Chapter 5 exposes the root of The Law and its inability to support the good, fruitful Life intended by God for mankind. The Law itself is good as it accurately demonstrates God’s own nature - like His perfect sense of justice, or how to treat another - but easily abused when man skews The Law to suit his own selfishness at the expense of another.
By the time of Jesus, the good Law given by God had become into something else. Specifically, the Judaic, pharisaical model familiar in Jesus’ time grew during the hundreds of exile years between the fall of Jerusalem and was characterized by ethical monotheism, the pursuit of holiness, and a covenantal (contractual) relationship to God. The Pharisees - probably out of ignorance and arrogance - had reduced the loving, personal, walk-with-you God of their forefathers to unrecognizable and unattainable rule keeping. Jesus came to straighten that crooked path. His teaching begins in Matthew 5 and builds into the following several chapters into a teaching that has resounded for thousands of years.
He exposes deep flaws in the outward, external, performance driven model of the woeful law professors of the day, and challenges the listeners to understand true righteousness comes from the inside; it is the fruit of inward purity, not ceremonial purity, good ethics, or correct contract keeping. Psalm 14 sums up our plight: it also describes God’s response to this incredible conundrum. The law requires a perfect heart that will replace its OWN will with that of God’s. Only by Jesus’ perfect willingness and perfect righteousness - given and available as a gift - are we able to walk this Spirit road alongside Jesus
Back to the start of chapter 5, Jesus begins with what has become known as The Beatitudes. Most will recognize the shared root word of “attitude” and understand “beatitude” refers to an inner posture toward exterior circumstance. True, but more so. A beatitude is defined specifically as “a state of supreme spiritual joy, of utmost bliss and tranquility.” Doesn’t that describe the way every believer of Jesus ought to live? The Beatitudes are no checklist for the spiritually elite, but encouragement for each and every person with faith in Christ to live radically hopefully. We are called to be poor in spirit, mourning over sin, thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted for righteousness' sake. These are not optional; these are foundational (more on this in chapter 7)! That this ‘supreme joy’ is for the humble and mourners and whom the world sees as weak, only protects us against our own boastful inner Pharisee from walking the road of self-righteousness.
Jesus’ way, this Spirit Road, continues with what I consider the most profound description of Jesus' disciples contained in the entire book of Matthew: Salt and Light. Not to “be" salt or to "become" light - He says you “are” these things. This is a declaration of our true identity in Christ, not an end goal. But, we must live as if we believe this, allowing Christ's flavor profile and illuminating work come through us. When we recognize areas where our actions don't match the characteristics of His salt or light, we are to crucify this behavior, trampling on it and casting it far from us.
Perhaps anticipating hostility toward His message or misplaced notions of rebellion, Jesus reminds His listeners He isn’t interested in a New World Order, but the redeeming of its original goodness. Verses 17-20 dispels the idea many Jews had come to believe about the expected Messiah re-establishing Jewish control of Jerusalem. The remainder of the chapter is Jesus having them sit them down and explaining what’s in God’s heart toward Man and how Man is meant to reflect His own heart back to Him, and toward each other. Jesus walks through the most fundamental areas of the Torah, shedding light on its purpose. Included among His examples is how murder is more than separating physical life from death, but murder begins in the heart with thoughts of hatred. This hatred is the spiritual equivalent of death, which leads to separation, which causes great disruption in our ability to present ourselves as living sacrifices for His purposes before God.
Matthew 5 is an encouraging introduction into the upside-down kingdom and a plea for anyone who receives salvation to live a life marked by humility, mercy, unity, and inward purity. The fate of the world's eternal destiny depends on it.