16 “When you fast,[l] do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.
The Sermon on the Mount, as presented in Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7, is about divine morality the social architecture that God designed for the primate species and particularly humans. In these chapters, Jesus teaches what it means to live within God’s creation, in union with Him, what He calls the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is what is what is achieved by living within divine morality, called tsedeq by the ancient Hebrews. The Sermon on the Mount reveals how God has designed human social architecture, inviting us to dwell within it according to divine morality. Jesus’s words guide us on how to live in harmony with God’s intentions, experience the grace that comes from such living, and understand the consequences when we fall short of this divine calling.