6:17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the {c} sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
(c) From all the sea coast, which is called Syrophoenecia.
6:17-19 Came down with them, and stood in the plain. We now come to Luke's report of the Sermon on the Mount, given much more fully in Mt 5:1-7:29, on which see notes. Luke only states that the sermon was preceded by the healing of the diseased in the vast multitudes which had assembled from all parts of the country.
6:17 On a plain - At the foot of the mountain.
6:12-19 We often think one half hour a great deal to spend in meditation and secret prayer, but Christ was whole nights engaged in these duties. In serving God, our great care should be not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning of another. The twelve apostles are here named; never were men so privileged, yet one of them had a devil, and proved a traitor. Those who have not faithful preaching near them, had better travel far than be without it. It is indeed worth while to go a great way to hear the word of Christ, and to go out of the way of other business for it. They came to be cured by him, and he healed them. There is a fulness of grace in Christ, and healing virtue in him, ready to go out from him, that is enough for all, enough for each. Men regard the diseases of the body as greater evils than those of their souls; but the Scripture teaches us differently.
