The Jesus Manifesto

“Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sicknessamong the people. Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them…” (Matthew 4:23-5:2)

The teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) were life-changing good news to the ordinary people who first heard them—people who were tired, overlooked, and spiritually hungry.  While modern readers sometimes view these words as hard moral teachings, those sitting on the hillside heard something much deeper: a healing voice of hope, a radical reversal of the world’s values, and a personal welcome into God’s kingdom.

Jesus wasn’t just laying out lofty ideals. He was inviting people to live in a new reality—a world where God is near, His reign has begun, and the broken are blessed.

When Jesus sat down on a hillside and began to teach the crowds, He wasn’t just giving spiritual advice—He was announcing good news.

Most of the people who gathered to hear Him weren’t powerful or privileged people. They were fishermen, farmers, the sick, the poor, the overlooked. Life under Roman rule was hard. Life under religious legalism was heavy. And many wondered, “Where is God in all this?”

I invite you to join me in reading the teachings of Jesus in light of the Good News they are meant to be.