LUKE 6:17-26 The Sermon on the Plain PART 1: The Setting and The Blessings

This is an interesting Scripture. It’s essentially a rehash (not a word-for-word repetition) of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  But it appears in a different context in Luke than it does in Matthew.  In Matthew, it’s given early on in Jesus’ ministry, right after the calling of his first disciples and his initial teaching and healing spree in Galilee.  In Matthew, it is given on a mountainside, where Jesus sits down and calls the disciples up to him. In Luke, it occurs after an all-night intensive prayer session, after which Jesus appoints the 12 and is coming down the mountain with them, to join the other disciples at a “level place.” Perhaps gave this message twice---once at the outset of his ministry, once to reiterate it to the newly appointed 12.

Some fascinating nuances emerge from this study. One is an up close and personal look at some of the words used in the Greek to record Jesus’s words. The word for “poor” is interesting in the Ancient Greek language. It describes not only the financially impoverished, but also people who are “destitute” and of no status or class. They cower away from others in shame and have no one willing to claim them, no one to whom they really belong.

But then there is a promise stored up for people in this condition. They shall be satisfied. They shall be “filled.” The Greek word used is “chortizo.” And it’s more than just the filling of the stomach. It conveys being:

“. . fully fed, or rather more precise: to be provided with a fenced off safe place with lots of natural fresh grass to peacefully graze one's fill.” (From: Abarim’s Article entitled The mystery of rejoicing. What is it, and why?)

And that ties in with the Greek word used for blessed:

The word for blessed doesn’t really mean “blessed” the way we think of it, but being so secure (because of what you have in God) that you are untouchable, no matter what may come.

Be untouchable by any lack. Live thanks. Live blessed