Lesson 73. Sermon on the Mount

In this lesson, we are going to learn about a time when Jesus taught a great crowd of people. In fact, Jesus spent a great deal of his time teaching people about the Kingdom of God (remember those parables we learned about?). But there was one famous sermon that is a great example of Jesus' teaching: the Sermon on the Mount. This will be a somewhat unconventional lesson in that we will both teach the story (the setting, characters, etc) as well as some of what Jesus was teaching.

The Setting

This is the longest single teaching recorded in the Gospels. It is actually early on in Jesus' ministry. You may have noticed that we aren't going exactly chronologically through the Gospels as it is difficult to place all the stories in perfect chronological order. There are stories around the beginning of Jesus' ministry, a cluster of them based on themes (Parables, Miracles, Jesus Ministers), and then the beginning of the Passion Week and into the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The Sermon on the Mount is named as such because Jesus gave this sermon on a mountain. Which mountain? Well, we don't exactly know which one. Matthew 5:1 just says, "Jesus saw the crowds. So he went up on a mountainside and sat down." We are pretty sure it was in Galilee because the verses preceding it in Matthew 4:23-25 indicate that Jesus was teaching all throughout Galilee. BibleWalks.com has a nice page with an overview of the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding towns and mountains that you can use to teach your students about Galilee.

Jesus was teaching both his disciples and great crowds of people. From the Matthew account, Jesus went up onto a hillside by himself and his disciples and the crowds followed him.

The Teaching

Some of the most famous teachings of Jesus are contained in the Sermon on the Mount. Here are some highlights:

• The Beatitudes (or Blessings) - Matthew 5:2-12 - Jesus teaches us that no matter where we are in life (in mourning, poor in spirit, suffering, persecution, etc), we can find complete contentment in God.
• Don't Put Your Light Under a Bowl - Matthew 5:15 - Jesus tells us that we shouldn't be ashamed about the fact we are His. We shouldn't hide our light.
• Turn the Other Cheek - Matthew 5:38-42 - Jesus tells us that we shouldn't react to our enemies or people who persecute us the way people of the world would react.
• The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-15 - Jesus teaches us how we should pray.
• Don't Worry - Matthew 6:25-34 - Jesus tells us that the birds of the air and the flowers of the field don't worry about food and clothing, and neither should we! God cares about us and will provide. Matthew 6:33 is a great memory verse.
• Take the Plank Out of Your Own Eye - Matthew 7:1-5 - Jesus teaches us that it is not our place to judge others. We all sin and we tend to pay more attention to little things that others do wrong and ignore the big things we do that are wrong.
• Wise and Foolish Builders - Matthew 7:24-27 - Jesus tells us that if we listen to his words, but don't put them into practice, we're like a man who built a house on sand. It doesn't last when the waves come crashing in! We should do what he says, and then we'll be like a man who builds his house on a rock.