There is a reason why the caption for this series says: UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look through the Book of Luke. It is a look through the book of Luke for given the time frame we have we cannot fully exhaust the contents of the book of Luke in one month. So pardon me if my blog post tends to emphasize on a particular section of scripture in each of the chapters we have examined so far.
However even though we may not be able to fully exhaust the content of this book, still we would have been better off by the end of this month study than where we begin from.
There was a lot that went down in Luke 6. A careful division of Luke 6 into various headings revealed all that happened
- The Lord and the violation of the Sabbath law
- Jesus prayed and picked his disciples.
- The sermon on the mount. One of Jesus' most popular messages brimming with a lot of wisdom.
There could be many other divisions of this text but I am glad to stay with these three and quickly go over them!
THE LORD OF THE SABBATH(Luke 6:1-11)
Here was the tale of two separate events that happened on the Sabbath day and in both instances Christ seems to have broken the law. There is a law that was given under the mosaic covenant that stipulated what can or cannot be done on the Sabbath day. And on this particular day Jesus as it were broke the law and his reason for doing this were captured in verse 5, Christ said:
"The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5).
And with that statement, Christ put into a display or proverbially demonstrated to us what was to come! Here the Lord set aside the law of the sabbath but in essence, the Lord was demonstrating to us how he intends to set the whole law aside and usher in the era of freedom and grace!
David, our Lord reminded His critics, was able to violate the law which prohibited the eating of the sacred bread to anyone but the priests. The priests, because of who they were, could eat the sacred bread, and they could violate the Sabbath by offering sacrifices in the temple. Jesus, God incarnate, was free from the law, so to speak because He was the author of the law. You and I cannot take a book that has been written, copywritten, and published, and change its words, but its author can because it is his work. So, too, as God Jesus was not subject to the law, and thus not bound to keep the Sabbath. Christ voluntarily place Himself under the law, in the sinner’s place, so that He could bear the penalty of the law, and redeem men from the power of death through the law!
Jesus’ actions and words in our text are most significant, for they teach in principle at a minute scale what He will accomplish on a broad scale. Jesus was not merely claiming the authority to set aside the Sabbath, He was claiming the right to set aside the whole law. By meeting the demands of the law without any sin, and by dying to the law in the sinner’s place, Jesus has set the law aside. Having died to the law, the resurrected Christ was no longer under the law, to which He had subjected Himself. Our Lord’s Sabbath actions were but a prototype of His work on the cross.
On the cross the law was set aside, the victory of Christ was pronounced and the era of grace began!
John 1:17 captured this for us
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ"
So as Jesus said In Luke 6:5 that he is not a slave to the law, for that's how the message translation put it, we also are not a slave to the power of the law and of sin! Note here that it was not only Jesus that ate the grain that was forbidden by law to be eaten. The disciples also partook. They also ate the grain. Not only was David allowed to break the law and to eat the holy bread, so were his disciples. Not only was Jesus free from the law, so were His disciples. Our bondage or freedom is the by-product of our relationship to Christ or our lack of it. Those who are “in Christ” are privileged to share in all that He has accomplished for them, and that includes freedom from the law, sin and it's an attendant consequence, death. So we can sing that song, "am no longer a slave to Sin, I am a child of God".
When Christ left his father on Christmas day and came to us his major intent was to abolish the power of the law and enthrone the regime of grace. It's why most of Paul's letter always ends with this simple prayer, " May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you now and forevermore" Amen. Celebrate Jesus if you are a beneficiary of this grace!
Read full blog post here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book Of Luke - Luke 6
However even though we may not be able to fully exhaust the content of this book, still we would have been better off by the end of this month study than where we begin from.
There was a lot that went down in Luke 6. A careful division of Luke 6 into various headings revealed all that happened
- The Lord and the violation of the Sabbath law
- Jesus prayed and picked his disciples.
- The sermon on the mount. One of Jesus' most popular messages brimming with a lot of wisdom.
There could be many other divisions of this text but I am glad to stay with these three and quickly go over them!
THE LORD OF THE SABBATH(Luke 6:1-11)
Here was the tale of two separate events that happened on the Sabbath day and in both instances Christ seems to have broken the law. There is a law that was given under the mosaic covenant that stipulated what can or cannot be done on the Sabbath day. And on this particular day Jesus as it were broke the law and his reason for doing this were captured in verse 5, Christ said:
"The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5).
And with that statement, Christ put into a display or proverbially demonstrated to us what was to come! Here the Lord set aside the law of the sabbath but in essence, the Lord was demonstrating to us how he intends to set the whole law aside and usher in the era of freedom and grace!
David, our Lord reminded His critics, was able to violate the law which prohibited the eating of the sacred bread to anyone but the priests. The priests, because of who they were, could eat the sacred bread, and they could violate the Sabbath by offering sacrifices in the temple. Jesus, God incarnate, was free from the law, so to speak because He was the author of the law. You and I cannot take a book that has been written, copywritten, and published, and change its words, but its author can because it is his work. So, too, as God Jesus was not subject to the law, and thus not bound to keep the Sabbath. Christ voluntarily place Himself under the law, in the sinner’s place, so that He could bear the penalty of the law, and redeem men from the power of death through the law!
Jesus’ actions and words in our text are most significant, for they teach in principle at a minute scale what He will accomplish on a broad scale. Jesus was not merely claiming the authority to set aside the Sabbath, He was claiming the right to set aside the whole law. By meeting the demands of the law without any sin, and by dying to the law in the sinner’s place, Jesus has set the law aside. Having died to the law, the resurrected Christ was no longer under the law, to which He had subjected Himself. Our Lord’s Sabbath actions were but a prototype of His work on the cross.
On the cross the law was set aside, the victory of Christ was pronounced and the era of grace began!
John 1:17 captured this for us
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ"
So as Jesus said In Luke 6:5 that he is not a slave to the law, for that's how the message translation put it, we also are not a slave to the power of the law and of sin! Note here that it was not only Jesus that ate the grain that was forbidden by law to be eaten. The disciples also partook. They also ate the grain. Not only was David allowed to break the law and to eat the holy bread, so were his disciples. Not only was Jesus free from the law, so were His disciples. Our bondage or freedom is the by-product of our relationship to Christ or our lack of it. Those who are “in Christ” are privileged to share in all that He has accomplished for them, and that includes freedom from the law, sin and it's an attendant consequence, death. So we can sing that song, "am no longer a slave to Sin, I am a child of God".
When Christ left his father on Christmas day and came to us his major intent was to abolish the power of the law and enthrone the regime of grace. It's why most of Paul's letter always ends with this simple prayer, " May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you now and forevermore" Amen. Celebrate Jesus if you are a beneficiary of this grace!
Read full blog post here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book Of Luke - Luke 6
