THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: A MORALITY OF MARTYRDOM

Sem. Jonathan Raagas

Jesus’ words are not dead, they remain as forceful as they were in the time of the early Christians. One of
the passages in the New Testament variedly interpreted is the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the admonition of
Christ not to resist evil and to love one’s enemies. This command of Jesus seems opposed to the natural propensity
of man for justice, rightly defined as ‘the perpetual and constant will to render to each one his right’.1 Some classical
dispensationalist viewed the Sermon not really as a Law that belongs to the Christians here and now but something
belonging to the time of the kingdom. They consider the Sermon as a kind of interim ethics, a kind of provisional
moral code.

In Matthew 5: 38-42, one encounters a clear picture on how the Law functions, in this case using violence
in order to regulate social order. The observance of the talion as a form of violence is not evil in itself. Univocal
and clear, it helps us to clearly make a distinction between black and white, what is evil and what is good. However,
God is over and above his Law, he is above the talion and is not subject to it. Our logical mind has trained us to
think always that good deserves reward and evil punishment. Jesus actually teaches a form of pacifism, in the sense
that one does not have to confront evil on the same plane but on a higher level of active forgiveness, of superior
creativity. In fact, Jesus makes use of the system of creation (sunshine and rain) in order to reveal God’s moral
superiority tolerating evil people and allowing them to share blessings with the righteous. As a seal on the validity
of his teachings, Jesus made himself an example of this lofty and tolerant love in his passion. Ebed Yahweh – Jesus
himself is the Servant of Yahweh. What saves is the altruistic attitude of Christ. Although he did not judge anyone,
he allowed himself to be judged.

True enough, the Sermon points to a future promise of beatitude, but its validity and its effects are being
felt right in the here and now. The Sermon acts as a measure of our kind of Christianity. If one cannot yet offer the
other cheek nor go an extra mile for others, then there must be a defect. Well, the Sermon, especially the Beatitudes,
work somewhat like a blueprint, displaying the ideal image of the Christian disciple, a truly happy person, someone
who is able to walk above the waters like Jesus, over the waters of death, of the things that are hard to accept in life.
This confidence of possessing an indestructible life is present in the Christian martyr and in the ascetic.

What distinguishes a Christian martyr from a political one? Well, the Christian martyr is in a far more
excellent position as he dies for God who is everything. For a society so obsessed with confrontation and social
justice, the thought of Christian martyrdom is very scandalous and unacceptable. However, this is what a Christian
is called to do – to carry even in his body the sins of others and not to return evil for evil. Because each time he
accomplishes this noble task, he does an act which is basically eschatological, as it makes present the last judgment.
In the first judgment God has judged men’s sins by offering them pardon through the blood of his Son. God’s verdict
has been compassion and mercy. Then, after this pardon has been offered to everyone, comes a second judgment-
the final one, whether this forgiveness is accepted or rejected.

Church people often succumb to the notion that this command of non-resistance to evil is optional, for times
one has to avoid evil in order to preserve life. In fact, Jesus even instructs his disciples to avoid evil by fleeing to
the mountains to escape the destruction that will come upon Jerusalem.2 However, the same Jesus also warned that
‘he who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life for my (Jesus’) sake will find it,’3 and ‘unless a
wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.’4 Even
the Beatitudes esteem as blessed those ‘who are persecuted in the cause of right.’5 It is true that not all difficult
situations are occasions for a Christian to give ultimate witness, as discernment is always required.

1
Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 58, a. 1.
2
Mark 13:14.
3
Matthew 10:39.
4
John 12: 24.
5
Matthew 5: 10.
 In his passion, Jesus himself fulfilled what he taught in his Sermon a morality of martyrdom – so scandalous
today. The catechism describes it as the “the supreme witness to the Truth.”6 The distinguishing characteristic of
Christian martyrdom is the centrality of the person of Jesus who is Truth. It is not fanaticism, nor acting out of
irrational zeal. It is allowing one’s physical being to be destroyed out of love for God and people– because a
Christian is not anymore afraid of death, for in the Lord ‘love is as strong as death.’7 Even in our time, the blood of
Christians continue to flow, bearing witness and irrigating the earth that the seed of faith planted by the Church may
live and grow. The task of the Suffering Servant is actually the mission of the Church. It is only through this dynamic
of dying and rising that the Church can truly bring about configuration to Christ dead and risen.

Throughout history, Christ continues to die for the sins of men not only in the Eucharist, but also in the
sacrifice of Christians. In this manner, forgiveness for all men is offered. The baptized is invisibly wounded as his
body endures the deep wounds of other people’s destiny. This truth is expressed by St. Paul in his letter to the
Colossians: ‘It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to
make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church.’ 8 With his pains and
travails, a Christian contributes something to the passion of the Lord who continuously and mystically suffers until
the end of time, so that while he (the Christian) dies the world receives life.9 The sequela Christi necessitates a
descent into hell, a descent to the deepest and lowest of human experience. For Origen, this is the essence of
martyrdom because ‘the love of God and the love of men are merely two facets of a single total love’.10

Bibliography

Ryrie, Charles. Dispensationalism Today. Chicago: Moody, 1965.

Stein, Robert H. Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.

Jeremias, Joachim A. The Sermon on the Mount. Philadelphia: Fontes Press, 1963.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Luther’s Works: Sermon on the Mount and the Magnificat. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1986.

Leon-Dufour, Xavier. Dictionary of Biblical Theology. London: Cassell Publishers, 1967.

Evdokimov, Paul. The Struggle with God. New York: Paulist Press, 1966.

6
Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2473.
7
Song of Songs 8: 6-7
8
Colossians 1:24.
9
2 Corinthians 4:12.
10
Origen, Exhortatio ad martyrium.