Once, a crowd of people gathered for Jesus, to hear his teaching, and he went up onto a mountain and sat down. His students surrounded him. And Jesus began to teach the people about the father’s will.
He said: “Blessed are the poor and homeless because they live within the will of God. If they go hungry, they will be filled; if they grieve and weep, they will be comforted. If people despise them, avoid them and drive them out, let them take joy in that, because the people of God were always driven out this way. And they will receive their reward from heaven.
“But sorrow to the rich men because they have already received all that they desired and they will not receive anything beyond it. For now they are satisfied, but they will become hungry. Now they are happy, but they will experience sadness. If everyone flatters them, then sorrow to them, because only swindlers flatter people. Blessed are the poor and homeless, but they are only blessed when they are poor not just in appearance, but also in their souls, just as salt can only be good when it does not just look like salt, but also has the qualities of salt through and through. Just so, you, poor and homeless teachers of the world, you are blessed if you know that true happiness is to be found in being homeless and poor. If you are poor only in appearance, then, like unsavory salt, you are not good for much.
“You are light for the world, so do not hide your light, but show it to people. After all, having lit a light, no one puts it under a bench, they put it on the table so that it shines for everyone in the room. Likewise, you must not hide your light, but you must show it in your actions, so that people can see that you know the truth. And, seeing your good works, they will come to understand your heavenly father.
“And do not think that I am liberating you from the law. I do not teach liberation from the law, but fulfillment of the eternal law. As long as there are people under heaven, there will be an eternal law. The law will only cease to exist when people do everything in and of themselves according to the eternal law. And now I am going to give you the commandments of the eternal law. And if anyone exempts themselves from even one of these short commandments and teaches others that it is possible to exempt themselves from any, he will be the last into the kingdom of heaven; but the one who fulfills the commandments and teaches others to do so also will be great in the kingdom of heaven. Because if your virtue is no more than the virtue of the orthodox scribes, then there is no way that you can be in the kingdom of heaven.
“Here are the commandments:
“The first commandment. In the previous law it was said: do not kill. And if anyone kills another, then he must be killed. But I say to you that judgment awaits all who are angry with their brother. And the one who curses at his brother is even more guilty. So, if you want to pray to God, then recall first whether there is any man who may have something to hold against you, and if you recall that even one man considers that you have insulted him, leave your prayers and go first to make peace with your brother, and only then pray. You know that God does not need your sacrifices or your prayers, but he does need peace, agreement and love between you. And you know that it is impossible for you to either pray or think of God if there is even one person with whom you do not share loving feelings. This then is the first commandment: Do not be angry, do not curse, and if you have spoken evil words, then make peace and be sure that not one person has cause to be offended by you.
“The second commandment. In the previous law it was said: do not commit adultery. And if you want to abandon your wife, then give her divorce papers. But I say to you that if you lust after a woman’s beauty then you are already committing adultery. Every type of depravity destroys the soul, so therefore it is better for you to refrain from the comforts of the flesh than to destroy your life. And if you abandon your wife, then, in addition to the fact that you are a philanderer, you also force her into depravity along with whoever subsequently couples with her. Therefore, this is the second commandment: Do not think that the love of women is good. Do not desire women, but live with the one you have committed to and do not leave her.
“The third commandment. In the previous law it was said: do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain and do not call upon your God falsely. Do not dishonor the name of your God. Do not swear by me dishonestly and thereby desecrate your God. But I say to you that every oath is a desecration of God, so therefore, do not make any oaths. It is impossible for a man to promise anything since he is always entirely under God’s power. He cannot make anyone’s gray hair black, so how can he make oaths for the future, saying that he will do this or that and swearing by God. Every oath is a desecration of God because if the person is called upon to fulfill an oath that opposes God’s will, then it turns out that he has promised to act contrary to God’s will. Therefore, every oath is evil. But when you are asked something, say yes, if yes; no, if no, and anything else that you add to that will be evil. And so, this is the third commandment: Never make any oaths about anything to anyone. Say yes, when you mean yes; no, when you mean no, and know that every oath is evil.
“The fourth commandment. In the previous law it was said: whoever destroys the soul must repay soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, ox for ox, slave for slave and much more. But I say to you: do not fight evil with evil and do not just avoid claiming ox for ox, slave for slave, soul for soul before the courts, but do not oppose evil in any sense. If someone wants to take your ox from you in court, give him another one in addition. If someone wants to sue you in court for your jacket, give him your shirt too. If someone knocks your teeth out from one cheek, turn the other toward him as well. If they force you to take on one job, take on two. If someone takes your belongings, release them freely. If they give you no money, do not ask for any.
“And so: Do not judge and you will not be judged, do not punish and you will not be judged and punished. Forgive others and you will be forgiven, because if you judge people then they will also judge you. You are forbidden from judging, because you, like all people, are blind and do not see truth. With dirt clogging your eyes, how are you going to view the speck of dirt in your brother’s eye? First you need to wash out your own eye; but who has clean eyes? Can a blind man lead a blind man? Both will fall into a pit. It is the same with those who judge and punish; they are like the blind leading the blind. Those who judge and condemn to violent punishment, wounds, mutilations and death do so because they want to teach people. But what can come of them teaching, other than that the pupil will master the topic and become exactly like the teacher. What will he do when he masters it? Exactly what the teacher does: violence and murder.
“And do not think that you will find justice in the court. Giving your love of justice to a human court is the same as throwing your priceless pearl to the pigs: they will trample it and then tear you to pieces. And so, this is the fourth commandment: No matter how they insult you, do not oppose evil, do not judge and you will not be judged; do not make complaints and do not punish.
“The fifth commandment. In the previous law it was said: do good to your own people and do harm to the foreigner. But I say to you: love not only your own countrymen, but also the people of other nations. Let others hate you, let them attack you and insult you; but you must praise them and do good to them. If you are only good to your own countrymen, then you are like everyone else who is good to their own countrymen; and it is because of this that wars occur. But you should treat all nations equally, and if you do, you will be the sons of the father. All people are his children, consequently all people should be your brothers. And so, this is the fifth commandment: Keep the same law in regard to other nations that I have asked you to keep amongst yourselves. For the father of all people there is no such thing as different nations, there are no different kingdoms either: all are brothers, all are sons of the one father. Don’t create differences between people based on nations and kingdoms.