My father and I had a discussion about why in the Catholic faith there's so many saints and prayers to Mary and not just directly to Jesus. He remarked that some people are too afraid to speak to Jesus, to speak to God, so they ask holy people to do it for them. Now I don't understand why because Jesus loves us and why would he not want us to talk to him directly. I don't think we should fear God I think we need to love him absolutely. And it's hard but he gives us the tools to do that via his teachings. I like to listen to The Sermon on the Mount, I don't understand some of its meaning but I get the general gist of it. And it's helped me through a lot of trying situations.
The sermon on the mount is similar to the OT commandments. It gives the plan for being a good Christian by showing what God's standards are. Way over and above anything we can do. In that vein you can see that beyond faith and trust, Christ shows that he does want us to attempt to adhere to the law, even if we cannot follow it perfectly. It's still a good roadmap on how to live well and make life good for everyone. If society would fall back on that, you'd see a lot less of the issues that we currently face.
I agree, we should at least try.