Empathy and the Sermon on the Mount: The Foundation for Christian Ethics
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When a popular American pastor was asked whether he wanted a candidate that embodied the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, the pastor said that he didn’t, but rather desired one who was a strong, mean, individual. In stark contrast to the modern American pastor’s political rant, I recently discovered something quite fascinating concerning the early church and the Sermon on the Mount. Rather than eschewing the principles of the Sermon on the Mount as the unnamed pastor did, the early church used the Sermon on the Mount as something comparable to a catechism. Joachim Jeremias contends that the Sermon on the Mount was intended to show “young Christians, who have not only heard the message of Jesus Christ but also opened their hearts to it, what manner of life they should lead in the future.”[1] If Jeremias is correct, then we as modern Christians have truly missed the mark on what it means to be a Jesus-follower if we toss aside the principles found in one of Jesus’s greatest messages.
The Sermon on the Mount encapsulates Jesus’s ethical system. There is a debate over whether the recorded sermon is one long summary of Jesus’s message given in one place at one time, a series of sermon summaries given over a period of time in the same location—comparable to an intensive or a series of messages given in a revival, or if it was a series of sermon summaries collected together to provide a didactic to teach Jesus’s ethical system.[2] Regardless, what is of utmost importance is the understanding that Jesus provides a summary of his ethical system.
In a previous article published at MoralApologetics.com, I argued for the importance of empathy. As was noted in the article “No, Wormwood, Empathy is Not a Sin,” empathy is understood as “sharing in … another’s emotional experience.”[3] It is quite fascinating to consider, as I have found in my studies on the Sermon on the Mount, is that empathy an important element of Jesus’s ethical system, particularly regarding a believer’s treatment of other people. Consider the following examples.
Empathy Relates to the Response of Persecution
Often, people will respond negatively to God when they encounter persecution for doing something right. No one likes to be falsely accused. We don’t imagine people holding up their hands to say, “Lie about me! Say something bad about the good things I do!” Such actions would be viewed as abnormal, to say the least. However, Jesus said in the Beatitudes that his children are blessed when “people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you” (Matt. 5:11).[4] If that isn’t shocking enough, Jesus goes on to say something that goes against the grain of human nature. He tells his disciples to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be the sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:44).
One may ask, what does empathy have to do with this commandment. Well, when one digs deeper into the text, one finds that Jesus is teaching an already-not-yet kingdom in relation to Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 61, the prophet describes a messianic kingdom full of bliss and glory. Those places that were in ruins will be rebuilt (Isa. 61:4) and the people of God will be known among the nations (Isa. 61:9). Because of one’s faith in God and his future work, the believer should take pity on those who are outside the kingdom. Jesus seems to be suggesting that the kingdom will turn things around when it is brought to its full end. As such, those who are outside the kingdom will not experience such blessings. Thus, the child of God should desire to see people come to faith and join in on the joy and bliss of God’s kingdom. If a person does not have empathy, then one will not care who comes to the kingdom and who does not.[5] Therefore, empathy leads one to focus on God’s kingdom and seeing souls saved rather than mere individual preferences.
Empathy Relates to the Problems with Lust
Jesus indicates that sin is not only a matter of action, but it originates with one’s thoughts which flows from one’s soul. Later in the Sermon, Jesus contends that the heart—that is the totality of a person—drives one’s passions and desires. Jesus said that if a person is materialistic, then they person will be driven to own the most things. Jesus instructs believers to seek the kingdom of God first, because “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).
When it comes to sexual relationships, Jesus first identities the commandment against adultery. But then he says that “everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 6:28). The problem with lust is that the practice objectifies the individual. Roger Scruton contends that sexual fantasy devalues individuals. He notes that the “sexual world of the fantasist is a world without subjects, in which others appear as objects only.”[6] He goes on to call such practices “psychic rape.”[7] In the first-century, women were greatly devalued. However, Jesus elevated their status to the level God held for them—individuals made in the imagio dei. Women were people to be loved, not things to be objectified. The problem with lust, therefore, is a problem of empathy. The luster objectifies the lustee and does not see the person as a person.
Empathy Relates to the Problems with Anger
Similar to the issue with lust, anger and bitterness also warps one’s empathetic ethic. Jesus teaches that “everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell” (Matt. 5:22). Jesus then teaches that a person should seek to work through any difficulties with his brother or sister before presenting one’s gift at the altar of God (Matt. 5:23–24). Douglas Groothuis rightly notes that Jesus does not intend to claim that it is never okay to get angry, but rather illustrates the dangers of “revenge, viciousness,” and, I would add, bitterness.[8] Philosopher Michael Martin deduces that “Jesus’ emphasis on controlling one’s thoughts, emotions, and desires has been de-emphasized and in many cases nearly eliminated from modern discussions of Christian ethics.”[9]
As it relates to empathy, unresolved anger and bitterness leads to the same objectification of a person as does the problem of lust. In such cases, the object of one’s anger loses one’s personhood and merely becomes an entity to be despised. The person doing the hating may even reach a point that the hated person becomes the reason behind all of the person’s woes. History has shown the tragic ends when such hate is allowed to grow and fester. Nazi Germany viewed the Jews as things rather than people, as did Pol Pot’s regime with the Cambodian killing fields, and so on. In contrast, empathy allows an individual to see the person underneath the spite and hate. When adopting Jesus’s ethical system, the believer begins to see the person as one made in God’s image.
Conclusion
Empathy is deeply ingrained in Jesus’s ethical system. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, human value is elevated to its highest level. A person is challenged to see others through the lens of God’s goodness, virtue, and love. Perhaps the reason why the Sermon on the Mount is bypassed by many, such as the pastor previously mentioned, is that Jesus challenges our ethical system to the core. He charges that our primary allegiance should be to a good God and to his benevolent kingdom. When we allow ourselves to see others through this divine lens, then empathy naturally, or rather supernaturally, flows. Perhaps the key to revival is not found in strategies and methodologies, but rather a return to the catechism used by the earliest church—the Sermon on the Mount.
About the Author
Brian G. Chilton is the founder of BellatorChristi.com, the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast, and the author of the Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics. Brian is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Theology and Apologetics program at Liberty University. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); and is in the Master of Arts in Philosophy program at Biola University. Brian is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Brian has served in pastoral ministry for nearly 20 years and currently serves as a clinical chaplain.
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[1] Joachim Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1963, 2002), 29.
[2] Personally, I hold that the Matthean and Lukan presentations of the sermon consist of summaries from a series of messages that Jesus gave on the hillside. Thus, the second option is most preferable for me. Nonetheless, I must digress. I will dig into this topic in deeper detail in my forthcoming dissertation.
[3] Brian G. Chilton, “No, Wormwood, Empathy is Not a Sin,” MoralApologetics.com (Sept. 8, 2021), https://www.moralapologetics.com/wordpress/2021/9/8/no-wormwood-empathy-is-not-a-sin.
[4] Unless otherwise noted, all quoted Scripture comes from the New American Standard Bible (La Habra, CA: Lockman, 2020).
[5] Perhaps it may be said that the greatest danger to evangelism in the modern church is apathy toward one’s neighbor, the antithesis of empathy.
[6] Roger Scruton, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Philosophy (New York, NY: Penguin, 1998), 138.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Douglas Groothuis, On Jesus, Wadsworth Philosophers Series (Toronto, ON: Thomson Wadsworth, 2003), 66.
[9] Michael Martin, The Case Against Christianity (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1990), 169.
