The Sermon on the Mount

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. MATTHEW 7:24

For much of Christian history the Sermon on the Mount has been handled with tongs. It has been said to be meant for monks and not for ordinary believers; or for the private heart and not for public life; or for a future kingdom and not for the present age; or as a law so impossible that its only purpose is to drive us to despair and so to grace. Each of these readings contains a grain of truth. Bonhoeffer thought that together they had succeeded in doing something disastrous: they had made the words of Jesus safe. The middle and longest part of Discipleship is an exposition of Matthew 5 to 7, and its purpose is to take them out of the display case and put them back into the hands of disciples.

Spoken to disciples

Bonhoeffer began where Matthew begins.

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying. MATTHEW 5:1–2

The Sermon is addressed to people who have already been called. It is not a programme for improving society in general, nor an ethical ideal for humanity at large. It is the instruction of the Master to those who have left their nets. That is why the Beatitudes come first. They are not conditions for entering the kingdom — try to be poor in spirit, and you will be blessed — but a description of those whom Jesus has called and whom he now pronounces blessed. The poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, the persecuted: this is what the company of disciples looks like, and Jesus declares them happy, not because of their condition, but because of him.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:10

Salt and light

Straight after the Beatitudes comes a statement, not a command. Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world. Bonhoeffer stressed that Jesus does not say, try to become salt; he says, you are. The only question is whether the salt will keep its savour and whether the light will be hidden. A community of disciples is by its nature visible. It cannot follow Jesus in secret any more than a city on a hill can be hidden. It will be seen, and it will either give light or be trodden underfoot.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. MATTHEW 5:14

Something more

The heart of Matthew 5, as Bonhoeffer read it, lies in a small word near its end.

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? MATTHEW 5:47

What do ye more? Bonhoeffer made much of this. The righteousness Jesus requires is not merely correct; it is extraordinary. It goes beyond what decent people do anyway. Anyone can love his friends. The disciple loves his enemy. Anyone can keep the outward commandment against murder; the disciple guards his tongue against contempt. Anyone can avoid adultery; the disciple guards his eyes and his heart. Anyone can keep an oath; the disciple speaks so truthfully that he needs no oath. And the source of this extraordinary quality is not moral heroism. It is Jesus himself, who fulfils the law and who calls his disciples into his own righteousness.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:20

Most searching of all, in Bonhoeffer’s treatment, are the commands about retaliation and enemies. He read Jesus as meaning what he said: that the disciple does not repay evil with evil, but absorbs it, and so brings it to an end. Evil feeds on resistance; it spends itself against one who will not strike back. And the love of enemies is not a feeling but an act — blessing, doing good, and above all praying for the one who harms us.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. MATTHEW 5:44

He wrote this in Germany in the 1930s, when he had every reason to know what an enemy was. It is not the counsel of a man who had never been hurt.

The hidden righteousness

Then comes a surprise. Matthew 5 says that the disciples must be visible; Matthew 6 says that their righteousness must be hidden. Bonhoeffer saw no contradiction. The community must be seen, but its members must not do their good works in order to be seen. The extraordinary must happen, but it must not become a performance. Indeed, he said, the disciple must hide it even from himself, not keeping an eye on his own goodness, not admiring his own giving or praying or fasting. His eyes are fixed on Christ, not on his own reflection.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. MATTHEW 6:3–4

This is one of the most practically useful things in all his writing. Many earnest Christians are defeated not by open sin but by the subtle pleasure of watching themselves be good. The cure is not to do less good, but to look away from it.

The narrow way

In Matthew 7, Bonhoeffer traced the life of the community among others. Disciples do not judge, because they have no standing from which to judge; they have received everything as a gift. They do not force the gospel on those who will not have it. They pray, and they trust the Father to give. And they walk the narrow way, which is narrow not because it is complicated but because it is Christ himself.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. MATTHEW 7:21

The Sermon ends not with a summary but with a choice: two builders, two foundations, one storm. Hearing is not enough. The wise man hears and does.

Honest questions

Bonhoeffer’s reading of the Sermon was shaped by his friendship with the French pacifist Jean Lasserre, and in the 1930s he came close to Christian pacifism — which makes his later part in the conspiracy, discussed in a later chapter, all the more striking. But he never retracted his call to take the Sermon at its word.

Readers from the Reformed and Lutheran traditions may also ask whether this reading leaves enough room for the Sermon’s work of exposing sin and driving us to Christ. It does, provided we remember where Bonhoeffer began: these words are given to those whom Jesus has already called and blessed. The Sermon is not a ladder to climb to God. It is the path of those whom God has already come down to find, and whom he empowers to walk it.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. PHILIPPIANS 2:13

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read Matthew 5–7 in one sitting. Underline every command you have quietly decided does not apply to you.

2. Ask where your life shows something more — some love, honesty or generosity that could not be explained by ordinary decency. If you cannot find it, ask God for it.

3. Name one person who has wronged you. Pray for him or her by name, every day this week, asking good for them.

4. Do one good thing this week that no one will ever know about, and do not congratulate yourself on it.

5. Before you next give an opinion on another believer’s faults, read Matthew 7:1–5 and deal first with your own.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You sat on the mountain and taught Your disciples, and Your words have not changed. Forgive me for handling them as though they were too dangerous to touch.

Make me salt that has not lost its savour, and light that is not hidden. Give me a righteousness that goes beyond what decent people do, because it comes from You.

Teach me to bless those who curse me, to pray for those who wrong me, and to overcome evil with good.

Hide my goodness from my own eyes, and fix my eyes on You. Let me not only hear these sayings, but do them, and build my house on the rock. Amen.