Luke 6 explained: Sabbath Clashes and a Sermon on Love

Grain on the rest day (vv. 1-5)

The Sabbath was the weekly day of rest under Jewish law, and some teachers counted rubbing grain in your hands as harvest work, which was forbidden. Jesus points to King David once eating sacred bread meant only for priests when his men were hungry, then claims that he himself, the Son of Man (his usual name for himself), has authority over the Sabbath.

Healing a shriveled hand (vv. 6-11)

With critics watching to catch him breaking the rest day rules, Jesus heals the man openly and asks whether the day is for doing good or harm. His point seems to be that refusing to help when you can is itself a kind of harm, and his opponents leave furious and start planning against him.

Choosing the twelve (vv. 12-19)

After praying all night, Jesus picks twelve 'apostles', meaning people sent out on a mission, a number most scholars see as echoing Israel's twelve tribes. Crowds come for healing from Jewish areas and also from Tyre and Sidon, non-Jewish cities on the coast.

Blessings and warnings (vv. 20-26)

Unlike the similar sermon in Matthew, Luke speaks plainly of the poor and the hungry, promising that God will turn their situation around. The 'woes' warn the comfortable and well liked that they may already have had all the comfort they will get.

Love your enemies (vv. 27-38)

Jesus asks for kindness that goes past fairness, giving and lending to those who will never pay back, because God is kind even to the ungrateful. The image of grain pressed down and overflowing into the fold of your robe pictures generosity coming back to the generous.

Teachers, trees and houses (vv. 39-49)

Students end up like their teachers, so a blind guide leads people into a pit, and anyone correcting others should first face their own larger faults. What people say and do shows what is in their heart, and hearing Jesus without doing what he says is like building a house with no foundation before a flood.

Key verse: Luke 6:36

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how literally to take commands like turning the other cheek and giving to everyone who asks, from those who see them as calls to strict nonviolence and radical giving to those who read them as describing an attitude of the heart.

Something to think about

Where is the line, for you, between being generous to someone who has wronged you and simply letting yourself be used?