Luke 6
1 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" 3 And Jesus answered them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?" 5 And he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."
6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come and stand here." And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?" 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 "Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 "Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
27 "But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32 "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Judging Others
37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, 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, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." 39 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
43 "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
46 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
Luke 6 begins with the grainfields. Where we walk and God has us walk. And yet not in the clear path all understand. Luke 6 ends with building on the foundation of God. The beginning and end to remain with Jesus. Remaining where God wants us to be and not wandering off.
When the objective is to drain the swamp and not be eaten by alligators.
My brother, John Anderson, loves alligators. He hopes water eventually has alligators. I told him Edward wanted the Styrofoam alligator at the pool supply store in our pond and to paint the eyes with clear nail polish to have glitter. John laughed and said that was good. But we all need real alligators in our pond. John says the knack is to teach your children and dogs to run to get out of the way of an alligator moving fast.
(John used to sail in White Rock when he lived in Dallas. He looked for alligators, but never found them. He moved to El Paso {God is interesting regarding alligators!!!} and now he has a 2 story ATV he takes his family in - going all through the desert. I told him only John Anderson is creative enough to find a way to sail the desert!!!)
I'm pretty sure Jesus loved vineyards for a different reason. But the truth is our culture has us handling information, substance, outside forces we'd all love to snap our fingers at and have a different reaction.
And the reaction God wants from us is mostly mercy over hands trying to make their way through life. We are called to be a Disciple of Christ. Life is going to throw diversions, potholes, potbellies etc. to try to make us stand with Jesus Christ. We don't want to start announcing, being a messenger of God and put our hand to the plow and no longer have the focus to work a seed path - a way, a truth a life - of Jesus.
The consequences are being a perpetual tombstone. An announcement of death.
We pray the Lord's Prayer for a good reason. A lot of the tremendous forces of life are out of our hands. We pray God delivers us and shows us His Heaven to keep going in His direction. We pray not to fall into temptation moving through the paths of life. God tells us here about enemies and fruit. And as we go through life - we can get so interested in identifying fruit of others - we quit being mercy.
My ward for 12 years was my elderly cousin Maxine.
Maxine was built to be part of the Body of Christ. Where not everyone is a nose. An ear, a wrist and ankle, hallux, purlicue or a fraenum. Much less the highly touted epidermis. We can show our epidermis but when we show too much without regard to privacy, mercy, safety, decorum, love, kindness - we fall short of explanations required, we cut off goodness, we end good expectations.
We want nothing to do with the opportunity to plow for Jesus Christ.
Maxine knew well about plowing our path for Jesus Christ.
The back of her bathroom door was a good Sermon: "I walked a path and saw a lazy man raking leaves from his chair. The job was going to be a tough job for all the many leaves. Lazy irresponsible man. I marched through my walk with diligent endeavor for exercise feeling powerful and well and filled with vim and vigor. As my path took me back to the yard filled with leaves, I found the man was still in his chair raking leaves. And leaning against his chair were his - his - Crutches."
Judgement doesn't fall far from the tree.
David was encouraged and convicted by Nathan and not so much Gad.
Ahab was convicted by the Holy Spirit.
Alexander the Great was humbled to find Ezekiel has spoken of him 200 years before his birth about the former island of Tyre. Alexander the Great had time on his death bed to mourn the temporal.
We can cover up injustice.
We can condone what isn't good.
We can speak with conviction with what is right. And if we do not continue to show mercy and be honest and truthful about intentions. We do not gain 10 yards for God and eventually do not try.
Jesus told us He came to save us. Not really. Jesus said He came to save the world. Us. And a few others. We are a team of linked arms. Stand on the good foundation of God. The game is not about me. It's not about you. The Mission is to save the World for Jesus Christ.
Do not forget in life of grainfields - the foundation is where we want to remain. The Hope is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, the Life. This is our God and this is the One Who Loves You as You Are.
We can link arms.
We can let the alligators eat up to our armpits as we fight for ourselves
and not the Good Fight for Jesus Christ.
The Temporal is interesting and glamorous. The Eternal is a Long, Long Time.
Can you really imagine Jesus Christ knows you - just as you are and invites you to be part of
The Kingdom of God of Love
For always.
And Always.
And Always. Alleluia. Allleluia. Alllllelllluia. Alllllllellllluuuuuia.
Father God,
May the Words of My Mouth
The Meditations of My Heart.
Be Always Pleasing In Your Sight.
My Rock. Your Rock. And Our Redeemer.
God Loves me. God Loves you.
And we can do a lot with God who will provide Hope, Faith and most Importantly Love.
God Send me. God Send you.
God send for our Loved Ones. God send for the People He has given us.
May the Power of the Holy Spirit keep us on His Good Path!
For Life.
For Love.
For Jesus' Joy in the Life.
Everyday for Eternity.
With Jesus to Infinity and Beyond.
Allelluuuuuuuia. Jesus Christ is God. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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