LUKE 6
There is profound blessing in seeking to enter into the thoughts of the Lord as He went through the cornfields. Every ear of corn in those fields had sprung up out of death to be God’s bountiful provision for men, and the particular sabbath mentioned in the first verse of our chapter had a significance peculiar to itself. It is called here the “second-first” sabbath.
[p. 88] The first sabbath was the sabbath of the Passover, the second-first was the one immediately following the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits (Leviticus 23); it was the first of the seven sabbaths which were to be counted until the feast of weeks. What it must have brought before the Lord’s heart! He knew perfectly all that was set forth in the type of the first-fruits; it spoke to Him of God’s great provision in grace which would be set free as the result of His own resurrection. Every thought of grace in the heart of God is now set free on that ground. He had, too, a very different thought of the sabbath from that which the Pharisees had. They had made the sabbath a day of bondage and restriction; the thought of rest and refreshment and liberty, a day hallowed for God as the One who had secured rest for Himself and who delighted to have men to share His rest, was far from their minds. But we have seen what the Lord connected with the sabbath in chapter 4 when He stood up to read and to preach in the synagogue at Nazareth. “The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath also”; this gives it its true character according to the mind and heart of God.
The disciples, following upon what was true of them as sons of the bridechamber, and as new bottles filled with new wine, are seen here in the liberty of grace. “His disciples were plucking the ears and eating them, rubbing them in their hands”. They were freely appropriating the goodness of God which was available, just as He would have us to do, but this displeased the Pharisees. It raised the whole question of the sabbath, and whether it was designed to give men a legal righteousness by keeping it, or whether it spoke of God’s delight in giving rest and blessing. Was the sabbath to be merely an ordinance for man in the flesh, and thus part of the old garment, or was it to be understood in the light of God revealed in grace? There will be no true sabbath until men rest in the known grace of God. The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath; He exercises the rights of God in grace, and brings in a true sabbath of rest for men.
The religious man can never understand the liberty of grace, so some of the Pharisees challenged the disciples as to why they did what was not lawful to do on the sabbath. But the Lord answered for His disciples by reminding the objectors that there was at least one instance in which a hungry man had done what was not lawful under the legal system without incurring blame for it. David was, in a remarkable way, in [p. 89] the secret of divine grace. The loaves of shewbread represented all Israel as in favour before God; it was His thought that they should all be before Him as identified with Christ, and indeed as having Christ as their life. If this Was so it was a matter of pure grace, and this justified David in saying, “The bread is in a manner common”, 1 Samuel 21: 5. Though it was “holy bread”, it was “common” in the sense that it was available for men that were needy, and whose vessels were holy. The bread of God’s house is always available for faith, and wherever there is faith there will always be, in some measure, suitable moral conditions. There will be true repentance, and an appreciation of grace on God’s part, and these are holy conditions. The provisions of His grace may always be freely appropriated by those whose vessels are holy as being marked by these conditions.
What a cluster of divine teaching is here — the cornfields, the sabbath, the shewbread! All belong in their true significance to the new system. Each had to be seen as having Christ in view, and not man in the flesh. God’s thought has ever been that man should be blessed through Christ and in Christ, and even the power to appropriate this is of God, as we see in the next incident.
On another sabbath the Lord entered into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. Such a one had no power to appropriate; he could not pluck the ears of corn or rub them. The scribes and Pharisees would have kept him in that state; they were jealous for the sabbath, but they hated the grace of which the sabbath was the covenant-token. How manifest it was that the old bottles could not hold the new wine! But Jesus knew their thoughts, and He was minded to convict them publicly; He called the man into the midst that He might demonstrate before all the rights of God in mercy. But there was no room for God in their system; if He came in in mercy it broke up the whole system as it was in their minds. If Judaism was to be preserved God must be shut out; what a terrible thing to contemplate! It shows how old and unrepairable the old garment was. It had become a system that looked with suspicion and hatred on the actings of God in mercy.
The test for this poor man was, would he be governed by the word of Christ? Had he been subdued to Him as Lord, to the One who had come from God with divine authority?
When Jesus said, “Stretch out thy hand”, would he obey? There will be no power with any of us to appropriate what is of God save as there is a spirit of subjection. When souls do not get the good of what God has provided in His grace it is because they are not really subject. This is the secret of most of our difficulties and weaknesses. But the work of God in this man showed itself by immediate obedience, and his hand was restored as the other. Where there is inability to lay hold of God’s precious things, it will generally be found that the Lord has spoken, but His word has not been obeyed.
The scribes and Pharisees were unsubdued; they were filled with madness. The things of the kingdom of God are new things, dependent on God being known in grace, and those who would in self-righteous pride maintain the old things become definitely hostile to the new. The breach between the old and the new was complete.
It was “in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God”, verse 12. It was, as we should say, a crisis. What was the mind of God at such a moment? What form would He have things to take in presence of manifested enmity to grace? It was clear that the system that then was could not hold the new wine that was coming in. There must be a new administration set up in the world, something quite different from the law and the prophets. This great matter became the matter of prolonged prayer. We might truly say that the whole dispensation of grace, and the form which it would take, were the subject of that night of prayer. The order of the dispensation, with all its gracious power, is the answer to the prayer of Jesus. It is one great characterising feature of Christianity as set up in the world that the Lord’s authority in grace has been connected with the apostles whom He chose after this wondrous night of prayer. His choice of them was a matter of His own sovereignty, but it was a sovereignty exercised in complete dependence upon God. The Lord has set up a system in which His apostles have a very distinctive place. They are, as Jude says, “the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and Peter calls them “your apostles”, 2 Peter 3: 2. They are not named apostles in Luke 6 in relation to their place in the assembly, but in relation to the kingdom of God as the sphere of divine authority in grace. These men were qualified to speak with authority as sent apostles of the Lord. Their names are in the twelve [p. 91] foundations of the holy city Jerusalem; they were chosen for suffering as the apostles of the Lamb.
“Judas Iscariote, who was also his betrayer” being numbered amongst them would indicate that the kingdom was intended to be a place of testing, and that it would not be enough to have an outward place in it, even that of an apostle. It suggests, too, that there would be the possibility of failure being manifested in the public administration of the grace of God; even for apostles, security would lie in prayer. We may be sure that the Lord spending the night in prayer would never be forgotten by those who loved Him; it was a model which they would know well must be imitated if they were to be sustained in the wondrous position and office to which He had appointed them. On the other hand we may be certain that Judas was not a man of prayer; I doubt if he ever prayed at all.
The Lord descended with the apostles and stood on a level place, verse 17. He had prayed on the mountain and chosen the twelve, and then He and they came down to bring the power of divine healing to men below. They came down from His own elevation with God, yet, withal, an elevation marked by perfect dependence; and on the level place they find “a great multitude of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases”, and we are told that “power went out from him and healed all”. We can hardly fail to see in this multitude, including some from even Gentile cities, a figure of that vast throng to whom spiritual healing would be brought through the great administration of grace for which He had chosen His apostles. There was, indeed, power in Him for the healing of all, and it seems to me that the Lord brings out the character of those who are spiritually healed in what He says to His disciples as recorded in the verses that follow, for the moral features set forth in Luke 6: 20 - 49 could only be the result of divine healing. Men of this type can only be seen on earth as the result of the healing virtue of the kingdom of God brought to them in Jesus. There is a moral connection between that spoken of here and the appropriation of divine grace in liberty as seen in figure in the cornfields at the beginning of the chapter. All that the Lord says here supposes that grace is revealed and known and has become the formative principle of a new kind of man who is patterned after God as known in grace.
“[p. 92] And he, lifting up his eyes upon his disciples, said, Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”, verse 20. The Lord addresses His disciples here as having the character spoken of; it is not an abstract statement that the poor are blessed, but “blessed are ye poor”. He could lift up His eyes upon them with complacency as finding delight in them; they were those of whom He had said prophetically, “In them is all my delight”, Psalm 16: 3. Do we long to be such as He can admire F! Then we must be content to be poor in all that the world esteems valuable. The “rich” have received their consolation (verse 24) in a perishing system of things, but it is infinitely better to be “poor” as to these things but to have the kingdom of God. How can any lover of God find consolation in things in which God has no place? The disciples as seen here were new bottles filled with new wine, and they could afford to be poor in relation to the scene where the grace of God was unknown. In the very nature of things we cannot have the two kinds of wealth. Those who do not know God have their resources and gratifications and joys in this world, and they think it strange that there should be any who prefer to be destitute of the things which they count to be happiness. Indeed, to stand apart from all that is thought well of in the world “for the Son of man’s sake” is quite sufficient to provoke contempt and hatred. But the Lord accounts “blessed” those who are poor in the sense that they stand apart from what the world counts advantageous, and who are content rather to be deprived and to sorrow in a world where the Son of man is rejected and put to shame. Those are truly “blessed” in whom the Son of man can see some of His own features appearing, to be despised and rejected even as they were when seen in Himself.
Then from verse 27 there is another part of the Lord’s discourse addressed to “to you that hear”. This section contemplates a further development of the work of grace in the disciples, resulting in their becoming manifest as “sons of the Highest”. The Highest is a title of God more often used by Luke that by any other New Testament writer, and as used by him it has a particular connection with what God is as made known in grace. He is so high that He is far above the unthankfulness and wickedness of men; He is good to them in spite of what they are. Now the Lord has in mind that His disciples shall be “sons of the Highest”; they are to be [p. 93] like God in His blessed superiority to what is evil in men. One can understand that this is not presented by the Lord as something fully realised in them. His words in this connection are addressed “to you that hear”; they are intended for persons whose hearts are spiritually attentive. There can be no greater or more wondrous proposal than that we should come out as giving expression to God’s character in presence of the evil that is here. God will bring out His sons in glory very soon, and they will be all like Him then (Romans 8: 19), but He would have them to be manifested morally as acting like Him even now when things are so contrary.
It is well to bear in mind that we have proved in our own experience that this is God’s character, for it is how He has acted towards us. He has loved us when we hated Him; He has continually done us good even at a time when we were unthankful and wicked; He has been merciful and has remitted our sins; He has been ready to give when we asked Him. It is only a matter of righteousness that we should act towards others in the grace which has been shown to ourselves. God will have His sons like Himself, and He will see that they are fully recompensed for any cost that is involved on their part. May we be amongst those who hear these words of grace! We do not really appreciate grace beyond the measure in which we express it, so that this chapter pulls us up with a challenge as to how far our souls have been penetrated and permeated by the power of grace. In hearing what the Lord says we acquire an ever deepening sense of what grace really is. Most of us are small in grace; we need to grow in it as Peter exhorts us to do. It is something very strange to our hearts naturally, but as disciples of Christ, hearing His words, we are learning it with a view to its coming out in us.
The last section of the Lord’s discourse begins with the parable of verse 39, “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Shall not both fall into the ditch?” It raises the question with every professed disciple of Jesus whether he can see where he is going. It is to be feared that many are content to be led without any exercise or discrimination of their own. They take for granted that what their parents did is right for them to do; or that religious institutions which have been set up for hundreds of years must be a safe guide; or that what so many learned men think right must be right. But this is really spiritual blindness, and unless I can see myself I have [p. 94] no means of knowing whether the one who is leading me is blind or not. The only way to be safe is to have spiritual vision oneself; blind people will be sure to get into the ditch.
There is no blind leading or following in the new order of things instituted by the Lord, but the principle of teaching and discipleship has a permanent place in it. “The disciple is not above his teacher, but every one that is perfected shall be as his teacher”, verse 40. Intelligence comes on the line of discipleship, and this is not a blind leading but divine instruction coming to us from One who is at the full elevation of God’s thoughts, and under whose teaching it is possible for us to be “perfected”. Under the teaching of Christ there is no uncertainty; no one who comes into subjection to His teaching ever has a doubt whether it is of God or not. And it is the teaching of One who was the exemplification of all that He taught, so that to be perfected under His teaching is to become like Him. There is no blind leading blind in this, but One who knows perfectly the mind of God imparting it to others who can see clearly as taught by Him.
Not that all are “perfected”, for many lessons come on the way to this, and we have to find that there are “motes” and “beams” which dim our vision, and which have to be cast out even after we have sight. And the Lord points out that we are apt to lose time by seeing a “mote” in the eye of our brother when we cannot perceive a “beam” in our own. It suggests plainly that every one who is concerned about his brother not seeing well had better give attention to something much nearer home. There is more hypocrisy than we think in our quickness to discern the spiritual defects in others; the Lord would warn us off from that most unprofitable occupation.
“For there is no good tree which produces corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree which produces good fruit; for every tree is known by its own fruit, for figs are not gathered from thorns, nor grapes vintaged from a bramble”, verses 43, 44. The Lord does not contemplate a mixed product; each one is either a “good man” or a “wicked man”, verse 45. Scripture does not acknowledge any third class who are neither good nor wicked. Those who have turned to God in repentance, confiding in Him as the alone Source of good, are good, and they bring forth good fruit. The knowledge of God in the heart of man is never fruitless; it invariably produces fruit of its own kind. “The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good”. His heart is stored with the good that he has found in God, and he brings forth good out of what his heart treasures. The heart of the natural man is full of vain things in which God has no place; all such things are “wicked”, however amiable they may appear to be, for nothing could be more wicked than for an intelligent creature to have a heart in which there is no place for God. All that such a heart can yield is corrupted by the terrible fact that the only One who is really good has no place in it; it is far alienated from the true and only Good. But the “good man” has learned his own sinfulness, and has turned to God and found that God is good enough to pardon and cleanse him, and to purify his heart through faith, and to set him up in freedom from sin’s dominion, so that he now makes his boast in God, and knows no good save what has its source in God.
When the good that is in God becomes the treasure of a man’s heart it is bound to produce good in what the man says and in what he does. It really makes him a “good man”, for the element of corruption has been counteracted, in a practical sense, by the good that he has found in God. He is recovered to good by being recovered to God, and the works of the devil are undone in him. It is immensely important to open our hearts to the knowledge of God that comes to us in the Lord Jesus; it is enriching, gladdening, purifying; as our hearts are filled with it we become “good”. Paul could say to the Roman believers, “But I am persuaded, my brethren, I myself also, concerning you, that yourselves also are full of goodness”, Romans 15: 14. What a contrast is this from what he had said in chapter 3 of the same epistle. “There is not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one”! The latter Scripture shows what we were when grace found us, but the former shows what grace makes us.
Finally the Lord says, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” A mere lip acknowledgement is nothing to the Lord, nor is it of any value to the one who makes it. It is in doing what the Lord says that we secure a good foundation for our building, for it is evidence that we really believe on Him. If His words have no authority Over us In a practical way we only deceive ourselves by calling Him Lord. The real test which marks us off as true disciples is that through much exercise we do what the Lord says. It is in this way that we commit ourselves to Him definitely; it [p. 96] involves a break with the whole manner of life which characterised us previously, and which characterises most of those who are around us. We ally ourselves with the most unpopular cause that ever was in this world, but which is the only security against impending ruin. The man who builds a house upon the ground without foundation undoubtedly takes the easiest course, but he is very imprudent. It is easier to be a nominal Christian, with just enough profession to give one respectability, than it is to steadily set oneself to do what the Lord says. The latter requires deep digging, and getting down to the rock. Nothing will stand the impact of the coming storm but what is built on the principle of obedience to Christ. We do not truly believe on Him if we do not do what He says. It is certain that this will involve an immense amount of exercise, continuous exercise, but this is precisely what is meant by digging and going deep. One little thing done in obedience to Christ, which we never should have done according to the flesh, and which cost us something to do, will give us more stability than listening to sermons all our life without our practice being affected. But the life of discipleship does not mean one thing done on that principle, but the whole life built up on it because the One whose words we do has acquired supremacy in our hearts. Nothing less than this is true Christianity.