In the Sermon on the Mount, as the passage from Luke's Gospel following today's reading is traditionally called, the Lord speaks to His listeners about true life and true righteousness, about the meaning and moral foundations of human existence. It is precisely in connection with these words of Christ that the Evangelist notes that...
In the Sermon on the Mount, as the passage from Luke's Gospel following today's reading is traditionally called, the Lord speaks to His listeners about true life and true righteousness, about the meaning and moral foundations of human existence. It is precisely in connection with these words of Christ that the Evangelist notes that all the people sought to touch Him, because power went out from Him. This is a very important observation, for we need to remember that God's truth has real power, precisely because it is truth.
The things the Lord says are far from self-evident: understanding and accepting His words, let alone putting them into practice, is very difficult. The blessedness of the poor and the hungry, the joy of those persecuted for righteousness—none of this follows from our everyday experience. Yet we are given the opportunity to feel and experience in these words of Jesus the power of true life, because they are not merely the invention of an idle mind, but the word of God addressed to us. This is precisely why truthfulness and purity in our relationships with one another become the place where, sometimes quite unexpectedly even to ourselves, we encounter the living God.
6
6:1 The first Sabbath - So the Jews reckoned their Sabbaths, from the passover to pentecost; the first, second, third, and so on, till the seventh Sabbath (after the second day.) This immediately preceded pentecost, which was the fiftieth day after the second day of unleavened bread. Mat 12:1; Mar 2:23.
6:2 Why do ye - St. Matthew and Mark represent the Pharisees as proposing the question to our Lord himself. It was afterward, probably, they proposed it to his disciples.
6:4 Sa1 21:6.
6:6 Mat 12:9; Mar 3:1.
6:9 To save life or to kill - He just then probably saw the design to kill him rising in their hearts.
6:12 In the prayer of God - The phrase is singular and emphatical, to imply an extraordinary and sublime devotion. Mar 3:13.
6:13 Mat 10:2; Mar 3:14; Act 1:13.
6:15 Simon called Zelotes - Full of zeal; otherwise called Simon the Canaanite.