Luke 6:17-26 Inverted values

Luke 6:17-19 A great multitude came to hear Jesus teach and be healed.  A great throng of people came, many were healed and unclean spirits were being cast out, and the power coming from Him was such that all the multitude was trying to touch Him. In Luke 8:43-48 we see a single case of this - a woman who had had a hemorrhage for years touched His garment in faith and was instantly healed. But there is something about the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was recognized by people who wanted to be healed.

         I have to wonder if everyone in the crowd who wanted to touch Jesus to be healed recognized that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. And whether there are degrees of faith that make a difference in whether they were healed. Devout Jews familiar with the passage of Malachi 4:2 may well have associated Jesus with the Sun of Righteousness. But perhaps some in the crowd simply saw a supernatural power at work, without necessarily any reference to God, or perhaps seeing Jesus only as a prophet like Elijah or Elisha. Were they healed as well, simply because they came to Jesus with the hope or expectation of being healed by Him?

Luke 6:20-26 Jesus teaches beatitudes and some woes. This passage parallels the beatitudes given in the Sermon on the Mount, although in this case Jesus had descended and stood in a broad place, not on a mountain. Doubtless Jesus gave a similar message many times, because technology for CD's and internet videos hadn't yet been invented, so He had to repeat His message to people in different areas.

         There are differences between this passage and the beatitudes recorded in Matthew 5:3-11. Five that are recorded in Matthew are not given here, but Luke adds four woes, which Matthew did not record in the Sermon on the Mount. Rather, Matthew recorded woes specifically against the scribes and Pharisees (Matt 23:13-36), the religious people of His time.

Matthew		Luke
5:3 Poor in Spirit	Theirs is the kingdom of heaven	6:20 Poor	Yours is the kingdom of God
5:4 Those who mourn	Shall be comforted	6:21 Weep now	Shall laugh
5:5 Gentle	Inherit the earth
5:6 Hunger & thirst for righteousness	Be satisfied	6:21 Hunger now	Be satisfied
5:7 Merciful	Receive mercy
5:8 Pure in heart	See God
5:9 Peacemakers	Called sons of God
5:10 Persecuted for righteousness' sake	The kingdom of heaven is theirs
5:11-12 Insulted, persecuted, falsely accused on account of Jesus	Great reward in heaven	6:22-23 Men hate you, ostracize you, insult you, spurn your name for the sake of Jesus	Be glad & leap for joy, for great reward in heaven
		6:24 Rich	You are receiving your comfort in full now
		6:25 Well fed now	You shall be hungry
		6:25 Laugh now	You shall mourn & weep
		6:26 Men speak well of you	Men used to treat the false prophets like this

         There are differences between Matthew & Luke. In recording the first beatitude, Matthew says the poor in spirit are blessed while Luke says the poor are blessed. And the first two woes recorded by Luke seem to reinforce this - the rich will eventually be hungry because they have their reward now. In a parallel vein, Matthews record is that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied, while Luke says those who hunger now shall be satisfied. It is not clear from these differences if in the passage recorded in Luke, the spiritual application was implicit, or if Matthew recorded the implicit spiritual application explicitly, or if Jesus actually spoke differently to different crowds.

         What is clear from both passages are two common themes. Firstly, the inversion between the way things are now, in the present world, and the way things will be in the Kingdom of God. Roles will be reversed when God's kingdom is established. Secondly, a parallel theme, is a simple warning about the world's evaluation. The world values things that are worthless in the kingdom of God, and God values things that the world disdains, to the point that the world persecutes those who hold to and espouse the things of God. And this should raise in our own mind the question of whether we have bought into the world system. Do the things we value and the things we do align with God's values, or the world's? Whose values are upside down?