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With the benefit of history, I know this Teacher as Jesus Christ, Son of God. For those listening at the time, this was a carpenter from Nazareth. A common, ordinary man. Yet, here He was teaching on His own authority, not citing the authority of others. “I say unto you….” He did not speak as a prophet, saying that these are the words of God. These were His words.
This Sermon was early in Jesus’s public life, at least if we consider each gospel written in some semblance of chronological time. It was before He had any meaningful notoriety. It is the first recorded teaching of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, immediately after His fasting and identifying His disciples. For the people listening, He was something newly discovered.
The poor in spirit would gain the kingdom of heaven. Who could say such a thing on his own authority? The kingdom of heaven was God’s domain, yet this carpenter spoke as if it was His. He would correct the teaching of the Pharisees, yet He had no pedigree of learning.
He closed by saying that whoever hears His sayings and does them will be considered wise, and contrasted this to those who hear and do not. These were His sayings – not claimed from God, not citing a prophet. Do His sayings, not the sayings of those who claim to speak for God or those who claim to be faithfully interpreting God’s revelations.
He “came” into this life; He wasn’t born into it. He came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Not everyone who says unto Him Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom. He called Himself Lord, and stated that He held the keys to the kingdom. He is even to be the judge of the world – a position previously only reckoned to God. In other words, He spoke as if God.
