News of Jesus and His preaching and healing ministry was beginning to spread far and wide. In addition to His band of 12 close disciples, large crowds started to follow Jesus, eager to hear Him teach about the Kingdom of God and to watch Him perform miracles.

Seeing an opportunity to address the crowds one day, Jesus climbs up a mountainside and sits down, adopting the typical position of an authoritative teacher, or rabbi. The disciples and crowds gather around and Jesus begins to teach. Often known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” His speech to the people reads as His manifesto, announcing how life will be in God’s kingdom.

Jesus begins by turning usual expectations upside down in a short passage known as “the beatitudes.” He announces a blessing on those who are aware of the powerlessness of their own lives; it is they, rather than the strong and self-sufficient, who shall receive a place in God’s kingdom. Conventional ideals of wealth and success are rejected as Jesus declares that those who appear to have been overlooked in their present life shall receive God’s reward in heaven.

In Jesus’s inverted vision of the world, those who follow Him are to be “salt” and “light,” bringing out God’s flavor in the world and shining God’s light into the darkness. The purpose of the positive attitudes and actions of such people is that others “may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). From just a little salt and a little light, Jesus knows that God’s kingdom can reach the world.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Beatitudes stands on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It was built on the traditional site of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.

A parallel with Moses

Those listening to Jesus are predominantly Jewish, brought up to honor and obey the Law of Moses given centuries earlier. There are several parallels in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount that would not have been lost on His audience, for it strongly echoes the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20): just as Moses went up the mountain and received God’s word, so Jesus here ascends a mountainside and teaches with God’s authority.

Moses’s Law showed the Israelites how to live as God’s new community following their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Jesus is less concerned about establishing a moral code for a defined earthly kingdom; instead, He presents a picture of life in God’s spiritual kingdom of heaven that is accessible to all people at all times. To some in His audience, it may have seemed that Jesus was contradicting Moses. However, in a large section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses this question directly: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus is God’s new Moses, instructing the crowds as they follow Him. Other religious leaders at the time—in particular, the Pharisees—encouraged people to follow the law down to its last letter. However, Jesus says that such rigid adherence to Moses’s Law is not sufficient to guarantee people a place in God’s kingdom: “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20).

Instead, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus intensifies the meaning of the Law by declaring that it is not enough simply to obey God’s commands outwardly; rather, His Law must transform the desires and motivations of the heart of those who seek to obey Him.

In a series of teachings that take the form, “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you,” Jesus takes some of the most familiar commandments from Moses’s Law and broadens their application. His disciples must not simply refrain from murder, but must avoid anger or ridiculing others, and prioritize forgiveness and reconciliation. Lustful looks are to be considered as perilous as adultery, and marriage relationships should not be broken except in clear cases of unfaithfulness. Disciples should not merely keep the oaths they have made to God, but rather be faithful to every word that they speak.

In the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, this fresco of the Sermon on the Mount (c.1461) by Cosimo Rosselli is opposite the artist’s fresco of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.

Exercising humility

Moses’s law had sought to restrict overly harsh punishments by commending the principle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Leviticus 24:20); but Jesus rejects the notion of giving “as good as you get.” Instead, He tells His disciples to exercise restraint, never fighting back, but always praying for those who would seek to bring harm to them. By loving their enemies, they would be showing that they belonged with Jesus as children of God, since they would be imitating Jesus’s love for His enemies, as He would demonstrate on the cross.

Having asked His disciples to “exceed” the righteousness of the Pharisees, Jesus then warns them not to become “self-righteous,” or smug: “Be careful not to practice your acts of righteousness in front of others to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). They should not “trumpet” their good works to the world, but rather be discreet, confident that God sees what they do. The same humility should be evident, He says, when people pray. Jesus teaches that God does not listen to prayers because they are loud and long, but because they are offered in humble dependence on God. “Go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father … who sees what is done in secret” (6:6). In short, Jesus encourages His followers to look for God’s favor more than the applause of the people around them. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth … but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (6:19–20).

One of the key themes in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is the faith that His disciples should have in God. They must be confident that God’s goodwill is all they need for their lives to flourish. Instead of being anxious about finding food and clothing, they should focus on the life of God’s kingdom. In much the same way, His disciples should not spend their lives looking for faults in other people, but rather leave all judgment to God. At its heart, this part of Jesus’s teaching is emphasizing that God is good and is to be trusted.

At the end of His sermon, Jesus reminds His listeners to practice what He preaches: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock … and not the foolish man who built his house on sand” (7:24–26).

Revolutionary message

Jesus’s listeners are amazed by His teaching, because they recognize that He teaches with God’s supreme authority, and not simply with human skill. When Jesus finishes teaching and comes down the mountainside, He is followed by large crowds (8:1).

The Sermon on the Mount describes a world that has been turned upside down by God’s kingdom. It is a world in which the weak and powerless are considered to be God’s treasured children, a place where generosity and forgiveness are valued more highly than strength. Here, trust in God matters more than any other virtue. The idea of such a world must have seemed an impossible utopia for those listening to Jesus, yet they recognized God’s authority in Jesus’s words. He was not simply presenting a picture of an ideal life; He was saying that they could be part of this kingdom, if only they would build their lives on the “rock” that He was.

Jesus knew that not everyone would accept this way of life. It was a “narrow gate” for people to enter, compared to the broad road of living as you please, but the narrow path would lead to God’s blessing (7:13–14).

Jesus’s story continued to unfold. His death and resurrection became powerful reminders to Jesus’s disciples and followers to teach and live by the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus warns against judging others in The Parable of the Mote and the Beam (c.1619) by Domenico Fetti. The painting was one in a series of 13 works illustrating the parables.

See also: The Ten Commandments • The Golden Rule • Parables of Jesus