In Matthew's gospel, Jesus' active earthly ministry seems opened and closed by great sermons given before huge crowds.

The Sermon on the Mount has received scholarly acknowledgment and scholastic scrutiny as the public starting gate for Jesus' ministry. Yet little attention has been given to the contents and concerns contained in his last great public discourse recorded in Matthew 23-25.

Speaking to both his disciples and a crowd of curious yet passively hostile followers, Jesus, in his final sermon, picks up and emphasizes many of his earlier themes. As in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urges his disciples towards a righteousness greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. He also warns them against public pietistic posturing (see Matthew 5:20 and 6:1). But if the Sermon on the Mount …