Bible In One Year Day 315 (Luke 6 - 8, Proverbs 26: 1-3)

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Agape Bible Study 
Luke 6 - 8 

Chapter 6: The Sabbath Controversy, the Sermon on the Plain and Jesus Begins Teaching in Parables

Luke 6:1-5 ~ The Sabbath Controversy begins

In verses 1-5 in response to the Pharisees and scribes' criticism of His disciples, Jesus asserts His claim to authority over the Sabbath. This is the Pharisees fourth criticism of Jesus:

1. Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins? (5:21)
2. Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners? (5:30)
3. Why don't your disciples fast? (5:33)
4. Why do you do what is prohibited on the Sabbath? (6:1)

Rubbing the grain in their hands describes the disciples separating the edible grain from the inedible chaff.

Question: Were Jesus' disciples stealing the farmer's grain? See Dt 23:26.
Answer: No, according to the Law if one was hungry in passing through a grain field one might pluck some of the ears with the hand to eat, but it was not allowed to use a sickle. Jesus and His disciples were acting within the regulations of the Law.

Luke 6:6-11 ~ Another Sabbath Controversy

With the words "On another Sabbath," St. Luke connects the events recorded in 6:1-5 chronologically and topically with the previous episodes in chapters 4-5. In the these episodes Luke's focus is on Jesus' authority in interpreting Scripture and the Law (see 4:21) and the power and authority of His ministry. Notice that the episode in 4:31-37 is very like that in 6:6-11 "Jesus heals on the Sabbath without opposition, but as news of His actions begin to spread, so does opposition to His mission. This time the opposition of the scribes and Pharisees is heightened to the point that they are considering a formal indictment against Jesus (6:7) and publicly reject His claim to divine authority (6:5, 11).

Luke 6:12-16 ~ The Selection of the Twelve Apostles

The introductory statement "In those days" is a shift in topic from the Sabbath controversies. Jesus departed to the mountain to pray... There are no mountains in the Galilee, only rolling hills. Luke mentions a mountain for symbolic reasons. The "mountain of God" is a theological significant symbol in the Bible. Most revelations of God in the Bible take place in association with mountains. That Eden was the original "holy mountain" (Ez 28:13-14) explains the significance of the other mountains that will become important in the history of God's covenant people as sites for God's redemptive acts and revelations, calling mankind back to the relationship man enjoyed with God in Eden (Gen 22:2; Ex 19:16-19; 2 Chr 3:1; Mt 28:16-20). God's holy prophets promised the restoration of "the mountain" of God to the earth in the eschatological age to come (see for example Is 2:2-4; Dan 2:44-45; Mic 4:1-7).

Luke 6:17-19 ~ The Sermon on the Plain

Jesus and His disciples went up the "mountain" in 6:12, but now they have they come down from the "mountain" to stand on level ground before He begins to teach not only the disciples but the crowds of people who have gathered.

Luke 6:20-26 ~ Part I: Blessings and Curse Judgments

Question: In the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:20-26, Jesus gave His teaching in the style of the Sinai covenant treaty sanctions found in Leviticus 26:3-46 and Deuteronomy 28:1-46. What pattern do you see Jesus repeating from those passages?
Answer: Jesus was giving a series of blessings and curses just like the blessings for obedience and the curses/judgments for disobedience that God told Moses to give the Israelites. Jesus gave 4 blessings followed by 4 curses.

Question: How are Jesus' new Kingdom blessings and curse/judgments different from the blessings and curse/judgments of the Sinai Covenant?
Answer: The Old Covenant sanctions of blessings and curses/judgments were all temporal. Jesus' promised blessings and curses/judgments are eternal.

Question: What issues of social justice did Jesus address to the crowds in St. Luke's Gospel? What are the "blessings" He promised to those who have suffered in this life?
Answer:

1. He promised the poor that they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
2. He promised the hungry that they will be filled.
3. He promised the sorrowful that they will become joyful.
4. He promised those who are persecuted for following Him that they will be rewarded in heaven just as the prophets of God were rewarded.

Question: What were the four curses/judgments that He pronounced? What are the ultimate consequences of the curses?
Answer: He pronounced curses on the rich who allow poverty to increase without using the blessings of their material wealth to comfort the poor and suffering. The rich who do not share their wealth will only receive temporal blessings in this life but will remain spiritually impoverished, and they will have no share in the eternal blessings promised in the heavenly kingdom:

1. They will have no "wealth" in eternity.
2. They may be full now, but they will be hungry for eternity.
3. They may experience joy now, but they will suffer later beyond this earthly existence.
4. They are compared to those who persecuted God's holy prophets.

Luke 6:27-36 ~ Part II: Love of enemies

This is a radically new teaching. Jesus is asking the people not to respond to others as their human nature tells them to respond, but rather to respond in mercy and love as God responds to human frailty (verse 36).

Question: What is the triad of righteousness that Jesus calls the people to demonstrate? See verses 27 and 32-35.
Answer: He calls for a triad of works that demonstrates love, good deeds, and giving/lending to those in need.

Luke 6:37-46 ~ Part III: Judging others and the parable of the blind guide

Question: In this teaching is Jesus saying that one must not judge the sin in others? See the end of verse 42, Jesus gives instructions on dealing with a brother who sins in Matthew 18:15-17 and Proverbs 4:14-15: Do not follow the path of the wicked, do not walk the way that the evil go. Avoid it, do not take it, turn your back on it, pass it by (NJB). See what St. Paul wrote on the subject in Rom 2:1-11 and 1 Cor 5:12-13.
Answer: We must judge sin in order to avoid it, and we must be able to correct a fellow Christian who has fallen into sin in order to protect the Church and the quality of the Church's Christian witness, but we judge the sin and not the sinner. We do not judge the heart of the individual because we do not have that authority. Only God can judge hearts and souls. As for those who sin outside the covenant, they are a "law unto themselves" and it is for the civil authorities and God to judge their sins. It is only our obligation to share the Gospel of truth with them and pray for their conversion.

Luke 6:43-45 ~ Part IV: The parable of a tree and its fruit

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus used this parable to discern between the true and false prophet (Mt 7:15-20). Someone who claims to speak in the name of God is a prophet. In the Old Testament there were both true and false prophets just as in Jesus' time there will be true and false disciples. In relating this teaching to the one on the blind guide, one can recognize the true child of God who is a guide to others by the quality of his deeds "the "fruits" of good works that his life produces like compassion, mercy, charity to the poor and a forgiving heart.

The heart was seen as the true essence of a person "for good and for evil. It was the seat of one's moral personality. The struggle against sin and evil entails purifying the interior self by confessing sin and surrendering oneself to the interior anointing of God the Holy Spirit. Only then can someone truly do what is good.

A parable is a story that conveys a certain truth or imparts a teaching. Parables in the Gospels are numbered by scholars as between 35 - 75. The wide variation in number comes from the difficulty in classifying what is a more narrowly defined parable or what is a saying or maxim, what is a simile or a metaphor, or what is an allegory. There are eight major themes which occur regularly in Jesus' parables:

1. The assurance of the coming of the Kingdom of God
2. The present arrival of the "new age"
3. The mercy of God for sinners
4. The imminence of God's divine judgment
5. The necessity of an immediate personal response to Jesus' message
6. The conditions of discipleship
7. The coming of the Passion
8. The consummation of Jesus' mission in His Resurrection and Ascension

In the "tree known by its fruit" parable Jesus uses one of the covenant images of the Old Testament prophets. The four reoccurring symbolic images of the prophets representing the people's covenant relationship with God are (1) marriage, (2) the fruitful vine and tree, (3) domesticated animals, and (4) drinking wine . 

Luke 6:46-49 ~ Part V: The parable of the two foundations

Verse 46 makes the contrast between saying and doing while verse 47 makes the contrast between hearing and doing.

Question: What is the symbolism of the parable? Who is the one who hears and does as opposed to the one who hears and does not act? What is the river?
Answer: The person who both hears what Jesus teaches and then acts on what he has heard is the disciple who is building his understanding of Jesus' message on a firm foundation of faith. But a person who only hears and does not act has nothing to strengthen his faith. Adversity (the raging river) will cause his faith to collapse and fail.

Then too, the one who hears and builds upon the rock is the one who will be guided by St. Peter, the Rock upon which Christ will build His "house," the Church.

While only those in the crowd whose hearts were opened to receive Jesus' teaching could understand, His parables were in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah (Is 6:9-10), the others had to be aware of three significant points:

1. Jesus is teaching in parables as prophesied in Psalms 78:1-2 (quoted in Mt 13:35) like God's other Spirit-filled Old Testament prophets (Ez 21:5/20:49).
2. He is teaching with authority that was lacking in the hierarchy of the Church of their day (Lk 4:36).
3. He will tell them that no longer are the blessings for covenant obedience or the judgments for covenant disobedience to be temporal (Lev 26; Dt 28). In the kingdom that is coming, both blessings and judgments will be eternal and not all sins can be forgiven after death in Sheol. At "the end of the Age" God will render a final accounting in a Last Judgment that will eternally condemn the wicked (Lk 6:20-23; Mt 12:32; 13:42-43, 49-50; Mt 25:31-46).

Jesus will give His reason for teaching in parables in Luke 8:10 by referring to the quote from Isaiah 6:9-10.

Chapter 7: More Healings and the Disciples of John the Baptist

Luke 7:1-10 ~ The healing of the Centurion's servant/son

A centurion is a Roman officer who was the commander of a hundred men. Roman soldiers were stationed throughout Judea, Samaria and the Galilee to maintain order. This centurion was probably in the service of Herod Antipas, the ruler of the Galilee and Perea. He was a "God fearer" "a Gentile who recognized the One True God of Israel and worshipped Him but had not gone so far as to submit to circumcision and full conversion to the covenant (see the same title in Acts 10:2, 22). Such a person could not be admitted beyond the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple, but he could attend Sabbath services in a local Synagogue. This Gentile Roman officer had even financed the building of the Synagogue in Capernaum (verse 5).

Luke 7:11-17~ Raising to life the widow's son

In Jesus' travels throughout the territory of the Galilee, he came to the walled city of Nain (that the town had a gate suggests that it was a walled city). Nain is located in southern Galilee almost on the border with Samaria.

Luke 7:18-23 ~ The disciples of John the Baptist

The next three teachings (verses 18-23, 24-30 and 31-35) explain the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. In his lonely prison cell, John may have begun to doubt himself (Lk 3:19-20. He was having not a crisis of faith but a crisis of expectation. He believed he had recognized the sign of the dove descending upon Jesus at His baptism "the sign by which God told him he would recognize the Messiah (Jn 1:32-33). But Jesus was not preaching fiery judgment as prophesied by the prophet Malachi (3:2-5) and as expected by John who told the Jewish crowd that the coming of the Messiah was to be the fulfillment of that passage (Mt 3:11-12; Lk 3:9). Jesus reminds John's disciples that Malachi isn't the only prophet who tells of the mission of the Messiah. Jesus is fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah: raising the dead (Is 26:19); giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing the lame and dumb (Is 35:5-6 and 42:6-7) and glad tidings to the poor and broken hearted (Is 61:1-2). Jesus will come in fiery judgment, but in His Second Advent (1 Thes 4:16 and 2 Thes 1:7-10)! The coming for which we must prepare.

Luke 7:24-30 ~ Jesus' Testimony of John

Jesus asks the crowds a series of six rhetorical questions:

1. What did you go out to the desert to see
2. a reed swayed by the wind?
3. Then what did you go out to see?
4. Someone dressed in fine garments?
5. Then what did you go out to see?
6. A prophet?

Jesus' reference to "someone dressed in fine clothing" living "in royal palaces" may be an allusion to Herod Antipas, the ruler of the Galilee and Perea who had arrested and imprisoned John the Baptist. John wore course camel's hair for his garment and he was firm in his message of repentance; he was not a "reed swayed by the wind" of secular society.

Question: How does Jesus identify St. John in verses 26-27? See Mal 3:1-3
Answer: He identifies St. John as a prophet of God and a successor of the prophet Malachi.

Luke 7:31-35 ~ Jesus rebukes His generation

Question: To what does Jesus compare "this generation" in this proverb?
Answer: He compares His generation to two groups of children playing make-believe games. One group complains that the other group refuses to play either the "wedding game" ("we played the flute" as in joyful music for a bridal procession) or the "funeral game" ("we sang a dirge but you did not mourn" as in a funeral procession).

Luke 7:36-50 ~ The sinful woman and the parable of the two debtors

This story is a powerful lesson that illustrates the relationship between forgiveness and love. A Pharisee has invited Jesus, the controversial local Rabbi, to a banquet at this house as the honored guest. All the guests are reclining at the meal. It was a Hellenistic custom that was observed for a formal dinner (also see Mt 26:7, 20; Mk 14:3; 18). It was also the custom to greet each guest with a kiss, to offer a basin for the guests to wash their feet, and, especially in the case of an honored guest, to anoint his head and/or feet with ointment. A woman who is filled with the desire to repent her sins takes this opportunity to approach Jesus and express her sorrow and repentance in an act of humility. Jesus read the negative and judgmental thoughts of His host when He allowed the sinful woman to touch Him "to be touched by someone who was impure imparted that person's state of "uncleanness" to the one touched. Jesus answered Simon's thoughts by telling him a parable.

Chapter 8

Luke 8:1-3 ~ Some of the women disciples

In Jesus' time a woman's rights were very limited religiously and civilly. A woman could not go further into the Temple than into the Court of the Gentile and the Court of the Women (Antiquities of the Jews, 15.418 f; Wars of the Jews 5.199); they could only enter the Court of the Priests to offer a sacrifice (Tosephta Arakhin , II,1m 544). Where Jewish families strictly observed the Law, the women of their households took no part in public life. When it was necessary for a woman to go out in public, her hair and face was covered by a veil during the era of Roman occupation. Only in her wedding procession was a woman to be seen with an uncovered head and then only if she were a virgin (Mishnah: Ketuim, 2.1). It was forbidden for a man to speak to a woman in public who was not of his family (Mishnah: Kiddushin, 70a-b; Jn 4:27); it was also forbidden to be alone with a woman who was not his wife or daughter (Mishnah: Kiddushim, 4.12, 81a (Babylonian Talmud), or to even look at a married woman or even give her a greeting (Mishnah: Kiddushim, 70a-b.) A woman had no private wealth; her material wealth was in the possession of her husband (Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, page 360). It was therefore unprecedented according to the customs of the times that Jesus allowed the women disciples to accompany Him. St. John the Baptist was already breaking with convention by baptizing women (Mt 21:32).

Mary Magdalene - Bernardino Luini 

Question: Scripture never identifies Mary Magdalene as a prostitute. What was her affliction?
Answer: She had been possessed by seven demons.

Question: How many of the women disciples can you name from Scripture and what do you know about them?
Answer:

Name	Description	Scripture reference
Mary Magdalene	A woman from the town of Magdala in the Galilee. Jesus cured her by casting out 7 demons. She was present at Jesus crucifixion and burial. She watched over His tomb and in the morning brought spices. She was the first disciple to witness the Resurrected Christ.	Mt 27:56, 61; 28:1 Mk 15:40, 47; 16:9 Lk 8:2; 24:10 Jn 19:25; 20:1, 11, 16, 18
Joanna	Wife of Cuza the chief steward of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of the Galilee and Perea. She went to the tomb with the other women and received the news of Jesus' Resurrection from the angel. She went with the other women to tell the Apostles.	Lk 8:3; 24:10
Susanna	A woman of the Galilee.	Luke 8:3
Salome	Wife of Zebedee and mother of the Apostles James and John. She was present at Jesus' crucifixion, His burial, and at His tomb the next morning when she heard the announcement of His Resurrection.	Mt 20:20; 27:56 Mk 15:40; 16:1
Mary (wife or daughter?) of Cleophas/Cleopas/Clopas*	Mother of James the younger and Jose (Joseph). She was present at Jesus' crucifixion and burial; with Mary Magdalene she kept watch over His tomb. She went to the tomb the morning of the Resurrection.	Mt 27:56, 61; 28:1 Mk 15:40, 47; 16:1 Lk 24:10 Jn 19:25
The Virgin Mary's* kinswoman/sister	She was probably a sister-in-law from Joseph's family.	Jn 19:25
Mary of Bethany	Sister of Martha and Lazarus from the village of Bethany. She witnessed her brother's resurrection from death and anointed Jesus the last week of His life.	Lk 10:39, 42 Jn 11:1, 2, 19, 20, 28, 31, 32, 45; 12:3
Martha of Bethany	Sister of Mary and Lazarus from the village of Bethany. She witnessed her brother's resurrection from death. Jesus was guest in her home on at least two occasions.	Lk 10:38, 40, 41 Jn 11:1, 5, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 39; 12:2
Mary of Jerusalem	The mother of John-Mark, writer of the Gospel of Mark. Her home was the regular meeting place for the Apostles in Jerusalem.	Acts 12:12
Mary of Nazareth	Jesus' mother was His first disciple. She was part of His mission from His conception to His Ascension, to the birth of the New Covenant Church at Pentecost.	Mt 1:16, 18, 20, 2:11; 13:55 Mk 3:31; 6:3 Lk 1:27, 30, 34, 38, 39, 41, 43, 46, 56; 2:5, 16, 19, 34; 2:16, 19, 34, 48, 51; 8:19 Jn 2:1, 3, 4, 5, 12; 6:42; 19:25-26 (twice) Acts 1:14

Luke 8:4-10 ~ The parable of the seed and the sower

The Greek word parabol is used in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word mashal, a word that designates a variety of literary forms including axioms, proverbs, similitudes and allegories. Jesus will use all of these literary forms in His teaching. The focus of this parable, the next parable (verses16-18) and the incident and saying that follows (verses 4-21) is how one "hears" the word of God and acts on it. The word "hear/heard" is repeated 7 times in this parable and its interpretation (verses 8 twice, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15).

Luke 8:11-15 ~ The parable of the seed and the sower explained

In St. Matthew's Gospel this is one of the "kingdom" parables found in chapter 13. The parable is about sowing seeds in different kinds of soil. Every element in the parable is symbolic.

Jesus reveals the symbolic meaning of the four different kinds of soil that receive the seed/ the word of the Gospel of salvation.

1. Seed sown on the path	The person who fails to receive the word. He hears the word of the kingdom without making any effort to understand and embrace the truth. Since he has failed to understand, Satan is able to separate him from the truth and from his place in the Kingdom.
2. Seed sown on rocky ground	This person receives the word of God with joy, but he has not applied the word to his life; he has no internal stability ("roots"). In a time of hardship or persecution he abandons his faith in God.
3. Seed sown among the thorns	This person hears the word but does not love God above all else; the secular world with its anxieties and seductions overcomes his faith and he fails to produce mature works of faith.
4. Seed sown on rich soil	This person hears the word, understands it, and applies it to his "heart"/life and bears the fruit/works of faith in abundance.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2013 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

Question: How would you sum up what Jesus describes as those who hear the word of God but fail to fully embrace the Kingdom? To what does Jesus attribute the three reasons for their failure? List the verses.

Answer: Jesus attributes the failure of some to produce the good fruit of repentance, conversion , and righteous works to:

1. Refusal to try to understand and falls prey to the activity of Satan (verse 12)
2. Personal shallowness (verses 13)
3. The ambition for worldly pleasures and wealth (verse 14)

Luke 8:16-18 ~ The parable of the lamp

In this parable Jesus continues with the theme of responding to the word of God (see verse 18). The parable divulges that the secrets of the Kingdom cannot remain hidden but it is the will of God that they must be revealed.

Question: What three contrasts does Jesus use?
Answer: The contrasts of light and dark, secret and public, hidden and revealed.

Question: In the parable: who is the lamp, who lights the lamp, what is the light, and what is the lampstand?
Answer: The faithful disciple is the lamp, Jesus lights the lamp with the "word." The light is the "word" illuminated by the faith of the disciple that is evidenced by his righteous deeds that are radiated out to the world from the lampstand that is the Church.

Jesus preaches the Kingdom of God with the intention that those who receive the word and believe will be a light to the world. The lighting of the lamp describes the conduct of the Christian disciple set on fire by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not shine through a soul so his/her "light" can be hidden. By their good deeds, Jesus' disciples are to influence the world for the good like a shining lamp set in the open. However, if a disciple fails to produce good works, he is quenching the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Thes 5:14-19) and is as ineffective as a hidden lamp that does not share its light.

Luke 8:19-21 ~ Jesus' true family

Jesus' family came from Nazareth to see Him, but the press of the crowd prevents them from reaching Him. The other Synoptic Gospels name his "brothers" as James, Joseph/Jose, Simon and Judas/ Jude (Mt 13:55 and Mk 6:3).

Luke 8:22-25 ~ Jesus calms the storm

This private sign for the disciples is another event that points to Jesus divinity. When He calms the storm and asks His disciples "Where is your faith?" He is asking if they do not yet recognize His true identity and have faith that He is the divine Messiah. The first sign of His divinity was when Jesus forgave the sins of the paralyzed man and the Pharisees asked: "Who but God can forgive sins?" (5:21) and the same question was asked a second time by the guests at the dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee (7:49). The answer to this rhetorical question: "Who then is this, who commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey him?" is that only God can control nature! The other nature miracle will be when Jesus walks on the water and calms the storm in the Gospel of John (Jn 6:16-21).

Luke 8:26-31 ~ The healing of the Gerasene demoniac

This episode takes place on the east side of the Sea of Galilee in the Gentile territory of the Decapolis (Mk 5:20). Jews resided in that mostly Gentile region and Jesus has come to share His message of the Kingdom with them. Jesus encounters a man possessed by demons who is living among the unclean tombs of the dead (Num 19:11, 14, 16; Ez 39:11-15). The man who is possessed by demons is probably a Gentile (Mt 15:24; Lk 8:38-39). Once again (verse 28) the demons recognize Jesus' true identity (Lk 4:34, 41). This story may also be a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 65:1-5.

Luke 8:32-39 ~ Jesus casts the demons into the swine

The Gospel of Mark numbers the swine at 2 thousand (Mk 5:13).

Question: Why did Jesus allow the demons to take possession of the swineherd which immediately stampeded down an embankment and drowned in the sea? See Lev 11:7; Dt 14:8.
Answer: It is unlikely that the pigs were owned by Gentiles. Jesus would not have cared about Gentile owning pigs, but He would care if Jews were violating the Law against owning and eating pork. This is probably an object lesson in obedience to the Law in the economic hardship from the loss of the swineherd.

Notice that when the citizens of the town arrive that Jesus has clothed the man "he is clothed physically and spiritually.

Question: How did the town respond to Jesus' healing of the man and the loss of the swineherd?
Answer: They feared Him and asked Him to leave.

Luke 8:40-56 ~ The healing of the bleeding woman and Jairus' daughter

After the healing on the opposite shore of the Galilee, Jesus crossed the lake and "came into his own town" (Mt 9:1), presumably to Capernaum, the headquarters of His ministry in the Galilee. In this passage we have two healing miracles told within one story. The link between the stories is significant. As you re-read the story, notice the significant repeats.