Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. The setting of the Sermon on the Mount is theologically charged: the mountain recalls Sinai, where Moses received the law, and Jesus ascending the mountain and sitting to teach (the posture of authoritative teaching in Jewish tradition) signals that what follows is a new authoritative proclamation. But Matthew has been careful: the crowds are present, not only the disciples, and Jesus' sitting draws his disciples to him specifically. The Sermon is addressed to disciples in the hearing of the crowds — it describes the life of those who have already begun to follow, not the conditions for entry. Hebrews 12:18–24 contrasts the fearful mountain of the law with the joyful assembly of the new covenant; this mountain is where the new covenant's demands and gifts are proclaimed.

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