4. Amazed with Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount
4. Amazed with Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount.
“Life without wonder – radical amazement – is not worth living. It is the beginning of our happiness. Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel).
I Stand Amazed | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod
Jesus Christ engaged in a ministry of amazement, astonishment, wonder. Everywhere He traveled, He left people astounded and in awe. He caused a big stir wherever he went, and people left in His wake were amazed at who He was and what He was able to do, whether from His unusually wise teaching, His authoritative exorcisms, His unprecedented healings, His clever and insightful conversations, His dramatic miracles. It seemed everyone marveled at Jesus, despite His best efforts sometimes to be off the radar. There are three Greek synonyms that mean complete astonishment or radical amazement: ekplesso, thaumazo, and existemi. The differences between these three words, though, are fascinating. Are those of us who follow Jesus now, are we also amazed and astonished with Jesus?
“And the people were astonished (“ekplesso”) beyond measure, saying, ‘Everything He does is beautiful (“kalos”), and is done with excellence!” (Mark 7:37).
(1.) ASTONISHED: “ekplesso”; a strong Greek word for astonished; amazed; dumfounded; awestruck; overwhelmed at something extraordinary; struck out of one’s senses; takes your breath away, even to the point of panic. There were at least fifteen gospel events in which the Greek superlative “ekplesso” was used to communicate a radical amazement, astonishment, wonder at Jesus. Jesus was met with overwhelming astonishment after His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28); by His hometown friends as they rejected Him (Matt. 13:54); after His teaching on the inadequacy of wealth (Matt. 19:25); after His conversation with the Sadducees about heaven and the resurrection (Matt. 22:33); at His synagogue exorcism (Mark 1:22, 27); after His healing of the deaf and mute man (Mark 7:37); after He whipped the moneychangers in the Temple (Mark 11:18); at His brilliant level of understanding with the rabbis at just 12 years of age (Luke 2:48); after casting out a demon with just a word (Luke 4:32, 36); at the exorcism of a demon-possessed boy (Luke 9:43).
“And behold, a man from the crowd shouted out, ‘Master, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child! A spirit seizes him and suddenly he screams out and it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth! It mauls him and will scarcely leave him!’ Jesus answered, ‘Bring your son here to me.’ And even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him down to the ground and completely convulsed him. But Jesus severely rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child, and then restored the boy to his father. And all were completely astounded (“ekplesso”) at the evidence of God’s mighty power, His majesty and His magnificence. While they were all marveling (“thaumazo”) at everything Jesus was doing…” (Luke 9:38-43).
(2.) MARVELED: “thaumazo”; another strong Greek word that means… marveled at, astonished by; amazed at; filled with wonder to the point of being bewildered; being awestruck in admiration. There were forty-four passages in the gospels in which people were greatly amazed by Jesus, astonished to the point of awed by Him. Included in the group of people who were completely amazed, “thaumazo’d” by Christ: the shepherds, Mary and Joesph, the disciples, the Pharisees, various crowds during His ministry, and even Pilate himself was astonished by Jesus and marveled at Him. People were amazed by everything from the angelic baby announcement, to various prophecies in Jesus’ young life, to the calming of the storm and the withering of the fig tree; from His miraculous exorcisms and healings to His teachings that always were on point and what were needed at the time.
“Then a blind and mute man under the power of a demon was brought to Jesus and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the crowds of people were overwhelmed with astonishment, stunned with amazement and practically out of their minds with wonder (“existemi”), and said, ‘This cannot be the Son of David, the Messiah, can it?” (Matt. 12:22-23).
(3.) FLABBERGASTED: “existemi”; an extreme word that means to be out of one’s mind with amazement; crazy with wonderment; a stunned astonishment so strong that one is beside oneself; to be overwhelmed so as to be bowled over; literally, to remove from a standing position. This word is used seventeen times in the gospels, including when Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man dropped through the ceiling of Peter’s house; when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead; when Jesus calmed the storm and casually climbed into the boat with His disciples; on the road to Emmaus when the disciples heard about the empty tomb from the women. Existemi is also used when the family of Jesus thought He was crazy, going out of His mind.
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
“Great multitudes followed Jesus, from Galilee, and Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,… When Jesus finished these teachings, the crowds were astonished, amazed, overwhelmed with wonder (“ekplesso”). For Jesus was teaching as One who had authority, who was the authority, and not as the scribes and teachers of the Law.” (Matthew 4:25; 7:28-29).
Astonished! (Matthew 7:28-29). Jesus spoke “with authority.” The Scribes did not. Scribes in that day were known as ‘men of letters,’ since the Greek word for scribe is “gramma,” the source for our word “grammar.” They were the religious scholars of the day, the teachers of religious law. Scribes were the lawyers, the interpreters of Torah, and so were members of Temple leadership. They were associated with the Pharisees because most of the scribes belonged to the Pharisee party. The problem that Jesus and the people had with the scribes is that they based everything on what they only repeated from their tired tradition, nothing new, no fresh bread. They were experts in repetition, like religious robots. They didn’t speak from the heart, from life experience. They talked a good show, but their personal lives were inconsistent with their teaching. They didn’t “own” their fancy religious words. Jesus, though, spoke with authority. He spoke from a pure heart that was consistent with His authentically holy life. He “owned” His profound teaching. He spoke fresh words from God, new yet in the spirit of Hebrew scriptures. Jesus was the genuine article, the wise author of His own words, which was the source of His life-giving power and authority, astounding the crowd.
Teaching the Heart of the Way. Jesus had just been touring the entire region in a flurry of teaching, preaching and healing. Huge crowds were following Him from one place to the next. So He decided to take His closest disciples aside to a hilltop near Capernaum for a special word. Apparently by the end of His teaching there on Mt. Eremos, many others must have joined them, because the Sermon on the Mount closes with this: “By the time Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed by His teaching, because the words of Jesus carried such great authority, quite unlike their religious scholars.” (Matt. 7:28-29). Earlier Jesus had just finished declaring to the people that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand (4:17), that it is drawing near, and now here on this huge hill in northern Israel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He wants to reveal the characteristics of that Kingdom. He has a strong desire to teach His disciples the character traits of the citizens of heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount, reported by Matthew in chapters 5, 6, and 7, Jesus describes not only the ideal conditions of the heart, but also what will result from those attitudes of the heart. He unpacks exciting and fresh interpretations of the Law of Moses that fulfill what God had in mind when He gave them to Moses on Mt. Sinai so long ago. Jesus expands on features of God’s Kingdom and what the way of Jesus looks like. As the disciples will see in the next three years, Jesus Himself provides the example we all need to follow His Way. We don’t know if this Sermon on the Mount is one long sermon taught in one stretch, or if it is a compilation of His teachings that Matthew decided to weave together. Either way, this Sermon is God’s word and provides the nucleus of the Christian way of life, including the Golden Rule, “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you.” (Matthew 7:12).
The New Moses. The Jewish people during Jesus’ time were expecting a new Moses to guide and save them, like the old Moses did. They believed that the second Moses would duplicate the teachings and miracles of the first Moses, and would be a mediator between God and the people. Many also believed that this new Moses might even deliver them from foreign occupation. Many expected this new Prophet to be a divinely inspired king and leader for the people. In addition, both Moses and Jesus literally had mountaintop experiences which resulted in God’s commandments: Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law, and Jesus proclaiming His Sermon on the Mount regarding the fulfillments of that Law. Many Bible scholars have even said that Matthew went out of his way in his gospel to present Jesus as the new Moses, pointing out the parallels and duplications of Jesus’ ministry and mission with that of Moses. Matthew’s gospel was the most Jewish of gospels, and so it makes sense for it to tie Jesus with Moses.
Spellbound. So how could the people be anything but dumfounded! They have just heard the fresh Word from the Lord God. What’s there not to like? This sermon was a firehose of truth spraying them full in the face, and it was too much to take in… from salt and light, to a deeper interpretation of the Law of Moses; from teaching us how to pray s He does, to seeking first the Kingdom of heaven; from the foolishness of worry and anxiety, to the importance of continually asking, seeking and knocking at His door; from entering the narrow gate, to fair warnings about false prophets; from the vital importance of truly knowing God, to the closing parable of the wise and foolish builders. And that’s not all…
The Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-10). Jesus revealed those who are blessed by God, the opposite of what the people were expecting to hear: the spiritually bankrupt, the heart-broken, the meek, those who are starving for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for being righteous. To be “blessed” (makarioi) is a rich Greek word with many nuances, all in the context of enjoying God’s favor: fully satisfied; deeply joyful; delightfully content; profoundly happy; blissfully fulfilled. When Jesus declares that you are blessed, He is congratulating you, confidently affirming that God is active in your life. You are blessed when you put yourself in the position to be transformed by God. You are blessed, you are most fortunate, you are to be envied, because you now have the unexpected privilege of participating in the Kingdom of God. When you are blessed, you are aware that your blessedness does not depend on your outer circumstances. You are thus filled with hopeful joy. So when Jesus says that you are blessed, it is time to celebrate, for He is looking upon you with favor. In these Beatitudes, Jesus is saying that God wants us to be blessed, He is for us, He wants good to happen to us.
Fulfilling the Law (Matt. 5:17-48) – Jesus also wanted to enter a rabbinic debate about the Law and its implications for daily life. He wanted to reveal a fuller understanding of Torah. He wanted to explain the spirit of the Law and its original intent instead of being content with the superficial letter of the Law by the rabbinic authorities. He wanted to broaden the implications of certain Jewish laws, offering His own distinctive interpretation on specific verses. By sharing examples of how He interprets Scripture, Jesus wanted to provide an example of how other verses of the Law could be interpretated. “You have heard it said… but I tell you…” Jesus wanted to show His disciples how to move from ritual obedience of the Law to an inner, heart-felt reverence and faith. Jesus wanted to raise the moral and ethical standards by revealing a righteousness of the heart and not the outward righteousness of mere observation of the commands. Jesus said that disciples must show a greater righteousness than the scribes and Pharisees. The greater righteousness involves a relationship with Christ instead with the dead letter of the Law, and allowing Him to change your heart and life.
Preserving the Law. When Jesus claimed that He wanted to “fulfill’ the Law, not “abolish” it, Jewish hearers would have understood His terms in a particular way. To “abolish” meant to cancel a law through misinterpretation or by sheer disobedience. To “fulfill” meant to preserve it, to sustain that law by properly interpreting it. So Jesus is engaging in a rabbinic debate about proper interpretation of the Law. Someone had evidently suggested that through His unique interpretation He is in effect canceling the Law, nullifying what has been accepted and in writing for centuries. Jesus disagreed. Hebrew scholar David Bivin paraphrased Jesus’ response this way… “Do not suppose that I have any intention of undermining Scripture by misinterpreting it. My purpose is to establish and maintain the knowledge and observance of God’s word. My intent is not weaken or negate God’s written instruction, but to sustain and establish it through correct interpretation. I would never invalidate the Torah by removing something from it through misinterpretation. Heaven and earth would sooner disappear than something from the Torah.” (Bivin, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus). For Jesus loved Torah. He was an observant Jew who cherished the Law. He accepted the authority of God’s Word in what we now know as the Old Testament. He felt strongly about the importance and permanence of Torah. He basically said that the Law of Moses would never cease to exist.
Jesus is the Living Law of Moses. Another way to understand Jesus “fulfilling” the Torah is that He is indeed the Living Word. He is the Law. He is the Author of all that is true. He fulfilled Torah by fulfilling the OT prophecies about Him, through His teachings saturated with truth, through His actions performing God’s will. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Law.
The Deeper Meanings of the Law. In His words that immediately followed His comments on the Torah, Jesus repeatedly used the formula, “But I say to you.” He is declaring something rather outrageous in the eyes of the rabbinic authorities. Jesus is claiming that He has equal authority to the established Law. He is saying, You may have heard the Law means this, but I am here telling you that the Law actually means that, regarding things like anger and lust, divorce and oaths, vengeance and love of enemies. By stating His understanding of these old standards, Jesus is declaring total, divine authority. He is claiming that He knows the original intent of the Law, as if He wrote it Himself. He is telling those around Him that He knows why it was written in the first place. I am here to tell you the Word hidden behind the Word, Jesus is saying, the intended meaning that God was thinking about all along. I don’t want to alter the Torah in any way, Jesus declared, I want to reveal the deeper meanings hidden in the legal meaning. I want to clarify the Law so you truly understand what it means. “Like other rabbis and teachers, Jesus developed His own approach within the parameters of ancient Jewish faith and practice. He sought to reform and revitalize, not to destroy or replace. Jesus placed the meaning of Torah on a firmer footing.” (Dr. Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian).
Be Perfect. “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). And how did Jesus decide to sum up His section of the Sermon on the intended meanings of the Torah? He said to be perfect. That’s a tall order, isn’t it? Some scholars claim that Jesus is implying the Law as stated in Leviticus 19:2: “Be holy because I am holy.” Others claim that Jesus is referring to Deuteronomy 18:13, in which Yahweh said, “You shall be perfect, or blameless, before the Lord your God.” Perhaps Peter was trying to combine the two commands when he wrote, “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, in everything you do, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15).
Perfection is a Process. Jesus knows of course that we are made of dust and have inherited a sinful gene from Adam. None of us are perfect by any stretch of the imagination. None of us are sinless. Nonetheless, Jesus expects a lot of His followers. Extended adolescence is unacceptable. He wants us to grow up rather quickly in how we conduct ourselves. While seeing that we are on the road to complete maturity, it’s common sense to accept that perfection in our case is a process. It is not a process with God. He never had to mature, to grow up, to develop into perfection. He is an eternally perfect God, moral perfection as is, forever. The Greek word for “perfect,” is teleios, and it means whole, complete, fully developed, attained the goal, mature. But with His statement here, Jesus compares us to the perfection of the Lord God. So in this context, “perfect” means much more than mature. So one could say that perfect in this statement of Jesus means: well-formed moral character; a basic attitude of mercy and lovingkindness; well-rounded in integrity; behavior that is appropriate for higher maturity levels; full of holiness; lacking nothing in godliness; reached the proper height of virtue; living out one’s God-created identity as a child of God; setting no bounds to your love, just as your heavenly Father sets no bounds to His love.
Perfect in Mercy. The parallel summary statement in His Sermon on the Plain in Luke is fascinating. Jesus wrapped up His section in that Sermon with, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36). Jesus seems to be equating “perfect” with “merciful.” And maybe that gets to the heart of the matter. But can we be as perfect as our Father in heaven? If we perform one merciful act, we in that instance are perfectly reflecting a perfect God. The more merciful we are, the more we are reflecting God’s perfection. Perfect isn’t being sinless. It is being perfectly merciful, one act at a time. It seems we are in the process of becoming perfect as we face trials and as we let steadfastness have its way in us. In the meantime, we are perfect in a limited way as we move forward. We have moments of perfection. We ask the Lord to extend those moments until the day when we truly reflect our heavenly Father in His full perfection. The glorious fact is that we remain His children even during the process.
How Marvelous (LIVE) | Austin Stone Worship – YouTube