Today's passage is the most difficult scripture in the whole Bible. The difficulty is not in understanding Jesus' words, but in actually following them in practice.
The Sermon on the Plain
Setting (Luke 6:17-19)
A. Blessings and curses: four pairs (20-26)
B. Love your enemies (27-30)
C. The Golden Rule (31)
B'. Love your enemies (32-36)
A'. Blessings and curses: four examples (37-49)
Luke 6:17-19
The first logical question to ask is: what is relationship of this passage to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel? The setting in v. 17 appears to be different. Both start with Beatitudes and end with the story of the wise man building his house on a rock, but Luke's account is much shorter and he places some of Jesus' sayings from the Sermon on the Mount in other parts of his gospel. Q – How do we deal with such apparent inconsistencies? Does this sort of thing bother you, and how would you explain it to others? A – each account is an edited version, and several times Jesus told the exact same story in different settings, and sometimes even put different punch lines at the end.
v. 19 “Power came out from him” sounds suspiciously like magic. There was another time when power came out of Jesus: the Luke 8 story of woman with hemorrhage. Something which has helped me understand this a little is found in another portion of Luke's writing. It is similar to the story in Acts 19 where handkerchiefs that had touched Paul were brought to the sick and their diseases left them. But immediately following this is the story of the seven itinerant Jewish exorcists who attempted to use Jesus' name to cast out a demon (“I command you by the Jesus that Paul speaks about”) but the demon replies (“Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?”), beats them up and tears off their clothes instead. The contrast between the two stories dispels the idea that it was magic. It was a matter of faith instead.
Another point that hit me after a recent sermon was the parallel between this passage in Luke and the story of the ark of the covenant:
The ark of the covenant represented God's presence among the people of Israel. Christ was the very image of God come down to live among the people.
The ark possessed great power, which was especially seen when anyone touched it. Jesus possessed great power which was especially seen whenever anyone touched him—but this time it is healing, not destructive power. This shows that already God was working through Christ to remove the gulf between man and God, even before the veil of the temple was torn in two at Christ's death.
The Israelites attempted to use that power to their own advantage, but on the occasions when anyone touched the ark, they died. This was necessary to reinforce the fact of the great divide existing between a holy God and sinful man.
The final parallel explains the background to this story. The crowd came with certain expectations that Christ could be used to help them, and they were encouraged by how approachable Christ was. But they got more than they bargained for once he began teaching; they still needed to be reminded of how imperfect, how unholy, they were by the almost impossible ethical demands Christ put on them. Remember C. S. Lewis' classic line: “Aslan is not a tame lion.” There is a parallel today with people gravitating toward preachers who will make them feel good about themselves only.
Luke 6:20-25
20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
21a Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
25a Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
21b Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
25b Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”
The Beatitudes each have a curse attached (left out of Matthew's account) so I have rearranged the order of the verses above to pair up the blessings and curses.
v. 20 The parallel in Matthew 5:3 says “poor in spirit.” James Boice explains that this doesn't refer to material poverty or being poor-spirited (one who lacks enthusiasm for life). “To be poor in spirit is to recognize one's poverty spiritually before God...it is the opposite of being rich in pride.” Luke's account appears to refer to material poverty and riches. The original Aramaic combined both ideas of material and spiritual. Luke emphasizes the former and Matthew the latter. Several commentators point out that Luke's account can't solely refer to material poverty. If so, then we would actually be hurting the poor by trying to help them out since we would be removing their blessing. In most OT and NT teachings the materially poor are usually pictured as being the righteous while the materially rich are portrayed as ungodly.
v. 21 Again, the Matthew parallel stresses the spiritual aspect: “those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
One commentator summarizes this kind of person: “Those who have what the present can offer—satisfaction of their desires for material goods, happiness and a good reputation among men – and do not want anything more: there is no need for them to cry out to God in prayer, for they think they have enough.” An atheist friend of mine was a genuinely “good” person who “had everything.” He was like Nathanael, a person in whom there is no guile, but also seemingly impervious to the Gospel message.
One scholar has identified 39 parallels between the Epistle of James and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain. James' Epistle is almost a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.
Parallels in the Epistle of James
1:9-11. Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.
5:1-4. Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be evidence against you... The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.
Two main charges against the rich: they have hoarded their money instead of using it for good. And in many cases they got their riches at the expense of the poor.
Luke 6:22-23, 26 .
vv. 22-23 Does this promise apply to Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons who go door-to-door and are reviled and excluded by people; or preachers who get negative press in the papers because they publicly burn copies of the Quran and encourage hate against those they disagree with; or popular “prophecy experts” who announce the world is ending on a particular date and are laughed at when it doesn't happen? Will they be rewarded because of the treatment they receive from the world in general? That is not at all what this passage suggests.
Also note that these various reversals of fortune for believers will only happen in heaven.
Luke 6:27-29
v. 28 Once our Sunday school teacher asked, “How can we worship alongside those that we don't like?” We all tried to help each other cope with this problem. This is a step beyond that approach. So how do you go about loving your enemies?
Christ is an example of this when on the cross he asked that God forgive those who were crucifying Him. This passage is a help to me because Jesus forgives his persecutors “for they don't know what they are doing.” We need to try to understand others' actions and motives (where they are coming from). Once we have, I have found that it is much easier to forgive them.
Loving your enemies and turning the other cheek are typical of the strict standards taught in the Sermon on the Mount. How should we accept these teachings? They are not really practical guides to living. It is an almost unreachable ideal reminding us that we all fail and need divine forgiveness. Others treat these teachings as only applicable during the Millennial Period. In neither case should it be used as an excuse not to try, with the Holy Spirit's help.
Luke 6:30-34
v. 30 Give to anyone who begs from you. Discuss. Isn't this indiscriminate generosity that may do more hard than good? A friend who started a ministry to the homeless in our town told me that one should only give perishable food; anything else would probably be sold for alcohol or drugs. Twice in sermons given by one of our pastors, he has boldly stated that Christians who are theologically conservative should be social liberals alleviating poverty and poor living conditions. Often our disagreements are not on whether it should be done or not, but on how to best go about it.
What are the most effective ways to alleviate poverty and improve living conditions in the world? First question to answer is Where. Most parts of the world are making great strides to eliminate poverty EXCEPT Africa. An article in Christianity Today stated that the following is the order of priority for accomplishing the most with your money.
Get clean water to rural villages.
Fund de-worming programs for children.
Provide mosquito nets.
Sponsor a child.
Give wood-burning stoves.
Give a microfinance loan.
Fund reperative surgeries. (like cleft palates)
Donate a farm animal.
Drink fair-trade coffee.
Give a child a laptop.
We are called to be responsible stewards of our resources. But should economics be our only guide on where to give? Who is my neighbor? Remember Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. He gave aid to the one whom God placed in his path.
Luke 6:35-36 This is basically a repeat of the teachings in verses 27-34. Regarding the loan of money, regulations in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy specified that an Israelite could loan money to another Jew but could not charge any interest. However, they could charge interest to a Gentile. Jesus goes well beyond that principle here.
vv. 35b-36 Last phrase of v. 35 is a bit unexpected. We would say, “Your reward will be great since God is kind to those who are kind to others.” Instead, he lumps us into the category of the undeserving also. Verse 36 reminds us that we all need mercy.
Luke 6:37-38
v. 37 Judgment in this case is lumped together with condemnation—it means unfair or hypocritical judgment, not discernment (proper judgment).
v. 37b This idea is also expressed in the Lord's Prayer—our forgiveness appears to be contingent upon us forgiving others.
Parallel in James 4:11-12
“Do not speak evil against one another (i.e. slander), brothers. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?”
The logic here is a little hard to follow, as a number of commentators have pointed out. Whether the law here is the 10 Commandments or the law of love, by claiming to be above the law, one becomes a judge of the law and sets himself up as an equal to the lawgiver, God himself. The Talmud used the term “the third tongue” for the repetition of slander one has heard because it destroys three people: the speaker, the one spoken about, and the one spoken to.
Luke 6:41-42 Only God can judge the faults of others accurately, because only He can see clearly what the truth is.
Luke 6:43-45 This was always a problem passage for me since, unlike trees, good people can say evil things. It is clarified by James:
Parallel in James 3:10-12
“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.”
James explains that it is not physically impossible for believers to be so inconsistent in what they say; it is just unnatural. Both the Luke and James passages stress the difficulty in controlling one's tongue.
Luke 6:46-48 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
The three present tense participles in verse 47 denote continual, not one-time, actions.
Parallels in the Epistle of James
1:22. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
1:25. Those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
I have occasionally been commended for my Bible knowledge. The truth is that I have a rather extensive library of commentaries at home that I can steal ideas from, and do. But the important thing is not how much one knows about God's word, but the extent to which you actually apply it to your own life. And in that respect, I have nothing to brag about. We must be doers, not just hearers
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments