In the previous sections of the sermon Jesus addressed the choices that disciples make and their conduct. He also spoke of the character from which those things spring. He used five parables to teach these lessons.
6:39 In this parable the leader evidently represents a disciple and the led someone the disciple is seeking to guide into the way of life. If the disciple is blind, he will not be able to help other blind non-disciples find their way. Both disciple and non-disciple will stumble tragically. On another occasion Jesus called the Pharisees blind guides (Matt. 15:14). However here He compared the disciples to them. The disciples could be blind guides if they did not follow Jesus' instructions about loving (vv. 27-38).
6:40 Changing the figure momentarily Jesus compared a disciple of His to a teacher. It is proverbial that a pupil cannot rise above his teacher in knowledge. The fact that some pupils do excel their teachers is an exception to the rule. The people the disciples would instruct in the truth that Jesus taught them would normally advance no farther than the disciples. This was especially true before the widespread availability of books.213Therefore it was imperative that the disciples pay careful attention to Jesus' teachings about love and apply them. The progress of the disciples' learners depended on it.
6:41-42 Jesus returned to the figure of limited perception (v. 39). It would be easy for a disciple to criticize those he was instructing and fail to realize his own faults since he was in the position of a teacher (v. 40). It would be not only dangerous but hypocritical to try to help a learner overcome his deficiencies without dealing with one's own failings first. If a disciple tried to teach his learner the importance of loving as Jesus taught but did not practice that kind of love himself, he could not remove his learner's knowledge deficiency. His sin would be greater than his learner's ignorance.
Thus Jesus stressed the importance of His disciples applying the truths He had taught them before they tried to teach them to other people. Their failure to do so would make them the spiritual equivalent of blind eye surgeons. They would be judging others but not themselves (v. 37; cf. Rom. 2:1-3).
Jesus' point in this parable was that a person of bad character cannot normally produce good conduct (cf. Matt. 12:33-35). Therefore His disciples needed to clean up their lives before they could minister for Him effectively. As a pupil follows the example of his teacher (v. 40), so fruit from a tree follows the nature of its tree. In the Matthew parallel Jesus applied the parable to false teachers, but here it stands by itself and applies in this context to disciples of His. Conduct follows character as surely as fruit follows root, for good and for bad (cf. James 3:12).214
"The text indicates that although fruit may not be a certain indicator, it can be a suggestive one."215
This short parable makes more explicit the same point about human conduct that Jesus had just made about trees (cf. Matt. 12:35). The conduct of people follows from their character, for good or for bad (cf. 3:7-9). The man's treasury is his heart. What makes the heart good is proper orientation to Jesus as a disciple. The good man has chosen to follow Jesus faithfully as His disciple, but the evil man has decided to pursue worldly wealth and happiness. A person's speech normally expresses what fills his heart.
This is a very brief condensation of a parable that Matthew recorded more fully. Matthew's interest in it connects with the mention of false teachers that occurs in the context of his account of the sermon. Luke simply lifted the main point of the teaching out and inserted it in his account. His interest was primarily Jesus' warning to disciples to apply His teaching to their lives. Profession of discipleship is one thing, but what identifies a true disciple of Jesus is really doing God's will (cf. James 1:22-25).
A disciple cannot legitimately refer to Jesus as his or her lord and ignore what He teaches. The double title was common in Judaism to strengthen the form of the address (cf. Gen. 22:11; 46:2; Exod. 3:4; 1 Sam. 3:10). Here it implies great honor. "Lord"was a respectful address, as we have noted, but in view of who Jesus was it came to imply the highest respect. Used intelligently it implied deity, messiahship, and sovereignty. However everyone who used this title, even Jesus' disciples, did not always imply all of this when they used it, especially before Jesus' resurrection and ascension.
This final parable is an appeal to the hearers, primarily Jesus' disciples (v. 20), to obey the teaching that they had heard (cf. James 1:21-25; Ezek. 13:10-16). As such it is a conclusion to the whole sermon. Luke omitted the response of the people, which Matthew mentioned.
Jesus compared a disciple who heard His teachings and then put them into practice to a house built on a solid foundation. Luke stressed the digging of a proper foundation. Perhaps he had Hellenistic houses with basements in mind.216The flood waters represent the forces of enemies and temptations that seek to move the disciple from these moorings, perhaps even divine testing. The disciple who does not both hear and apply Jesus' teachings, specifically what He had just taught about commitment choices and loving conduct, could anticipate ruin. It is as foolish to hear Jesus' teachings without obeying Him as it is to build a house without first laying a solid foundation.
Throughout this sermon Jesus was not contrasting believers and unbelievers but disciples who followed Him and people who did not. As we have observed, the Gospel writers were not too concerned about identifying the moment when a person placed saving faith in Jesus and passed from death to life. This became a greater concern to the writers of the New Testament epistles. However even they were not as interested in nailing down the moment of regeneration as some of us sometimes are. Jesus and the Gospel writers put more emphasis on the importance of people making decisions to follow Jesus, to learn from Him, and to become wholehearted participants with Him in His mission. That was particularly Luke's interest in relating what Jesus taught His disciple in the Sermon on the Mount. I am not depreciating the vital importance of trusting in Jesus in a moment of saving faith.
