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Luke 6:27-49 – Build Your House on the Rock

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This passage is as follows:

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  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.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.  And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?  For even sinners do the same.  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.  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.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 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.”

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man?  Will they not both fall into a pit?  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.  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?  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.

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“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.  For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.  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.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?  Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 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.  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.”

(End of passage)

In the first half of this chapter, Jesus selects 12 of his disciples to be his apostles.  He comes down from doing that to be met by a crowd of his disciples and also a great multitude of people from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, as well as Tyre and Sidon.  Jesus starts teaching his beatitudes, just like the ones he taught on the Sermon on the Mount.  Only this time he’s not on the Mount.  This shows that Jesus repeated much of his teaching.  This not only made it so that his followers would remember it, but also there would always be people there that are hearing him for the first time.  When Jesus starts teaching, he says something that seems completely counterintuitive – you are blessed when you are poor, or hungry, or weeping, or when people hate you on account of Jesus.  Next he is going to say something never taught before.  Let’s see what it is.

Verses 27-31,

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  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.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.  And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”

What!?!  Love your enemies?  This seems backwards.  What examples does Jesus give about how to love our enemies?

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1. Do good to those who hate you.

2. Bless those that curse you.

3. Pray for those who abuse you.

4. Offer your other cheek to the one that strikes your cheek.

5. Offer your tunic to the one that takes your cloak.

6. Give to everyone that begs from you.

7. If someone takes your stuff, don’t demand it back.

8. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Does Jesus say that if someone is charging at us on a horse and swinging a halberd at us, that we should just stand there and let them chop us to pieces?  No, this is not that kind of application.  The examples that Jesus gives are from daily life, not war.  So, why does Jesus want us to love our enemies in such a way?

Verses 32-36,

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?  For even sinners do the same.  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.  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.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

It would seem that if you love those that love you and do good to those that do good to you that you, that you would enrich those relationships.  Is Jesus saying not to do this?  No, he is just saying what advantage is that since sinners do the same.  So, what here is the advantage of loving your enemies?

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1. Your reward will be great.

2. You will be sons of the Most High.

Can you think of any other reasons besides the ones that Jesus gives us?

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1. You might bring your enemy into the kingdom of God.

2. You might bring others into the kingdom of God by your example.

3. You might motivate them to do what is right.

Jesus gives us another reason in the next few verses.

Verses 37-38,

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 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.”

Let’s say that you are dealing with a person that extremely judgmental.  So you judge back.  One day you decide not to judge back.  Might that eventually cause that person to stop judging?  So, you are in a condemnation contest with someone.  One day you decide to stop condemning.  Maybe the other person will stop condemning too.  When I was very young, my sister and I got into a fight over a coloring book or something.  All that day, we were taking each other’s crayons and such.  Then our mom came over and said that she was going to reward the one that was nicest to the other.  We each tried to outperform the other on being kind.  At the end of the day, we both got a reward.  Good measure refers to grain.  Pressed down refers to figs.  Shaken together refers to butter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churning_(butter)).