Luke 6 Footnotes

6:17-49 There are a number of differences between 6:17-49 and Mt 5:1–7:27. Jesus undoubtedly taught similar things on several different occasions, and the different settings (a “level place,” Lk 6:17, and a “mountain,” Mt 5:1; before [Mt 10:1-4] and after [Lk 6:12-16] choosing the Twelve) and contents of the two sermons lead many to conclude that they represent such a case. Others conclude from the very similar contents and order of the sermons, and from the episode of the healing of the centurion’s servant that follows each, that they represent the same sermon, albeit considerably summarized by both Gospel writers. Luke’s “level place” (Gk pedinos) can refer to a flat spot in the mountains and is so taken in this latter view. Luke omitted much of what is of primarily Jewish concern in the sermon as recorded in Matthew and relocated other sayings elsewhere in his Gospel (to times when Jesus presumably repeated such sayings). Regardless of whether we read these as one sermon or two, the introductory and concluding statements in both Luke (Lk 6:17-19; 7:1) and Matthew (Mt 5:1-2; 7:28-29) imply that the writers intended for these sermons to be read as historical events and not mere anthologies of Jesus’s teaching shaped into sermons for literary purposes.