JUNE92016

The Beatitudes are the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus continues the instruction with, what scholars call, the six antitheses. The pattern is: “you have heard it said… but I say to you.” It is important to understand that Jesus is not replacing the “old law” with a new. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus is, instead, building a fence around the law, as the rabbis would put it. For example, if the command of the law is not to kill Jesus commands don’t get angry. His instinct: if you aren’t angry you won’t kill. The prohibition against anger is a fence barring you from a temptation to violate the commandment “thou shalt not kill.”