Day 44 The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:1- 8:1; Luke 6:20-49
Jesus preached many times during his ministry, but the one sermon that every casual student of his life will mention first is the Sermon on the Mount. The preparation for the preaching of the sermon is in itself remarkable. It starts in Matthew 5
Verses 1-2
[1] When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to Him, [2] and He began to teach them, saying:
I’ve seen a few videos or movies trying to show the scene of Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount. They always have Jesus standing on a mountainside and preaching to the thousands in the throng. That is obviously wrong. Read our text again, and a different picture emerges.
First, where he preached was more of a hillside than a mountain.
Second, it was also not preached to the throngs of thousands but to a few disciples. The Bible says he “sat down.” And “his disciples came to him.”
Does any of this matter? Not really! There are only two things that matter. (1) the message he taught them, and (2) who he instructed to pass on the teachings. There is no doubt that those who heard his teaching then told others what Jesus taught. That is how the Gospel is spread.
In our next lesson we will begin to look more closely at the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount.
I close these thoughts with an old, imagined story of what might have happened when Jesus got back to heaven. Imagine that the angels were gathered around. Jesus told them all that he had done. The angels inquired, “With you here, how will things get done?” Jesus told them he left the 12 to carry on the message. The angels asked, “But what is your backup plan if they fail?” He told them there was no other plan.
There is still no other plan. Jesus left it in his followers’ hands, you and me, to tell others about the great teaching of the Good News.
Lonnie Davis