This segment of Luke is basically rehashing themes that have already been covered in both Matthew and Mark. There are some passages that particularly stand out to me, but if anyone has anything else to post on other passages, please do so. Different passages affect people different ways, and several parables are given in this section of the reading.
The first thing that strikes me is that Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath" (6:5). This passage reminds me that it was the Father who created the Sabbath, and that Jesus, as the Son of God and part of the Holy Trinity, has complete power over anything that the Father has created. He is Lord over all. Even more amazing to think that He died a horrible death for us only because He loved us, which brings me to the next passage that I find very, very important.
6:27-42 commands us to love everyone, give to everyone what we can, and to judge others. It is not enough to only love those who love us (6:32) , but we must love our enemies as well. This is perhaps one of the hardest things to do. God loved mankind so much that He sacrificed His Son, sacrificed Him for the salvation of all, even those people who spat on and beat Him. This is the kind of love we are working towards achieving in ourselves. I think closely tied in with this is the commandment to not judge others. If we are to love others, we cannot spend our time pointing fingers at them in judgment, especially when we are nowhere near achieving perfection in ourselves.
Mercy is addressed in 10:30-37, which I think is also part of loving people. Jesus tells the parable of the Samaritan who cared for the man who was beaten and lying in the street. The Samaritan did all that was within his power to care for this stranger: he bandaged his wounds, brought him to an inn, and gave his money to the innkeeper to pay for whatever other needs may arise for this poor man. It is important that we do what we can for others, show mercy on them, and love them to the best of our abilities. This is what, I think, is most important about the Pascha season: love.
1 comment:
Hey Caddy, I think this passage compliments your final thought on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
1 John 3:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.
If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
The second sentence in verse 16 makes an excellent, scrolling-text screensaver. :-)
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