The greatest sermon ever preached 

The “Sermon on the Mount” is considered the greatest sermon ever preached.  Its name was derived from Matthew 5:1-2 which states: “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down…and began to teach them.” Saint Augustine wrote that the Sermon on the Mount sets the “perfect standard” for Christian living. 

This “Manifesto of the Master” covers 19 major topics, comprises 111 verses, and encompasses 2400 words. Therein is a recitation of the Beatitudes, discourses on Murder, Adultery, and Divorce and exhortations on Love your enemies, Go the second mile, Do not judge, and Refrain from worry.  Inscribed on my Grandmother Powell’s gravestone are these encouraging words: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This beatitude fittingly describes the hope of her Godly life.

Jesus added a new dimension to murder, saying that “whoever is angry with his brother without just cause shall be in danger of hell fire.” Regarding adultery, Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus judged man’s inner thoughts—hatred being the precursor to murder and lust as the prompter for adultery. On the subject of divorce, all a man had to do in ancient times was to present a letter of dismissal to his wife in the presence of two witnesses and she stood divorced. But Jesus restricted the grounds for divorce, saying, “Anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”  Jesus also reversed the “eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth” mentality, declaring, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.”  He then commanded: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” 

Regarding prayer, Jesus emphasized that we “Pray not as the Pharisees do on street corners, but go to your room and pray in secret to your heavenly Father.” He then uttered the Lord’s Prayer, which has served as the model prayer to this day.  

Jesus warned: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy… where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Jesus urged us not to worry: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  Jesus issued this

chilling admonition: “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Jesus warned: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”    

Matthew 7:29 states that “Jesus taught as one having great authority.”