IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 50

What did HE say? (continued)

Thoughts on The Sermon (Part 14) From the Gospel of Luke

As discussed in the section on the Beatitudes, Saint Luke also tells us of the Master’s sayings from this Sermon on the Mount. In addition to listing a few, more simplified, Beatitudes Luke does go into some of the sayings of Jesus; his dialogue runs about one third of the length of Matthew’s. Also, some of what is a part of the Sermon in Matthew is separated from it in Luke; an example is the dialogue on prayer which is sort of on center stage in the Gospel of Matthew along with the Masters commentary on keeping it secret, between the one praying and the Lord. There is much less emphasis on the prayer the Gospel of Luke. Unlike Matthew, Luke was not one of the twelve and may never have even seen Jesus; little is actually known. He is credited for writing his Gospel and the Book of Acts which testifies that he was a traveler with the Apostle Paul and it is thought that he was converted to Christianity while in Greece. That he was a physician and a traveler with Paul seem to be accepted facts and it is thought that his Gospel and Acts reflect the views of Paul much as the Gospel of Mark is thought to reflect the views of the Apostle Peter.

So much for the history. I did notice that in writing the post on Luke’s version of the Beatitudes I missed the first one (In the Words of Jesus part 19) which is “blessed be ye poor: for yours is  the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). This can be likened to Matthews which speaks of the “poor in spirit”. As noted in that post the, the first three of Luke’s Beatitudes are ‘pale equivalents of those put forth by Matthew’ and this one regarding the poor should be seen the same way as those regarding the hungry and those that weep. We said in that post that ‘… from this we can think that the Lord is acknowledging blessing on those who are hungry and who are weeping or we can attribute to them the same deeper meaning that was given to their counterparts in Matthew’. To this comment we should add this missed one on the poor.

Luke begins his writing in the Sermon by saying: “….and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought  to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed  them all” (Luke 6:17-19). Here we get a different picture than we do from the account of Matthew in that Luke tells us that Jesus “healed  them all“. Through this we can see a crowd of believers rather that just listeners; people who would certainly take the Master’s sayings to heart having just received or having just seen great miracles by His hand. And so Luke begins; first with the few Beatitudes that we have already discussed and then telling us that the Master said: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:24-26).

Luke’s listing of woes are the antithesis of his listing of Beatitudes and do lend to them being thought of as reflecting the only worldly aspects and this may be true as there are higher and lower correspondences in much that the Master said. Much of His teaching can be seen in worldly or in spiritual ways His words do seem to grow with us as we progress on the spiritual path taking on more and deeper meaning as we go. Luke’s reflection here is that the Master is speaking to all the people and we should remember that Jesus many times has cautioned us on hearing and understanding. Then it is a matter of what we hear individually from the Master’s words in Luke. When held on their own they can definitely be said to reflect only on the worldly but when seen in combination with Jesus other teachings and with the Gospel of Matthew we should see the more spiritual side. Since we have already addressed the Beatitudes in depth from the spiritual perspective, let’s try to look at them in the Gospel of Luke from the worldly perspective. Woe to the rich, woe to those that are full (more than food is meant here), and woe unto those who laugh now. These can all be seen in the same perspective that we have today with the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ and in this perspective Jesus is telling us that it is wrong to be rich, full or happy when your brothers are poor, hungry and weeping. Moreover, He is saying that the latter state is blessed and, of course, woe is much the opposite with a meaning of grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity; a curse; a malediction*.

So in what respects can this blessing and cursing be if not that the Master is saying, from a worldly perspective, that if one is rich and full and happy at the expense of those less fortunate, if that word can be used here, there is woe to him. Or, as we think about Jesus words regarding serving God and mammon, could he be saying that the rich and the full and the happy must be serving mammon and thereby they are what they are? Either of these ideas or any others do not leave it well for one who is rich, full or happy; this is not the message from the rest of the gospels. He adds at the end another: “woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26) which is opposed to the blessing found in both Luke and Matthew for those who are persecuted and hated and reviled for the His sake. I understand the blessing but I do not understand the woe. Our attempt to look at these blessings and woes from a worldly perspective leaves us with little clarity even with these explanations that I have offered.

Luke continues with: “But I say  unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask  them not again. And as ye would that men should do  to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love  them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love  those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good  to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend  to sinners, to receive  as much again” (Luke 6:27-34). For the most part these sayings of Jesus echo those that are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Added is “Give to every man that asketh of thee” which is a hard saying to grasp as it is so very open-ended; is He telling us that no matter what we are asked we should give it? or is He speaking here of spiritual things? Luke also goes to greater lengths to get across to us that Jesus tells us we should not do things for others because they do for us but for the sake of doing; of loving, of doing good, etc.. We should note here also the way the Lord begins His speaking and addresses His words “unto you which hear” which, I am reminded, is similar to His many such statements such as “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15) which sayings all tell us that there is a meaning that we may not be hearing.

The Master continues with: “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping  for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given  unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured  to you again” (Luke 6:35-38).

Jesus here reiterates the same ideas from the previous section on loving and doing good and lending and adds to His previous words, that we should not do these to another because he does them for us, that we should also not do them with the hope even that these things will come back to us. The wording here in Luke that we should judge not goes further as well saying that we should condemn not and we should forgive. In Matthew the condemn not should be assumed in the judge not and the forgive is discussed separately. I point this out here because the next statement by the Master is one that is sorely misused in some parts of the church today; it is used out of context and by some in a rather self-serving way. Lets compare Luke with Matthew:

• “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given  unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured  to you again” (Luke 6:35-38).
• “For with what judgment ye judge , ye shall be judged : and with what measure ye mete , it shall be measured  to you again” (Matthew 7:2).

So not to judge on this, I leave it to you to decide what is meant. Is Jesus saying that in all of these things: judgement, condemnation and forgiveness plus the undefined giving that we will receive as “the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured  to you again” which would agree with the sayings from Matthew before the additions cited above? Or is Jesus singling out the give part of this and saying that only this is what will be measured back to you and. If the latter is so, what do we say about “Give to every man that asketh of thee“? Can we say that if we keep the one saying on giving (to every man that asks) that we will get the other? While considering this we should also bear in mind His words on loving, doing good and lending; that we should not do these things because others do them for us or because we hope or expect them to be done to us in return.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

Repeating yesterday’s Quote of the Day:

May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers; May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work; May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech (Evening Reflection) This is a prayer for the Power of God to be made available to all who seek to serve Him; in this Power is the Wisdom, the Understanding and the personal strength that we need to properly serve the Lord. It is a prayer also that asks that all who serve the Lord be imbued with His Love, Christ’ Love, which defines the truth of our service to Him.  And it is a prayer that, on a personal level, reminds us of our responsibilities in service which are summarized in the three words: self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech.

This meditation has been added to the ‘Prayers and Metitation’ section on the right side-bar. There is additional source information as well as a better commentary.