The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most well-known sections of the book of Matthew and contains some of Jesus’s most quoted teachings.

The main theme of Matthew is introduced in Matthew 3 and 4, where John the Baptist and Jesus say, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five discourses in Matthew expounding on this theme, giving us a glimpse of life in the kingdom, which is, as John Stott calls it, a Christian counter-culture. “Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style and network of relationships – all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the Kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule” (Stott 1978, 19).

This week, we focus on the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, a section known as the Beatitudes. This title comes from the Latin word beatus, meaning blessed.

Each of the eight beatitudes begins with the word “blessed.” To bless means to approve or to impart divine favor. As you hear each of these blessings, hear them with the mindset that the God of the universe, our creator, demonstrates his favor on his people, because of his great love and mercy, not because of anything we’ve done. These blessings come in the context of God’s covenant faithfulness, and thus, these blessings are reserved for those who are a part of his covenant. In these blessings, Jesus shows what life in his kingdom looks like; life that we get to partake in because of his great kindness to us in the gospel.