Devotions

To Be Healed of Their Diseases

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Jesus has declared himself by reading from Isaiah 61:1–2 “The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives and liberation to those who are bound, 2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor” and people press because as he goes, power flows out of him to heal. But there is more than healing that he wants people to know, he teaches them in Luke 6:27 “Love your enemies”. He says Luke 6:35 “your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked”. He calls us to emulate our Father in Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!”

Stretch Out Your Hand and His Hand Was Restored

Luke 6:6-11

He Went Away to the Mountain to Pray

Luke 6:12-16 

To Be Healed of Their Diseases

Luke 6:17-23
Jesus had declared himself in Luke 4:17-19 by quoting Isaiah 61:1-2. Though he was rejected in Nazareth, he moved on carrying the message and teaching in the Synagogues. As he went, people were healed and Jesus was pressed by crowds in

Luke 4:40–41 “all who had those who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and placing his hands on every one of them, he healed them. 41 And demons also were coming out of many”

He had come to heal, but he also came to teach them in

Luke 5:1 “while the crowd was pressing around him and hearing the word of God”

And wherever he went, in

Luke 5:15 “large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses”

And after praying in the mountains, in Luke 6:17 “he came down to them” and again, there was “a great multitude” in Luke 6:18 “who came to hear him and to be healed” and in Luke 6:19 “power was going out from him and healing them all”.

We know his first message was from Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed”. Clearly people were healed and set free from demonic oppression. But now he says to the crowd in Luke 6:20 “Blessed are the poor, because yours is the kingdom of God”. But this isn’t a message of freedom now, it is a message of suffering now, with future reward. He says in Luke 6:21 “Blessed are those who are hungry now, because you will be satisfied”. He says in Luke 6:23 “your reward is great in heaven”.

There is an authority that Jesus brought into the earth, forgiveness of sin, the anointing of the Holy Ghost to live the righteous life, and freedom from disease in

1 Peter 2:24 “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we may die to sins and live to righteousness, by whose wounds you were healed.”

and he left us knowing there is a reward ahead, yet we are here now in this present world where they will in

Luke 6:22 “exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man”.

 

Woe To You Who Are Rich

Luke 6:24-26
There are in Luke 6:24-26 four “Woes” but this English word “Woe does not convey the exact force of Jesus’ ouai. It is more like ‘Alas’ (NEB) or ‘How terrible’ (GNB). It is an expression of regret and compassion, not a threat”.1

The first in Luke 6:24 “to you who are rich because you have received your comfort”. There isn’t anything more coming for them. This natural earthly “Wealth predisposes people to think they have need of nothing. They then rely on riches, not on God … To the rich Jesus says, you have received your consolation. His verb is one often used in receipts with a meaning like ‘Paid in full’”.1

Next is those, in Luke 6:25 “who are satisfied now, because you will be hungry”. They have the life they want and if there is anything they don’t have, they can get it. These are “People who live thinking that what they have is all-sufficient, who allow material possessions to be all-in-all and who think they have no need of God”.1

Next, and also in Luke 6:25 “you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep”. These are people that are superficial, “the carefree expression of contentment with the success of the present”.1

Then last in Luke 6:26 “whenever all people speak well of you” because as it says in John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.” 

To You Who Are Listening

Luke 6:27-36
Jesus began in Luke 6:20 “he lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said” … Now, in Luke 6:27 there is a slight transition “But to you who are listening” which offers these words to all that will hear them. Here he says “Love your enemies” but this is not our natural reaction. We want to get back at those that hurt us. He says in Luke 6:29 “do not withhold” but our natural reaction is to withdraw and set up walls of protection for ourselves. And then he explains that if we will do these things, in Luke 6:35 “you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Jesus is teaching us to be Like our Father is and he says in Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!” The Lord will reward us. There is a reward in heaven, where our future is. And, the Lord wants everyone who will, to join us. This is a central message from Jesus and he also said it this way in

John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another—just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”

A Disciple Will Be Like His Teacher

Luke 6:37-42

The Good Person Out of The Good Treasury of His Heart Brings Forth Good

Luke 6:43-46

Everyone Who Comes To Me and Listens To My Words and Does Them

Luke 6:47-49

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Luke 6:6-49

References

  • 1. Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, p. 148). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.