Mount of Beatitudes

The Church is dedicated to the Sermon on the Mount:
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said:
³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of the teachings of Jesus and one of the most important texts in Christianity. In it Jesus defines the core principles of Christianity and it is considered to be one of the first manifestoes for non-violence. Later in the text, in verse 17, Jesus says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Many years later Christianity became a separate religion but it is important to remember that Jesus was a Jew who preached to Jews. The ideas that Jesus preached, which sanctify humility and poverty, are close, both in character and vocabulary, to the ideas of the Essenes, a Jewish sect that lived in Qumran (next to the Dead Sea). In Jesus’ time, the end of the Second Temple period, there were many groups and individuals calling for reform and a return to the moral values that the prophets preached, in contrast to the corruption of the priests in Jerusalem.