Introduction
After letting His disciples know what they should expect as they leave this mountaintop experience with Him, He turns His attention to explaining the Father’s plan for reaching the world. I imagine the atmosphere was electrifying with everyone shouting, “Let’s take the world!” Jesus quiets them and begins sharing the game plan to bring freedom from Rome and the curse of sin. They all listen with great anticipation to the new plan. It is an awesome plan and one Jesus will explain and live out in front of His new leaders and disciples over the coming two years. It will end in the ultimate act of love — His own death. Get ready to have your world rocked!
Reading [You can read as much as you can, depending on your availability]
Luke 6:27-49
Meditating [Use these questions to start your thinking]
- As you read this passage, how would you identify the core value of this kingdom movement?
- In what way was this radical love to be expressed?
- Two illustrations are given in Luke 6:43-49. What are these illustrations saying to us?
- Today, what are some practical ways in which you can live out radical love?
- What other questions do you still have?
Sharing: Text ONE of your answers to the questions above to your team. Each team should post a sharing from a team member in the comments below.
Wow! Did you understand the plan? It isn’t rocket science, is it? The plan is so simple and yet so revolutionary. Jesus unveils to His new leaders the team plan, which, simply put, is something like, “Don’t kill a Roman; hug a Roman.” From the world’s standpoint, it is a crazy plan, to love your enemies. How in the world will loving my enemy ever bring about change, freedom and liberation? It must have sounded to them like the craziest plan in the world. It still sounds crazy 2,000 years later. How can loving my enemy free me from him? But did you read the plan carefully? It is a radical type of love. It is not human love, which always has some kind of return tied into it. It is a love that expects nothing in return (Luke 6:35). It is this radical, supernatural, God-like kind of love that will change the world. Are you ready to put it into practice? Why not give it a try? But how? How does it work? Good question — one I think those first disciples had as well.
Look again at Luke 6:37-38. In these verses, we see Jesus’ idea of how to put this love into practice. He says to first stop judging other people. In order to express this love, you have to stop taking over God’s job as Judge. Second, you have to stop condemning people for their actions. Instead, you need to freely extend forgiveness in Jesus’ name — not because they deserve it, but because Jesus instructs us to. That is how you show your enemies love — not by judging or condemning them, but by extending forgiveness to them. Don’t think this is easy. If you do, you have missed the point. Remember, for these early disciples, the Romans were one of their enemies. They had family and friends that had lost fingers for not being able to pay their taxes, knew people who had died at the hands of the Romans and seen women who had been raped. For them to not condemn, but extend forgiveness was no human act. It is a kind of love that can only be brought about by God.
Their faces must have shown how shocked they were as Jesus revealed the Father’s plan for the defeat of Rome. I can only imagine how deflated they must have felt as Jesus revealed this plan to His excited, anxious and hurting disciples. Then He turned to His leaders and told them that the blind cannot lead the blind (Luke 6:39), so He expects them to take the lead in this supernatural forgiveness. The next thing he says is so amazing: “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Wow. Mark it down. It starts with Jesus — he is the teacher that will show them the way. He will live this lifestyle of supernatural forgiveness and train them to do the same. Let it be noted that, in my humble opinion, it is this supernatural love that brought down the Roman empire even as the early church demonstrated that love by voluntarily giving their lives for the cause of Christ and forgiving their killers.
Jesus then tells them to stop judging others’ sins and start doing some self-examining of their own hearts. For it is out of the heart that the mouth speaks forgiveness. At this point I can only imagine the expressions on the faces of these disciples. Jesus ends this Leadership 101 class by saying to those first disciples, “Why call me your Lord if you are not even going to listen to what I teach you?” Go out now to return to your homes and obey Me. Love your enemies! Do this by offering them undeserved forgiveness, instead of judgment and condemnation, and the movement will multiply rapidly.”
Do you want to see God’s hand in your life? Then obey Him. Who is your enemy? Make a list. It can be people close and far away. It doesn’t matter how long the list is, just be honest. Between you and God, who is someone you have been condemning in your own mind? That is your enemy. We do this almost every single day. We hold court in our own minds on others’ motives, attitudes and actions, without ever even knowing all the facts. We judge them guilty, and then we pass judgment and hand out our own sentence of silence, gossip or worse.
Now the tough part! Give it a try. Pick one person on your list and extend forgiveness to them today. Then get with a disciple and talk about this outrageous plan of love. Ask God to search your heart and reveal your judgemental attitudes, confess them and receive His forgiveness.
I get how this sort of extreme love would be game changing. Up until now, rules and ethics have been common sense, or at least reasonable. But the type of love Jesus teaches is radical in the sense that it goes against our nature. Its asking for pain and demanding you be joyful in it. The thing is though, the rewards for living this kind of life are infinitely better than just living a generally moral life. Rather than worldly respect and treasures, Jesus promises sonship of God to the disciples. Personally, this is very hard for me to do. I understand it, and I know it’s the right thing to do, but putting it into action is extremely hard, which I also knew would be the case. I definitely pray for the Holy Spirit to help, since I cannot do this on my own.
In today’s passage, Jesus teaches many important lessons about loving our enemies, reflecting on our own sins rather than judging others, and building a house on good foundation. These are ways to radically love others, but it’s not easy to do. It requires us to depend on Jesus. The more we depend on Him and become more like Him we can bear good fruit and the good treasures from our hearts.
Two illustrations are given in Luke 6:43-49. What are these illustrations saying to us?
These illustrations tell us about the importance of building and growing upon a solid foundation/soil. The actions and fruit can be used to identify the state of the source it’s coming from because it will be an outward extension of the inner. Fruit will be good only if it comes from a healthy tree firmly rooted, just as a house is only as secure as the foundation it’s on, so it’s important to re-examine what we’re grounded in.
As you read this passage, how would you identify the core value of this kingdom movement?
I think the core values of the kingdom of God is about love.
I now wonder what people thought about the things that Jesus was saying. Prior to Jesus’ teaching, I’m not sure I remember other prophets telling the Jews to turn the other cheek. So I find that these values are pretty radical at the time.