Jesus and the Sabbath
6
📚And this happened on the second of the first Sabbaths after Passover: He was going through the grain fields, and his disciples picked some grain and ate it, rubbing it in their hands. 2 📚And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
3 📚And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did, when he was hungry along with those who were with him, 4 📚how he went into the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, and gave some also to those who were with him, which thing is not lawful to eat except by the priests alone?”
5 📚And he said to them, “The Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath”.
Jesus heals a withered hand
6 📚And this also happened on another Sabbath: He went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand had withered. 7 📚And the scribes and Pharisees watched him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 📚But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Get up, and stand there in the middle”. And he got up and stood there.
9 📚Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it?”
10 📚And looking around at them all, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”. And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
11 📚And they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
6:11 See Luke 4:28. Some very religious people because of pride cannot bear to be opposed and exposed for what they are.⚜
Jesus chooses His disciples
12 📚And it happened in those days that he went out on a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
6:12 The Lord Jesus was very careful in His choice of the apostles. Above all He wanted the choice to be in accordance with the will of God the Father in heaven.⚜
13 📚And when day came, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them, and called them apostles:
14 📚Simon (whom he also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15 📚Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes 📖, 16 📚And Judas the brother of James 📖, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor.
17 📚And he came down with them and stood on the plain, along with his group of disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, 18 📚along with those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were healed. 19 📚And the whole crowd tried to touch him, for power was going out of him and healing them all.
Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Plain
20 📚And he raised his eyes to his disciples, and said,
“Blessed are you poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
6:20 The words were spoken only to His disciples who had left everything to follow Him (Luke 5:11, 28; 14:33; 18:28), not to all poor people whether or not they believe in Christ. Their gain (the kingdom of God) was far greater than any supposed loss. Compare Matt 19:27-30; Phil 3:7-9; 1 Tim 6:6-10; Prov 19:22.⚜
21 📚“Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 📚“Blessed are you when men hate you,
and when they exclude you,
and insult you,
and reject your name as evil,
for the Son of man’s 📖 sake.
23 📚Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for, see, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.
24 📚“But woe to you who are rich!
For you have received your comfort.
25 📚“Woe to you who are full!
For you will get hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now!
For you will mourn and weep.
26 📚“Woe to you, when all men
speak well of you!
For their fathers did like this to the
false prophets 📖.
6:24-26 These verses are not found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. These woes signify pain, loss, and suffering to those who would not give up anything for Christ and who wanted the praises of men rather than the praise that comes from God. See John 5:44; 12:43; 1 Tim 6:9-10; Jam 5:1-4. Compare the woes in Isa 5:8-25.⚜
27 📚“But I say to you who are listening, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 📚bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. 29 📚And to him who strikes you on one cheek offer the other also, and do not stop him who takes away your cloak from taking your coat also.
30 📚“Give to everyone who asks from you, and whoever takes away your goods do not ask him for them again. 31 📚And just as you want men to treat you, you treat them in the same way. 32 📚For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 📚And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, in order to receive as much in return. 35 📚But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. 36 📚Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
37 📚“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 📚“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, men will pour into your lap. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you”.
6:38 Observe very carefully the way Jesus appointed for us to receive an abundance – it is not asking others for it, but giving to others. In some measure at least God will see to it that people give to us as He sees we deserve by our giving. Here is a great promise to believers who give liberally from what they have. See also 2 Cor 9:6-8; Ps 18:25-26; Prov 11:24-25; 22:29; Eccl 11:1. But surely Jesus was speaking of more than giving money or things. Believers can give their time, their labor, their counsel, their loving service to others. And if they do they will have a full reward in some way or other, at some time or other.⚜
39 📚And he told them a parable, “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?
40 📚“The disciple is not above his teacher, but every one who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
41 📚“And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but pay no attention to the plank that is in your own eye? 42 📚Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye’, while you yourself pay no attention to the plank that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
43 📚“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 📚For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorn bushes, nor do they gather grapes from a briar. 45 📚A good man brings out what is good from the storehouse of good in his heart, and an evil man brings out what is evil from the storehouse of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks out of the abundance of his heart.
46 📚“And why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do the things which I say?
47 📚I will show you what he is like who comes to me, hears my words, and does according to them: 48 📚He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood rose, the torrent burst against that house, but could not shake it, for it was founded on a rock.
49 📚“But he who hears, and does not do accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The torrent burst against it, and immediately it fell. And great was the ruin of that house!”
6:20-49 This has been called the Sermon on the Plain because apparently Jesus preached it on a plain (v 17). It contains some of the same truth found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5–7), but usually clothed in different words. Also it contains truth He taught at other times, other places. The Lord Jesus taught some of the same truth more than once and in more places than one. Compare Luke 11:2-4 with Matt 6:9-13 and Luke 11:9-13 with Matt 7:7-11 and Luke 12:22-31 with Matt 6:25-33.⚜