Jesus’ Words about Dependence on God in the Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount taught complete dependence on the Father, which Jesus' life on earth also exemplified.

Jesus gives descriptions of the dependence on the Father which he exemplified at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in the pattern for prayer he taught his disciples in the middle of it, and again near the end of it. I believe the Beatitudes are, as Dallas Willard says (The Divine Conspiracy, Chapter 4), a list of the kinds of people the world rejects but God invites into his Kingdom. They are not a list of things we should strive to be, but an assurance that, even though we may be some of these things, we can become a part of God and his work in the heavens (and on earth). Here are the Beatitudes, as found in Matthew:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:2-11.

When Jesus said these things, he was teaching his disciples within earshot of a crowd, explaining aspects of their calling. Jesus had not called scribes, Pharisees and princes to be his disciples. He had called simple fishermen and a hated tax collector. Christian commentators often try to spiritualize these statements, to make them say things more convenient to current church practice, but what they are saying, in context, is that the Kingdom is open to those the world rejects.

To see this, we need go no farther than Jesus’ first example–the “poor in spirit.” In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, given on a different occasion, Jesus just says “poor”–and contrasts them to the “rich.” Luke 6:20, 24. Whether the poverty is physical or spiritual, the point is the same. Most people shun needy people. In the case of people who are financially poor, “society,” modern society and every society that has ever existed, so far as I can tell, tries very hard to isolate the poor from “respectable” people. They are routinely isolated in separate neighborhoods, separate accommodations, and permanent servile work. “Respectable” society does its best to ignore them and deny their existence. They are objects of charity, pity and exploitation, not “real” people.

The spiritually needy are perhaps in an even worse place than the financially needy. Being around spiritually needy people is emotionally draining. We try to avoid them, and, in modern times, we even have separate institutions through which paid professionals “care” for them–and keep their needs far from us. Or we just put them in jail.

But Jesus’ message is that these “needy” people the world rejects are real people. In fact, God builds his Kingdom from among them, as they recognize his power all around them. Jesus spent most of his earthly ministry going to rejects like these, calling them to repentance.

So it is also with the other people on Jesus’ list. Calling mourners “blessed” (“happy”) just doesn’t sound right. But, in God’s Kingdom, God himself comforts them. (See, The Case for Mourning).

In this world, we get ahead by being aggressive, forcing our own way when we can. The “gentle” (or “meek”), who restrain their anger and don’t force their own way, usually do so because they have been repeatedly intimidated into submission. They are the people who “know their place”–on the bottom of the heap. They are the oppressed, constantly being trampled on, and certainly do not “inherit the earth.” But they are also accepted into God’s kingdom, and, when they enter it, they do “inherit the earth” with Jesus. (See, God is King for more examples of reversal of the world’s way in God’s Kingdom).

In this world, people who hunger and thirst for a righteousness they don’t see in themselves, or in the world, tend to go one of three ways, none of them particularly blessed: 1) lonely introversion; 2) Pharasaism and legalism, trying to impose righteousness on everyone; or 3) insanity. None of these are ways other people find attractive. Similar things can be said of the “pure in heart,” outside the Kingdom. But God also invites unpopular people of these types into his Kingdom, and, when they enter, they find what they were looking for (think of Pharisee of the Pharisees Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul).

It is an axiom of the world that “no good deed ever goes unpunished.” In the world, the merciful usually pay for their expressions of mercy, sometimes dearly. But God invites the merciful into his Kingdom, and, when they enter, shows them his mercy–and also moves others to mercy toward them, when they need it. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

As Willard notes, in the world a “peacemaker”–someone who “interferes” in arguments or wars trying to make peace–is usually regarded as a pain in the neck. The other parties to the quarrel have their own reasons for keeping it going, and expect ultimately to “win” and so obtain whatever it is they need to serve their own lusts. See, James 4:1-4. So would-be peacemakers, far from being considered “blessed,” are usually roughly treated. See, Proverbs 26:17. But God accepts these troublesome meddlers into His kingdom and converts them from people who meddle in each others’ arguments into his ambassadors, people who “meddle” with other peoples’ wars against God. See 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.

Finally, how can it be said that the persecuted are “blessed?” Those who are persecuted for living in the Kingdom, and so “meddling” with other people’s wars against God, certainly don’t appear blessed in this world. But we are blessed, because God has something better for us than the troubles we face in the world that is now seen. The Kingdom of the Heavens–the presently unseen world of God’s activity–belongs to us. (Compare Hebrews 11:32-12:3).

It should also be noted that most followers of Christ are some of the things written about in the Beatitudes, not because we tried to be those things, but because we already were those things when Jesus called us:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31.

We came in as nobodies, people the world rejected, for one reason or another. We became a part of God’s Kingdom exactly the same way Jesus did in his earthly life–by depending on the Holy Spirit.

The prayer Jesus taught his disciples during the Sermon on the Mount, which is usually called the “Lord’s Prayer,” makes the same point by its utter simplicity:

Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Matthew 6:9-13.

The prayer starts with a declaration that we recognize God is in “the heavens” (this is in the plural, as Willard points out)–not only way up there, out of reach, but also in the air around us, able to hear us and act. It moves on from there, not to a laundry list of requests or to demanding that God do as we ask to care for our needs, but with a request that God make his Kingdom and his will visible on earth, as it already is in “heaven” (this time in the singular, emphasizing the place of God’s throne). First, we seek God’s will. Then, in dependence on him, we ask him to care for our needs–our daily bread–within that will. It also directs us to the our need to forgive others, as God has forgiven us–as receiving that forgiveness is our first need. Finally, we declare our dependence on God to keep us from temptation and preserve us from the evil in the world. It is a prayer of complete dependence on God.

Finally, toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reinforces the point that the way to receive what we need is not to grasp for it, but to ask for it and depend on God:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Matthew 7:7-11

This does not promise that, if I ask God for something, he will give me the exact thing I asked for. However, it does mean that, if I make a request of God, expressing my dependence on him, as in the prayer he had just taught his disciples, I will receive “what is good.” For various reasons, I may be mistaken about what is good in a situation. I do not know everything, and cannot generally see the future or what God wants to do in the future. (See, When God’s Provision Seems Too Slow.) My motives in asking may not be perfect. I may, in fact, be telling God about my needs, and then asking him to satisfy them with a stone or a snake. But, if I am coming with an attitude that trusts God for an answer, he will, in his time, give the right answer. The same can be said for my requests for wisdom and for greater knowledge of God and his will (“seeking” and “knocking”). I will be given right answers, and the right opened doors, at the right time, if I maintain my dependence on God to answer. This is contrasted against running ahead of God to create my own answers, which demonstrates unbelief (Compare, James 1:5-7; Hebrews 4:1-11).

Thus, the Sermon on the Mount taught complete dependence on the Father, which Jesus’ life on earth also exemplified.