In order to fully examine the sections of the Sermon of the Mount, it is necessary to examine Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus. In Matthew’s gospel, he agrees with Mark in that Jesus is the suffering son of God; however, the emphasis that Jesus is Jewish is much stronger. This is made clear from the genealogy listed in the very beginning, showing that Jesus is related to the greats of Israel’s’ past, which fulfills a prophecy of the Hebrew Scripture (1:23), and eleven fulfillment citations. Mathew denotes that Jesus fulfills the Scripture in two different ways. The first is that he fulfills predictions from prophets. The second is the idea that Jesus is the second Moses who the salvation available to the children of Israel would be made complete. The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus going up on a mountain and delivering God’s Law to those who have been following, is a direct parallel to Moses proclaiming his laws on Mount Sinai. The Sermon on the Mount is the first five major blocks of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew. Some scholars conclude that this is a direct parallel to five books in the Law of Moses. For Matthew, the fact that Jesus’ first words were proclaiming these teachings denotes that he is more that the suffering Son of God that is portrayed in Mark: Jesus is the new Moses who has come to set his people free from their bondage, and the give them a new law. Matthew’s interest in Moses and the Jewish Scriptures influences this section. The teachings that Jesus gives the people are not contradictory to the Law of Moses, they are a fulfillment of that law. The first thing that Jesus does in Matthew is to fulfill the Law of Moses through declaring laws. In Mark, Jesus doesn’t give a sermon as his first public act, he performs an exorcism. He gives examples of Jesus doing many miracles and giving Chria-Speaking remarks instead of proclaiming laws in the Sermons in Matthew. In Mark he fulfills the prophecy by actions and and short remarks. Of the 14 “chria-speaking” remarks in Mark, when Jesus is challenged he comes back with a witty one-liner that destroys their assumptions. In Matthew, Jesus fulfills the prophecy through declaring laws. The Beatitudes, Jesus’s statement on the Jewish Scripture, and the Antithese, Jesus goes into greater detail about how to fulfill the law. He places emphasis that God’s blessing will be bestowed on believers in the new age. In this new age, the people who least expect to receive special attention, receive special attention by God. The poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the pure in heart… Not the “rule followers” who mindlessly follow the details of the law but don’t express love to their neighbors. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus is demanded to not merely pay overly scrupulous attention to the detail of the Law, but to fulfill the current laws. He does this by proposing different ethics for his followers. Jesus requires his followers to fulfill the law by paying less attention to the details, and more attention loving God and loving their neighbor. This would not have been seen as distinctively Jewish. Most people in he Roman Empire would agree to many of the Hebrew Laws, such as you should not take your neighbor’s wife. However, the new fulfillment that Jesus is adding, to not even think about lusting, would most likely have struck the Roman Empire as very different. There is less emphasis on the deed itself, and more on the heart behind a person’s action.