You know, maybe one
of the greatest teachings
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that Jesus brings to
us is found in a passage
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called "The
Sermon on the Mount."
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Today on "Back to Our
Roots," we are going to explore
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exactly what it was that
Jesus thought, stick around.
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Hello and welcome once
again to "Back to Our Roots."
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I'm Pastor Alex Schlusser
and this is my co-host--
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Rachel Hyman.
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And we're so happy that
you've decided to join us.
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Today we have an extra
special program as we explore
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maybe one of the best known
passages in the New Testament
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known as "The
Sermon on the Mount."
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But today we are
going to find out that
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maybe it's better understood
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as Jesus' teachings
on the Bible or on Torah.
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So, Rachel, when we talk
about "The Sermon on the Mount,"
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when you hear that mention,
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what's the first thing
that comes to mind for you?
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You know, one of
my favorite verses in
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"The Sermon on the Mount"
is when Jesus is talking about
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how we shouldn't judge others or
before we were to judge others,
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we need to take this
back out of our own eye first.
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There are just so
many beautiful lessons
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that Jesus had on
"The Sermon on the Mount."
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Oh, yeah, and, you
know, that's as a pastor,
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that's one of the places that
so many times I have sent people
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that are really trying
to understand who Jesus is
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to spend time in those chapters
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because it really
brings out His heart,
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I mean, it's His
commentary on the Bible
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and who better
to bring commentary
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than the word Himself.
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Yes, than God. Yeah, absolutely.
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So we are going
to get right into it.
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And we are going to
ask our special guest.
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You know, I mean
he's with us all the time.
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I hate to call
him guest anymore.
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He is a regular, but
Dr. Alexander Bolotnikov.
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We call him Sasha.
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Sasha, welcome once again.
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Thank you, Alex.
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It's good as always to see you.
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And you,
Rachel. Good to see you.
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So, Sasha, today,
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we are gonna talk about
"The Sermon on the Mount"
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or as I've already alluded to
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it's Jesus' teachings
on the Torah, on the Bible.
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And I know that you have some
very interesting observations.
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We were talking
about this earlier
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about how "The
Sermon on the Mount"
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as its known
has this very this--
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What do you call it, a pattern
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that follows one of the Psalms
almost identically, right?
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Exactly, this is Psalm number 1.
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And if you look at
"The Sermon on the Mount,"
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and how it starts, it's
basically blessings, you know.
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Blessed are those who are
poor in spirit and so forth.
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Right, in Psalm 1,
"Blessed is the man
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who walks not in the
counsel of the wicked."
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Exactly, so what you have here
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is like "The
Sermon on the Mountain"
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is an echo of Psalm 1.
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You have blessed is the
man and blessed are those,
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blessed are those ten times.
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And that's known as
the beatitudes actually.
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Exactly, you're right.
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And then what you
have next in Psalm 1,
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you have-- But in
the law of the Lord
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or I would prefer to say
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in the Torah of
the Lord is His heart
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and the law of the Lord
He meditates day and night.
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And this is exactly what follows
in "The Sermon on the Mount."
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After Jesus
speaks His beatitudes,
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He suddenly switches
back to the topic and saying,
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"By the way, don't you think
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that I have come
to abolish the law?"
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In English, to
abolish the Torah.
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And then there
is a large section
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of "The Sermon on the Mountain"
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which dedicates to the Torah,
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and then going back He
meditates day and night.
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And here you go
to the meditation.
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When you pray, lock
yourself in the room
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and He gives the whole teaching
of the meditation and prayer.
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And then at the
end, Psalm number 1 says,
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not the same with the wicked.
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And Jesus goes and
discuses the wicked.
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Those who, you
know, say in your name,
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we have cast it out the demon.
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"I never knew you.
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Go away from me you
who make lawlessness."
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So this is just fascinating
to see this parallels
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that the whole
sermon on the mount
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is not a new teaching
of the totally new religion
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and it's actually drawing from
Psalm number 1 and expanding it.
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And it goes even deeper
when you bring up this idea
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that what Jesus is teaching
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and His intention is
to create something new.
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I want to explore that now
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probably for the
better part of this program
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that Jesus, this
common, I think misunderstanding
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is that He came
with an intention
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to create
something very different.
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Some people would
say-- Like a new religion.
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Well, Christianity. Right.
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But I don't think
we see that at all.
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And I think that
especially through
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"The Sermon on the Mount,"
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we see Jesus
drawing on teachings
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and understandings that
were accepted of the day
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and we are
going to look at that,
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but I think that the
first thing we have to notice
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is that He begins to--
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I don't want to
somewhat say come against,
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but it's almost as if
He is speaking against
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what would be known
as the oral traditions
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because I think
that in the first century
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so much of what ruled the
people was far less the Bible
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and far more the accepted
oral traditions of the day that,
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and I think in some ways
He talks about the burdens
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that the
Pharisees and the Sadducees
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were placing upon the people
were their interpretations,
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but not so much their
interpretations of the Bible,
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but these extra biblical things
that were being formulated.
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And we see Jesus,
Sasha, as He teaches.
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And many times you can read this
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in "The Sermon on the Mount"
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where Jesus will say,
you have heard it said,
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but I tell you is--
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and I really think
that a lot of that is
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looking at this oral tradition
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and looking at how they were
misinterpreting Him, the Bible.
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Well, that's the very important
point you noticed, Alex.
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You can see this in the
Gospel of Matthew as a contrast.
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The previous
chapter that describes
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the temptation of
Jesus in the desert.
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Devil throw something upon Jesus
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and Jesus'
respond is, it is written.
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And when Jesus
respond, it is written
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then He quotes from scripture
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and basically from
the Book of Deuteronomy.
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Well, by the way, that shows
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that how Jesus really draws from
the Torah and not rejects it.
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Well, what we see in
"The Sermon on the Mountain"
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is often appears as a quotation
from the Torah but they're not.
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And Jesus is very specifically,
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it has been
spoken by the ancient.
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I give you an
example, it has been spoken,
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love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.
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What we have here, love
your neighbor as yourself,
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we have it in Leviticus
19, but hate your enemy,
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we have none of it in the Torah.
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None of it anywhere.
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In fact, we
have in the contrary.
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For example, in
the Book of Exodus 22
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it says, "If you have
found the oxen of your enemy
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or his donkey
fallen under the burden,
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you come and
help your enemy out."
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If you have found the ox
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or the donkey of
your enemy going astray,
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take this
donkey, take this animal
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and bring it to your enemy.
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So when Jesus comes, I
tell you love your enemy.
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This is not in anyway a
contradiction to the Torah.
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In fact, it's generalization.
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The Torah gives His
principles based on examples.
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The oxen or the
donkey is for example,
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but Jesus takes this example
and basically develops it
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into the principle
of loving the enemy.
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What he deals
with is oral tradition.
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Particularly, hate your enemy,
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it was a tradition
of Essenes and Zealots.
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Essenes who lived in Qumran.
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The Essenes by the
way, these are the people
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that are famous
in connection with
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what is known as
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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This was the community that
existed in an area called Qumran
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and they were
separatists, really.
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I don't want to spend a lot of
time going into who they were,
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but they had withdrawn
from the accepted society
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because of their
beliefs and their teachings.
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Some people, I mean maybe this
is like opening a can of worms,
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but we won't chase it,
but some people believe
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that John the Baptist may
have had some connections, but--
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We are not going
there, there is no connection.
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And particularly why because
from the reading of the Essenes
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what they wrote is
they really spewed hatred
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toward anybody who
did not believe like that.
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So let's get back here then
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to how Jesus is
expressing the Torah.
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Some particular
examples we want to look at
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where He makes
mention of what seems to be
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a very strange little
statement, jot and tittle.
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Not one jot or tittle
will be erased or removed
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until everything
has been fulfilled.
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So what exactly
is He saying there?
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Well, this is a
very important part.
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Jot is the Hebrew letter yodh
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which looks like
a little apostrophe
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and tittle is a
stroke, it's better to say.
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This is a Hebrew letter
vav which you created by draw
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keeping the
line down the little.
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Just drawing it
down. Drawing it down.
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So what you see when you read
the ancient scrolls in Hebrew,
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you often have to really
look with a magnifying glass
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to see whether it's
a letter sound like Y
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or it sound like V to read.
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So what Jesus was
referring is the scribble art.
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And that's how anybody in
the ancient Judea go to study.
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You know, they go
to study the Torah.
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They have to start
learning to read and to write.
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So Jesus while
speaking in His beatitudes
00:12:19.78\00:12:24.92
about the
qualities of the character.
00:12:24.95\00:12:27.37
He said, "I'm
not going to forsake
00:12:27.40\00:12:30.51
the main
principles of the Torah.
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And so My disciples are going
to know exactly what other--
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What the disciples of other
rabbis know about the Torah."
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My disciples--
Basically what Jesus is doing
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He is a little bit
exaggerating, He parabolizing,
00:12:46.39\00:12:49.88
but jot and tittle
in His high parably,
00:12:49.91\00:12:55.04
basically signifies
a meticulous approach,
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a detailed approach to
the study of the scripture
00:12:59.83\00:13:03.40
that Jesus does.
00:13:03.43\00:13:04.88
And so the next section
after that He really illustrates
00:13:04.91\00:13:10.74
He really illustrates
what, how do they study
00:13:10.77\00:13:15.27
and they go, for example,
00:13:15.30\00:13:17.92
they give example like,
divorce, like Deuteronomy 24.
00:13:17.95\00:13:23.56
Again He refers to
the wrong interpretation.
00:13:23.59\00:13:27.76
It is written. He said
it is spoken by ancient.
00:13:27.79\00:13:32.61
"Whoever divorces his wife
00:13:32.64\00:13:35.40
has to write to him a
certificate of divorce."
00:13:35.43\00:13:38.48
This is a typical example
of the misuse of the Torah
00:13:38.51\00:13:42.38
because Pharisees
often like to cite
00:13:42.41\00:13:47.20
portions of the
Torah out of context.
00:13:47.23\00:13:50.93
You know, I'm
thinking as you're saying that,
00:13:50.96\00:13:52.64
you know, we
brought up the Jesus
00:13:52.67\00:13:57.49
when He goes into the wilderness
00:13:57.52\00:13:59.30
in His little
battle with the devil
00:13:59.33\00:14:02.39
and how the devil
does exactly the same thing
00:14:02.42\00:14:04.99
that the devil
takes the scriptures
00:14:05.02\00:14:07.58
and quotes them
to Jesus rightly,
00:14:07.61\00:14:10.72
He quotes the words correctly,
but completely out of context.
00:14:10.75\00:14:17.04
And so they really
don't have the same meaning.
00:14:17.07\00:14:20.64
And, boy, isn't that so
true even today? Oh, yes.
00:14:20.67\00:14:24.36
That people are constantly
00:14:24.39\00:14:26.89
being swayed to the
left or to the right
00:14:26.92\00:14:29.82
because of those that would
take advantage of scriptures
00:14:29.85\00:14:34.46
by quoting them out of context.
00:14:34.49\00:14:38.36
As Jesus is teaching,
we've also talked, Sasha and I
00:14:38.39\00:14:43.82
about how this animosity
begins to form during this time,
00:14:43.85\00:14:51.82
the Sadducees and the Pharisees,
00:14:51.85\00:14:54.82
the leaders begin to
build this seeming dislike,
00:14:54.85\00:14:59.85
intense dislike for Jesus.
00:14:59.88\00:15:02.27
And I think that there is
couple of things that play out
00:15:02.30\00:15:04.58
that we see in His language
in "The Sermon on The Mount"
00:15:04.61\00:15:08.25
and what we keep referring
to how Jesus is saying.
00:15:08.28\00:15:11.28
You've heard it said or you've
heard it said by the ancients
00:15:11.31\00:15:14.43
referring really
to the oral tradition,
00:15:14.46\00:15:16.72
referring to the things that
00:15:16.75\00:15:17.89
the Pharisees and the
Sadducees were teaching,
00:15:17.92\00:15:21.01
but I say to you.
00:15:21.04\00:15:23.67
And I've always
believed, Sasha, that--
00:15:23.70\00:15:26.45
Again, this is a case where
00:15:26.48\00:15:27.69
Jesus is doing
something that was not accepted.
00:15:27.72\00:15:31.04
And even today,
it's kind of a gray area
00:15:31.07\00:15:34.19
and that is that
in Jewish tradition
00:15:34.22\00:15:37.46
a rabbi would not
teach on his own authority.
00:15:37.49\00:15:40.40
He would stand on
the authority of those
00:15:40.43\00:15:42.81
that had gone before him.
00:15:42.84\00:15:44.34
So, is it really
possible that that not only,
00:15:44.37\00:15:47.32
but one of the reasons why he
runs into such deep resistance
00:15:47.35\00:15:51.38
that the Pharisees, of course,
00:15:51.41\00:15:53.05
they don't like the
fact that he's teaching,
00:15:53.08\00:15:55.79
they don't like that
he's moving the people away,
00:15:55.82\00:15:58.70
but they become
jealous of the following,
00:15:58.73\00:16:02.13
they become afraid that
they're going to loose the power
00:16:02.16\00:16:04.38
and they also are
upset that he is now teaching
00:16:04.41\00:16:09.12
and saying that you've
heard it said, but I say to you.
00:16:09.15\00:16:13.74
And it's kind of
like, who is this upstart,
00:16:13.77\00:16:16.59
young rabbi teaching
on his own authority?
00:16:16.62\00:16:20.09
Well, they didn't even
want to consider him a rabbi
00:16:20.12\00:16:23.51
because, you
know, unlike Sadducees
00:16:23.54\00:16:26.15
who had a very
political dislike to Jesus
00:16:26.18\00:16:29.17
because
Sadducees were the priests,
00:16:29.20\00:16:31.28
you know, the elite people
00:16:31.31\00:16:33.76
who were given
authority by Romans
00:16:33.79\00:16:37.27
and they saw Jesus
as a political threat
00:16:37.30\00:16:40.33
because they thought that
Jesus was gonna raise the revolt
00:16:40.36\00:16:44.25
and Romans will come down hard
and take away their authority.
00:16:44.28\00:16:49.00
You know, which they held
on the temple and on Jerusalem.
00:16:49.03\00:16:52.85
The Pharisees to my surprise,
to everybody's surprise,
00:16:52.88\00:16:57.95
basically if you look
at the Gospel of Matthew,
00:16:57.98\00:17:01.26
Gospel of Matthew is really
00:17:01.29\00:17:03.08
a strong
criticism of the Pharisees.
00:17:03.11\00:17:06.44
And the "Sermon on The Mount,"
00:17:06.47\00:17:08.46
the way how Mathew
composes the gospel,
00:17:08.49\00:17:11.85
that's begins with the specific
critic of the Pharisees.
00:17:11.88\00:17:17.34
You know, the word
Pharisees itself is,
00:17:17.37\00:17:20.06
you know, the
interpreter of scripture.
00:17:20.09\00:17:23.70
So here Jesus
comes and He criticizes
00:17:23.73\00:17:28.74
the Pharisees sake
interpretation of scripture
00:17:28.77\00:17:34.07
and the problem
is while Jesus is
00:17:34.10\00:17:40.02
in the same mindset
with the Pharisees on the--
00:17:40.05\00:17:43.65
Hey, we need to study scripture,
we need to understand.
00:17:43.68\00:17:47.06
But the difference between
Jesus and the Pharisees is that
00:17:47.09\00:17:50.83
as you mentioned, he
teaches on His own authority.
00:17:50.86\00:17:54.18
Jesus is not a
disciple of anybody.
00:17:54.21\00:17:58.76
You see, before
Jesus-- But, you know,
00:17:58.79\00:18:01.82
right at the turn of the
eras the way how it works
00:18:01.85\00:18:05.17
like the year
zero plus-minus 10,
00:18:05.20\00:18:08.09
there were two great
teachers of Pharisees,
00:18:08.12\00:18:12.05
Shammai and Hillel.
00:18:12.08\00:18:14.39
And Pharisees were
broken up into two groups.
00:18:14.42\00:18:18.38
They were called, one was
called the Disciples of Shammai
00:18:18.41\00:18:21.97
and the other was
called the Disciples of Hillel.
00:18:22.00\00:18:25.49
And if you belong to that camp,
00:18:25.52\00:18:28.63
you kind of have to
stand in your packing order
00:18:28.66\00:18:32.34
before you reach a
certain level of authority
00:18:32.37\00:18:37.26
and you refer, yeah,
00:18:37.29\00:18:38.57
I'm a
Hillelite, I'm a Shammaite.
00:18:38.60\00:18:40.72
Jesus was none of them.
00:18:40.75\00:18:44.29
While coming back to
the issue of divorce,
00:18:44.32\00:18:47.41
Jesus teaching about
He who divorces his wife
00:18:47.44\00:18:51.35
accept the case of adultery.
00:18:51.38\00:18:53.78
That's exactly
what Shammai taught.
00:18:53.81\00:18:56.54
Hillelites thought that
anybody could divorce his wife
00:18:56.57\00:19:00.51
even if she spoiled his soup.
00:19:00.54\00:19:02.98
Jesus strongly criticized that.
00:19:03.01\00:19:05.87
That's funny. Jesus
strongly criticized.
00:19:05.90\00:19:08.36
So we can see that Jesus
00:19:08.39\00:19:10.93
does not is in align
with rabbinic teaching,
00:19:10.96\00:19:16.59
but because He is
not endorsed by them
00:19:16.62\00:19:21.11
that causes the jealously.
00:19:21.14\00:19:23.13
So the dislike of
Jesus by Pharisees
00:19:23.16\00:19:26.82
is very, where it shows
the internal character problem
00:19:26.85\00:19:31.13
of some of this people
00:19:31.16\00:19:32.86
who see He's
doing the same thing,
00:19:32.89\00:19:35.22
but they just
don't want to give up.
00:19:35.25\00:19:37.45
We can see that in
ministries today unfortunately.
00:19:37.48\00:19:39.76
Yes. Yes.
00:19:39.79\00:19:41.14
Well, and Jesus is
much to their dislike,
00:19:41.17\00:19:48.66
He is not all about the power
and the prestige and position.
00:19:48.69\00:19:55.54
You know, we
have a show coming up
00:19:55.57\00:19:57.90
a little bit
later in this season
00:19:57.93\00:19:59.81
that we are going to
explore the rabbi Jesus
00:19:59.84\00:20:01.91
and really look at
who He was as a rabbi.
00:20:01.94\00:20:05.78
And He really brought
out an upside down kingdom.
00:20:05.81\00:20:10.01
You know that for Him
00:20:10.04\00:20:11.96
those that were the
least were the greatest.
00:20:11.99\00:20:15.28
And we'll talk
so much about that.
00:20:15.31\00:20:18.27
Sasha, when Jesus is speaking,
00:20:18.30\00:20:23.02
so often He uses
phrases and terms
00:20:23.05\00:20:25.88
that I have seen many
times get misinterpreted,
00:20:25.91\00:20:31.40
that they'll hear something.
00:20:31.43\00:20:34.66
I think right away about
when He says talking about,
00:20:34.69\00:20:38.70
you know, having a good
eye and a bad eye, right?
00:20:38.73\00:20:41.96
And people take that
out of context completely
00:20:41.99\00:20:47.10
and don't get the picture
00:20:47.13\00:20:49.23
because they've taken
it again out of context
00:20:49.26\00:20:52.28
of that first century
period of Hebraic idioms
00:20:52.31\00:20:55.15
that may have been used.
00:20:55.18\00:20:56.79
And I know that
there are several,
00:20:56.82\00:20:58.21
but in that particular case,
00:20:58.24\00:21:02.40
I know that that's
a rabbinic concept.
00:21:02.43\00:21:05.20
A good eye and a bad eye, right?
00:21:05.23\00:21:06.95
Exactly, exactly.
00:21:06.98\00:21:08.16
That's-- This is a strong proof,
00:21:08.19\00:21:11.16
this is a strong proof
that Jesus is really working
00:21:11.19\00:21:17.10
in the familiar
realm for many people.
00:21:17.13\00:21:21.41
And, you know, people heard
00:21:21.44\00:21:24.98
these teachings
spoken in the synagogues,
00:21:25.01\00:21:28.34
so the teaching of
Jesus is very, very similar.
00:21:28.37\00:21:32.92
It's just a fact that
Jesus moves the emphasis,
00:21:32.95\00:21:38.63
moves the emphasis
from the personal, you know,
00:21:38.66\00:21:43.64
focusing on human
to the focusing on God
00:21:43.67\00:21:48.74
and as a giver of the Torah.
00:21:48.77\00:21:53.21
In fact, the famous conclusion
of "The Sermon on the Mount"
00:21:53.24\00:21:58.55
is very misunderstood, you know,
00:21:58.58\00:22:01.65
to build a house on the rock,
to build a house on the sand
00:22:01.68\00:22:05.15
and traditionally,
Christian speak about,
00:22:05.18\00:22:08.57
oh, Rock is
Jesus, what's the sand?
00:22:08.60\00:22:12.12
Well, if you
look in the context,
00:22:12.15\00:22:14.91
Jesus is clearly speaking
that the rock is the Torah.
00:22:14.94\00:22:19.07
He speaks right before this.
00:22:19.10\00:22:20.99
Not everyone who calls me Lord,
Lord can enter the kingdom,
00:22:21.02\00:22:26.75
but the one who
follows the will of My Father.
00:22:26.78\00:22:32.29
I come back to Psalm 1,
00:22:32.32\00:22:34.38
but in the Torah of
the Lord is His will.
00:22:34.41\00:22:38.54
So this is the focus of Jesus
00:22:38.57\00:22:41.55
following upon the
will of the Father.
00:22:41.58\00:22:43.92
And then-- That's His climax.
00:22:43.95\00:22:46.90
You know, if you
follow the will of the Father,
00:22:46.93\00:22:49.76
that's you're
building the house on the rock.
00:22:49.79\00:22:52.35
If you follow just emotions,
that's your sandy ground.
00:22:52.38\00:22:58.19
You're not stable.
That makes much more sense.
00:22:58.22\00:23:02.67
So we come to this place
where Jesus has put Himself out
00:23:02.70\00:23:10.67
in front of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.
00:23:10.70\00:23:14.39
And yet the
people seem to be drawn
00:23:14.42\00:23:19.79
to this real
heartfelt style of teaching
00:23:19.82\00:23:23.75
that He's stripping
away so much of the whitewash
00:23:23.78\00:23:29.62
that they have
placed upon their teachings
00:23:29.65\00:23:32.07
and even as we spoke
the parallel with Psalm 1,
00:23:32.10\00:23:35.81
He is bringing it in
such a practice term to them.
00:23:35.84\00:23:39.03
Yes, some of it He
speaks in parables and things
00:23:39.06\00:23:41.64
and the scriptures do say that
00:23:41.67\00:23:42.89
it was so that some
people might not understand.
00:23:42.92\00:23:46.13
And the rabbis also
use parables, by the way.
00:23:46.16\00:23:48.35
Exactly, exactly.
00:23:48.38\00:23:49.66
So this is-- the
method is the same.
00:23:49.69\00:23:52.11
Yeah, yeah. All
right, so well, wow.
00:23:52.14\00:23:56.67
The time goes by
way too fast, you know.
00:23:56.70\00:24:01.86
So Rachel and I
have a song today.
00:24:01.89\00:24:04.15
We are going to join together
00:24:04.18\00:24:05.45
and we are going to sing a
song called "Shalom Aleichem."
00:24:05.48\00:24:09.19
Sasha, why don't you tell us
about the song as we get ready?
00:24:09.22\00:24:12.61
Yeah, "Shalom
Aleichem, Malachei Hasharet,
00:24:12.64\00:24:16.10
peace be on to you
the ministering angels."
00:24:16.13\00:24:20.42
This is a very traditional
song with which Jewish people
00:24:20.45\00:24:25.68
until today greet the
beginning of the Sabbath day.
00:24:25.71\00:24:32.51
[singing in foreign language]
00:24:32.54\00:24:40.51
Amen. What a beautiful song.
00:27:23.35\00:27:26.68
Ministering
angels of the Most High.
00:27:26.71\00:27:28.57
You know, I hear
the song and I think how
00:27:28.60\00:27:32.23
in so many ways we
are God's Malachei,
00:27:32.26\00:27:35.38
His ministering angels.
00:27:35.41\00:27:36.67
The one that He call to
bring a message of hope and life
00:27:36.70\00:27:40.70
just like Yeshua brought.
00:27:40.73\00:27:42.85
So once again may
the Lord bless you
00:27:42.88\00:27:46.03
and may He keep you,
00:27:46.06\00:27:47.29
and may the Lord make
His face to shine upon you
00:27:47.32\00:27:49.64
and be gracious to you
00:27:49.67\00:27:51.56
and may the Lord lift
His countenance upon you
00:27:51.59\00:27:53.56
and bring you His peace.
00:27:53.59\00:27:55.20
Join us once again
on "Back to our Roots."
00:27:55.23\00:27:58.93