text:_ Matthew 5:1-20 Reflections

"Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them..." (Mt 5:1-2)

This is a rich passage in an immensely rich section of Matthew's Gospel. Known as "The Sermon on the Mount", chapters 5-7 of the gospel make up what is Jesus' most famous teachings and certainly the greatest sermon ever preached.

That said, what really struck me reading this section today (we will be in the Sermon on the Mount all week) is Matthew commentary that comes by way of context: "Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them..." (Mt 5:1)

According to Matthew's account, the primary audience for this sermon was the disciples, more than the general crowd. And that means the counsel and teaching of this sermon is primarily for disciples, Christians, self-identified followers of Jesus Christ.

The Sermon on the Mount--and the beattidues we find in Matthew 5:3-10--are not a call to social revolution or a political cause; it is not a rally cry nor a general list of ethical precepts.

No! The Sermon on the Mount is primarily a primer for followership.

Jesus' basic teaching on what it means to actually follow Him!

Not just proclaim him or claim him. Not simply to talk about him or identify with him. But to FOLLOW HIM.

And that is the basic call of the disciple, of the Christian. To follow in the way of Christ and to follow Christ himself.

To the cross. To the way that leads to spiritual poverty and mourning. To the way that leads to hunger and meekness, and maybe even persecution.

The way of Jesus is the way of the disciple. The way of the disciples is to follow the way of Jesus.

There is no other way.

"Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them..." (Mt 5:1-2)