Sermon on the
Mount/plain
tlang chunga
thusawi
Introduction
Tlang chunga thusawi/Sermon on the Mount han tih hian
khawvel pum huap pawhin a lar hle mai a. Matthaia 5:3-7:27 hi Tlang Chunga
Thusawi kan tih bîk chu a ni a. Bible-ah hian Tlang Chunga Thusawi, ti khera
dah phei chu a ni lo nain a thu han chhiar hian a hriat theih deuh mai a. Mahse
Saint Augustine-a kha a hming puttirtu hmasa chu a ni awm e.[1]
Tlang Chunga Thusawi tih tak mai hi chiang taka ngaihtuah leh chhiar chuan
zawhna tam tak siam thei a ni. Matthaia ziakah hian hlawm fel nalhin, a bul inṭanna leh a tawpna pawh fel fai takin kan hmu a. Bung 5-naah
hian Isua tlanga a lawna a zirtir thu kan hmu a, bung 7-na tawpah hian thu sawi
zotaa a hmawr bawkna ni awm tak fel tak kan hmu bawk. Mahse heng thusawi tam
tak leh thui tak mai hi Luka ziak lamah chuan hmun hrang hrangah (bung 6, 11,
12; 13; 14; 16) darhsarh takin kan hmu a. Nihlawhna thu (Mt. 5:3-12) thu phei
hi chu Luka 6:20-23 thuah kan hmu a ni deuh chauh mai. Khatah lah khan Isuate
kha tlang aṭanga an rawn chhuka hmun zawlah a ding a (Lk. 6:17) a zirtir a ni.
Matthaia ziakah chuan tlangah a kal chho va, a ṭhu a ni tih kan hmu (Lk. 5:1).
Hmun zawla a sawi a vang hian Sermon on the Plain tite pawhin an sawi bawk ṭhin.
Matthaia bung 5-7 thu pumpui hi Isuan
vawi leh khata sermon pakhata a sawi zawh vek niin a lang a. Mahse heng thute
hi Luka ziakah chuan hmun hrang hrangah a awm darh nuai bawk si a. Khatih hunlaia
Rabbite chindanah chuan thupui hrang hrang hi ṭum khat sawiah an chawlh pawlh nuai ngai lo va. Thupui pakhat
an sawi a, an sawi zau zui ṭhin a ni. Isua erawh chuan thupui hrang hrang chu ṭum
khat sawiah a hmang zo ta vek mai niin a lang a. Kawng lehlam kan en erawh
chuan ṭum khat sermon ni ta se eng vangin nge Luka hian a phel darh nuai eng le
tih zawhna a lo lut a. Isua hi tehkhin thu sawi thiam lutuk mai a ni tih a
hriat theih a. A zirtîr dan pawh a danglam hle tih kan hre bawk a. Chuti ni ta
se Rabbi thu sawi thiam lo elkhen ang main thupui chi hrang hrang chu thawk leh
khatah a sawi chhuak buan buan ta mai dawn tihna a ni thei bawk ang.
Heng chhan hrang hrangte avang hian
mithiam tam tak chuan Matthaia 5-7 hi Isuan ṭum khata a sawi zawh nghal vek ni
lovin Isua sermon lakkhawm a nih an ring ta ber a. Matthaia hian ziak dan
kalphung in ang a dahkhawm mai mai a ni ang tih ngaihdan a awm ta a ni.[2] Thu harsa pui pui
dah khawm ni mai hian a lang ṭhin a. thu ṭha
tinreng , mahse khirh pui pui si hlang niin a lang. Hengte avang hian Tlang
Chunga Thusawi hi hrilhriah tum dan chi hrang hrang a chhuak ṭhin a. Chungte
chu lo tar lang ila:
1) Ṭha lawr laka awm tura thupek (Perfectionist
Legalism)
Hetia ngaitute chuan Tlang Chunga Thusawia Isuan a sawite hi
Thuthlung Hlui hunlaia Israel faten Mosia Dan an zawm ngei ngei tur a ni ang
khan zawm ngei ngei tur dan Isuan a pek niin an ngai a. Chutih rualin heng
thupek thar/dante hi mihring tan zawm kim rual loh a nih tih Isua ngei pawh
hian a hre reng a. Amaherawhchu tih tak meuhva zawm tum ngat ngat turin min
beisei tlat a ni tiin an hrilhfiah.[3]
2) Thil ṭha tawp khawk,
mahse zawm
theih si loh (Impossible Ideal)
Hei hi Martin Luther-a zuituten an hrilhfiahdan a ni deuh
bîk. An ngaih dan chuan heng zirtîrnate hi mihring tan zawm famkim theih rual
loh a ni tih Isua ngei pawh hian a hre reng a. Mahni maia engmah a tih theih
lohzia a inhriat chhuah rual ruala Pathian hmangaihna lo ropuizia a rawn hriat
chhuah kha Isua tum chu a ni tiin an hrilhfiah. Kan chakna mai chuan eng mah lo
mai kan lo ni tih kan hriat avanga Krista kan hnaih loh theih lohna hi Isua tum
chu a ni tiin Luthera pawh hian a zirtir a ni.[4]
3) Hun eng emawti chhung atana nun dan ṭha zirtirna (Interim Ethics)
Mithiam Johannes Weiss[5] leh
Albert Schweitzer-aten he ngaihdan hi an vawrh lar a. Isua khan hun tawp a hnai
tawh tih a hria a. Chuvangin he thu pek pawh hi hun tawp lo thlen hma atana lo
hman lailawk tur a Isuan a tih niin an ngai. Isua vana a lawn chhung leh a lo
kal leh hma zawng atana lo hman tur a ni a. Hun hmasa lamah hetiang thupek reng
reng hi a la awm ngai lo va, nakina Pathian Ram a lo thlen tak tak hunah chuan
hetianga lei mihring khuahkhirhna hi a ngai leh tawh bawk hek lo vang a.
Chuvangin he inzirtirna pawh hi hun eng emaw ti chhung chauh atana tih a ni,
tiin an hrilhfiah.[6]
4)
i)
Discontinuity between the Old and the New Testament
Early church Fathers such as St. Augustine and Thomas
Aquinas believed that Jesus gave the new law to the new age. The Mosaic Law is
the lesser law given by God through Moses, and they were bound by fear.
Meanwhile, the greater law is now given through His Son, Jesus in his sermon on
the mount. The old law is ended and the new law is instructed now. [7]
ii)
Continuity between the Old and the New Testament
Reformers Martin Luther, Zwingli and Calvin wrote
extensively on the Sermon. They all insisted that Matthew 5–7 represents the
true interpretation of the Law of Moses, which was not understood in Judaism.
They interpreted that this “Law of Christ” is the continuation of the “Law of
Moses” that the Law of Moses is made perfect by the Law of Christ. On the whole
they emphasized the continuity between the “Law of Christ” and the “Law of
Moses” more than their Catholic opponents.[8]
iii)
Literal Interpretation
One of the religious sects, Anabaptists[9]
claimed that the Sermon on the Mount should be interpreted literally and that
Christians should therefore never use violence (Mt 5:39), never swear oaths (Mt
5:34) and never hold office as a judge or ruler (Mt 7:1). Because of this, they
kept themselves aloof from the secular government completely.[10]
Russian novelist and social
reformer, Leo Tolstoy resolved the Sermon on the Mount into five commandments:
suppression of all anger, chastity, no oaths, nonresistance, and unreserved
love of enemies. He said that if human literally obeys them, the existing evils
of society would vanish.[11]
1.
Evaluation
The Sermon on the Mount is not to be taken as a new law over
against the old Mosaic Law, but as a description of the life and conduct of
those who have entered the kingdom of God. It is also not for social reform nor
for the establishment of the utopia/ideal state but it is a description of the
divine transformation effected within the heart and life of individuals who
open themselves to the grace of God. It is neither an impractical ideal nor a
fully attainable possibility. However, it is attainable for those have entered
into the kingdom of God.
The ‘impossible ideal’ view is attractive at first sight,
but we have to know that even the Old Testament makes clear that salvation
derives not from human merit but from God. So also is in Jesus’ teaching that
there is not a sing sentence in the Sermon on the Mount itself which suggests that Jesus was putting forward an
impossible ideal. On the contrary, he clearly expects form his disciples the
most rigorous obedience. The Sermon on the Mount can be interpreted as the
continuation of the Old Testament law with a new dimension: the long-expected
reign of God is dawning with the presence of Jesus, and therefore has a new
urgency.[12]
The conduct of the life of those who have entered the
kingdom of God does not mean that one cannot apply the ethics of the Sermon on
the Mount. This is the life that Jesus is teaching all human beings for their
daily lives. As the Christian is approaching perfection, one has to follow this
instruction all the time till one has complete transformation from God.
[1] Hans Dieter Betz,
“Sermon on the Mount/Plain,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited
by David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992),
[2] William Barclay, Commentary of Matthew, vol.
I, 2ed, 1958), 79.
[3] Joachim Jeremias, in his Ethel M. Wood
Lectures before the University of London, The Sermon of the Mount, 1961,
9. Quoted in William Foxwell Albright, Matthew: The Anchor Bible (New
York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971), 51.
[4] Albright, Matthew: AB, 51.
[5] In his Die Predigt vom Reichen Gottes, Tubingen,
1892; quoted by Albright, Matthew: AB, 51.
[6] Mounce, “Sermon on the Mount,” The
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 415.
[7] Thomas Aquinas accepted the discontinuity but
without conceding that latter contradicted or abrogated the former. G. N. Stanton, “Sermon on the Mount/Plain,” Dictionary
of Jesus and the Gospels, edited by Joel G. Green, Scot McKnight and I.
Howard Marshall (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992),
[9] Anabaptists were religious sects that arose in Europe,
particularly in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, during the
Reformation, 16th century. The name means “one who baptizes again”;
it refers to the Anabaptists' practice of adult baptism, even of people who had
been baptized in infancy. In the early 1520s, several
religious leaders began to preach against Church and social practices in
Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Among them were the Zurich-born Konrad
Grebel, the Bavarian Hans Denck, and the German Balthasar Hubmaier. Somewhat
younger than Zwingli and Luther, they were caught up in the wars of the
peasants and of the empire under the Habsburgs. Known as the Brethren or the
Swiss Brethren, they believed the Bible negated the practice of infant baptism
and the celebration of the Mass. Instead, Anabaptists insisted on believer's
baptism and a memorial Lord's Supper. Because they rejected the hierarchy of
the Church and the authority of civil bodies in religious matters, they were
accused of sedition and heresy, persecuted, and often martyred.
"Anabaptists." Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [CD]. Microsoft
Corporation, 2005.
[10] Stanton, “Sermon on the Mount/Plain,” Dictionary of Jesus and
the Gospels.
[11] G. Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth (1960),
222. Quoted in R. H. Mounce, “Sermon on the Mount,” The International
Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 414.
No comments:
Post a Comment