What is the…
Sermon on the mount

After spending a night in solemn meditation and prayer in the lonely mountain-range to the west of the Lake of Galilee (Luke 6:12), on the following morning our Lord called to him his disciples, and from among them chose twelve, who were to be henceforth trained to be his apostles (Mark 3:14, 15).

After this solemn consecration of the twelve, he descended from the mountain-peak to a more level spot (Luke 6:17), and there he sat down and delivered the “sermon on the mount” (Matthew 5-7; Luke 6:20-49) to the assembled multitude.

The mountain here spoken of was probably that known by the name of the “Horns of Hattin” (Kurun Hattin), a ridge running east and west, not far from Capernaum. It was afterwards called the “Mount of Beatitudes.”

See the Christian archaeological video which discusses the cultural context of the sermon on the mount: On the Life & Ministry of the Messiah (“No Greater Love,” part of the Faith Lessons video series).