Is it more likely that the Sermon on the Level Place in Luke 6 is the same event as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, or a different event? If it's the same event, does that mean that Matthew changed the facts and fictionally moved the sermon to a mountain for a symbolic purpose? (Spoiler: No, it definitely doesn't mean that.)I argue that it probably is the same event but that this *does not* support fictionalization of any kind. In this presentation I read a lot of helpful quotes from D. A. Carson's commentary on Matthew. One of the best things about the commentary is that Carson doesn't buy into the rigid rule of all-or-nothing dependence. The idea that Jesus was standing on a level plateau within the hill country, possibly with his audience seated above as in an amphitheatre, is entirely consistent with Matthew's and Luke's language and entirely plausible. It looks like not only did Matthew have more information than Luke (for many verses) about what Jesus said on that specific occasion, Luke also had some independent evidence from a non-Matthean source about some things Jesus said on that occasion.
