The Sermon On The Plateau Series

Luke 6: 20 – 36

The Sermon on the Plateau

20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “ Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. 24 “ But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. 32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Some teacher’s say that Luke just gives us the condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount which is highlighted in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5 through 7. It could be a condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount, but this I believe is not so. I do want to point out a significant difference today. If we turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 we read this in verses 1 and 2, “1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…” Now look again at verse 17 of chapter 6 of Luke, “17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases.” In Matthew we see our Lord go up and here in the Gospel of Luke we see Him coming down.

Our Lord had just picked His 12 men who would receive more teaching and insight than His other disciples. The level place was probably a plateau on the mountain. Here our Lord Is addressing both His disciples and the faithful believers.

20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “ Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.

I use to believe that the word ‘Blessed’ meant ‘happy’. Consider you saying this, ‘Bless you!’ or if we adhered to the former definition we would then say to a person, ‘Happy you’, or ‘happy are you’. That doesn’t make sense does it?

I have come to understand that the word ‘Blessed’ is an inward condition of our hearts that everything is right. We might list this as contentment. So, when we give a remark – ‘May our Lord Bless you’, then we are saying that we hope our Wonderful Precious Holy Jehovah Elyon – our Lord Most High will give this person His Personal Peace no matter what circumstances they are going through which includes both good and bad times. We are hoping this person is content knowing that our Lord Is in Control of all things.