Luke 6:26

For such things indeed did their fathers do to the prophets. He means false prophets, who are also often called prophets in sacred scripture, because they seek the favor of the people by predicting the future, that is, by attempting to foretell it. Hence Ezekiel …

By the false prophets are meant those, who to gain the favour of the multitude attempt to predict future events. The Lord on the mountain pronounces only the blessings of the good, but on the plain he describes also the "woe" of the wicked, because the yet uninstructed hearers must first be brought by terrors to good works, but the perfect need but be invited by rewards.

But because flattery being the very nurse of sin, like oil to the flames, is wont to minister fuel to those who are on fire with sin, he adds, Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.

To the vainglorious, however, he threatens the woe of eternal contempt, when he adds: Woe to you, when all men shall bless you! namely by extolling with vain praises: Proverbs 27: "He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, …

Christ justifies his disciples in a work of necessity for themselves on that day, and that was plucking the ears of corn, when they were hungry on that day. This story here has a date, which we had not in the other evangelists; it was on the second sabbath after the first (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!....

The discourse of our Lord, which we have now begun, resembles, in many respects — His well-known Sermon on the Mount. The resemblance, in fact, is so striking that many have concluded that Luke and Matthew are reporting one and the same discourse — and that Luke is giving us, in an abridged form, what Matthew reports at length. There seems no sufficient ground for this conclusion. The occasions on which the two discourses were delivered, were entirely different. Our Lord's repetition of the same great lesson, in almost the same words, on two different occasions — is nothing extraordinary.

The discourse of our Lord, which we have now begun, resembles, in many respects — His well-known Sermon on the Mount. The resemblance, in fact, is so striking that many have concluded that Luke and Matthew are reporting one and the same discourse — and that Luke is giving us, in an abridged form, what Matthew reports at length. There seems no sufficient ground for this conclusion. The occasions on which the two discourses were delivered, were entirely different. Our Lord's repetition of the same great lesson, in almost the same words, on two different occasions — is nothing extraordinary. It is unreasonable to suppose that none of His mighty teachings were ever delivered more than once. In the present case, the repetition is very significant. It shows us the great and deep importance of the lessons which the two discourses contain. Let us first notice in these verses — who they are, whom the Lord Jesus pronounced BLESSED. The list is a remarkable and startling one. It singles out those who are "poor," and those who "hunger" — those who "weep," and those who are "hated" by man. These are the people to whom the great Head of the Church says, "Blessed are you!" We must take good heed that we do not misunderstand our Lord's meaning, when we read these expressions. We must not for a moment suppose that the mere fact of being poor, and hungry, and sorrowful, and hated by man — will entitle anyone to lay claim to an interest in Christ's blessing. The poverty here spoken of — is a poverty accompanied by grace. The need here spoken of — is a need entailed by faithful adherence to Jesus. The afflictions here spoken of — are the afflictions of the Gospel. The persecution here spoken of — is persecution for the Son of Man's sake.