The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount
By Claude Lorrain

“When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them.”
Matthew 5:1-2
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Of all the words ever spoken, few carry the transforming weight of the Sermon on the Mount. In those verses, found within the first few pages of the New Testament, Jesus did not merely teach us how to behave — He revealed who we are meant to become. As St. Augustine wrote, “The Sermon on the Mount is the perfect standard of the Christian life.” It is the blueprint of heaven brought down to earth.

Consider the scope of what the Savior asks. He calls us to be meek, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. He asks us to love our enemies, to give without recognition, to pray with sincerity. These are not suggestions for the exceptionally devout — they are invitations Jesus extends to every soul willing to follow Him.

N.T. Wright captured the beauty of this when he wrote: “Again and again the Sermon on the Mount calls and challenges us to a life of radical discipleship. ... Jesus himself, as the gospel story goes on to its dramatic conclusion, lives out the same message of the Sermon on the Mount: he is the light of the world, he is the salt of the earth, he loves his enemies and gives his life for them, he is lifted up on a hill so that the world can see.” Jesus did not ask anything of us that He was unwilling to do Himself. His ministry becomes an embodiment of this call to live a radically different kind of life, rooted in love for God and His children.

And then comes the pinnacle of His teaching: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). C.S. Lewis wrote that “The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible.” We begin to better understand God’s plan for us, as well as the gravity of this promise, once we understand that the Greek word translated as ‘perfect’ in the Bible, ‘teleios’, means 'complete', 'mature', 'whole' or 'fully developed', rather than 'flawless' or 'mistake free'. This kind of "perfection" still takes work, but its work done through the Savior and His Atonement. As Lewis goes on to explain, “He is going to make us into creatures that can obey the command. ... If we let Him — for we can prevent Him, if we choose — He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine. ... The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.”

The Sermon on the Mount is not a checklist to be conquered. It is a portrait of Christ, and an invitation — made and renewed one day at a time, one choice at a time — to let Him make us into what He already sees in us.

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