Luke 6:32-36

Rachel Workman: ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Something my mind can not wrap around is that God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. But something to keep in mind is we are all wicked (really dig a little deeper, I assure you we are), we are all ungrateful. And we are all undeserving. Thank you Jesus, you continue to awe me.

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John Burnett:  ⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.  These are some of the hardest commands in the Bible.  I know I struggle in this area but when we hold a grudge against someone who hates us, we are downplaying Jesus Christ’s sufficiency.  We are saying that His death was not enough of a payment for what they did to us and that we should add our grudge to the punishment. 

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  When reading this passage we have to remember that we are the sinners Jesus is talking about.  Everything we have he has given to us without expectation of repayment, minus our faithful giving.  He does not expect repayment because we don’t have anything He needs.  He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked because the paid the ultimate price so that we could spend eternity with him in heaven. 

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Mike Grimm:  ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Love means action. One way to put love to work is to take the initiative in meeting specific needs in other people. This is easy to do with people who love us, people whom we trust; but love means doing this even to those who dislike us or plan to hurt us. Yes, even Islam. The money we give others should be considered a gift, not a high-interest loan that will help us more than them. We should never expect repayment. If they do repay the gift, we now have the means to help again. We should give as though we are giving to God. This ethic is founded in the character of God. This is how He treats us. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Luke 6:37-40

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.