Luke 6:20-49

Great sermon to the disciples and in part to the multitudes. It forms here the ordination address of the Twelve. In what sense it is identical with the Sermon on the Mount is explained on Matthew 5:1. That it is for all practical purposes the same sermon, but abridged, is shown by the fact that it contains only five verses (Luke 6:24; Luke 6:39) which are not in St. Matthew's version, and that it follows St. Matthew's order.

Analysis: (1) Four beatitudes, on the poor, the hungry, weepers, and the hated (Luke 6:20).

(2) Four woes, on the rich, the full, laughers, and the well spoken of (Luke 6:24).

(3) Exhortation to love, as shown in returning good for evil, not resisting evil, loving enemies, not judging rashly (Luke 6:27).

(4) Exhortation to stringent self-examination on the part of those who presume to guide others, lest they be found to be hypocrites (Luke 6:39).

(5) Exhortation to obedience. The strong foundation upon which obedient Christians build (Luke 6:46).

St. Luke's sermon is much less striking than St. Matthew's. It omits the whole question of the relation of the Gospel to the Law, and all those passages in which Christ claims to be the supreme Legislator, Judge, and Ruler of the human race; it has only four beatitudes instead of eight, and in general gives the impression of an abridged and imperfect report, in which some of the sayings, owing to extensive omissions, do not appear in their true context. Some, but not all, of St. Luke's omissions can be accounted for by the fact that his Gospel was intended for Gentiles.
Some critics profess to find in St. Luke's sermon an Ebionitic, or as we should now say, a socialistic or communistic tendency. Probably wrongly, for by 'the poor' and 'the hungry,' St. Luke does not mean the literally such, any more than St. Matthew, who expressly speaks of 'the poor in spirit,' and of those who 'hunger and thirst after righteousness.' So also St. Luke's rich, well-fed, and prosperous persons, are not simply the well-to-do, but those who have the vices of their station. Our Lord never approves poverty or condemns riches simply as such. See on Mt.