“The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29).
The greatest teacher who ever lived had just delivered the greatest message ever spoken, and the crowd was … awestruck, astonished, dumbfounded, beside themselves. They were truly amazed, yet they were accustomed to hearing outstanding and intelligent teachers. The difference was that Jesus had authority and did not simply quote or refer to so-called authorities.
It is interesting to see what is not recorded in the Sermon on the Mount: conversions! When Peter preached at Pentecost, Luke records in Acts that there were about 3,000 conversions. When Jesus concluded His sermon, no conversions are recorded. Maybe some of the people would put it together later and experience the new birth. Perhaps some people were converted, but, for reasons unknown to us, those conversions were not reported.
It is also possible that there were no conversions on that day. Maybe the people who heard were indeed amazed but possibly not ready to surrender to Christ as Lord. In “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis gave a personal story that illustrates how many people respond to the Gospel. When he had a toothache as a child, he did not want his mother to know because she would take him to the dentist, when all he wanted was something for the pain. “I knew she would give me the aspirin,” he said, “but I knew she would do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain, but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie.”
There is often this tendency among people to want fixes, blessings and gifts without changing themselves or their behavior. They want good things, but not the life-changing encounter that the new birth in Jesus brings.
During His earthly ministry, many people were attracted to Jesus, but few actually followed Him for who He was. They were more interested in what He could do.
When Jesus spoke, God’s authority was evident. When the learned rabbis spoke, their knowledge was clear. They quoted authority. He was the authority.
Jesus never said, “Thus says the Lord.” Instead He said, “Verily, verily (or truly, truly) I say to you.” His words were the words of God.
John 7:46 says: “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.”
That day on a hillside in Galilee, many people were impressed with Jesus and amazed at His teaching, but did they believe? John MacArthur says they were amazed because His teaching was amazing. “But what they needed was not amazement but belief; not astonishment but obedience.”
We may never know on earth why there were no conversions recorded. What we do know today is that the teaching of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount must be obeyed and lived if we ever hope to attract people in the world to something and someone greater than they can ever find in the world.
John R.W. Stott said we must respond to the Sermon on the Mount with “deadly seriousness.” He wrote: “Only when the Christian community lives by Christ’s manifesto will the world be attracted and God be glorified.”
Today, the Sermon on the Mount may rightfully amaze us, but it must also change us into the people God calls us to be. Only people who know Him as Lord and Savior can achieve the behavior called for in Jesus’ sermon.