Who we talking to?

Hey all,

     I was going through the sermon on the mount with a small group a couple weeks ago and we asked who is Jesus talking to? I felt like Jesus gave two sermons in one, and others felt like there is one sermon. There are some interesting text cues that have me asking if he is talking to two different people groups throughout the sermon on the mount.

Matthew 5:1 "Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down his disciples came to Him."

Matthew 7:28,29 "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

     So, some of you may be thinking how did he just go from chapter 5 to chapter 7? and I will encourage you to open your Bible and take a look, because the Sermon on the mount spans multiple chapters and I'm not sure why, but the Bible developers felt it would be better to split it up.

     Looking at just these three versus you could say that Jesus saw people coming and wanted to get to a place where all the people could see him so he went up on the mountain. If you see it this way then you can look at the end of chapter 7 and say well the crowds were astonished, so obviously he is speaking to everyone that he saw coming in chapter 5.

     However, I feel like there are a few points that could separate the crowds from the just his disciples. In the first verse Matthew seems to distinguish between the crowds and the disciples. He says Jesus saw the crowds, but when he sat down his disciples came to him. The versus I chose from chapter 7 speaks specifically about how the crowds are perceiving Jesus as a teacher. The versus don't say anything about the disciples only about the crowds, but I think that, at least in part, is because his disciples already knew the authority that Jesus had and taught with. At this point in Matthew the disciples have already seen Jesus speak to great crowds, they had already heard of John the Baptist who had been preparing the way had baptized Jesus, and during the process the heavens opened and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Right before the sermon on the mount the disciples are walking around with Jesus stopping in cities and in synagogues while Jesus healing every disease and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics and paralytics. So by chapter 5 the disciples are already aware of the God figure in Jesus.

     I also find there to be an interesting shift in the teaching style part way through the sermon on the mount. From my perspective it seems like Matthew 5:1-16 seem to be directed at the disciples, he seems to be telling them a group of things that are to be normative for each disciple. He is drawing a line and for me it seems like he is saying you are my disciples and therefore you should be living in a way that resembles these teachings. As you move forward to chapter 5:17-48, Jesus is saying, you have heard it said, but now I say... and I think this is where the crowds would begin to come in and hear about how his teachings come with a new authority. Then chapter 6:1-18 he is showing how people have been seeing the laws and practices being taught and lived out and he says, you have seen it like this but not you're being called to live it out in a new way. 5:17-6:18 he is pointing out how the laws and practices have been defiled and how the Old Testament church has been failing. To point out the leaders, pharisees, and scribes like this is to teach with a new authority, to teach against the grain like Jesus is in these versus is what I think the crowds are talking about.

     Then he seems to go back into a standard teaching style using analogies to show who God is and what it takes to follow God. But then in chapter 7:21-27 Jesus refers to himself as Lord and depicts himself to be a judge or to have an overall decision on who will get into heaven. Which is another section of the text that would show his authority and separate him from other scribes and teachers.

     Looking at the 5:1-17 could the crowds have been there yeah, but as I read it, it seems as though there is a specific language used to separate the crowds and the disciples in the first section of the chapter. I think that there is a definite change of style in Jesus' teaching from the beginning to end of the sermon on the mount, and I think that the crowds would be pointing to specific sections on the teachings to say that he is teaching with a new authority. Specifically the way Jesus discusses the law, the you've heard it said but now I say, and you've seen it taught and practiced like this but now I'm saying it should look like that.

Does it matter?

WIT
-Jay