Jesus’ most well-known discourse, the “Sermon on the Mount,” was delivered half way through the years of His public ministry. Before delivering the message, He spent the entire night in prayer. At daybreak, He began to summon those who would be His disciples. These twelve would accompany Him on a daily basis.
Even more was to unfold as this day progressed…. Huge crowds gathered around Jesus. As He journeyed down the mountainside south of the village of Chorazin and west of Capernaum, He made His way up to a plateau which formed a natural amphitheater, overlooking the upper northwest bank of the Sea of Galilee. This location was to become a place of eternal perspective. The Rabbi sat down, opened His mouth and began to teach His traveling and climbing companions. He began to set the stage for His radical, surprising, and counter-intuitive kingdom. It was to be a kingdom that would turn normal and natural perception and standard common reasoning upside down. He was about to totally reconstruct their hearts and their entire way of living. This was not a casual shift in attitude. It was to be a demolition of the old structure and the creation of a new one. Let the journey begin!