New Testament 77

New Testament 77

 

 

The sermon probably didn't happen here.
A fertile plain in modern Israel
(Click to enlarge.)

 

Luke 6:17-20

Compare Matthew 4:24-5:2; Mark 3:7-13

 

There is an obvious version of the Sermon on the Mount given in Luke.  It’s often called “The Sermon on the Plain.”

 

Is Luke giving a variant account of the incident in Matthew?

 

Maybe.

 

I think it entirely plausible, though, and not at all difficult to imagine, that Jesus might have delivered so great a sermon on more than one occasion during his Palestinian ministry.  After all, as Latter-day Saints know, he also delivered it to the Nephites following his resurrection.

 

I myself have only three ideas, one joke, and five and a half anecdotes, and I recycle them endlessly in various classes and speeches.  But this is probably the greatest, richest, most quotable and discussed sermons in history.  Unlike my shallow twaddle, it deserves to be repeated.

 

Today’s reading sets the stage for the Sermon on the Plain.

 

 


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