CHAPTER 6

(A.D. 31)

THE SABBATH

¹And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first (refers to the regular Saturday Sabbath that followed the special Sabbath, which began the Feast regardless of what day of the week on which it fell), that He went through the corn fields (barley or wheat); and His Disciples plucked the ears of corn (grain), and did eat, rubbing them in their hands (they did this to shed the husks, and then would eat the grain raw, which was quite common at that time).

²And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath Days? (This means from the Greek Text that the Pharisees kept prodding Jesus and the Disciples by asking the question over and over again, until Jesus finally responded; in fact, there was nothing in the Law of Moses restricting this, the restriction being of their own making.)

³And Jesus answering them said, Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry, and they which were with him (He took them to I Sam. 21:3-6);

⁴How he went into the House of God (refers to the Tabernacle at Nob, which was only a short distance from Jerusalem), and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them who were with him (pertained to the hallowed bread which, since it had evidently just been baked, meant it was the Sabbath); which it is not lawful to eat but for the Priests alone? (Our Lord proclaims the fact here that necessity overrode rulings, even though they were the legitimate Law of Moses; however, that which the Disciples did, which the Pharisees condemned, was not of the Law of Moses, but rather a law made up by the Pharisees.)

⁵And He said unto them, That the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath (this statement by Christ, in effect, declares Him to be God, and to be sure, the Pharisees plainly understood His meaning).

HEALING ON THE SABBATH

⁶And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that He entered into the Synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.

⁷And the Scribes and Pharisees watched Him (means they kept watching, so as to find something for which they could accuse Him, such is religion!), whether He would heal on the Sabbath Day; that they might find an accusation against Him (if one is to notice, Jesus paid no attention whatsoever to the silly rules made up by men).

⁸But He knew their thoughts (the Holy Spirit told Him what they were thinking), and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst (means that what was done was carried out for all to see). And he arose and stood forth (it is said that this mans exact petition to Christ was preserved in the Early Church; it is as follows, as he stood before Jesus: I was a stonemason earning my livelihood with my own hands; I pray Thee, Jesus, restore me to health, in order that I may not with shame beg my bread).

⁹Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the Sabbath Days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?(To have the power to do good, and not do it, is consequently to do evil.)

¹⁰And looking round about upon them all (with an astute gaze; Mark said, with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts [Mk. 3:5]), He said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand (the withered hand). And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other (before their very eyes, a miraculous healing took place).

¹¹And they (Scribes and Pharisees) were filled with madness (constitutes their reaction to this great miracle; they had no regard whatsoever for the plight of this poor man, only for their petty rules; madness speaks of folly); and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus (speaks of their hearts being filled with murder; they would kill Him simply because He had healed a man on the Sabbath; such is religion).

TWELVE DISCIPLES

¹²And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (the record shows that Jesus prayed constantly; among other things, He was seeking the Will of His Father, as it regards the choice of the Twelve Disciples; many were following Him at that time).

¹³And when it was day, He called unto Him His Disciples (could have been as many as a hundred or more): and of them He chose Twelve (the number of Gods Government), whom also He named Apostles (one sent with a special Message, which will always be according to the Word of God, and will set the standard for the Church);

¹⁴Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) (his name means, fragment of rock, which designates how that Christ would take this man who was weak within himself, and make of him a pillar of faith; such would characterize all of His Disciples in one way or the other, and in fact, all Believers) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

¹⁵Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes (the Zealot),

¹⁶And Judas the brother of James (he was also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus), and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor (this man leaves the Gospel story a doomed and damned man because he chose it so, and God confirmed him in that dreadful choice).

HEALINGS

¹⁷And He (Jesus) came down with them, and stood in the plain (as He had delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He will now deliver the Sermon in the Plain), and the company of His Disciples (as Jesus traveled from place to place, there were, no doubt, as many as fifty to a hundred people who traveled with Him most of the time), and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases;

¹⁸And they who were vexed with unclean spirits (vexed means to harass; these things caused particular types of sicknesses among the people and, no doubt, do so presently): and they were healed.

¹⁹And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue (power) out of Him, and healed them all (it was a sight and a scene that the world had never experienced in all of its history).

SERMON ON THE PLAIN

²⁰And He lifted up His eyes on His Disciples, and said (could have been Lukes account of the Sermon on the Mount, and could have been another Message altogether; Jesus, no doubt, repeated Himself many times, in order that the Message not be lost), Blessed be the poor (poor in spirit, denoting humility): for yours is the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are basically the same).

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now (hunger and thirst after Righteousness): for you shall be filled (the Lord always rewards spiritual hunger). Blessed are you who weep now (mourn, because of spiritual weakness): for you shall laugh (defeat will be turned to victory).

²²Blessed are you (happy are you), when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Mans sake (those who subscribe to the Cross will be treated accordingly).

²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy (the rejection by the religious world is a great sign that one is on the right track, which gives occasion for great joy): for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven (means the greater reward awaits your arriving there): for in the like manner did their fathers unto the Prophets (if the religious establishment did such unto the Prophets, and they definitely did, then we can expect no less; the Cross is the great dividing line for the Church and, in fact, has always been; to accept the Cross as the answer is to reject all of mans ways, which doesnt set well with religion [Gal: 6:14]).

FOUR WOES

²⁴But woe unto you who are rich! (Rich and increased with goods, and claim to have need of nothing [Rev. 3:17].) for you have received your consolation (you have traded the Spirit of God for things, and that is what you will have).

²⁵Woe unto you who are full! (Things of the world.) for you shall hunger (they will not satisfy). Woe unto you who laugh now! (Do not see your spiritual failure.) for you shall mourn and weep (mourn now over spiritual weakness, which all have, or mourn later over lost opportunity).

²⁶Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets (such have always had men singing their praises, and do so no less today; however, it is because they are telling men what they want to hear instead of what God wants them to hear).

LOVE FOR ENEMIES

²⁷But I say unto you which hear (refers to the fact that many refuse to hear), Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you (begins the most revolutionary lifestyle ever known in the history of man; no religion in the world can remotely compare with this; for instance, compare this with the religion of Islam),

²⁸Bless them who curse you (speak well of), and pray for them which despitefully use you (pray that they will see Gods Way).

²⁹And unto him who smites you on the one cheek offer also the other (is meant to serve as a principle and not to be taken literally; for example: the Lord, Himself, did not offer Himself to be stricken again [Jn. 18:22-23], but firmly, though with courtesy, rebuked the one who struck Him; the principle is that one should not seek retaliation); and him who takes away your cloak forbid not to take your coat also (if one demands his rights too loudly, the loss could even be greater than the cloak and coat).

³⁰Give to every man who asks of you (speaks of those truly in need; it is not meant to reward slothfulness); and of him who takes away your goods ask them not again (portrays unselfishness, which ought to characterize every Believer).

THE GOLDEN RULE

³¹And as you would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (this is the Verse referred to as the Golden Rule; it is also a teaching of the Law [Lev. 19:18]).

³²For if you love them which love you, what thank have you? (The idea is Jesus loved us when we were unlovable [Rom. 5:8], and we are to do the same for them who are unlovable.) for sinners also love those that love them (to love those who do not love us portrays Godliness).

³³And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have you? for sinners also do even the same (the rule of man is to return good for good and evil for evil; then beneath this there is the returning of evil for good, which is devilish; while above it there is the returning of good for evil, which is Divine that commanded of the followers of Christ).

³⁴And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

³⁵But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again (how can we call it lending, if it is not to be repaid? Solomon gave the answer: He who has pity upon the poor lends unto the LORD; and that which he has given will He pay him again [Prov. 19:17]); and your reward shall be great (the idea is the Lord will repay, and He does so abundantly), and you shall be the children of the Highest (means that we will be like our Heavenly Father): for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil (what we should do as well).

³⁶Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (as He has been merciful to us, we are to be merciful to others; everything we do is to be based on what He has done for us).

JUDGING OTHERS

³⁷Judge not (do not judge ones motives), and you shall not be judged (implying that you will be judged by the Lord, if you do not obey this admonition): condemn not (do not pass sentence), and you shall not be condemned (meaning conversely, that if you pass sentence on others, the Lord will ultimately pass sentence on you): forgive, and you shall be forgiven (implying that if you do not forgive, God will not forgive you, which puts a person in a terrible dilemma):

³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you (Gods economy; it refers not only to the giving of money, but as well to mercy, grace, love, help, etc.); good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom (constitutes a remarkable Promise). For with the same measure that you mete withal it shall be measured to you again (is a Law of God which everyone should take very seriously, for Christ means exactly what He says).

³⁹And He spoke a Parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? (These are false religious teachers.)

⁴⁰The disciple is not above his master (those who listen to false teachers will become as perfectly deluded as their masters, for pupils cannot see more clearly than their teachers; hence, the disciples of Romanism, Mormonism, etc., become as wholly deluded as their teachers): but every one who is perfect shall be as his master (would have been better translated, but every one who has been perfected, i.e., embraced this false doctrine, shall be as his teacher).

⁴¹And why behold thou the mote that is in your brothers eye (dont look for faults in others), but perceive not the beam that is in your own eye? (If you want to inspect, inspect yourself. You have plenty there to inspect, which desperately needs improvement.)

⁴²Either how can you say to your brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in your eye, when you yourself behold not the beam that is in your own eye? (This does not pertain to doctrine, which must be judged constantly [Mat. 7:15-20], but rather ones person and character. Once again, we have enough about ourselves that needs improving, rather than condemning others.) Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of your own eye, and then shall you see clearly to pull out the mote that is in your brothers eye (if we deal with ourselves as we should, then we will then be able to see clearly, which means well have no desire to find fault with others).

THE FRUIT

⁴³For a good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit (is the method delineated by Jesus for separating the good from the bad); neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (the manner in which we are to judge false doctrine).

⁴⁴For every tree is known by his own fruit (for example, look at the fruit of Islam, or even the part of Christianity which is corrupt). For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes (its impossible to get good fruit from a corrupt tree).

⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good (refers to the fact that all of this, whether good or evil, begins in the heart); and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil (no matter the claims, what is in the heart is going to ultimately come forth): for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (there can be an imitation of the fruit of the Spirit, as a paper rose may be so like a real one as to be indistinguishable; but a bee will make no mistake!).

⁴⁶And why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Both the True Prophet and the false prophet will freely use the title Lord, but Christ is Lord only to those who obey His Word.)

TWO FOUNDATIONS

⁴⁷Whosoever comes to Me (truly accepts Christ), and hears My sayings (the Word of God), and does them (the hearing must culminate in the doing), I will show you to whom he is like (the end result):

⁴⁸He is like a man which built an house (we ought to grow in grace and knowledge), and digged deep (deep into the Word), and laid the foundation on a rock (that Rock is Christ and Him Crucified [I Cor. 1:23]): and when the flood arose (problems will arise), the stream beat vehemently upon that house (Satan will try to destroy the house), and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock (once again, that Rock is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, which must ever be the Object of our Faith).

⁴⁹But he who hears, and does not (doesnt obey the Word), is like a man that without a foundation (the object of his faith is not the Cross of Christ) built an house upon the earth (outwardly this one looked identical to the one built on the rock); against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great (if our Faith is not in the Cross of Christ, things may go well for awhile, but sooner or later the storm will come, and Satan will win the day).