The Sermón del Monte—the Spanish name for the Sermon on the Mount—is perhaps the most famous teaching of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. Found in Matthew 5–7, it is Jesus’s most extended block of ethical and spiritual teaching, delivered early in his Galilean ministry to a crowd gathered on a hillside. Whether in Spanish, English, or any other language, the Sermon’s demands are equally radical and equally beautiful.
What Is the Sermón del Monte?
The phrase Sermón del Monte simply translates as “Sermon on the Mountain.” Matthew 5:1 tells us that “when he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them.” The teaching that follows spans three chapters and covers a breathtaking range of topics: the nature of kingdom life, the fulfillment of the law, prayer, fasting, money, anxiety, judgment, and discipleship.
The parallel account in Luke (chapters 6 and 11–16) is often called the Sermon on the Plain, and may represent either a different occasion, a compressed account of the same teaching, or Luke’s arrangement of material Jesus taught repeatedly in different contexts.
The Beatitudes: The Kingdom’s Upside-Down Values
The Sermon opens with the Beatitudes—eight pronouncements of blessing in Matthew 5:3–12. Each begins “Blessed are…” (Bienaventurados in Spanish). But the people Jesus calls blessed are not the powerful, the wealthy, or the publicly righteous:
- Blessed are the poor in spirit
- Blessed are those who mourn
- Blessed are the meek
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
- Blessed are the merciful
- Blessed are the pure in heart
- Blessed are the peacemakers
- Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
This is the ethics of the kingdom turned on its head from the world’s perspective. Those the world overlooks or oppresses are the ones God declares bienaventurados—blessed, happy, flourishing. The Beatitudes are not a list of virtues to achieve in order to be blessed; they describe the character of those who are already living in the kingdom’s reality.
Salt and Light
Immediately after the Beatitudes, Jesus tells his followers they are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” Salt preserves and gives flavor; light illuminates what is otherwise dark. Followers of Jesus are meant to function as both—not drawing attention to themselves, but causing others to give glory to God. These brief metaphors have generated centuries of reflection on the Christian’s responsibility to the wider world.
Fulfillment, Not Abolition
A key interpretive moment comes in Matthew 5:17: “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.” Jesus then proceeds to offer six antitheses: “You have heard it said… but I say to you.” He extends the law’s reach inward: not just murder but anger; not just adultery but lust; not just oath-breaking but swearing at all. The righteousness required for the kingdom exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20)—not in more rules, but in transformed hearts.
The Lord’s Prayer and Fasting
Matthew 6 addresses religious practice: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus warns against performing these for public display. In the center of the chapter sits the Lord’s Prayer—a model prayer whose six petitions cover adoration, submission, provision, forgiveness, and deliverance. In Spanish contexts, this prayer is known as the Padre Nuestro and is prayed in Catholic and Protestant communities alike.
Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:25–34 contains Jesus’s sustained argument against anxiety. Consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field—neither earns its provision, yet God clothes and feeds them. “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” The antidote to worry is seeking first God’s kingdom, trusting that “all these things will be added to you” (6:33).
The Two Builders
The Sermon concludes with the parable of the two builders (Matthew 7:24–27). One man builds his house on rock; another builds on sand. The rains and floods come, and only the first house stands. The rock is not any particular religious tradition—it is hearing and doing the words of Jesus. The Sermon’s demands are not optional enrichments; they are the foundation of a life that lasts.
For Spanish-speaking readers discovering the Sermón del Monte for the first time, these are not merely ancient words. They are Jesus’s own description of what it means to truly live.