Pope Benedict XVI, "The Sermon on the Mount"

1. According to Pope Benedict, in recounting the Sermon on the Mount, "Matthew puts together a picture of Jesus as the new Moses."  Please explain what he means.  In your answer, you will want to discuss the Pope's earlier discussion of the "promise of a new prophet given in the Book of Deuteronomy."  You will also want to indicate the importance of each element of the story and its relationship to the Old Testament. [In other words, you will want to outline pp. 66-68.]

Beatitudes

2. As the Pope points out: "The Beatitudes are no infrequently presented as the New Testament's counterpart to the Ten Commandments, as an example of the Christian ethics that is supposedly superior to the commands of the Old Testament."  What is the Pope's response to this thesis?

3. Discuss Pope Benedict's understanding of the relationship between the Beatitudes and texts such as those found in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17.7-8.

4. According to Pope Benedict: "What the Beatitudes in Luke's Gospel present as a consolation and a promise, Paul presents as the lived experience of the apostle."  Please explain what the Pope means.

5. "The paradoxes that Saint Paul experienced in his life," says the Pope, which correspond to the paradoxes of the Beatitudes, thus display the same thing that John expresses in yet another way."  Please explain.

6. Consider once again the previous two questions.  "This reflection upon Paul and John," says the Pope, "has shown us two things."  What are they?

7. On p. 74, the Pope makes the following comment: "the Beatitudes present a sort of veiled interior biography of Jesus, a kind of portrait of his figure."  Please explain.

8. Please be ready to discuss the Pope's interpretation of each of the following Beatitudes:

(a) Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God.  Consider especially the following:

i. According to Pope Benedict, it was no longer possible for Israel to maintain the older vision according to which the righteous prosper and poverty is a consequence of a bad life.  Now Israel recognized that its poverty is exactly what brings it close to God.  Explain the notion of poverty underlying this statement.
ii. Pope Benedict suggests that there is a relationship in the Jewish world between piety and poverty.  Explain the notion of piety and poverty exemplified in characters such as Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and the shepherds of Bethlehem.
iii. Connect this Beatitude with Paul's notion of "justification."   
iv. What, according to Pope Benedict, does St. Francis teach us about possessions?

(b) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

i. Who in the Old Testament is described as "meek"?  Who in the New Testament is characterized by his actions as "meek"?
ii. How, according to Pope Benedict, is Jesus's kingship different from the kings of the earth?
iii. What, according to Pope Benedict, is "the promise of the land" in this Beatitude?

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

i. The promise of the previous Beatitude was, according to Pope Benedict's interpretation, that Christ would bring peace.  This Beatitude deals with "peacemakers."  If there is to be peace in the world, where must there be peace first?  How does this consideration help link the current Beatitude with the previous one?
ii. Consider this counter-cultural claim.  According to Pope Benedict, "When men lose sight of God, peace disintegrates and violence proliferates to a formerly unimaginable degree of cruelty."  Which is it?  Does religion cause war and violence?  Or is violence the result when we turn away from God (especially from the mind-set embodied in Beatitudes I and II)?

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

i. What are the two types of mourning described by Pope Benedict?  Which is the sense of mourning being used in this Beatitude?
ii. How do Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene offer the perfect example of "those who mourn"?  (Please don't simply say "because they wept for Jesus."  The answer begins there;  but you must go further.)
iii. Please explain how this Beatitude affirms the opposite of an attitude of cynicism toward the world's suffering.

(e) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

i. Pope Benedict's exposition of the previous Beatitude ends with praise for those who resolve to suffer evil rather than giving in to it (they are the ones who "mourn").  That brings him naturally to this Beatitude: those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.  Explain the relationship Pope Benedict describes between "mourning" and "righteousness."  With regard to this topic, explain first, what "righteousness" is?  Second, why does "righteousness" tend to lead to "persecution" and thus to "mourning"?
ii. Why is this Beatitude very much like the Beatitude that says "Blessed are you when they persecute you and speak every kind of evil against you in my [Jesus's] name"?

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

i. Pope Benedict says:  "This Beatitude describes those who are not content with things as they are and refuse to stifle the restlessness of heart that points man toward something greater."  Please explain what he means.

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

i. What, according to Pope Benedict, is "the organ for seeing God"?
ii. Pope Benedict says, "If you say, ‘show me your God,' I should like to answer you, ‘show me the man who is in you.'" Please explain what he means and how it relates to this Beatitude?
iii. Pope Benedict asks:  How is man's inner eye purified?  What is his answer?
iv. What, according to Pope Benedict is the "precondition" for seeing God?  The "ascent to God," he says later on, "occurs precisely" in what?  Please explain.

9. Has Pope Benedict supported the thesis that the Beatitudes are NOT at odds with the Ten Commandments?  Please explain.

10. In the Gospel of Luke, the four Beatitudes that Jesus presents are followed by four proclamations of woe.  What are they?  Pope Benedict asks: "Are these things really so bad?"  What is his answer?  (Please don't answer, "Yes, they're bad because Christians shouldn't like money or pleasure now; they should look forward to heaven."  That's just too shallow, and it's not what the Pope says.  So please just read the text!  What he says might surprise you.)  In this regard, the Pope discusses what he calls "the fundamental Christian option."  Please describe what he means.

11. Only one question about the section entitled "The Torah of the Messiah."  (By the way, the "Torah of the Messiah" refers to the section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says: "You have it said ... but I say to you ....") In his discussion, the Pope discusses a book by Rabbi Jacob Neusner, who says the following about Jesus's preaching in the Sermon on the Mount: "What did Jesus leave out?  Nothing.  Then what did he add?  Himself."  Please explain what Neusner means?  What is the Pope's response?