The Sermon on the Plain — Luke 6:17-49
WE WILL HEAR sections from Jesus’s Sermon of Plain (Luke 6:17-49) on three Sundays in February and March. Before the Sermon, Jesus had been carrying out the mission which he announced in the synagogue when he began his ministry. He was proclaiming “the year of the Lord’s favour” (Lk 4:19).
Jesus moves away from the synagogues, towns and people “out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God” (Lk 6:12). Jesus is presented as praying in Luke more than in the other Gospels. And the place, the mountain, is rich in biblical symbolism for communicating with God. The mountain prayer pattern is repeated when Jesus is transfigured (Lk 9:28) and with his disciples on the Mount of Olives (Lk 22:39-46). The narrative implies that Jesus was not alone, he had called some disciples up the mountain with him — “when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles” (Lk 6:13).
From the Mountain to the Flat
The story continues when Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon” (Lk 6:17). Luke suggests those closest to Jesus are his chosen apostles, then the wider group of disciples and then the crowds, who had gathered from near and far. Luke describes the crowd’s circumstances vividly: “They had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases … all in the crowd were trying to touch him for power came out from him and healed all of them” (Lk 6:18-19).
Jesus instructs his disciples in the presence of this crowd — a gathering of afflicted and burdened humanity longing for him. This is context in which Luke desires us to hear the sermon on the plain. Brendan Byrne suggests that we can see this context graphically as follows:
\Jesus/
\The Twelve/
\The wider group of Disciples/
\Crowds from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon/
Luke presents Jesus in the midst of his Galilean ministry giving formation instruction to the Twelve about who they must be and how they are to behave towards those they are to serve.
Blessings and Woes
Luke has four beatitudes followed by four woes. Jesus “looked up at his disciples” whom he called “blessed” (Lk 6:20-23) and invited them into ongoing conversion (Lk 6:24-26). Brendan Byrne suggests that “congratulations” conveys the meaning of “blessed”. The blessed person is “in a fortunate or advantageous position in view of a coming action of God” while “woe” means “unfortunate.”
The text upends our ideas of the poor and rich being fortunate and unfortunate. It seems shocking to congratulate the poor on being poor, the hungry on being hungry, and those who weep and who are reviled on their situation. It is crazy to assert that the wealthy, well-fed, happy and those of great reputation are unfortunate. But this is what Luke’s Gospel asserts.
The sermon begins by Jesus addressing explicitly, “you”— the disciples, who are poor and rich now (found four times in 6:20-26). Good news for the poor spirals through Luke’s Gospel (Lk 1:52-55; 4:18). It is clear that God is on the side of the poor and pledges to act on behalf of the poor and marginalised.
Jesus certainly speaks to the economically poor. In the biblical tradition, the poor also includes those waiting for God’s salvation in the fullest sense, for economic and social justice as well as those with a deep spiritual longing. The vulnerability, openness and emptiness of these poor provide scope for God’s way and action. They are not passive victims.
Jesus is speaking to the disciples out in the countryside, where they are surrounded by the multitude, whose suffering and vulnerability allows room for God to act.
Love for Enemies
As if the Beatitudes are not sufficiently radical, Jesus begins a long instruction in which the extraordinary command to “love your enemies” unfolds as a central theme (Lk 6:27-42). Jesus gives examples of what that might mean such as to return blessing for a curse and to turn the other cheek. He says that when faced with injurious and unreasonable behaviour, the response is to be generous and set aside all claim to retribution.
Jesus is not asking us to take the actions and attitudes literally. Rather he is inviting us to be vulnerable in a way that may seem foolish by common standards. As Brendan Byrne explains: “as in the case of the Beatitudes, everything makes sense only in the context of the distinctive vision of God and relationship to God that Jesus communicates to his own.” Jesus assures us: “You will be children of the Most High; for [God] is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” We are to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:35-36).
Integrity
In our context the Beatitudes challenge our integrity such as removing a speck from our neighbour’s eye rather than taking the “log out of your own eye” (Lk 6:41-42). The image of the tree and its fruits suggests congruence between our heart and our actions (Lk 6:43-44) as does the image of building the house of our existence on a solid foundation (Lk 6:48-49).
Year of Jubilee
Pope Francis has called 2025 a Jubilee Year and encourages us to be pilgrims of hope. He invites us to imagine how we can “restore access to the fruits of Earth to everyone” and to rediscover a spirituality of creation in which we are humble “pilgrims on Earth”. The concept of whakawhanaungatanga/being in right relationship with God, with one another and with all of creation describes the work of the pilgrim. Like the disciples being instructed while surrounded by a crowd of oppressed people, we need to identify and walk in solidarity with those being demonised and marginalised in our context. They are the blessed and God stands with them. We can engage in relationships that bring about ecological and social justice and peace for all creation.
Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 300 February 2025: 22-23