Jesus Born & Sermon on the Mount

What happens in Matthew 1–7

Matthew's Gospel opens with a declaration: 'This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.' From the very first verse, Matthew establishes that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament has been building toward. He is David's heir (the promised King) and Abraham's seed (through whom all nations will be blessed).

The genealogy itself is remarkable. Matthew organizes it into three sets of fourteen generations, from Abraham to David, David to exile, exile to Christ, creating a theological timeline showing that all of Israel's history moves toward this moment. Strikingly, Matthew includes four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, each with an unusual or scandalous story, foreshadowing that Jesus comes for outsiders, sinners, and the unexpected.

Joseph discovers Mary is pregnant and plans to divorce her quietly. But an angel appears in a dream: 'What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.' Matthew adds: 'All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, God with us' (Isaiah 7:14). This 'fulfillment' formula, showing how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy, appears repeatedly throughout Matthew.

The Magi follow a star to Jerusalem, and Herod's scholars quote Micah 5:2 to identify Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace. Herod, threatened by a rival king, slaughters the infants of Bethlehem. Joseph flees to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, and Matthew sees another fulfillment: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' (Hosea 11:1). After Herod's death, the family settles in Nazareth.

John the Baptist appears in the wilderness, preaching 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near', the same message Jesus will soon proclaim. Jesus comes to be baptized, and as He rises from the water, the heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father's voice declares: 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' All three persons of the Trinity are present at this moment.

Jesus is then led into the wilderness where Satan tempts Him three times. Each temptation targets a different area: physical need (turn stones to bread), spectacular display (throw yourself from the temple), and power (worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms). Jesus defeats each temptation by quoting Deuteronomy, the very book Israel failed to live during their wilderness wandering. Where Israel failed for forty years, Jesus succeeds in forty days.

Chapters 5-7 contain the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous teaching in human history. Jesus goes up a mountain (echoing Moses on Sinai) and delivers a new kind of teaching that both fulfills and deepens the Torah. He begins with the Beatitudes: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit... those who mourn... the meek... those who hunger and thirst for righteousness... the merciful... the pure in heart... the peacemakers... those who are persecuted.' These blessings turn the world's values upside down, the kingdom belongs not to the powerful but to the humble.

Jesus declares He has not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, then gives a series of 'You have heard it said... but I tell you' statements that deepen the Law's demands: not just avoiding murder but anger, not just avoiding adultery but lust, not just loving neighbors but enemies. He teaches the Lord's Prayer, warns against storing up treasures on earth, tells His followers not to worry ('Look at the birds of the air... consider the lilies of the field'), and gives the Golden Rule: 'Do to others what you would have them do to you.' The sermon ends with the parable of the wise and foolish builders, those who hear His words and put them into practice build on rock; those who do not build on sand.