the very fact that it is the scene of Jesus’ preaching makes it simply “the mountain”—the new Sinai. The “mountain” is the place where Jesus prays—where he is face-to-face with the Father. And that is exactly why it is also the place of his teaching, since his teaching comes forth from this most intimate exchange with the Father. The “mountain,” then, is by the very nature of the case established as the new and definitive Sinai.
