The Difficult Gospel of Jesus: Kingdom Living and Living

Jesus has laid the foundation of the reconstruction of Israel and he has begun to proclaim the gospel of the New Jerusalem in Luke 6:12-26. Jesus has pronounced blessings on those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated because of their association with Jesus. He has also pronounced woes on the self-reliant, the selfish, those who haughtily laugh at others and are spoken well of. What the world thinks are blessings, Jesus pronounces them as woes or curses.

Jesus continues to preach his “Sermon on the Plain” to the Apostles, the disciples, and the crowds by teaching them more about the gospel of the Kingdom, and what the people of the New Jerusalem will look like in him. In the continuation of Jesus’ Kingdom sermon, he tells more about how the extremely challenging gospel of the New Jerusalem will change one’s way of loving and living, and he contrasts this gospel to the teaching of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law because they have begun to oppose he and his Kingdom ministry (6:11).