17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. 20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
In this section, large crowds came to hear Jesus. His fame spread throughout the country. He now gave the Sermon on the Plain. This sermon differs from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew; it was probably a message that Jesus gave on a different occasion. In Matthew, the occasion was on a mountain, but in Luke it was located on a plain, a “level place.”
6:17
And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,
Jesus came down from the mountain to a large plain. A large crowd of His disciples from Jerusalem and Judea gathered to be healed by the Lord. Judea is a generic term for the land of the Jews; that is, the nation of Israel. Others came from the Mediterranean seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region of Phoenicians. People of all backgrounds were drawn to Jesus.
6:18
as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
Jesus healed people who were tormented by demons. He cast demons out of people, controlling Satan’s realm.
6:19
And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
The large crowd pressed physically close to Jesus to touch Him. He chose to heal all of them by His “power.”
6:20
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:
From verses 20-26, Jesus gave some beatitudes directed toward His disciples. He presented four blessings and four woes, paralleling each other. These beatitudes are both similar and dissimilar to Matthew 5:3-12. Luke records only four beatitudes, and Matthew records eight. These are two versions of the same sermon. Luke’s account is a condensed version of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.
The “blessed” are those disciples approved and accepted by God. The “poor” are poor in humility or spirituality here, not the economic poor. These poor were poor in attitude before God. They were poor in belief (Mt 5:3). These people realized they were spiritually bankrupt. They had no way to obtain God’s blessing other than through Christ. Being poor is not a blessing but a curse.
The word “blessed” does not mean happy but an inner settlement of the soul, a sense of contentment because they received God’s favor. Jesus’ disciples were in a state of favor. They had a kingdom that awaited them. God gives to the poor spiritually and a rich inheritance. The kingdom is also present to believers (present tense “is”).
6:21
Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled [satisfied].
Those with spiritual hunger were “blessed.” “Filled” carries the idea of satisfied. Those with spiritual hunger would be satisfied when Jesus consummates His kingdom.
Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.
The weeping here refers to oppression for their faith. The “now” is the bankruptcy and oppression the disciples were going through. God would give them a coming consolation.
They had an opportunity to “laugh” in the kingdom. They would experience joy after mourning.
6:22
Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
Religion always hates the righteous. They tried to exclude the disciples from their synagogues. On top of excluding disciples, they “reviled” or insulted them. Finally, they identified believers with “evil.”
For the Son of Man’s sake.
The disciples underwent the hazards of this verse because of the Son of Man, the God-man.
6:23
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
“In that day” refers to the day the kingdom comes, when they would receive a reward for their service. That day will cause believers to “leap for joy.” Their joy comes from their reward in heaven. Those persecuted enjoy good company with the fathers and prophets of the Old Testament. Hostility toward the disciples of Jesus is evidence of their status with Him. Their association with the Son of Man is the reason for the rejoicing.
PRINCIPLE:
The purpose of the Sermon on the Plain was to encourage disciples in their faith.
APPLICATION:
The Sermon on the Plain was not designed for non-believers but for Jesus’ disciples and how they were to function under His ministry.
The goal of the beatitudes is to encourage believers. It reminds them of the blessedness of their ultimate future. Christians are not to be deceived by the appearance of things.
