Luke 6 Jesus’ chief message: listen in order to learn

[Biblical literature offers 3 hints to the-ineluctable-truth about human opportunity: the mystery of Jesus’ will in Genesis 1:26-28 NIV, John 1:1's claim that Jesus is the-God, and Mathew 5:48's Jesus-message, "Be [as] perfect" as the-God. The living Jesus may have advocated the-good rather than claimed to be “anointed one& king”. Human-beings can& may accept the-good, continually pursue the-good, and continuously practice the-good. If asked how humankind discovered self-interest in the-good, we can& may express appreciation to Jesus. Also, see my Genesis 1 essay about human duty, at the end of this study.] 

6 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” [I doubt the authentic Jesus likes confusion of his name: (100) The Difference Between "Son of God" and "Son of Man" - YouTube. I do not encourage “Son of Man”, “Christ”, and “Son of God” to compete with Jesus, all three displayed on this video without “Jesus”. Yet I don’t know the-ineluctable-truth (IDK).]

⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. [I don’t think Jesus would compromise by performing miracles (e.g., see Luke 4:12). I speculate that the Pharisees& teachers were chastising a “faith healer” who was working on a Sunday.]

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. ¹³ When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: ¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. [This sermon is an indictment against humankind, who has not, so far, embraced the Genesis 1:26-28 message: the-God (John 1:1 perhaps says Jesus.) willed that female& male human being could& may rule life on earth, accepting the-God’s command of the mysteries. It is not too late for “ourselves and our Posterity” of 2023 to choose civic-integrity and pursue the Genesis-1 responsible-human-independence (RHI).]

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love [Love is overboard. Try appreciate.] your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ [I do not accept this as Jesus’ advice, because it facilitates and encourages dependency rather than civic-integrity to RHI. Yet, I must accept that I could be wrong in Jesus’ opinion.] Do to others as you would have them do to you. [This is an egocentric rule. Try practicing it regarding your person. By all means a person can& may do unto themselves as their self would have them do.]

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward [Civic-integrity is the key to perfecting your person, and developing your unique perfection, low as it may be to humankind’s ultimate good, fulfills your life.] will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked [This negates the credit and reward formula presented above.]. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. [It seems to me when people reject Genesis 1:26-28 the consequences are merciless. If the-God is the author of the choices& consequences balance to humankind, the imbalance seems emotionless. IDK]

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” [The consequences of personal choices have neither emotions nor judgement. They simply come. Fortunate is the person who never repeats an error.]

³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. [This may be the most important guidance Jesus ever uttered. The person who pursues Jesus’ reliability will be like the-civic-Jesus. The-metaphysical-Jesus is a mystery. “Christ” is an abuse of Jesus.]

⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. [Nevertheless, you cannot be forgiven 70 times 7 if you don’t respond when your brother suggests you are in error; or when you discover your own error. Conversely, you cannot aid your brother if you don’t humble to your plank, in-order-to cite the speck.]

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. [Two good people collaborate in-order-to mutually improve their opinions and to pursue comprehensive safety& security to everyone, including the derelict and the evil ones.]

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” [It seems to me the-civic-Jesus has influenced my life. Only upon returning to UBC at age 78 did I begin to accept that church constructs -- “the Father”, “Son of Man”, “Son of God”, “Satan”, “Christ”, soul, afterlife, and other jargon has bemused Jesus. That is, the-good that Jesus suggests through what can be discerned about him from fellow-citizens, ancient, past, present& future (our Posterity). Yet IDK: Jesus knows.]

The importance of Genesis 1, a 5,500 year old Mesopotamian political philosophy:

[I apply Genesis-1-NIV perspective to Bible interpretation. I think Genesis 1:26-28 NIV, in the-civic-Jesus-messages (CJM), suggests the following:  Human male unites-to female human-being (noun) and their spouse-hood can& may pursue comprehensive-safety& security to the living species and to the earth (SECURITY). Every person can& may aid SECURITY. Some persons neglect, partially or wholly, mysterious-Jesus-appreciation, Jesus’-peace, and SECURITY-duty.

I call Genesis-1-NIV’s message, “responsible-human-independence” or RHI. Some human-beings throughout history practice, facilitate& encourage RHI; for example, Jesus exemplified RHI. From the past, RHI-individuals guide us and non-RHI-persons warn against error. I think the-civic-Jesus practiced, facilitated& encouraged RHI. “Civic” means reliable in human connections and transactions. Perhaps the authentic Jesus advocated the-good.

But I don’t know the-ineluctable-truth (IDK). “Ineluctable” means: not to be avoided, changed, escaped, neglected, or resisted: I can& may choose either RHI or dependency, for example, religious arrogance.

Persons appreciating contemporary human being (verb), during each generation, develop CJM. In other words, I attribute to CJM the civic-appreciation that human being (verb) applied “before Abraham was born” and since then. Given the question, “Was Jesus a man?”, I respond IDK yet value CJM, which seems sufficient& complete to my person. I advocate the-civic-Jesus and admit that could be the-good. Yet the-good cannot replace Jesus.

Perhaps CJM always was the-good human being (verb). That potential was present at the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. There’s joy in accepting IDK, seeking ineluctable-evidence, and reserving humility to RHI. Joy may facilitate happiness.

It seems the-laws-of-physics& progeny (PHYSICS) constrains the consequences of each person’s choices. Progeny includes, forces, mathematics, chemistries, biology, psychology, imagination, and their subsets. I choose to accept mysterious-Jesus and pursue Jesus’ “my-peace”, in-order-to commit-to and trust-in PHYSICS. For example, I work for food& shelter rather than accept what a bureaucrat might provide. I work to aid SECURITY rather than pray for an entity to usurp RHI. Make no mistake: if one of my loved ones seems threatened beyond my action, I pray.

Admitting I could be wrong, I accept that Genesis 1:26-28 NIV urges me to constrain chaos in my way of living, or urges me to the-good.]