Matthew 7: S'mikhah

A word pops up at the end of Matthew 7, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), which gives some insight into who Jesus is and how people responded to him. This is the first place the word occurs in Matthew but not the last place. It pops up again in chapters 8, 9, 10, 21, and 28, where Jesus gives to his disciples what has come to be known as the Great Commission.

Matthew concludes this section of Jesus’ teachings (chapters 5-7) by letting us know that Jesus “taught as one who had s’mikhah (authority), and not as their teachers of the law.” A s’mikhah Rabbi was recognized as one who had the authority to make new interpretations of the Torah. In contrast, the teachers of the law could not offer new interpretations of the law. They could only teach what the rabbinic community had already commonly accepted.

You see Jesus exercising his s’mikhah in several places in the Sermon on the Mount. For example,

• When Jesus wraps up all his teaching by sharing the parable of the wise and foolish builder, he communicates that everything he has just said are “words of mine” (7:24, 26).
• When Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said…but I tell you…” (5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32; 33-34; 38-39; 43-44).

The people were amazed at Jesus’ words because he communicated new insight, fresh understandings to what they had been taught all their lives. And not only that. The people were astonished because Jesus’ s’mikhah seemed to come from within his very nature, not necessarily from external learning achieved at the feet of other rabbis. Remember, Jesus communicated that the entire fulfillment of the law and the prophets was to be found in him. “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or Prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17).

The amazing thing is that no one fulfills all of God's people's hopes and dreams except God. Hmmm…what is Jesus saying?

Spoiler alert: When Jesus commissions his disciples after his resurrection, he says, "All authority [all s’mikhah] in heaven and on earth has been given to me…. Therefore go…. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). Check it out. If Jesus’ presence constantly and always accompanies his people, wouldn’t that mean that his s’mikhah also comes along with him and with his people?

If we lived in the reality of Jesus with us and his s'mikhah in us, how would that change the way we live and how we relate to the world around us?