The selection of twelve apostles is recounted and this is followed by the "Sermon on the Plain", where key aspects of Jesus' teaching are presented.

Jesus' disciples are accused of breaking the Law (Exodus 20:8–11) by the Jewish authorities who see them pluck wheat, rub it and eat it during the Sabbath.

Jesus invites his audience to recall the actions of David and his men who when hungry received the showbread (1 Samuel 21:1–6).

[4] Luke places the event at a specific date: Greek: εν σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω (en sabbatō deuteroprōtō),[5] translated in the King James Version as "on the second Sabbath after the first".

[6] Evangelical writer Jeremy Myers suggests this could have been the day of Shavuot (Festival of Weeks), which would give the action of Jesus an added significance.

This action represents a radical departure from traditional ways and structures, and undermines the special status of the priests.

The commissioning of the apostles is followed by a description of the multitude gathered from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,[13] and then by a sermon that lays down key aspects of Jesus' teachings.

In the parallel section of Matthew's gospel, the crowds are said to have come from Galilee, and from the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

[14] Mark's description is the most extensive of the three synoptic gospels: "a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon".

[15] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges concludes "thus there were Jews, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Arabs among our Lord’s hearers".

The coffee and cocoa cups' bottom of In-N-Out Burger has the text "LUKE 6:35", which refers to the 35th verse of this chapter.