To say that the Sermon on the Mount is a masterpiece would be an understatement, and there is general agreement on this point, and yet how many people know what it is, or have read it? Only recently had I studied it in its entirety (Matthew 5-7), and was amazed how thorough and complete the instruction is. It is noteworthy that there is not one rule for what to do “physically”. From beginning to end, it addresses the heart, what one is thinking and feeling. It is not possible for another person or an institution to intervene. Its rules can only be applied by the individual and enforced by God.

Have you noticed that the Beatitudes introduce the Sermon on the Mount? It is as though Jesus laid out the pre-requisites for the teaching that followed: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourning, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, etc.”. We may deduce that if none of these conditions of the heart are present, his/her vessel is already full - pride is so entrenched that the listener will be incapable of receiving the teaching and its blessing.

Jesus made clear that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Then he referenced the commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Jesus taught that a hateful thought is as bad as killing someone, that lusting after someone is on a par with committing adultery! “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out” illustrated the urgency of clearing out immoral thoughts. As Mrs. Eddy stated, “The warfare with oneself is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you, - and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory.”(Misc. Wr., p.118)

The teaching then covers a wide range of everyday activities, and challenges the common mode of operation. – communicating, loving, giving alms, praying, fasting, investing, trusting, judging, asking for help. In each case, the thought is addressed, and if the instruction is followed, the motive will be purified, and the actor will be empowered.

Then comes, as they say in the vernacular, a reality check.  This is not an easy path. It requires sincere effort and watchfulness. There will be distractions, and “false prophets” that will try to divert attention and promise an easier way. If you follow my instruction, Jesus promised, you will build on a rock, and nothing will move you from your rightful inheritance. If you ignore this teaching, when the storm comes your way, you won’t have a leg to stand on.

The multitude of self-help books that fill the bookstores today, that have borrowed from the Sermon on the Mount, are useful only if they point the reader back to the Bible and the Sermon on the Mount. Otherwise, they are nothing more than false prophets, providing a palatable way, a nice wide way to destruction. Mrs. Eddy warns: “The present is ours; the future, big with events. Every man and woman should be to-day a law to himself, herself, - a law of loyalty to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The means for sinning unseen and unpunished have so increased that, unless one be watchful and steadfast in Love, one’s temptations to sin are increased a hundredfold. Mortal mind at this period mutely works in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least understood; hence the need for watching, and the danger of yielding to temptation from causes that at former periods in human history were non-existent.” (Misc. Wr., p 12) Never in human history has the Sermon on the Mount been more relevant, more needed to be studied and followed – in its entirety!

Andrew Kidd