Did you ever wish you could have been in on the heart to heart talks that Jesus had with that little band of twelve? In our Gospel for this All Saints’ Sunday, we have what are called "Beatitudes" from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew has a habit of collecting together all the sayings of Jesus on a particular subject and putting them together in his Gospel. Most scholars agree that this sermon on the mount is Matthew’s collection and distillation and summary of Jesus’ consistent teaching to his disciples.

He taught them many things many different times, and today we read in this fifth chapter of Matthew a summary of that teaching.

Matthew gives us some clues as to how important these sayings are. He says, "Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down" (Matthew 5:1a). Jewish…