The Message of the Sermon on the Mount

Book: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount
Author: John Stott
Rating: *****
Description: First-rate commentary that journeyed with me through my months in Finland. Walking through Jesus' revolutionary words with Stott is humbling, exciting and ultimately challenging. Because the whole sermon is a declaration of the manifesto of Christian culture and the call to live it out right here, right now. Stott's careful exposition and sensitivity to application will spur any reader who is willing and serious to follow the footsteps of Jesus. It is a testimony to the timelessness and power of those divine words first uttered 2000 years ago on the hill slopes of Palestine.

From a more philosophical perspective, the ethics spelled out by Jesus are simply breathtaking. Much has been made of the Golden Rule (Do unto others what you want them to do unto you), but check out the whole sermon. The beatitudes are the profoundest set of virtue ethics, the Golden Rule precedes Kant's categorical imperative, and Jesus' interpretation of the great Jewish Law trumps all the religious leaders. No wonder the crowds were astonished that He taught as one who had authority.