First, what is now called his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) should indeed be read as a sermon, as one unified discourse. To be sure, it is not what might be called a sermon today. Neither was it given in the seclusion of a genuine mountain. It is not “preachy,” of course, and is far too dense in content to function as a sermon in contexts where “sermons” now occur. It is “a talk,” we would probably say, and one given for the benefit of a large crowd of common folk, who heard it and enjoyed it on gently rolling pastures by the Sea of Galilee.
