Luke 6:17-26 - Plain speaking

This is sometimes called the "Sermon on the Plain", contrasting it with the sermon on the mount. Many people had come to Jesus, both to hear Him teach and to be healed of their diseases. Evil spirits were also cast out, and everyone wanted to touch Jesus. Power was flowing from Christ, and this was power to heal. People knew who was the source of the power.

Jesus then gives a list of beatitudes, which are very similar to those in Matthew, but with a less explicitly spiritual emphasis than in Matthew. For instance, instead of saying "poor in spirit", it simply says "poor". The key point is that there is an overturning of the natural order of things. The kingdom of God is at hand and this makes things different, it makes us different. Our natural circumstances may leave a lot to be desired, may even be very dire, but when the Kingdom comes everything changes.

There is also blessing for those who are hated or persecuted. We live in a time when our society is increasingly anti-Christian. We do not yet suffer the violence that Christians in some parts of the world suffer, but our society is ever more anti-Christian. So we need to remember these verses.

Those who seem to do well by societies measures should watch out. Now this is not a message saying riches are bad, they are not. But we need to judge our lives by kingdom standards and to seek God's riches, not worldly riches.

Luke 6:12-16 - Appointing apostles

We have read earlier of Jesus calling some of His first disciples, now we read of Him appointing apostles. When we are called to follow Jesus there is no guarantee of any "position" in the kingdom except that of a son and a servant, and it does not matter. My identity is in who Christ is, is His love for me, in His forgiveness of my sins, in my adoption as a son. 

Jesus went up a mountainside to pray before making the final decision. Prayer is one of the many recurring themes in Luke's gospel. 

The twelve are then listed. Now let us note something about this twelve. One of them would betray Jesus, one was repeatedly doubting, one would deny Jesus, and all of them would fail in Jesus' hour of need, along with various other failings and wrong attitudes showing themselves along the way. Was God's choice wrong? Absolutely not. In adverts for jobs of any significance there are usually a long list of qualities and qualifications needed, and essentially they are looking for superman, a perfect employee. Of course they never actually get this perfect employee. God knows who we are and what we are like, and His plans are built around dealing with our sinfulness and imperfections (of which there are many). We also need to bear this in mind when we work and live with people. Your wife is not perfect, your children are not perfect, your pastor is not perfect, anyone who works for you is not perfect. Most of all you and I are not perfect. This will cause many frustrations, and at times acute heartache, but the kingdom of God is designed to work with imperfect and sinful people.

Luke 6:6-11 - Sabbath Confrontations : Part 2

Luke now continues the tale of the Sabbath confrontations. Jesus was teaching in a synagogue and there was a man there with a shrivelled hand. Before we look at the Sabbath aspect of all this, it is worth noting that teaching and healing went together with Jesus, and indeed in the apostolic ministry. We so easily separate them. We have churches who focus on teaching, others that focus on healing. We have teaching meetings and healing meetings. In God's eyes the two go together.

The Pharisees were looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus. Notice that they have no real concern for the man with the shrivelled hand. This is a classic symptom of legalism, we forget that people are people.

Jesus knew exactly what the Pharisees were thinking so He faced the issue head on by calling the man forward to stand up in front of everyone. 

Then He asked the crucial question that went to the heart of the matter, "Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath, to save life or destroy it?". You see, as far as the Pharisees were concerned the Sabbath was a burden, as far as God was concerned it was a day of healing and restoration. I do not personally favour a legalistic approach to the Sabbath, but the Sabbath principle is important. We need Sabbath times when we rest from our labours, knowing that we are utterly dependent upon God for everything. Then those times can be times when God restores and heals us as only He knows how.

Jesus then told the man to stretch out his hand. The man did so and was immediately healed. Instead of delighting in the good that was done, the Pharisees were furious and looked for what they might do to Jesus.

Luke 6:1-5 - Sabbath Confrontations : Part 1

We now get the first of the Sabbath confrontations. The Sabbath was a central part of the Jewish religion, and we are wrong if we think it no longer has any significance. It appears in one of the Ten Commandments, appears in many parts of the Law and is referred to by numerous prophets. Yet the Pharisees had it all wrong. Today we tend to fall into one of two extreme camps. There are a few who adopt a very religious attitude towards the Sabbath (though of course it is actually they apply it all to Sunday now). The majority think it has no real importance, except perhaps being the day we go to church. Both of these views are mistaken. So let's see how Jesus viewed the Sabbath.

First there is the argument over the disciples eating grain. There was nothing wrong with this in itself. The Law allowed people to take the wheat from the edges of fields. The problem was that they were doing this on the Sabbath.  Jesus pointed them to an incident from David's life (1 Sam 21:6) where the Law had been broken. Jesus seems to be pointing against an over legalistic interpretation of the Law. Moreover, the Old Testament itself pointed towards the truth that would be revealed in Christ. 

Jesus then declares Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. This is quite an amazing claim, and makes Him equal to God. So the attention is placed firmly on Christ Himself. When we have an excessive focus on a particular ritual or aspect of religion it is often a sign that we are avoiding God Himself. The Pharisees needed to realise who Jesus was, there concern about the Sabbath was all part of their ploy to avoid confronting their own sin and who God really is. We need to beware of the same tendency in ourselves, for it is a very human tendency.

Luke 5:33-39 - Something new

This follows on immediately after the previous words by Jesus about the need for repentance. The Pharisees asked about fasting. This is a common human tactic of trying to avoid the real issue. The real issue that the Pharisees, like everyone else, needed to face up to was the need for them to repent. Instead they tried to shift the focus by raising the issue of Jesus' disciples not fasting. Both the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees often fasted, Jesus' disciples apparently did not.

Jesus' reply is that the Pharisees failed to understand the times. The Son of God was here, this was no time for fasting. Something different and far greater was happening. Now Jesus is not saying that fasting is wrong, indeed His disciples would fast after He had gone, but not this day. We need to understand the times, and we need to have all our habits and rituals in perspective. They may be perfectly good and helpful, but sometimes they need to be set aside for something greater.

Something new was happening and the old ways could not contain it. If new wine was put into old wineskins they will burst. A new way of living was required. But people find it difficult to abandon the old ways. It is a fact of life that people are always holding on to the past. We need to know when to let go.

Luke 5:27-31 - A gospel of repentance

There is a progression in the incidents that Luke is relating.  He has shown the centrality of forgiveness, and the healings illustrate the reality of the forgiveness that Jesus brings. Now we see how this forgiveness spreads to people. Tax collectors collected money for the hated Roman rulers, they also usually took a cut for themselves as well. So tax collectors were a despised group of people. Yet Jesus goes and calls Matthew to follow Him. Matthew then invited lots of his tax collector friends. We are meant to take the good news to the environment within which we live. 

Not surprisingly the Pharisees were scandalised. They questioned Jesus' disciples on why Jesus ate with such people. Although it was the disciples that the Pharisees questioned, it was Jesus who answered. His answer is that it is the sick who need a doctor, and it is "not the righteous, but sinners" who He has come to call to repentance. This can be taken on two levels. First, because the tax collectors were such sinners, they were precisely the sort of people who Jesus should be meeting with. Secondly, it can be taken as meaning that the Pharisees needed to realise that they themselves were not righteous and they too needed to repent.

Quite probably Jesus intended it to be taken in both ways. Note that Jesus has come to call people to repentance.

Luke 5:12-26 - Healing and forgiveness

Leprosy as well as being a terrible disease, rendered a man unclean. The man knew that Jesus could heal him, but was not sure that He would be willing to do so. This mirrors to some extent how we can often feel. We know that God can do stuff, but we do not believe He is willing to do so. Jesus not only declared that He was willing , but touched him as well, showing that He was willing as well. Touching a leper was something that simply was not done. The man was immediately healed. Jesus told him to go to the  priest.  This was not simply to confirm his healing, but also to allow him to be reintegrated into society. He also had to follow the law of Moses. Luke is showing that Jesius wwas not against the Law.

This resulted in even more crowds following Jesus. However, Jesus made sure that He had times of solitude with God.

"On one of those days"  shows that Luke is explaining more of what was happening and what it all meant, it's significance. This is why the presence of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law is noted here. This was about much more than just healings. Moreover, as Jesus would say later, physical illness is not the biggest problem.

People had come from all around, even from Jerusalem. Luke makes it clear that it is the power of the Lord that enabled Jesus to heal. One

group of friends were very enterprising and made a hole in the roof so that they could get their friend to Jesus. Jesus saw their faith and declared the man's sins forgiven. Now why did He do this? Their faith was for the man to be healed. Maybe it was because of the connection between sickness and sin, so Jesus is assuring the man that He is accepted by God.

This created a great problem, for only God can forgive sin. Jesus knew the scribes were thinking this, so to demonstrate His authority Jesus heals the man physically as well. Not surprisingly everyone was amazed by all this.