5:1–7:29 Review · Jesus’s first discourse—the Sermon on the Mount: The first major section of 4:17–16:20 highlights Jesus’s teaching ministry. It is no accident that Matthew begins his narration of Jesus’s ministry with an extended teaching by Jesus. Matthew structures his Gospel in part by arranging most of Jesus’s teaching into five major blocks, or “discourses” (see “Structure” in the introduction).

In this discourse, often called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples (along with the crowds; see 5:1–2 and 7:28–29) about the kingdom that he has announced in 4:17. The single consistent theme of the sermon is the imminent kingdom of God (5:3, 10, 19–20; 6:10, 33; 7:21; see “Theological Themes” in the introduction). Focused on Jesus’s expectations for his disciples in light…