that the world has ever known, the important thing is the teaching; but here is a case in which the Teacher is more important even than what He taught.

If we are in doubt about Christ’s deity, this Sermon wouldn’t mean as much to us.  Yes, we could embrace it as an ideological philosophy of life – perhaps something more meaningful than a low-carb diet or being vegan.  But neither the truth nor the consequences taught by Jesus would be nearly as meaningful to us. 

DMLJ: The authority and the sanction are derived from the Speaker, from the blessed Person Himself.

I will say, this idea didn’t cross my mind once – not in the way expanded on by these two authors.  I read and worked through the Sermon always firm in my belief that the speaker was the Second Person of the Trinity.  I didn’t have questions about who this person was or why He had authority.  But this was not so for the audience to whom Jesus was speaking.

DMLJ: So we look at this blessed Person, and we must try to picture this scene.  Here is a great crowd of people.

With the benefit of history, I know this Teacher as Jesus Christ, Son of God.  For those listening at the time, this was a carpenter from Nazareth.  A common, ordinary man.  Yet, here He was teaching on His own authority, not citing the authority of others.  “I say unto you….”  He did not speak as a prophet, saying that these are the words of God.  These were His words.

This Sermon was early in Jesus’s public life, at least if we consider each gospel written in some semblance of chronological time.  It was before He had any meaningful notoriety.  It is the first recorded teaching of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, immediately after His fasting and identifying His disciples.  For the people listening, He was something newly discovered.

The poor in spirit would gain the kingdom of heaven.  Who could say such a thing on his own authority?  The kingdom of heaven was God’s domain, yet this carpenter spoke as if it was His.  He would correct the teaching of the Pharisees, yet He had no pedigree of learning. 

He closed by saying that whoever hears His sayings and does them will be considered wise, and contrasted this to those who hear and do not.  These were His sayings – not claimed from God, not citing a prophet.  Do His sayings, not the sayings of those who claim to speak for God or those who claim to be faithfully interpreting God’s revelations.

He “came” into this life; He wasn’t born into it.  He came to fulfill the law and the prophets.  Not everyone who says unto Him Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom.  He called Himself Lord, and stated that He held the keys to the kingdom.  He is even to be the judge of the world – a position previously only reckoned to God.  In other words, He spoke as if God.

MHA: It was this tone that both astounded and frightened his listeners…. The words of Jesus Christ, which have come down to us in the Gospels, were the direct speech of God….

Yes, the people were astonished.  As an aside, the Greek work translated as “astonished” could also be translated as “frightened.” 

No wonder the authorities wanted Him killed, even from the beginning.

Conclusion

MHA: The capacity that people have for a happy life does not depend on external conditions but on whether they are able to learn to love each other.

An excellent summary for this work.