Mercy and generosity belong together

Camote Eaters by Carlos Francisco

After reading Luke 6:17-45 yesterday, I pulled out the massive first volume on Luke by Darrell Bock.  Following are some nuggets I discovered:

• Luke 6:21a The consequence of being among the poor is “hunger and sadness.” Darrell Bock 575
• Quote from Goppelt, “The hungry are men who both outwardly and inwardly are painfully deficient in the things essential to life as God meant it to be, and who since they cannot help themselves, turn to God on the basis of His promise.”
• Bock’s summary of the verse: “Blessed are you who sense your lack and depend on God, for God shall accept and reward you in the consummation.” 576
• Luke 6:22 from Bock, “Blessed are you who suffer scorn and pain as you identify with God and depend on him, for you shall be fully welcomed by him at his table and shall rejoice.” 577
• Luke 6:22-23 “The disciple is treated as evil, unclean, and thus as a person with whom one does not associate.” Total rejection. 579
• Luke 6:24-26 Warning about trusting “too greatly in wealth, comfort, popularity and possessions.” 582
• “An attitude of independence from God is the road to destruction.  Its reward is fleeting, limited to the present.” 582
• Luke 6:24 “What is condemned is a misplaced focus that zeroes in on this life and its possessions without concern for God’s desires or fellow humans. The danger of succumbing to things of only temporal value is all too real and deceptive.” 583
• Luke 6:25 “The joy of possessions now will become the pain of what is lost forever.” 585 Darrell Bock
• Luke 6:26 Warning “not to fall into the trap of courting acceptance for one’s message at the expense of truthfulness. . . Popularity at the expense of being God’s faithful representative is disastrous.” 585
• Luke 6:27-38

• Mercy should produce a hesitation to judge others.  Luke 6:27-38
• Mercy and generosity belong together
• The disciples are to “make clear what the justice of God would mean for one who steadfastly refused to listen to God; but they were to seek to benefit their enemies as much as possible.” 591

• Luke 6:28 supernatural love being discussed here since it reverses “all natural instincts.” 590
• Luke 6:29a “Love is available, vulnerable, and subject to repeated abuse.”

• Turning the other cheek “is not so much an active pursuit as it is a natural exposure when one reaches out to those who have contempt.”   In other words, we continue “to minister at the risk of further persecution.” 591

• Luke 6:30b “To commit to a radical love, one must see that God honors such a commitment to reflect his grace (6:35-36).”
• Luke 6:31 “not simply a command to avoid unfair treatment that one might not wish for oneself. Rather, it is a command to give the same sensitive consideration to others that one might want others to give.” 596

• “treat others with the respect and sensitivity that one would wish from them.” 597
• “As you wish to be treated with sensitivity to your preferences, so treat others with sensitivity to their preferences.” 598  (“this does not involve moral areas where God’s desire is clear”)

• Luke 6:34 “One should give without strings attached.”  601
• Luke 6:37-38 When we are merciful, we are hesitant to condemn and quick to forgive.  605 (my summary of his words)
• Luke 6:37 Jesus warns against a harshness that holds onto an unforgiving attitude and ceases to hold out hope. 607 (my summary again)