Luke 6 reflections:
First and foremost: this is a week late. The advantage I have now of typing this is that I had a whole hour to discuss this with some really cool people in the Blaze class.
I want to hit some of the highlights of what we talked about and what we can hold onto from Luke 6.
Luke 6:1-11 – Jesus and the religious leaders continue to butt heads and it is getting worse. He picks grain on the Sabbath and heals on the Sabbath. There are many layers here, but it is worth noting this: The religious leaders could not understand the heart of Jesus because they were too busy keeping the rules of God plus their own rules they put in place so as not to break any of God’s rules. This is a trap many of us fall into: we become the rule keepers and rule makers for what it means to follow God – That is is God- Jesus – Holy Spirit’s work – not ours.
With that in mind, we then in 20-57 is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. For the full version, see Matthew 5-7. Here is a way too the simplistic version of what is happening in this section. Jesus is cutting to the heart of the matter. In other words, where our heart is matters. The intentt of what is inside of us matters to God – Jesus – Holy Spirit. Listen to verse 45b: The inner self overflows with the words that are spoken. What is inside of us comes out in our words. We can judge our own heart by the words that come forth. And from within is where the good or bad truly resides – see Jesus’ illustration about the good and bad tree (Luke 6:43-45a).
The chapter ends the same way Matthew 5-7 ends: with the story of the house built upon the rock. To build our life on the teachings of Jesus is to build our lives on a firm foundation, to build it elsewhere is shaky at best.
There is a quick summary. Find the place to sit and ask, “God what do you need me to hear today?”
Strength and courage,
Kevin
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