March 8th, 2025

We have just started the season of Lent. And I hope it is quite obvious, then, that this Sunday’s title is The First Sunday in Lent. And although there is now a very different season of the church year, in the writings of this website we happen to be in the very middle of looking at a major sermon within the Gospel according to Luke.

We are currently going through the Gospel according to Luke, a small piece at a time, given in a very literal translation, in the order that it was laid out by the writer. The Gospel Reading for last Sunday focused on the transfiguration of Jesus in what is called chapter nine of that Gospel account. This week’s Gospel reading is about Jesus’ temptation at the beginning of his ministry, and that reading is from chapter four (verses 1-13). In these writings we are somewhere between that.

The entire sermon of “Jesus on the Plain” is from Luke 6:20b through verse 49, essentially thirty verses.  Approximately halfway through the sermon are verses 35 & 36, and they contained rare references to God as both Most High and Father, two very different titles, and it was pointed out the usefulness of something so important in the middle of the sermon. What follows below is the rest of the sermon.

The structure of the following part will use quotation marks. If this is your first encounter with this website, please note that this is an extremely literal translation, and it may not be so obvious what Jesus is saying. (It should also be noted that the hyphens below connect the words in English which are just one word in the Greek, the language of the New Testament.) It will most likely be helpful to look at other translations or a study bible for a better understanding of the text. What follows is Luke 6:37-49:

[Jesus said:] “And  not  do-judge,  and  not  not  you-will-be-judged;  and  not  do-condemn,  and  not  not  you-will-be-condemned.  Release,  and  you-will-be-released;  give,  and  it-will-be-given  to-you;  measure,  good,  having-been-pressed-down,  having-been-shaken,  running-out-and-over,  they-will-give  into  the  lap,  yours;  for  in-what  measure  you-measure,  it-will-be-anti-measured  to-you.”

Now  he-said,  also,  a-parable  to-them:  “Not  is-able  a-blind-man,  a-blind-man  to-guide?  Not  both  into  a-pit  they-will-fall-in?  Not  is  a-disciple  above  the  teacher;  now  having-been-perfected  all,  he-will-be  as  the  teacher,  his.”

“Now  why  you-see  the  speck,  the-one,  in  the  eye  of-the  brother,  your,  now  the  beam,  the-one  in  the  own,  eye,  not  you-consider?  How  are-you-able  to-say  to-the  brother,  your:  ‘Brother,  allow  I-may-throw-out  the  speck,  the-one,  in  the  eye,  your,'  yourself  the-one  in  the  eye,  your,  a-beam  not  seeing;  hypocrite,  throw-out,  first,  the  beam  out-of  the  eye,  your,  and  then  you-will-see-clearly  the  speck,  the-one  in  the  eye  of-the  brother,  your,  to-throw-out.” 

“For  no,  there-is  a-tree,  good,  making  fruit,  bad;  nor  again,  a-tree  bad,  making  fruit,  good.  For  each  tree,  from  the  own  fruit,  it-is-known;  for  not  from  thorns,  they-do-gather  figs,  nor  out-of  a-thorn-bush  a-grape-cluster  they-do-pick.  The  good  person,  out-of  the  good  treasure  of-the  heart,  he-brings-forth  the  good,  and  the  evil-man  out-of  the  evil,  he-brings-forth  the  evil;  for  out-of   abundance  of-heart  it-speaks,  the  mouth,  his.”
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“Now  why,  me,  you-call, ‘Lord,  Lord,’  not  you-do  the-things  I-am-saying?  Every  one  coming  toward  me  and  hearing  my,  the  words,  and  doing  them,  I-will-show  to-you  what  he-is  like.  Like  he-is,  to-a-man  building  a-house,  who  dug  and  deepened,  and  he-laid  a-foundation  upon  the  rock;  now  a-flood  having-happened,  it-dashed-against,  the  river,  the  house,  that,  and  not  it-had-strength  to-shake  it,  because  the  so-well,  to-have-been-built  it.  Now  the-one  having-heard  and  not  having-done,  like  he-is  a-man,  having-built  a-house  upon  the  ground  without  a-foundation,  which  it-dashed-against  the  river,  and  immediately  it-fell-together,  and  it-became  the  ruin  of-the  house,  that-one,  a-great-one.”