Luke 6:17-19 meaning

The parallel Gospel account for Luke 6:17-19 is Matthew 5:1-2.

Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon (v 17).

Following Jesus’s retreat to the mountain to pray through the night (Luke 6:12), He chose His twelve disciples (Luke 6:13-16). Luke then describes that Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. 

The word quickly spread about Jesus’s miracles that healed every kind of disease and sickness, and that He had authority to cast out demons, or unclean spirits. In a short span of time following His arrival in Capernaum, a village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, He was drawing considerable crowds (Luke 4:42; 5:1, 15, 19).

As Jesus and His twelve disciples came down the mountain, from where He likely chose the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12), they saw the great throng of people that had gathered. This great throng included a large crowd of His disciples. Luke’s expression: a large crowd of His disciples, indicates that this was more than the twelve. We know from passages such as Luke 10:1 and John 6:66 that Jesus had a larger group of followers besides the twelve who were also regularly referred to as His disciples.

In addition to Jesus’s followers, Luke reports that there were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem who gathered to see Jesus. These people were mostly Jews. The district of Judea was located south of the district of Galilee, which is where Jesus was when He came down from the mountain. Judea included not only the capital city of Jerusalem but also the towns of Bethany, Bethlehem, and Jericho. Between Judea and Galilee was the district of Samaria. It was a three-day journey from Judea to Galilee, if a Jew crossed the Jordan river to the east to walk around Samaria before crossing back again into Galilee.

Luke also adds some of the people in the crowd came from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were ancient coastal cities located north of Galilee along the Mediterranean Sea, in modern Lebanon. Tyre and Sidon were mostly Gentile cities.

All told, this region that Luke describes would encompass a 200-mile radius. Luke describes why this great throng of people came to Jesus.

who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all (vs 18-19).

These crowds had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Luke also tells us that those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. These miracles were already familiar to Luke’s audience (Luke 4:35, 39-41, 5:13, 24, 6:10). Clearly the word was out about Jesus and many people were willing to travel to Galilee to hear His teachings and be healed!

Luke also makes it clear that power was coming from Him to heal them all. This phrasing is similar to Luke 4:14, where Luke writes that “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.” The Gospel of John also makes it clear that Jesus did nothing on His own, but that He was in complete union with God the Father as He performed these miracles:

“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
(John 5:30)

“The works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.”
(John 10:25b)

Jesus’s power was evident in the miracles of healing that He was performing. His love, sympathy, and care were displayed to those who had travelled far distances at personal cost to come near to Him in hopes of being healed.

It is not clear if the event Luke is describing here is the same one that Matthew reports in Matthew 5:1-2. Matthew writes:

“When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying…”
(Matthew 5:1-2)

If Matthew and Luke are both describing the same event, then it is likely that Jesus first came down the mountain and stood on a level place to perform the miracles of healing. Then “He went [back] up on the mountain” to teach His disciples (Matthew 5:1).

It is also possible that Luke and Matthew are describing similar but different occasions from Jesus’s Galilean ministry in these respective passages and the extended teachings that follow (Luke 6:20-49 and Matthew 5:3 - 7:27).

Jesus’s teachings in Matthew 5-7 are commonly called “The Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus’s teachings in Luke 6:20-49 are sometimes called “The Sermon on the Plain” because Luke said that Jesus came down and stood on a level place.

We will begin considering these teachings in the next section of commentary.