From Luke 4.14 to this point, Jesus has begun his ministry. There are four groups of people who react differently to Jesus so far: the good religious folks (scribes & Pharisees), the crowds (regular people), the sinners, and the disciples. The religious folks are actually turning out to gradually disapprove of Jesus, the sinners are attracted to him, the crowds are curious, and the disciples have dropped everything - even leaving their jobs and families - to follow Jesus whole-heartedly.
So now as we arrive at chapter 6.17, Jesus' first major lesson is in that context. Notice here he has just come down from the mountain, having selected his 12 primary disciples. So while he's speaking to the "great throng of people," he's really teaching his disciples (see verse 20) at first. Then notice in verse 27 he says, "I say to you who hear," which is a clue to his audience, and then two other verses have clues as to his audience (39 & 7.1). It's important to recognize Jesus' audience, because we must remember that these words were not spoken to us! So we read Jesus' words to his audience, then we deduce a meaning for ourselves.
The questions I got refer to these issues, so here they are listed out:
- 6.39-40 Pharisees?
- 6.41-42 Is this specifically about Jews doing this to other Jews? or doing it to "the others"? (aka Gentiles, sinners, Romans, etc?)
- 6.43-45 Seems to tie back into 6.39-40... So no corrupt teacher will produce a real disciple?
- 6.46 Who is Jesus talking to/about? The crowd? Those that follow but don't go all-in?
- 6.46-49 Those that try to be good vs. those that try to do good?
The cool thing about these questions and the answer is that it reveals the genius of Jesus.
When Jesus speaks, he's training the 12, showing the 12 how to teach, and teaching the crowd, all at the same time. And Luke records this sermon for his audience. This is one lesson for many audiences, and each of us has a list of people we'd like to apply this teaching to. The truth is, it works at almost any level you want!
If a "sinner" is listening to this, he may be staring at the religious folks and pointing his finger accusingly. He would be right. This IS about the Pharisees and bible scholars who have been doing a bad job of teaching. But if that's true, then it's also true that the religious folks are the 'enemies' of the sinner, and so the sinner must love his enemy. He does that by first removing the log from his own eye.
In other words, when Jesus says (vs. 27), "I say to you who hear..." he is talking to anyone who will apply these lessons to himself or herself! Instead of me pointing the finger at my enemy and telling him he must love me, I must be the "one who hears," and take personal responsibility. If I'm going to be a guide, like Jesus, I need to be sure and not be a blind one. I need to remove the debris from my own eyes before trying to tell others how to live.
So the answer to the questions above is:
- Yes, Pharisees (and any of us who will apply it to ourselves),
- Yes, Jesus was speaking to Jews & their brothers were fellow Jews, but it would also apply to us disciples and our fellow disciples, right?
- Right - the product of false teaching is people with false beliefs. But - to the extent a student breaks away from a blind guide, he or she can learn the truth
- Jesus is talking specifically to his disciples in the crowd, but it applies to anyone - ever - who says, "Jesus is Lord," but then fails to obey him. If he really is lord (boss, master, etc.), then we do as we're told
- Yes ... obedience is action - it's doing good. It's loving enemies, and removing logs from our eyes and following guides who can see so we can become wise guides ourselves
If you'll accept Jesus' teachings and apply them to yourself ... that's the best possible outcome. If we will obey Jesus by taking these lessons and applying them first to ourselves ... then we'll be the one with the solid foundation - indestructible by life's storms.
No comments:
Post a Comment