Teaching Method Jesus Used During The Sermon on the Mount

• Buffer
• Tweet

History of the Sermon on the Mount

This is the greatest sermon Jesus ever preached. The Lord’s prayer, the beatitudes, and the golden rule are in this sermon. Jesus delivered this sermon on a mountain near Capernaum. Tradition ascribes the site to an extinct volcano named Karne Hittim. Jesus sat while delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Sitting connotated authority, so rabbi’s often sat while teaching. The Sermon on the Mount is in the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Matthew. You can read the entire sermon here. It’s divided into 5 sections listed below:

According to the Synoptic Gospels, one of the major sources of the popularity of Jesus was his reputation as a teacher. Large crowds of people, many of whom were uneducated, attended his lectures and were profoundly affected by what they heard. As history demonstrates, Jesus’ teachings went on to have a transformative impact on human thought for more than a thousand years.

People were drawn to Jesus because his teaching method differed radically from the methods used by the rabbinical leaders of his time, which was a passive learning paradigm based on memorization and rote recitation of text. In contrast, Jesus provoked an active process of inquiry among his listeners, by which they could construct an understanding of his message by referencing their own experiences.

Teaching Methods Jesus Used in the Sermon on the Mount?

In modern educational theory, this method corresponds with the discovery learning process. Discovery learning derives from cognitive theories, which emphasize meaning and stimulate the synthesis of new information with previously acquired knowledge. In discovery learning, the teacher presents a set of examples from which students can “discover” a principle or rule, using inductive reasoning. This develops the mind by pushing it beyond the actual information into the realm of insight, resulting in the student’s personal ownership of the acquired knowledge. Discovery learning is a teacher-guided process, where success depends primarily on the capacity of the teacher to present effective examples and relate them to the students’ experience. It depends on a relationship of trust between teacher and student, drawn from the interaction of the teacher with the daily lives of students.

The first stage of the discovery process is the identification of teachable moments. The Sermon on the Mount, as described in the book of Matthew, is one of the most famous teachable moments in history. “Great crowds” of people reportedly began following Jesus as his popularity began to spread. According to Matthew, “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain.” True teachable moments are evidenced by an eagerness on the part of the learners for answers to pressing questions that help them cope with real-life situations.

The second stage is to guide inquiry by presenting concepts and examples that raise questions in the minds of the learners. Jesus used a variety of methods to inspire his listeners to reflect on their content and discover relationships hidden under their surface meanings. Among the techniques employed during the Sermon on the Mount are metaphor (“You are the light of the world”), metonymy (“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden”) and hyperbole (“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out.”). Rather than spoon-feed knowledge to his disciples, Jesus allowed them a degree of ambiguity and uncertainty, which forced them to grapple with new ideas. His parables were designed to linger in the mind, where they could germinate into new insights and deeper questions.

The third phase involves the formulation of an hypothesis. It is an active process of knowledge construction in which the student seeks regularities and relationships in the information that generate new understandings. Jesus relied on the ambiguity of figurative speech to stimulate an internal process of moral reflection. He explicitly criticized the rote expository techniques used by the Pharisees as insufficiently challenging to impact real motivation and behavior (“though seeing, they do not see; though learning, they do not hear or understand”). He did not expect all or even most of his listeners to understand his teachings; those who truly hungered for truth would apply themselves to processing them according to their own understanding and experience (“For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.”).

In the final phase of discovery learning, the teacher encourages the application of new insights to real contexts. Jesus insisted on “practicing what you preach” and would often conclude a teaching moment with an exhortation to practice, such as “Go and do likewise,” or “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Resource by T.Price

I am a mom of 2 boys who loves to spend time with them doing fun things outdoors. In my spare time I have my own things I enjoy doing such as gardening, reading old books, and being a closet history buff.

Related Research For Teachers, Students, and Kids