The crowds, Harley. The great crowds from: You do understand that there CAN be crowds of disciples, even if they're not sitting in Europe's cathedrals.
Therefore, I believe that the Beatitudes teaching only to the disciples is a wrong...
Mat 5:11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Mat 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
Mat 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
These are not word to unbelievers. But people can believe whatever they want.
Harley; this does not become you. The crowds of people are believers, potential believers, wanna be believers, the curious and, really all of us. The crowds who followed Him - why would they do that if they were not at least curious? This is Israel from 2000 years ago. People didn't have campers or Holiday Inns or commuter trains. If they wanted to follow an itinerant preacher, they damn well had better outfit themselves for a very long walk lasting weeks. How far can you comfortably walk a day? 20 miles? With your family? 15 miles? How far and how long did these people travel to see Him preach?
Yet you dismiss them all as unbelievers and deny the very words of Matthew and Luke both as to who Jesus preached to with a wave of your Reformed hand. On another thread, I just had a Reformed dismiss Paul's teachings on the Crucifixion with a wave of her hand. Here, you seemingly dismiss the identification of Matthew and Luke as to whom the message was directed with a wave of your hand. Tell me, how much Scripture is actually left in your Bible?