Luke 23:8-12 is today’s BDBD. A Funeral Circus.

Herod in one ring, layering questions on questions while trying to entice a miracle. The chief priests and the teachers of the Mosaic law became a pack of mad dogs jumping through flaming hoops in another ring. Soldiers, like evil clowns playing dress-up-the-joker in a third ring. Silent Jesus, the focus of their dark crafts. Depravity sinks deep into a dark pit when given power over the light.

“The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17) “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Psalm 10:4) “Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:21-22) “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.” (Psalm 37:12-13)

“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:23-24) “The man who does not work for salvation, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)

Luke 23:5-7 is today’s BDBD. Political Poison.

Pilate deduced Jesus was not a threat to the Romans. “I find no basis for a charge against this man,” he told the accusers. Jesus’ teachings were no threat to the Roman Empire. The fact that many followed a Jewish Rabbi did not violate Roman law. Nor did it indicate that he was inciting a rebellion.

An accusation was made. Pilate examined the accused. His reply to Pilate proved sufficient to demonstrate that Jesus was innocent of any crime against Roman law. The accused did not answer to anything the religious leaders were saying (Matthew 15:4-5; Mark 27:12-14). Thus, the accused revealed their hearts to Pilate (Mark 15:5). Pilate deduced the real reason Jesus was being accused (Matthew 27:12-14). The religious leaders were jealous and afraid they would lose their position (Matthew 27:18; Acts 17:5).

At this point, Pilate should have, by law and ethics, released Jesus. Yet, he did not. Why? He was more interested in persuading the religious leaders that Jesus was innocent. When that was not working, he still kept Jesus in custody. Why? What is this sin of selfish injustice?

Pilate is not the only person who knows someone is innocent and yet keeps them in custody with the threat of punishment and even death. Pilate is not the only person who lets another suffer and be persecuted for no righteous reason.

Matthew Henry, a famous British minister and Bible commentator in the late 15th and early 16th century, wrote, “He proposes to release him, if they will but consent to it. He ought to have done it without asking leave of them, ‘Let justice have its course, though the heavens should be desolated’. But the fear of man brings many into this snare, that, whereas justice should take place, though heaven and earth come together, they will do an unjust thing, against their consciences, rather than pull an old house about their ears. Pilate declares him innocent, and therefore has a mind to release him; yet, to please the people, he does not.” Will I sacrifice another so I will be accepted by another? Do I drink political poison?

Luke 23:1-4 is today’s BDBD. You Said So.

By our words we will be judged. Words come from the heart. Words are the fruit that reveals if our tree is rotting at the core and roots. If the core is hollow and infested with termites and/or the roots are dying, then our fruit will be sour. No one will pick and eat them. They fall to the group, root, and disappear from memory.

The whole assembly of religious leaders lied. Pilate’s words were politically motivated, not based on truth and justice. Jesus’s words were, “You have said so.” By their words they were revealed to be rooting. Soon they will be cut down and the stumps burned.

“I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant!” (Luke 19:22) “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37)

Luke 22:66-71 is today’s BDBD. Jesus Passed the Test.

NOTE: BDBD will be down for a few days during the change of Domain Hosts.

Jesus was arrested in the middle of the night and brought first to Annas, the high priest according to the Law given through Moses. The Romans deposed him for political reasons, ensuring he was unable to lead the Sanhedrin (3:2; John 11:49-50, 18:13-14, 19, 22, 24; Acts 4:5-6). After questioning Jesus, Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas, his son-in-law and the Roman-appointed high priest. Caiaphas conducted an illegal trial according to the Law given through Moses, before the Sanhedrin. The trial was illegal because it was Passover and still night (66, John 18:24).

Both high priests were thus unfit to be high priests, for they violated many God given laws during the questioning and trial. This was no problem for Jesus became a high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:1-10). As high priest, Jesus would offer himself up as the lamb of God, without defect for the sins of the people (John 1:29, 36; Revelation 5:6, 7:17, 19:9). The lamb must be examined to ensure it was pure before it was sacrificed according to the Law (Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 1:3, 10, 3:1, 6-7, 17:5). So, Jesus was examined and found without fault (Matthew 26:60; Mark 14:55).

Desperate to find a reason to kill Jesus, the religious leaders finally demanded, “If you are the Christ, that is, the Messiah, tell us” (67). Funny, because only a few months earlier, he had already publicly told them in the temple he was, and they were ready to stone him back then (John 10:24-33). So, when they asked it again secretly with no crowd present, Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God” (66-69).

Frustrated, all the religious leaders finally asked in their belief the capital punishable question, “Are you then the Son of God?” Jesus did not fail to confess, “You are right in saying I am.” And with the true confession, Jesus offered himself up as the lamb of God for my sins and the sins of all who believe in him. Praise be to the lamb of God.

Luke 22:63-65 is today’s BDBD. Need a New Heart.

The guards were likely the same ones who were present when he was arrested. They were not identified by the gospel writers, but most likely consisted of temple guards. They were given the authority to arrest Jesus, who had not been charged with a crime. Their cruelty to a man who had not been found guilty reveals the heart of mankind. The human heart has a tendency to use the authority given to it to harm others.

The Stanford Prison Study conducted in 1971 illustrates that people’s behavior is strongly influenced by the social roles they are assigned and the situations they are placed in. Specifically, the study demonstrated how quickly individuals can conform to assigned roles, even when those roles involve negative or authoritarian behaviors. The study highlights the power of situational factors in shaping behavior, often overshadowing individual personality traits. A person’s heart can grow cold and cruel when they are given authority over others.

Psalm 143:2 states, “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.” Romans 3:10 states, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Jeremiah 17:9 states, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Jesus did not resist his arrest and did not stop the cruelty of the guards to solve the human heart’s problem. Since it could not be cured, he endures suffering so that anyone who would accept him could be given a new heart. Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 states, “I will give them a new undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

Luke 22:54-62 is today’s BDBD. One Confesses, One Denies.

Jesus’s trials, conducted by the Jewish leadership, are contrasted with Peter’s denying Jesus three times in all four Gospel accounts (54-62; Matthew 26:57-75; Mark 14:53-72; John 18:12-27). This is clear because they bounce back and forth between the two with dizzying speed. The whole incident, from Jesus’s arrest to the Jewish leader’s verdict and Peter’s first, second, and third denials of knowing Jesus, lasted perhaps an hour, certainly no more than two. Yet, in this small amount of time, five of Jesus’s predictions would be made sure: his arrest, rejection, persecution, condemnation, and Peter’s shame.

Comparing myself to Jesus and Peter, I can say I want to be like Jesus, who, though so poorly treated, withstood the test. Yet, in reality, I am more like Peter, who was only threatened with association with someone arrested and being tried. Jesus overcame fear because he was prepared with knowledge of the Bible and deep personal prayer. Peter remained afraid because although Jesus taught him the Bible very personally, he could not find the courage to accept it nor the will to pray when Jesus told him it was time to pray, watch, and be prepared.

Peter was so sure of his ability that he did not depend on God. Jesus accepted his lack of ability so much so that he could do nothing more than depend fully on God his Father. When Jesus asked was his identity, he did not fail to tell them the truth, though it meant beating, humiliation, scourging, crucifixion, and death.

As Peter later wrote, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:6-9)

Luke 22:47-53 is today’s BDBD. Will.

After prayer, Jesus committed his will to do God’s will for him. After receiving thirty silver coins, Judas committed his will to betray his rabbi and friend for nearly three years (47-48; Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-45; John 18:2-3). After sleeping, Jesus’ disciples committed their will to stop Jesus from saving the world but only managed to cut someone’s ear off (49-51). After conspiring together, the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders committed their will to arrest their Lord in the dark and kill the maker of their soul (52-53).

What compels my will? Does my prayer bend my will into my Father’s will? Or does covetousness bend my will to the world’s will?

“Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12). “A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3). “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2). “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5).

Luke 22:41-46 is today’s BDBD. Sleepless Prayer.

Jesus instructed his disciples to pray so they would not fall into temptation. Then Jesus prayed with a similar concept. Jesus referred to his soon-to-happen suffering as a cup to be drunk, meaning the lot that was assigned to him by his Father in heaven. Jesus was assigned to drink the cup of judgment and punishment for the sins of the world. Psalm 102 has been linked with Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.

If I knew that what Jesus experienced was about to happen to me, I too would be in great anguish of soul. If I knew it was God’s will for me, would I respond like Jesus? Would I say, “Not my will, but yours be done?”

Jesus told his disciples that they were required to carry a cross too (Luke 14:27). I do not know the specifics of the cross that still awaits me. But I do know of what has transpired already. I am to know now that I too have suffering to bear for Christ and the church so that I am prepared for tomorrow’s cross.

Hebrews 12:2-6 states, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Luke 22:39-40 is today’s BDBD. Before the Trial.

The Greek word for temptation is “peirasmos,” meaning to be “put to the test” and “to prove”. Temptation in the Bible is someone facing a decision to go against God and his will or to obey God’s will and trust in his love. When tempted, I am on trial. A person’s faith and patience can be put to the test. The disciples were going to be put to the test in around an hour. On trial was their faith in Jesus.

Jesus often prayed. When in Jerusalem, he prayed on the Mount of Olives, a quiet place less than a mile from the city. Jesus’s disciples followed him. Their hearts would have been downcast from all that Jesus had told them. Their bodies would have been exhausted from a week full of activities. They would not get a weekend’s rest.

Jesus told them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” Here lies a secret. Temptation comes to all. Temptation, if not today, will come soon. Someone once said, “Two things in life are sure: death and taxes.” This, too, is sure: temptations will come.

Yet, here Jesus tells me that when I talk to God in a quiet, lonely place, I can pray to be relieved of temptation. Jesus elsewhere told his disciples to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

However, I consider this too. Temptation is not easy. Yet, it can be profitable. Overcoming temptation is the soul’s exercise. As the body needs exercise, so the soul is exercised through temptation. Resisting the test to sin makes the soul better. Many temptations are hard to resist. The natural body is addicted to one form of devolution or another. Overcoming a soulful addiction can be harder than overcoming a physical addiction. However, if I pray as Jesus instructs, God can help me to not fall when tempted.

Luke 22:35-38 is today’s BDBD. That is Enough.

The disciples did not comprehend what Jesus was saying. The problem was not because Jesus was using allegory or parables. The problem was that the disciples were not listening to what he said, they held onto the wrong idea of God’s kingdom, and when they did understand him, they were too proud to accept it (31-35).

Even though within hours Jesus was going to be arrested and tortured, he tried once again to help his followers accept the dire situation that was going to transpire. Jesus reminded them of the time he sent them out. They lacked nothing because they were participating in Jesus’ ministry and obeying Him. He prayed for them and protected them, even when he was not physically present. They were in no real danger or trouble. So, they needed nothing (35).

However, the times would drastically change that night (37). When Jesus was to be arrested, they would have to make important decisions quickly. They would be in real physical danger (36). So, unlike before, Jesus told the disciples to be prepared.

Often, we do not know what we are getting into until events unfold. We need to be prepared by staying in communion with Jesus and paying attention to what God is doing around us. Meditation and prayer help us prepare. Best be prepared beforehand to ease the unseen coming blows.

I am transferring FreeBibleStudyHelp.com and all its blogs and podcasts to a new domain hosting company to save money. I cannot sustain the price of the easy-to-maintain one I have been paying around 20 years. They have raised their prices beyond my means, and their customer support, which used to be helpful and ethical, has become nasty.

So, I am switching to one half the price. However, I have to set up the server myself with no customer support. I have to learn and do a lot while maintaining a paying job. I knew I would need to learn new things, but I did not realize how much work was needed. I am reading a lot online. Best to be prepared for each step so the site doesn’t crash, causing the 30-year ministry to end, or at least to not be offline for a while. The change is harder than I expected. I am not ready. Worse yet, when it is set up, I will have to spend more time maintaining it, which will take away from working on the materials.

Luke 22:33-34 is today’s BDBD. Stymied Will.

Having the will, no matter how intense, to do something and then not completing it, though it was possible to, counts for nothing. Many alcoholics will find themselves having the best and strongest intention to stand confessing before God, stop drinking, and make amends. Yet, a few days later, they are buried at the bottom of a bottle. Their strong intent, though sincere, died at continuing application. Though in the heart they were willing to remain sober, they did not. They have to start all over again.

Simon (Jesus called him Simon, not Peter the rock) declared his will to go to prison and to die for and with Jesus (33). His noble declaration was sincere, but would prove unfinished. Matthew and Mark record that the other disciples were no different than Simon (Matthew 26:35; Mark 14:31).

Jesus had been trying to prepare the disciples for months for what would happen this very night. He told them again and again and again that he would be arrested, tried, and crucified. He was clear and specific. But they were too interested in jockeying for a high place amongst their peers to listen.

How to convert the will to do the right thing into an act that fulfills it? Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:12-15) Learn from Peter’s mistake. Listen to what Jesus says.

Luke 22:31-32 is today’s BDBD. The Great Sifter.

Peter, like the rest of the disciples, wanted to be the greatest amongst his peers so he could be served by them. Jesus wanted them to be great, as long as they were great in the way God sees greatness. God sees greatness in a person if they serve others (26-17). Jesus instructed and provided an example of this kind of greatness by washing Peter and the other disciples’ feet (John 13:6-10).

Jesus addressed Peter by stating Peter’s name twice, expressing love, while manifesting a warning voice. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.” (31) The Greek word for “you” is plural. Therefore, though Jesus lovingly addressed Peter, he was warning all of the disciples. Satan wants to sift all of Jesus’ followers. Such a desire can be seen in Satan’s exchange with the Lord over Job (Job 1-2).

Wheat is winnowed (sifted) to separate the genuine wheat kernels from other items that have gotten mixed in with it: chaff (old, dead, dry scales), bugs, straw, and other unwanted items. When the wheat is ground into flour, it is sifted once again to remove the waste from the flour. Peter and the others are about to have a contest with the adversary. Jesus prayed that Simon’s faith may not fail.

Later, Peter wrote to all believers, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.’ (1 Peter 5:8-9) I shouldn’t let a desire to be greater than others blind me from a crouching lion in the grass.

Luke 22:24-30 is today’s BDBD. Servant Kings.

The disciples were with Jesus in the upper room of a house, eating the Passover meal which Jesus had just modified, calling the cup “the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (20) He thus fulfilled the prophecy declared by Jeremiah. “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

However, the disciples did not make the connection at this time. Instead, they were too interested in taking the highest seat of power in what they believed would be Jesus’s earthly kingdom. They quarreled about who was the greatest (24). Perhaps Peter said, “I am the rock Jesus is going to build his temple on” (Matthew 16:18). Of course, Nathan would respond, “I am the purest of all my siblings. Nathan, after all, was a prophet to the king” (1 Kings 1:22-23). They did not know what they were talking about.

Jesus interrupted their dispute by teaching them the principle of his new covenant kingdom. His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world (25-26), where the rulers are served by others. Most in today’s congresses of the world benefit from ruling at others’ expense. The rulers and judges of Jesus’ kingdom are like the servants of the world’s kingdoms (26).

Jesus served the disciples and others (27). He served them at his new blood covenant Passover by washing their feet (John 13:1-17). Jesus expects his disciples to follow his servant example. Serving Jesus is serving others. Apostle Peter later wrote, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10)

The disciples were with Jesus in the upper room of a house, eating the Passover meal which Jesus had just modified, calling the cup “the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (20) He thus fulfilled the prophecy declared by Jeremiah. “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

However, the disciples did not make the connection at this time. Instead, they were too interested in taking the highest seat of power in what they believed would be Jesus’s earthly kingdom. They quarreled about who was the greatest (24). Perhaps Peter said, “I am the rock Jesus is going to build his temple on” (Matthew 16:18). Of course, Nathan would respond, “I am the purest of all my siblings. Nathan, after all, was a prophet to the king” (1 Kings 1:22-23). They did not know what they were talking about.

Jesus interrupted their dispute by teaching them the principle of his new covenant kingdom. His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world (25-26), where the rulers are served by others. Most in today’s congresses of the world benefit from ruling at others’ expense. The rulers and judges of Jesus’ kingdom are like the servants of the world’s kingdoms (26).

Jesus served the disciples and others (27). He served them at his new blood covenant Passover by washing their feet (John 13:1-17). Jesus expects his disciples to follow his servant example. Serving Jesus is serving others. Apostle Peter later wrote, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Luke 22:20 is today’s BDBD. Blood Covenant.

Jesus shared the unleavened bread with his disciples during the Passover supper, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (19). He thus changed the meaning of the Passover (John 6:35, 41, 47-51). After the Passover supper, Jesus added something new to the Passover, for he was making a New Covenant with his people (20; Matthew 26:27-29; Mark 14:23-24). He took a cup of wine, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Jesus changed the Passover Supper. So we now refer to it as the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus’s blood is unique. Jesus’ blood is not from man. It is from God. In the book, The Chemistry of the Blood M. R. DeHann, M.D. explains the origin of blood: “The blood which flows in an unborn babe’s arteries and veins is not derived from the mother but is produced within the body of the fetus” It is only after the sperm has entered the ovum and a fetus begins to develop that blood appears. As a very simple illustration of this, think of the egg of a hen. A non-fertilized egg is simply an ovum on a much larger scale than the human ovum. You may incubate this non-fertilized hen’s egg, but it will never develop. It will dry up completely but no chick will result. But let that egg be fertilized by the introduction of the male sperm and incubation will bring to light the presence of life in an embryo. After a few hours it visibly develops. In a little while red streaks occur, denoting the presence of blood According to scientists from the time of conception to the time of birth not ONE SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD ever passes from mother to child The mother contributes no blood at all.”

Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian congregation concerning Jesus’s pure divine blood, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Luke 22:14-23 is today’s BDBD. Jesus’s New Passover.

Twilight (sunset) starts the 14th day of the Hebrew month Abib, the first month on the Hebrew calendar, the full moon (Exodus 12:1). This is when the Lord God commanded all Israel and those who believe in and worship the Lord to keep the Passover meal (Exodus 12:6-8, 14; Leviticus 23:4-5; Deuteronomy 16:1-2). At twilight (sunset), the next day begins the seven-day “Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Exodus 12:17-20; Leviticus 23:6-8; Deuteronomy 16:3-4, 8.). By Jesus’s time, the two meant the same thing (1).

The Passover, celebrated while Israel was slaves in Egypt, was only held that way once. After that, while at Mount Sinai, the Lord God made arrangements for it to be celebrated differently once they arrived at the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 16:5-8). Jesus would make other significant changes that would further elaborate and update the meaning of the Passover. Some modern congregations have ignored Jesus’s changes, stating that they are celebrating the true Passover and that all other congregations are wrong and thus going to hell.

While reclining at the table, Jesus told them that he had eagerly desired to eat this Passover with them before he suffered (14-15). Jesus had planned this night to be a special beginning since before the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. To this day, Jesus’s disciples celebrate it this way as Jesus said “…whenever we drink it…” (1 Corinthians 11:21), meaning every time we celebrate it, not just on Passover.

After the Passover supper, Jesus took the cup of wine and passed it to his disciples (Matthew 26:27-29, Mark 14:23-25, 1 Corinthians 11:25). He designated the cup the “new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”. And added, “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The Old Covenant given through Moses to Israel from that point was lesser, and the New Covenant Jesus gave to his church (congregation) was greater. Also, because of what was happening in the church at Corinth, Apostle Paul appropriately removed the meal before celebrating the cup and bread. The first disciples, most being Jews at this time, accepted and obeyed Jesus’s new covenant from that Supper, including the first century church, to this very day.

The unleavened bread that Jesus broke and gave to his disciples, he designated as representing his body given for us (19; Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24). Jesus, as with the cup, said of the broken and shared bread, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Apostle Paul comments, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Luke 22:7 is today’s BDBD. Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Passover was originally commanded while Israel was in slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-16). Exodus 12:6 says concerning the lamb that they were to designate on the 10th day of the month Abib, “Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.” This twilight was at the beginning of the day, after the 13th ended.

Exodus 12:17-20 speaks of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread commanding that it was to start “on the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day (of Abib). When the Israelites reached Mount Sinai the Lord changed the way the Passover was to be celebrated when they reached the promised land.

Leviticus 23:4-8 also confirms they are separate days, with Passover starting at the beginning of the day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread starting at the end of the same day. “‘These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'”

Deuteronomy 16:1-8, 16-17 is a repeat of what is already defined in Exodus and Leviticus. One addition is, “You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure…” This is an addition from when they were in Egypt and at Mount Sinai. The place became first Shiloh, where the tent of meeting was placed by Joshua (Joshua 18:1, 8, 10, 19:51, 21:2, 22:12; Judges 18:31, 21:19; 1 Samuel 1:3, 9, 24, 3:21, 4:3-4, 14:3; Psalm 78:60; Jeremiah 7:12-14) until David moved it to Jerusalem and his son Solomon built the Temple (1 Kings 8:4; 1 Chronicles 6:32, 15:25-29). Jesus would make another change during the Last Supper.

As time went on, the Israelites often called Passover “The Feast of Unleavened Bread,” when in fact they are separate holy days.

Luke 22:7-13 is today’s BDBD. Lest you Yeast.

The Passover feast is a special annual meal consisting of lamb, herbs, and unleavened bread (bread made without yeast) eaten at twilight, the start of the 14th day of Abib (aka Nisan, March or April, Exodus 12:1-28, 43-50, 13:10). No other religious celebration was like it at the time it was commanded to obey by the Lord. It is somber and reflective, joined with gratitude and awe.

The Israelites are to remember how the Lord brought them out of slavery when they eat the Passover. Yeast represents sin; thus, the Passover feast and the feast of Unleavened Bread point to Jesus, who died to remove sins and rescued us from slavery to the sinful nature and the influence of the devil, the adversary.

Jesus, being born a Jew, also celebrated the Passover. He gave instructions to Peter and John that took faith to obey. First of all, they were to look for a man, someone they did not know, carrying a jar of water in busy Jerusalem, which was something women typically did in the early morning. Secondly, they were to give him an unusual directive. Third, the directive was inviting them and several more into his house to eat the Passover, normally a family occasion. The detailed and strange instructions were obeyed (13). All happened as Jesus said.

The original Passover meal and the instructions to Peter and John were not typical. The Lord Jesus can give us instructions that seem strange and impossible to obey. Yet, obedience is always a blessing in the end.

The Lord God, through an outreach pastor, told me to turn my paper Bible study materials and knowledge that was in my head into a web page almost 30 years ago. The World Wide Web was first made public in 1993, 32 years ago, and AOL Hometown, my first platform, started in 1998. Though requiring self-sacrifice with no income or support from it, the mission has been a spiritual blessing. Oh, the refreshment of obeying strange and impossible commands.

Luke 22:1-6 is today’s BDBD. Adversary.

Satan is at work all the time. He has many who are delighted to help his cause. The chief priests and scribes wanted Jesus dead, for they feared the people (2). The religious establishment was the obvious adversary on the outside.

After over three years of intense ministry, Jesus had become a household conversation. The lips of the people on the street often spoke of him. Jesus’s popularity and words of repentance gave his adversary a choice. Repentance was not a choice they wanted to make, for they were content with being the rich, big hot shots. Jesus’s popularity threatened to take that away. They were willing to murder Jesus to keep it (2).

Judas was more like the chief priests and scribes than Jesus. Jesus was not enough for him. Perhaps he wanted to be like the religious establishment. Most likely, he had had enough of Jesus’s current ministry. Perhaps he tried to force Jesus’s hand. Perhaps he just wanted the thirty pieces of silver (5). Perhaps all of these are correct. His motive is not to be our focus. Crime is, for the most part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering fury through the mind of the criminal. Definitely, Judas was like Satan and so became one with Satan (3). Judas was the secret adversary within (4).

The Apostle John wrote, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:8-10)

Luke 21:34-38 is today’s BDBD. Careful Hearts.

Three destructive behaviors for Christians are dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life (34). They are a weight on a Christian’s heart, pulling us away from active love of Christ. They take the place of laboring for the kingdom of God and Jesus. They are the rocks, thorns, and thistles in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23; Mark 4:3-8, 13-25)

Dissipation is wasteful expenditure and consumption of time, strength, gifts of the Spirit, wealth, and other resources God has given us. Dissipation is dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure for self-gratification. It is living for oneself instead of helping others in their walk with Christ. Each day, Jesus was teaching in the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives to talk to his disciples and God. Everybody serves somebody. What do your actions prove about who you serve?

Drunkenness is more than tipping back the alcohol bottle and popping a pill to shut down. Drunkenness is anything that causes the loss of control of one’s mental state and body. Ephesians 5:15-20 Apostle Paul wrote, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Anxieties of life can choke the life out of any active saint. An anxiety can be in the form of cares, worries, distress, uneasiness, and perturbations. Worrying about how to pay the bill, aging, where to live and work, marrying and having children, the well-being of children, and the health of self or a loved one can keep the seed of Jesus’ word from growing in the heart till it produces fruit.

Why take command of dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life? Jesus told his disciples, “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. (36)” A wasted life, a wasted mind, and a wasted heart will not be a justification of opportunities lost at the Bema Seat of Christ. The time for the Gentile church’s judgement is at hand (2 Corinthians 5:9-10). Please Christ, not self.

Luke 21:29-33 is today’s BDBD. When You See.

I researched and pondered these five verses throughout the day and many times in the past. I had already written comments for Matthew and Mark on Jesus’ teachings on these five verses in the Olivet Discourse several years ago. The first conclusion I have is that I need more study, prayer, and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. The second conclusion of these five simple verses is that they generate several conjectures among scholars.

Luke states that Jesus started this section with a parable and a short one at that (29a). The point of the “Parable of the Sprouting Fig Tree”, all admit, is that Jesus is stating his just-stated prophecies are the signs that Jerusalem and the nation of Israel are about to end (70 A.D.) and the kingdom of God will be on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus gave them what they had asked for (7). Again, Jesus says the prophesied events will be how we “know that the kingdom of God is near” (31).

The differing interpretations come with Jesus saying “this generation” in verse 32. The Greek word here can also be translated “this race,” meaning the Jews he and the disciples were looking at while on the Mount of Olives that evening. Some say that Jesus is saying that though the temple will be destroyed and the nation end, the Jews will not “pass away”. Jesus had said in verse 24 that many Jews will fall by the sword, and those who remain alive will be taken as prisoners to all the nations while the Gentiles trample on Jerusalem.

An interesting thought is that both opinions appear to be right. Some of the apostles did experience almost everything Jesus had just said. And looking at Daniel, Revelation, and other passages in the Bible, these prophecies will be fulfilled at the end of this age. So, these verses are relevant to me now. Therefore, I need more study, prayer, and inspiration from the Holy Spirit so I am not surprised when they are being fulfilled again.

Luke 21:25-28 is today’s BDBD. Calm the Sea.

What is darkening my sun in midday? Faint not, behold the Son of Man is coming in a cloud.

What is turning my moon to bloody tears? Terror not, He comes in power and great glory.

What is causing my stars to fall from view? Weep no more, stand up and lift up your head for He comes to redeem.

What is tossing my intestines inside out? Perplex no more, His redemption is in hand.

What is shaking my timbers to the roots? Be steady, behold the Son of Man is coming in a cloud.

Luke 21:20-24 is today’s BDBD. Signs Foretold Fulfilled.

Jesus is answering the disciples’ question, “And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” (7) Jesus’s answer, given as prophecies, was fulfilled in the revolt against Rome in 66 through 70 A.D. Some of the disciples who heard Jesus give these were still alive when they were fulfilled. In obedience, they left Jerusalem.

Jesus told them the reason these were about to take place in less than 30 years. He said, “For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. (22)” The Jewish leadership rejected the Messiah and handed him over to the Romans to be crucified. They were punished, just as Jesus’ parables foretold.

Jesus said that the Jews who were not killed would be taken prisoner to all the nations (24). And so they were. Jesus said that Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And so they were. The Jews were given Jerusalem and the land surrounding it as a land of their own after the travesty of WWII.

Now with these prophecies fulfilled, what is next? Next, I should not be like the Jewish leadership 2,000 years ago, who rejected the Messiah. I should be like the apostles who accepted and obeyed. I should take heed of the warning of the writer of Hebrews. “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” (Hebrews 10:26-27) For the judgment of the Gentile churches is soon to come. (Romans 11:21; 2 Peter 2:4-10)

Luke 21:9-11 is today’s BDBD. Fearful Events, Great Signs.

Between warnings of false christs (8) and persecutions (12-14), Jesus gave predictions of severe and fearful events and great signs. Somewhere, there is a nation or region that has been attacking another almost nonstop since Jesus’s time. Revelation 6:4 tells of the fiery red horse of war that will be sent to the world during the seven years of tribulation. Billy Graham wrote about the fiery red horse’s approaching hoof beats; that is about the increase of wars in my time.

Jesus tells his disciples to not be frightened.

Jesus also predicted great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven (11). Matthew and Mark add Jesus saying, “These are the beginning of birth pains.” When the time of new birth reaches the final minutes, the pains increase in intensity and frequency. So it is with the birth of the new age to come.

Jesus tells his disciples to be on our guard (Mark 13:9), not against these severe and fearful events and great signs, but against the opposition from others against his disciples. “Do not be alarmed,” he tells me. We have a God who loves us and will take care of us. Life may not be comfortable, and we may even be killed, but God works out all things for the good of those who love him.

The author of Hebrews wrote to the persecuted church in Judea shortly before the wars with Rome from 66 to 70 A.D. “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.'” (Hebrews 3:12-15)

Luke 21:12-19 is today’s BDBD. Results of Witnessing in Jesus’s Name.

The apostles began to witness in Jesus’s name when he left us. They did not preach prosperity, share fear, or reveal hidden secrets. They proclaimed Jesus’s words and deeds in the same spirit that Jesus witnessed. As Jesus spoke on behalf of his Father through the Holy Spirit, I, with all believers, am called to “witness to them” (13) “in Jesus’s name” (12).

Jesus told the results of being his witness. He guaranteed that all his disciples would be mishandled, persecuted, and delivered to religious and social judges for judgment (12). Church history records that all the apostles were martyred. Yet, the love of Christ was always with them. Apostle Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35-37)

More than being here with me, Jesus gives me words and wisdom that none of my adversaries will be able to resist or contradict (15). I am not wise by worldly standards. What I give is what I receive from the Holy Spirit. I share what Christ already said as I tried to follow his example and practically apply his teachings. My place is not to be wise. It is to share and stand firm (19). This is living by faith in Jesus, especially when life crushes the body and soul, and all men hate me because of Jesus (17).

Luke 21:8-9 is today’s BDBD. Watch Out!

The disciples heard Jesus confirm it. The temple would be destroyed (6). The temple was the center of first-century Jewish life. The disciples knew that the temple would not go without a terrible war, and no temple meant no Israel. With Israel no more, the lifestyle that they knew would either change or be lost forever. Either way, Jesus’ prophecy would mean a drastic change.

Drastic change has us asking why. The disciples did not need to ask why, for they knew that destruction was coming to Israel because of a lack of faith in the Messiah. Yet, they still had questions. When will his prophecy be fulfilled, and what will be the signs that they will begin (7)? Asking such questions shows the intimacy between Jesus and his disciples: Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mark 13:3).

Jesus would answer these questions, but not before he warned them. “Watch out that no one deceives you!” He had stated this at least once before (Matthew 7:15-23).

So many have said, “Jesus is coming on such-and-such a day, and I am the messiah in my life that I cannot count them all. How many more will continue to do so? If Jesus gave this warning to his closest followers, then I cannot discount his warning now! Being a disciple of Jesus means I need to watch for clever deceivers.

Luke 21:5-7 is today’s BDBD. Big Stones, Small Faith.

Jesus had been teaching in the temple all week. He had given many wise teachings and responded to confrontations by the Jewish religious establishment. Matthew records that Jesus pronounced woes against the religious leaders at the end of the last day of teaching. Jesus concluded the woes by stating, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” The disciples were shocked.

Jesus left the temple and traveled to the Mount of Olives. On the journey, the disciples started talking about the temple buildings, especially being sure to mention its large, beautiful stones (5; Matthew 24:1; Luke 13:1) because they had a hard time accepting what Jesus said about the destruction of the temple. One in particular was saying, “Look at these stones. Will they really be toppled down? They’re so big. Take a look at how big they are. Who can tear down such large stones?” (I am paraphrasing.) Jesus confirmed they will all be torn down (6).

A clear distinction can be seen between Jesus and the disciples. Jesus knew that worshiping God was not about buildings and appearances before others. Jesus knew that worshiping God is about accepting God’s son and worshiping him through obedient love and reverential fear. John records that at this time, “Jesus cried out, ‘When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:44-46).

Luke 21:1-4 is today’s BDBD. Poor Widow’s Offering.

Every person who has decided to follow Jesus will have multiple times when giving an offering (“doron” in Greek) will not be easy. Many ways exist for us to make an offering to God. An offering is not just money. Romans 12:1 states we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This passage concerns giving coins (the widow’s two “leptos” in Greek – 21:2; Mark 12:41). However, it can also apply to other offerings.

Jesus was sitting opposite where the offerings were put, which he had done before (John 8:20). Perhaps this would have been unavoidable because the religious leaders had placed many offering wells throughout the temple courts. Most definitely, it was deliberate.

Jesus noticed both the rich and the poor widow’s offerings. He did not mention the large amounts the rich gave (1). He did, however, praise the two copper coins the widow gave. The Greek word can also be translated as “thin”, “small”, and “flake”. Jesus said she gave more than the rich because “she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on”.

Offerings are not just supporting the church staff and buildings (Numbers 18:20-32). For Jesus, offerings are a matter of faith and obedience. 2 Corinthians 8:11-12 states, “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”

Luke 20:41-47 is today’s BDBD. The Honor Teaches honor.

Jesus had validated the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age to religious bigots, the Sadducees. When he shamed them with the Word of God, their religious opponents, the teachers of the Law, were delighted and praised Jesus (39). However, other than different beliefs, they were the same as the Successors. They were also religious bigots. Both groups picked Bible passages that played into their personal agenda, while ignoring or dismissing the rest.

The teachers of the law liked to receive praise from others. Honor from others was their high (46). Position and status were their motivators. Not even the Messiah, the Son of David, was as prominent as they were in their mind’s eye (41).

Admiration from others was the source of self-justification for their sins. They loved themselves more than others. They devoured widows’ houses by misusing God’s Law for self-profit (47). To compensate for a guilty conscience for this sin and others, they sought justification through others’ praise and honor.

Jesus taught the teachers of the Law that the Messiah was so much more than the Son of David, the descendant of a king. He quoted one of David’s Psalms, 110:1 where David himself wrote that his descendant was actually his Lord, the Ancient of Days, the Creator God himself (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22). “David calls him Lord,” Jesus declared. “How then can he be his son?” (44) Jesus was due honor not for humiliating the Sadducees, but for who he was. The religious leaders’ craving for honor blinded them from giving Jesus the true honor due him.

Will I let my ego get in the way of understanding the truth and honoring Jesus? Or will I be like the Sadducees and teachers of the Law? Is my honor blinding me from the Messiah?

Luke 20:37-39 is today’s BDBD. Alive and Well, Thank You.

Jesus gives the priestly Sadducees definitive Biblical proof to support his dissertation that physical death is not the end of human existence, and that there will be a physical resurrection in the age to come. More so, he provides it from the Law, the first five books, the only books that the Sadducees recognized as canonical (Exodus 3:6)

Moses was meandering with his father-in-law’s flock through the far side of the desert when he saw a bush that appeared to be on fire, but did not burn (Exodus 3:1-3). What does one do when one sees a bush burning, but it is not consumed? Well, we’ll check it out, of course. So Moses marked his course and started investigating. “Strange, why the bush does not burn up?” he thought.

What do you know, but the bush was not on fire. It was Lord Jesus dressed in bright glory. “Do not come any closer,” God said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Whew. Moses wasn’t expecting that. God was talking to him from within the bush. It is impossible to camouflage glory. By the way, that glory is how Jesus appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration and to the apostle John, as recorded in the book of Revelation. Now that is a resurrection body.

Then God Jesus said to Moses something that Jesus, the Son of Man, states to the Sadducees, “I am the God…” Every phrase of the Bible stresses something. In this case, the active present tense indicates Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive even though they were generations before Moses. The human soul and spirit do not die when the physical body dies (1 Corinthians 15). Hope exists for modern man through Christ Jesus.

Luke 20:35-36 is today’s BDBD. The Resurrection to come. #2.

The word “resurrection” in Greek is “anastasis”, meaning literally “standing again.” It is used forty times in the New Testament, and always refers most naturally to a bodily rising from the dead. (Luke 20:36; John 11:24; Acts 4:33, Rev. 20:5) There is certainly no warrant for taking it to mean something else.

Jesus walked out of his tomb in the same body that was crucified. When he arrived in heaven, however, his body was changed, for he shined as many verses state. This is the state of Jesus now. He is in a glorious resurrection body. This is the form that God and he chose him to be in. This is how the Bridegroom looks. This is the state of the King.

What is Jesus’ believers’ future? Those who believe in Jesus will be married to Jesus alone. This verse and atthew 22:29-32 records Jesus saying, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Jesus is saying that an angel does not marry another angel. Similarly, Jesus’s bride will not marry another human. Jesus continued, “But about the resurrection of the dead–have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Like Jesus rose from the dead, so those who believe in him by faith will rise from the dead. We will be married to him alone. In this life we choose to marry someone from the opposite sex and may have children together. In the future, after the current physical body dies, Jesus’ bride will be alive in a resurrected body, married to Jesus, the King.

Luke 20:27-36a is today’s BDBD. Resurrection to come. #1.

When a person gains interest in Jesus, especially when we accept his rule and love in our lives, the reality of Jesus’ teaching concerning the resurrection of the dead must be considered and ascribed to in one aspect or another. The resurrection addressed in this encounter with the Sadducees is not the Lazarus resurrection type (John 11). Nor is this resurrection like Elijah’s and Moses’ appearances with Jesus on the mount (9:30-33), although there are similarities. Nor is it about where our soul and spirit go when this body stops living.

The Sadducees’ question and Jesus’s answer regards the resurrection of all the dead in Christ at the beginning of the next age (34-35; Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24; 1 Corinthians 15). The Sadducees were descendants of Levi and controlled Temple worship in Jesus’ time. They did not believe in this resurrection. Most Sadducees believed that after we die, a person’s existence ends. They recognized that Jesus’s teaching included this resurrection. So they tried to publicly humiliate the man who overturned the tables of the money changers in their temple with a silly hypothetical question.

Jesus first responded to the silliness of their hypothetical question. Matthew and Mark record Jesus telling them they were in error because they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. Then he tells them that those worthy of the coming resurrection of the dead at the end of this age will neither marry nor be given in marriage as has been done till today (34-35).

Secondly, Jesus says the people at the resurrection to come will never die physically, just as angels can no longer physically die (36). Lazarus and all those before like him physically died again. No, the resurrection to come is different.

I do not want to be like the Sadducees who were in error because I do not know the Bible and the power of God.

More on this resurrection in the next BDBD.

Luke 20:20-26 is today’s BDBD. Give.

Who likes taxes, but the receiver? Receiving others’ hard-earned income through taxes is good only if not used for self-gratification or honor. Giving taxes is good when a general citizenry has honest collection to build and maintain civil infrastructure. However, the human race has never created a society that is perfect in tax collection and use. Politicians have always stolen from and misused the tax fund for themselves and their families. Even Jesus’ disciples included Judas, who stole money from the general collection.

Misappropriation, fraud, and cheating were as common in Jesus’ day as it is today. The ruins of many buildings and palaces that Herod and his family built with the money forced from the Jews are still easy to see. The Jew’s hatred of Rome, which he represented, can be understood. So can the trap that the jealous religious leaders set for Jesus concerning paying taxes.

Jesus’s answer must have been a great shock to everyone. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” This means that even though fraud, mismanagement, and abuse are greater in my day than in Jesus’ day, I still need to pay taxes. It also means that just because being a Christian, let alone an active and open one, is considered strange and in some cases invokes persecution and harm, I need to continue to give myself to God and his kingdom. After all, if I say I am his, then I must do as Jesus said, give myself to him and his mission for me.

Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Luke 20:17-19 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Tenants. #3.

The people were startled at the conclusion of Jesus’ parable. They did not want to believe that God would allow his son to be killed by selfish and corrupt tenants and that, in response, he would kill the tenants and give the vineyard to someone else. The prophets often used a vineyard to represent Israel. So they understood Jesus well.

They believed that God loved Israel. So they could not believe God would do such a thing as this. They accepted that he punished their ancestors by sending them into captivity in Babylon. But they believed that they were not like their ancestors. They were good. Besides, what Jesus was saying was worse than the Babylonian experience. They shouted, “May this never be!” (16b)

Jesus wanted to help them accept that if they do not repent, they would perish. So he quoted Psalm 118:22. “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” (17a) Luke and Matthew 21:44 add Jesus’ commentary on that verse. This is an allusion to execution by stoning according to the Mosaic law.

The place of stoning was twice as high as a man. While standing on a scaffold (platform), one of the witnesses struck the culprit on the loins, so that he fell off the scaffold. If he died by the stroke and fall, all is done. If not, the other witness threw a stone upon his heart and finished him. That stone thrown on the culprit was in some cases as much as two men could lift up.

Luke 20:14-16 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Tenants. #2.

Jesus’s “Parable of the Tenants” has the vineyard’s owner sending his son to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants recognize he is the heir and devised a plan to kill him and take the inheritance as their own.

Greed and an evil sense of self-importance ruled their decision and the following action. Foolishness also prevailed because they were never in the chain of ownership. The only way they could legally receive it was for the owner to sell it, something he never intended. They would always be simple farmers and he would always be the owner.

When the simple farmers killed the son, the owner came and killed the tenants and gave his vineyard to others. The people who heard this parable understood the meaning (16b). The Jewish leadership would kill Jesus, the Son of God. God would destroy the nation and give the care of the kingdom over to the Gentiles.

How has the world responded to the duty of caring for God’s people? How have I? Jesus gave the church the great commission. “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8) Have I been participating in the kingdom’s growth? Or in the vineyard in need of watering and cultivating? Am I, a simple farmer, overvaluing my assigned place? Will he not do the same to the church if we are just like the Jewish leadership?

Luke 20:9-13 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Tenants. #1.

After the religious elite challenged Jesus’ authority, he began teaching them in parables. One is recorded in all three Synoptic gospels: “The Parable of the Tenants” (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12). They record that Jesus spoke this parable against them (19).

The object is a man who planted a vineyard. The subject is the world’s most common occupation, ordinary farmers. The Lord God is the man who owns the vineyard. The vineyard is his people with whom he established a covenant with and gave a good set of standards to live by. The ordinary farmers are religious leaders.

The owner expected some of the harvest. The ordinary farmers knew this. However, somewhere along their way, they began thinking higher of themselves. The subjects began thinking they were the objects, and the Lord God was to be ignored. They instituted a covenant and imposed their standards upon those they were entrusted to. They portrayed that they were acting in the interest of God. However, they were thieves, selfish, and greedy. They became richer than the field could endure.

When the man who owned the field sent people to collect some of the fruit of his field, they persecuted them and sent them away empty-handed. Finally, he sent his son, Jesus, whom he loved. My generation has far too many very wealthy religious elite who do not preach the gospel. Is the same ills in my heart?

Luke 20:1-8 is today’s BDBD. authority challenges AUTHORITY.

Men’s and women’s authority tends to lie and subvert to keep it. We will do these and worse while opposing God’s authority. Jesus had overturned the money exchange tables and driven out those who were selling sacrificial animals in the temple area (19:45-48). This challenged the Jewish religious authority and subverted their money flow. Their addiction to authorities’ power sent them on a revenge binge. The chief priests, teachers of the law, together with the elders, had to reassert their power over Jesus (1).

They publicly confronted Jesus while he was teaching. They were direct: “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Who gave you this authority?” (2) If Jesus had given them a direct answer, they would have either asked him for proof, arrested him, or stoned him. Rather, he let them answer their own questions. John the Baptist had stated many times Jesus’ authority. The religious leaders rejected John because he was not one of them. The people knew John was a prophet. Jesus asked them where John’s baptism was from: heaven or man (4).

They feared the people’s opinion of them, John, and Jesus. So they did not answer Jesus. Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (8)”

How do I respond to Jesus’ authority? Do I challenge it? What do I do to subvert Jesus’ authority over me? How do I justify to myself keeping control of my destiny? Do I call Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but do not do what he directs (6:46)? Do I live by faith in Jesus or in myself?

Luke 19:45-48 is today’s BDBD. Correct Contact Disconnect.

Jesus highly valued familiar contact with God, otherwise known as prayer. Jesus’ communion with God was more than words and emotions. Prayer is primarily spiritual. When the Lord Jesus formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he looked normal (Genesis 2:7a). Yet, Adam was not made in the image of God until the Lord God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7b; John 3:5-6). The Hebrew word for “breathed into” in Genesis 1:27, “naphach”, is similar to the Hebrew word for “Spirit” in Genesis 1:2 (“…the Spirit of God was hovering…”). Prayer is spiritual breathing.

Breathing is difficult with the stench and noise of animal commerce present (45; Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15-17). God ordered the tabernacle and later the temple to be built so the human race (Israelites and Gentiles) could commune with God. The Jewish religious leadership instituted the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice in the large Gentile Temple court, the one area where Gentiles were permitted. Jesus was furious when he saw this. Three years earlier, he had expelled the sellers and animals from this area. Now, they returned.

Jesus drove out all who were buying and selling there once again. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Then he taught at the temple. The Gentiles could breathe the Spirit’s breath once again. Whatever is keeping me from God’s breath is keeping my temple from being born again (John 2:21).

Luke 19:41-44 is today’s BDBD. Hidden Peace.

Jesus shed tears as he fulfilled the Messianic prophecy in the sight of Jerusalem’s citizens by riding a colt into Jerusalem (41). He cried because they had blinders of pride, greed, and false interpretation on their eyes. God had come (44). They could have peace. They rejected it. They believed they could rule themselves. Jerusalem’s destruction was sure to come.

Jesus and John the Baptist had tried to remove the blinders by teaching the truth. Yet, selfish and sinful desires kept them from accepting and understanding (41-42, 8:9-10, 10:21). “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11)

How often have I turned away when God came to me in signs, wonders, dreams, words, and movements of the Holy Spirit? Has my stubborn heart blinded me? The past is done and cannot be changed. However, I can change my heart now. In the future, I can humble myself and accept Jesus’ rule.

Luke 19:35-40 is today’s BDBD. The First Rock Band.

The Sunday before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus and his disciples arrived in Jerusalem, traveling from Jericho and passing through Bethphage and Bethany, two small towns less than two miles east of Jerusalem. (28-29; John 12:1, 12) When he arrived at the Mount of Olives in Bethphage, he stopped at a crossroads where one street went to the temple, a distance of less than two miles (3.2 km).

Jesus had sent two of his disciples ahead to borrow a donkey with her colt so he could ride it into Jerusalem (30; Matthew 21:2). A donkey then is like an old junk car today. Whereas a horse was like today’s tank. Why did he do this? Jesus was making a significant announcement by fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”. (Matthew 21:5; John 12:5)

No wonder the disciples began joyfully praising God loudly for all the miracles they had seen (37; John 12:17-18). Hosanna means save now. Using loud voices, the disciples were singing the words of Psalm 118:25-26, which were understood at that time and before to refer to the Messiah. Jesus seems to hint they were the first rock band (40).

Jesus and his disciples made the greatest claim yet that he is the Messiah, the king of Israel and Judea, to the people. Everyone knew what he was saying, for kings, including David, rode into the capital city, either on a horse (as conqueror) or a donkey (in peace). They joyfully welcomed him into Jerusalem. Will you allow the King to enter your heart?

Luke 19:28-34 is today’s BDBD. A Donkey’s Errand.

God sometimes gives instructions and wants his people to do something that doesn’t make sense or seems unethical. When Jesus and his disciples left Jericho and trekked the approximately five-hour uphill walk to Jerusalem, two disciples would experience such a directive.

When they arrived at the Mount of Olives, Jesus instructed them to go into a village and take a tied-up colt. He did not tell them to hunt for the owner and asked him for permission. They were to simply untie it and bring it to where Jesus and the other disciples had stopped. He also told them what to do when they were confronted. They were to simply say, “The Lord needs it.” (Matthew 21:1-7; Mark 11:1-6) Obedience took trust, faith, and courage.

The disciples’ unusual experience is not uncommon. Abraham was told to do several things that took similar faith and courage. The Lord told him to go to a country, but he was not told its location. He was also told to offer his son Isaac to the Lord God. Both were not only odd, but one was even horrible to the Lord.

The Lord wants me to step out of my comfort zone. He tells us to “Go,” without telling how I am to personally apply the Great Commission. In Jericho, Jesus told “The Parable of the Ten Minas”, a general outline of the Great Commission. I am to apply it with faith and courage, even though I have many questions, including “How?”

Luke 19:20-26 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Ten Minas+None

Jesus has the newly appointed King in “The Parable of the Ten Minas” upon his return, taking account of his ten servants’ investments. Each was given the same amount of minas. Each had an equal chance to accomplish his master’s intent (15). The first two he examined have either increased the investment by 100% or 50%. He was pleased with both and handsomely rewarded them with praise and cities (16-19). The desire to be commended by the King of the Universe should be enough to motivate the least of his disciples. To be rewarded so handsomely is grace. My mind’s eye can picture the moment I stand before him.

The throne is occupied by a man dressed in light brighter than a streak of lightning. I cover my face with my palms in his presence. His angel ushers me into his presence, standing behind me to my left. A group of fellow servants is standing to the King’s left. They are there for the same reason as I.

There is nowhere to hide. I confess, “Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.”

Then comes his rebuke and sentence. I am left with no minas. The rebuke will remain for eternity. Shame and regret will be mine. The harvest field was plentiful, and I did nothing.

Luke 19:12-27 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Ten Minas, Subject or Servant?

Jesus was at the home of Zacchaeus, a very rich chief tax collector, on the midday of his “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. Jesus had invited himself and his disciples to eat at his home, an invitation that Zacchaeus was eager to oblige (1-4). They were most likely on the house’s flat canopied roof, a common place for large groups to gather in the ancient Middle East. Jesus would have been at the head of the table, Zacchaeus either next to or near him, and Jesus’s disciples would be seated on pillows around a low table. Servants would bring food and drink trays from the quarters on the first floor to the guests, something the disciples would not have been accustomed to.

Jesus used what was happening around them in the parable he was teaching. Four people types where near or at the scene on Zacchaeus’ home; 1) Jesus, the disciples at the table, 2) the servants busy bringing food and drink to those at the table, 3) the guests, and 4) the religous leaders who were critizising Jesus’ decision to enter a ‘”sinner’s” home (7) which they themselves would refused to enter. So, Jesus’ parable had four people types; 1) a noblemen who was to be appointed king (12), 2) servants bringing food and drink (13a), 3) the people (minas) the servants were to manage (13b), and 4) subjects of the kingdom (citizens, 13b).

The nobleman was definitely going to be appointed king no matter what the citizens wanted. So, Jesus was definitely going to be King no matter what the Jewish religious leaders were conspiring. Since the nobleman knew he would be gone for an undetermined length of time, he appointed his servants to increase his minas (money). So, Jesus knew he would be gone for a rather long time. The nobleman gave his servants an important directive. So, Jesus commissioned his disciples to help those who would come into their nets to become mature enough to bring new people into the nets (13).

I am invited to determine who I am. Am I a citizen, a servant, or one being served? The citizens will be killed (27). The servants who increase the minas that are given to them will be rewarded (16-19). The servants who did nothing to increase the minas given to them will lose what they have been given (26). The choice is mine.

Luke 19:11-13 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Ten Minas, Investing Advice.

Jesus was at the home of Zacchaeus, whose occupation dealt with money, investments, loss, and profit. Thus, Zacchaeus and the Apostle Matthew would have understood “The Parable of the Ten Minas” better than zealots, fishermen, Pharisees, and Levite priests who also heard this parable. Jesus used the best parables for the location he and his disciples were in. Indirectly and rather uniquely, Jesus’ parable endorses investing money for profit.

The main character of the parable is a man of noble birth. Jesus is the man, for he is not only the descendant of King David (3:23-38; Matthew 1:1-17), but he is also the Son of God (1:32, 35; 22:69; Mark 1:1; John 1:34, 5:25, 20:31).

Jesus said that the “man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return” (12). He thus not only foretold his resurrection and the heavenly anointing by his Father, but he also foretold of his second coming (aka The Second Advent).

After outlining the parable with one sentence (a common Hebrew teaching method), Jesus goes into the important details. The nobleman knew that he was going to be away for quite some time. Jesus does not say how long the nobleman would be gone or when he would return. The interval would have to be long enough for a need to turn responsibilities over to someone else, and long enough to prove they were good or bad investors. Not knowing when their master would return should drive those entrusted with his money to work as though he would return at any moment.

The man of nobility called for ten of his servants (13). The root word of the original Hebrew noun for “servant” means “bind”, literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary, and in the sense of subjective or subservience. He gave each the same amount, ten minas, equal to around thirty months’ wages. They were instructed to invest this money to gain a profit.

Everyone in the crowd would identify with the desire to increase wealth. Am I investing my minas according to my master’s instructions?

Luke 19:11 is today’s BDBD. The Parable of the Ten Minas, Investing Advice.

Jesus had just declared Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector in Jericho, and his household saved and Zacchaeus is a child of Abraham (9). He said that was why he came (10). His statement drew the attention of everyone who heard it, so he used the attention to tell a parable called “The Parable of the Ten Minas” (11).

Luke tells two reasons why Jesus told this parable. First, they were “near Jerusalem”. Jerusalem was around fifteen miles away, approximately a five-hour walk. He would start the journey once he and his disciples finished eating. Upon arrival, the people with him and within Jerusalem would praise God and wave palm branches. It is now called “The Triumphal Entry”. However, in less than a week, they would reject him and crucify him.

The second reason is, “the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once”. J. Dwight Pentecost in his book “Things to Come” distinguishes between four Biblical uses of the term Kingdom of God (Heaven according to Matthew): 1) God’s universal kingdom, 2) a spiritual kingdom, 3) the millennial Davidic kingdom, and 4) the mystery form of the kingdom (Matthew 13 and other places). Jesus’s parable here concerns the mystery form of the kingdom.

J. Dwight Pentecost writes, “The mystery was the fact that when the One in whom this program was to be realized was publicly presented, He would be rejected and an age would fall between His rejection and the fulfillment of God’s purpose of sovereignty at His second advent. The mystery form of the kingdom, then, has reference to the age between the two advents of Christ. The mysteries of the Kingdom of God describe the conditions that prevail on the earth in that interim while the king is absent. These mysteries thus relate this present age to the eternal purpose of God in regard to His kingdom… this mystery form of the kingdom is composed of saved and unsaved alike (profitable servants and unprofitable servants, wheat and tares, good and bad fish).”

At the end of this age, Jesus will come as King and judge his servants according to what they did while he was away.

Tomorrow’s BDBD will look at the details of this parable.

Luke 19:1-10 is today’s BDBD. Zacchaeus -salvation came to my house. #4

Daily life journal entry conclusion: Zacchaeus.

I told Jesus of Nazareth, whom I am convinced is the promised Messiah, my decision of recompense for my sins, especially cheating others when I collected taxes. I will never forget his response, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. (9)”

Jesus said this at my confession of guilt and repentance. He did not say this when he saw me in the tree and invited himself to my house. Nor did he tell me that I should repent or perish. John the Baptist had said this, and since I heard him say this, I took it to heart. Yet, it was not until Jesus called me that I changed my ways and sought reconciliation for my poor life decisions.

Thanks to Jesus’ next words, I know this to be true. He continued, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (10)” I was lost. Jesus found me and saved me from a life I began to despise. I was joyful in ways I cannot begin to describe and compare. I have decided to follow him and change my ways.

After the meal, I told my wife I had decided to accompany Jesus and his disciples on their five-hour walk to Jerusalem for Passover. When we left Jericho’s west gate, Jesus healed the blind men I saw and heard at the east city gate. I praised God with the crowd (18:35-43). Surely, Jesus, the Messiah, will do great things this Passover in Jerusalem. This is going to be my greatest Passover ever.

Luke 19:1-10 is today’s BDBD. Zacchaeus -salvation came to my house. #3

Daily life journal entry continued: Zacchaeus.

Jesus and I led the way to my home. I had joy that I could not put into words. Jesus had chosen to stay at my house, though many Levite priests, important rabbis, and the synagogue ruler lived in my elite Jericho neighborhood. The synagogue ruler lived next door. Some were gathering on his home’s roof.

When we arrived, my family warmly welcomed me and wanted to know who all the people were with me. I introduced Jesus and instructed them to prepare a meal for him, his disciples, and everyone willing to enter my house. Many would not enter the home of a tax collector. They joined those on the synagogue’s ruler’s roof. Some muttered the slander I had become used to, though I did not want my children to hear it.

I instructed them to sit on the roof my wife had prepared for such occasions and placed Jesus at the head of the table. Jesus gave thanks for the provisions and blessed my family. At this, someone on the roof next door said, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’ (7)”. I looked to see who said that so loudly. One of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew, who was a tax collector like me, told me, “That rich man approached Jesus at the city gates asking how to inherit eternal life (18:18-30)”.

“He is Jericho’s synagogue ruler,” I replied. I knew why he said this. He was correct. Seeing Jesus still eating at the table, I was grateful for his grace and sorrowful for my life choices. He looked at me. I stood up and said to Jesus, the Son of David, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” I made sure those on the roof next door could hear me.

Conclusion in the next BDBD.

Luke 19:1-10 is today’s BDBD. Zacchaeus -salvation came to my house. #2

Daily life journal entry continued: Zacchaeus.

Climbing a sycamore-fig tree is not as easy as it looks, especially when the tree flourishes with ripe fruit, a person has short legs, and is wearing a finely crafted suit that only great wealth can buy. I was unaware until this day that too much fragrance annoys the sinuses, and wasps are as territorial as a young man with an alluring lady. I endured because I was curious about this Jewish rabbi with a tax collector as a disciple, and yet able to attract and maintain such a large crowd over long distances (3-5).

I found a stable branch that offered a clear view of the approaching crowd. Finding the center of attention in a crowd is not hard unless the person is not what one expects. Jesus of Nazareth was such a man. He looked “like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) Curious; what is it that draws us, drew me to him? The anticipation to satisfy a hope for that which one had not been able to grasp even with great lifelong effort? Perhaps. Yes, I believe that was my reason.

Jesus started heading directly to my tree. When he reached the spot, he looked up and said to me, “Zacchaeus…” he used my name. Most people, no, no one called me by the name my parents gave me. Yet, Jesus called me by name. How did he know my name? He continued, “…come down immediately. I must stay at your house today (5)”. I was so shocked and excited that I practically fell out of the tree. I have never been elegant, and certainly was not so coming down that tree (6).

Continued in the next BDBD.

Luke 19:1-10 is today’s BDBD. Zacchaeus -salvation came to my house. #1

Daily life journal entry: Zacchaeus.

My parents gave me the Israelite name Zacchaeus, meaning pure, a name I did not live up to until Jesus, the Messiah, invited me to a meal at my house. I grew up an outsider in a Jewish society. They called me “impure brood”, “heathen blood”, “traitor”, and “short root”. No one wanted to be my friend. I was an outcast in the poor neighborhood of my youth.

I determined that religion is full of bigots and hypocrites. I abandoned the pure life my parents wanted for me and pursued wealth so I could gain influence over the people who humiliated and alienated me in my youth. Through ruthless hard work, I rose through the tax collector ranks, became the chief tax collector in the second most prosperous territory in Palestine, and lived in Herod the Great’s newly constructed palace garden oasis estates. However, no matter how hard and ruthlessly I worked for Rome, the satisfaction I sought always seemed a hand-grip away.

One winter after the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah in December), I began hearing reports (part of my job) of a Jewish rabbi who routinely performs miracles and draws large crowds to hear his teachings. Reports came to my attention that this rabbi caused a man named Lazarus, who was in the grave for four days, to rise from the dead. Normally, I would reject such reports as fantasy. However, I also heard that this rabbi has a former tax collector, a former zealot or two, and fishermen as important disciples. I wondered what kind of Jewish rabbi would have such ridiculous disciples. One of seventy-seven disciples this rabbi sent out before he arrived in my city, I interviewed and confirmed these reports and more (Luke 10:1).

When this unusual rabbi Jesus finally approached Jericho, I ran east down the Roman road the fastest my short legs could move me, to the old city gates to see him. Since I am slower and smaller than most, and a large crowd was traveling with him, I could not see him when I finally arrived at the gate (3). It was very noisy; some blind men cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” and were being rebuked (18:38-39). I needed to get higher to see him. So, I ran west down the Roman road to the sycamore-fig tree grove and climbed one. The spring fruit was ripening, and wasps were swarming. Climbing was difficult, and I was wearing one of my best suits. I did not care. I was so determined to see this unusual rabbi.

Part #2 in the next BDBD.

Luke 18:35-43 is today’s BDBD. Your Faith Has Healed You. #3

My friend and I, blind men, passed by Herod the Great’s 10-acre, 3-palace garden oasis to the west exit of Jericho. There we waited for Jesus of Nazareth and the exuberant crowd we encountered at the east gate. We had a second chance to receive our sight. We were determined to yell for mercy so Jesus could hear us.

“What is taking them so long? Did we take too long to make it here? Perhaps we missed them,” my friend stated.

Just then, a pair of Pharisees stated as they walked to Jerusalem, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’, a chief tax collector. No righteous man would do that.”

I told my friend, “John baptised anyone who repented, even soldiers. Pay no attention to those religious bigots. Jesus is still in Jericho, eating as most pilgrims do.”

Then we heard the crowd again. “He is coming! Shout with me, friend. Be loud. Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Jesus stopped and ordered that we be brought to him. Some came to us and said, “Cheer up! On your feet!. He’s calling you.” We obeyed. I was so full of anticipation, I threw my cloak aside, jumped to my feet, and came to Jesus (40; Matthew 20:32; Mark 10:49-50).

I didn’t think about it then, but now I realize Jesus asked an obvious question: “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” I said.

“Yes, Rabbi, we want to see,” my friend added.

Jesus touched our eyes and said, “Receive your sight. Go, your faith has healed you.” (42; Matthew 20:34; Mark 10:52) Immediately, we received our sight and followed Jesus, praising God all the way to Jerusalem. The greatest day of my life. Surely, the Messiah has come and now he is in his city, Jerusalem. We all expect him to do great things this Passover.

Luke 18:35-43 is today’s BDBD. Your Faith Has Healed You. #2

When I heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming my way, I said to my blind friend across the street, “I believe Jesus can give me sight”.

“You do? Like you believed John the Baptist was a prophet? Didn’t Herod, the builder of this city, kill him?” he replied, pointing to the new city to his left, not the old one to his right, where the lively crowd was coming from. The jubilant noise was growing. Some at the front of the oncoming crowd were saying, “Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“I believed John was from God, and he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David. Our people always kill all the prophets God sends us. Why would John be different? Jesus can heal us!” I insisted and then shouted, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

“Shut up, fool,” said the lame man, still sitting on the path’s wall. “No one will give alms if we shout that. John was killed, and if this Jesus has anything to do with him, they would kill him too. Do you want to die with Jesus? Don’t take away my chance to receive money from this large, lively group with your loud, stupid cries.” Those leading the crowd also tried to quiet me.

“Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” I shouted all the louder. Jesus could not hear me because the crowd was very noisy. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” The main crowd where Jesus must have been located was now past me. I knew because the noise was diminishing. “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

“Be quiet. The Lord needs to get to Jerusalem now, for he has many things to accomplish. He cannot stop,” those trailing the large crowd added to the lame man’s rebuke, who said, “Someone help me out of here. I have no association with these two blind fools.”

“Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus did not hear. “Friend,” I said to my blind friend who was across the street, “let’s go to the west entrance and get in front of the crowd again. Join me in asking Jesus, the Son of David, to have mercy on us.”

“I will”.

The conclusion is in tomorrow’s BDBD.

Luke 18:35-43 is today’s BDBD. Your Faith Has Healed You. #1

Daily life journal entry: Bartimaeus. The day my life changed forever. It is eight days before what I expect will be the most wonderful Passover of my life.

I sat at my normal place at sunrise this morning between old and new Jericho to ask for alms. The spring air was crisp with much fragrance from all the flowers and trees in this rich man’s oasis. I expected many travelers to give alms because this was the height of the Passover pilgrimage.

Lately, my blindness has been causing more depression than usual. What hope is there for me other than to sit here day after day? However, something about this morning lifted my spirit. Perhaps it was the spring air. Maybe it was a slight hope that I could eat a full meal today due to increased alms intake. I do not know what it was. But I had a feeling that today was going to be a good day.

The morning alms started slowly due to a smaller-than-expected crowd, even for my blind friend, the lame man across the street, and the old widow at the city gate. They always received more than I, even when I recited from Deuteronomy, “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.” (Deuteronomy 15:7) This morning I was quoting Leviticus more because it is specifically for the blind, “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:14)

Sometime in the afternoon, I heard a large and noisy crowd approaching. My ears were more sensitive than anyone I knew. Something was up, for they were much more excited than any group I had experienced. I asked my friend across the street, “Joseph, what is coming? What is happening?” He hadn’t noticed. He asked the lame man sitting up on the wall next to him. He replied. “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

I had heard of this Jesus before. He heals people. Some say he is John the Baptist come back from the dead. I heard John’s fiery speeches and knew he was dead. Others say that this Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David. I agree for John never healed anyone. This Jesus is reported to heal many people from all kinds of sickness. Would Jesus be willing to heal me?

Continued in tomorrow’s BDBD.

Luke 18:35-39 is today’s BDBD. Jesus, Have Mercy.

Despondency can find hope; all that is needed is faith. One need not despair; Jesus is going by my way. Despondency continues to cry out in faith; for a better future, the Lord gives eyes to see.

Jericho, in the Jordan valley, is the rich man’s paradise, an escape to an oasis “well watered like the garden of the Lord” (Genesis 13:10). Abundant palm, sycamore, and pomegranates trees; music and laughter for all but one in the newly built Herodian city. A blind man (two according to Matthew 20:29) sat by the road hoping for charity from the pilgrims going to the feast of Passover in Jerusalem.

When he heard the crowd following Jesus approaching, he asked what was happening (36). Jesus’s popularity attracted many. When he heard it was Jesus, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Son of David is a Messianic title. Jeremiah 11:1-3 states, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse (David’s father)… the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him…” It goes on to speak of the character of Jesus. Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Ezekiel 34:22-24 agree and add that a good shepherd will come from David to heal his people. The blind man had faith in Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah (42).

The blind man’s faith is shown that although those who led the way tried to discourage him the man showed faith instead of despondency (39). He cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Despondency disappears with persistant faith when dispair is presented.

Luke 18:31-34 is today’s BDBD. Jesus Predicts Death.

Jesus and his disciples, traveling south, passed through Perea on the east side of the Jordan River, turned west, crossed the Jordan River, and entered the northernmost part of the Judean Desert as they approached Jericho (17:11, 18:35) while on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is where John the Baptist had baptized Jesus and publicly declared about Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (3:1-3, 21-4:1, Mark 1:4, 9; Matthew 3:1, 13; John 1:15, 29-36)

Jesus, perhaps remembering John’s words over three years earlier, took the time to tell his disciples what would happen to him in Jerusalem. “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” (31-33)

Jesus knew what was going to happen. Yet, he did not turn away. Instead, he thought of his disciples. He prepared them. But they did not understand. The meaning was hidden because they held onto someone else’s teaching about the Messiah.

What would I do if I knew my future and that future included pain, suffering, and crucifixion? Would I think of others? Though I may not know details about what is going to happen, sometimes I can deduce that the coming days, weeks, and months will not be pleasant. For example, loss of a job, moving, illness, and the death of a loved one will mean hardship. It is times like these that I especially should be thinking of others and what I can do to help them, just like Jesus did.

Luke 23:50-56 is today’s BDBD. Jesus’s burial.

What is a Christian burial? I have been to several funerals, most of which can be considered Christian. Yet, none have been like Jesus’s burial. None of the services have read any of the gospel accounts of Jesus’s burial (Luke 23:50-56; Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-47; John 19:31-42) for enough sorrow is contained the the death of someone we personally interacted with. Rather, the funeral messages I have heard focus on the person’s past and/or their “resting place” in heaven.

When I look back at the funerals I attended, I can remember many details. So, I have no doubt that the woman (55; Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:40-41, 47), Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Council (Sanhedrin), and Nicodemus, also a member of the Sanhedrin (John 19:39), remembered all the details of Jesus’s burial. Overwhelming sorrow fills the soul upon remembering the death and burial of the loved one.

Jesus died as the sun touched the horizon, the end of modern Friday’s light and the Hebrew day. Sabbath was about to begin. Because of the Laws given through Moses, no one could work on the Sabbath, which started at twilight. So, the small group of bold followers quickly lowered Jesus’ body, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut in rock, one in which no one had yet been laid (53). Tombs in the ancient Middle East contained family members. This tomb was new and therefore empty. Jesus’s body was alone through the Sabbath’s night, the next day’s morning and day, through sunset, and the next day’s night (per Hebrew calendar). His body was alone. But his being was escorting past deceased soul’s including one of the criminals crucified with him, into paradise.

Those who loved Jesus are one with him in his burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12).

Luke 23:26-43 is today’s BDBD. Jesus Crucified.

Today is Good Friday, so someone long passed labeled the first Friday after Passover, the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, the Christ. Many have stated an opinion on the label. It is just a label to me. Like all labels, it means one thing to someone, and then the same label will mean something altogether different to someone else.

Take, for example, another label with different meanings depending on the reader. Over Jesus’s head was hung a lie that cannot be more true, depending on the individual. “This is the King of the Jews,” it read (38). Pilate intended it to be the official Roman sentence, the reason Jesus was crucified. Yet, he knew Jesus was innocent and not deserving the capital punishment. He placed it above Jesus’s head as insurance for being accused of political corruption. So, for Pilate, “King of the Jews” had several meanings.

The label over Jesus’s bleeding head was self-justification to the Jewish religious and social leaders. “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One,” they said (35). Jesus, during their mock trial, had clearly stated that he was the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God, who would be seated at the right hand of the Mighty God (22:67-70). Since he was now nailed to a cross with a mocking label over his head, they felt proud that they were right about him, for Jesus did not save himself. Pride blinded them to the true meaning of what it meant to be King of the Jews. As his people suffered for his sake, so Jesus suffered for their redemption. He would not come down. He would die.

The two criminals crucified with Jesus, one on each side, had different meanings for Jesus being the King of the Jews (32, 39-42). For one, Jesus was someone to hurl insults at, a place to expel hate and rage. For the other, Jesus being the King of the Jews, was his last hope for salvation from eternal punishment (41-42). He sought pardon from the King. He asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom, when you come with your kingly power.”

So now I sit pondering what it means to me that Jesus is the King of the Jews.

Luke 23:1-25 is today’s BDBD. Pilate’s Critical Decision.

Moments of critical decisions measure the heart. The heart of Israel’s religious establishment was found wanting for they decided to kill the awaited Messiah (1, 21, 23). Now, Pilate and Herod’s hearts were on trial. It appeared Jesus was on trial. In reality, God was weighing their hearts. The judges were being examined. The moment of critical decision had come.

Three proverbs come to mind when reviewing Herod and Pilate. “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2) “If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” (Proverbs 24:12) And finally, “The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.” (Proverbs 15:28)

Pilate and Herod knew Jesus had done nothing warranting any punishment, let alone crucifixion (4, 14-15; Matthew 27:19, 24). According to Roman law, which they took great pride in, crucifixion was only for someone found guilty of treason and insurrection. Pilate knew Jesus did neither, and that the Jews brought Jesus to him only because of religious jealousy (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:15; John 18:31, 38). In the end, Pilate gave in to the religious elite, and Herod did not set Jesus free.

Luke 22:66-71 is today’s BDBD. Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus was arrested in the middle of the night and brought first to Annas, the high priest according to the Law given through Moses, but deposed by the Romans for political reasons and thus, unable to lead the Sanhedrin (3:2; John 11:49-50, 18:13-14, 19, 22, 24; Acts 4:5-6). After questioning Jesus, Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas, his son-in-law and the Roman-appointed high priest for an illegal trial according to the Law given through Moses, before the Sanhedrin, for it was Passover and still night (66, John 18:24).

Both high priests were thus unfit to be high priests, for they violated many God given laws during the questioning and trial. No problem for Jesus became a high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:1-10). As high priest, Jesus would offer himself up as the lamb of God, without defect for the sins of the people (John 1:29, 36; Revelation 5:6, 7:17, 19:9). The lamb must be examined to ensure it was pure before it was sacrificed according to the Law (Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 1:3, 10, 3:1, 6-7, 17:5). So, Jesus was examined and found without fault (Matthew 26:60; Mark 14:55).

Desperate to find a reason to kill Jesus, the religious leaders finally demanded, “If you are the Christ, that is, the Messiah, tell us” (67). Funny, because only a few months earlier, he had already publicly told them in the temple he was, and they were ready to stone him back then (John 10:24-33). So, when they asked it again secretly with no crowd present, Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God” (66-69).

Frustrated, all the religious leaders finally asked in their belief the capital punishable question, “Are you then the Son of God?” Jesus did not fail to confess, “You are right in saying I am.” And with the true confession, Jesus offered himself up as the lamb of God for my sins and the sins of all who believe in him. Praise be to the lamb of God.

Luke 22:54-62 is today’s BDBD. Peter’s Denials and Jesus’s Trials.

Jesus’s trials conducted by the Jewish leadership are contrasted with Peter denying Jesus three times in all four gospel accounts (54-62; Matthew 26:57-75; Mark 14:53-72; John 18:12-27). This is clear because they bounce back and forth between the two with dizzying speed. The whole incident, from Jesus’s arrest to the Jewish leader’s verdict and Peter’s first, second, and third denials of Jesus, was perhaps an hour, certainly no more than two. Yet, in this small amount of time, five of Jesus’s predictions would be made sure: his arrest, rejection, persecution, condemnation, and Peter’s shame.

Comparing myself to Jesus and Peter, I can say I want to be like Jesus, who, though so poorly treated, withstood the test. Yet, in reality, I am more like Peter, who was only threatened with association with someone arrested and being tried. Jesus overcame fear because he was prepared with knowledge of the Bible and deep personal prayer. Peter remained afraid because although Jesus taught him the Bible very personally, he could not find the courage to accept it nor the will to pray when Jesus told him it was time to pray, watch, and be prepared.

Peter was so sure of his ability that he did not depend on God. Jesus accepted his lack of ability so much so that he could do nothing more than depend fully on God his Father. When Jesus asked was his identity, he did not fail to tell them the truth, though it meant beating, humiliation, scourging, crucifixion, and death.

As Peter later wrote, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:6-9)

Luke 22:47-53 is today’s BDBD

After prayer, Jesus committed his will to do God’s will for him. After receiving thirty silver coins, Judas committed his will to betray his rabbi and friend for nearly three years (47-48; Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-45; John 18:2-3). After sleeping, Jesus’ disciples committed their will to stop Jesus from saving the world but only managed to cut someone’s ear off (49-51). After conspiring together, the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders committed their will to arrest their Lord in the dark and kill the maker of their soul (52-53).

What compels my will? Does my prayer bend my will into my Father’s will? Or does coventness bend my will to the world’s will?

“Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12). “A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3) “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2) “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5)

Luke 22:39-46 is today’s BDBD

Someone recently asked me, “What do you think about a statement I read, ‘Once there is a conflict of will, what you want in life, and what God wants for you, life becomes a struggle.”

This statement has some truth, yet it is misleading. Consider the meanings of “conflict of will” and “life becomes a struggle.” Do you believe that you are in conflict with God’s will for you? What do you want? How does one know what God specifically wants for them?

Jesus said just before his arrest and after he told them that they would scatter, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) So outward trouble and struggles are a part of everyone’s life, whether resisting God are not. However, the inward life – peace of mind and heart, contentment, happiness, and satisfaction is outstanding if we stay in Christ and thus his will.

For example, looking at Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he prayed just before he was arrested. He was in turmoil as he prayed. He was struggling to accept his Father’s will, the cross. He was in so much turmoil that his sweat was like drops of blood. (22:44) Yet, he eventually prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” (22:42) From then on, his external circumstances were one new hardship after another. Yet, inside, he had amazing peace, stability, and control. When the guards came to arrest him, He said, “I am he” and they drew back and fell to the ground at his word (John 18:5-6). He truly had inner peace and power.

God has a purpose for you and me, for sure. Prayer and meditation is very important in determining his will and messages. But be sure outwardly, “You will have trouble in this world” whether you are in conflict with that will or are in full submission. Yet, in communion with God inwardly exists peace.

Luke 22:14-23 is todays’ BDBD

Tonight at twilight (sunset) starts the 14th day of the Hebrew month Abib, the first month on the Hebrew calendar (Exodus 12:1). This is when the Lord God commanded all Israel and those who believe in and worship the Lord to keep the Passover meal (Exodus 12:6-8, 14; Leviticus 23:4-5; Deuteronomy 16:1-2). At twilight (sunset) tomorrow night begins the seven day “Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Exodus 12:17-20; Leviticus 23:6-8; Deuteronomy 16:3-4, 8). By Jesus’s time, the two meant the same thing (1).

The Passover, celebrated while Israel was slaves in Egypt, was only held that way once. After that, while at Mount Sinai, the Lord God made arrangements for it to be celebrated differently once they arrived at the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 16:5-8). Jesus would make other significant changes that would further elaborate and update the meaning of the Passover. Some modern congregations have ignored Jesus’s changes, stating that they are celebrating the true Passover and that all other congregations are wrong and thus going to hell.

While reclined at the table, Jesus told them that he had eagerly desired to eat this Passover with them before he suffered (14-15). Jesus had planned this night to be a special beginning since before the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. To this day, Jesus’s disciples celebrate it this way as Jesus said “…whenever we drink it…” (1 Corinthians 11:21), meaning every time we celebrate it, not just on Passover.

After the Passover supper, Jesus took the cup of wine and passed it to his disciples (Matthew 26:27-29, Mark 14:23-25, 1 Corinthians 11:25). He designated the cup the “new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”. And added, “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The old covenant given through Moses to Israel from that point was lesser, and the new covenant Jesus gave to his church (congregation) was greater. Also, because of what was happening in the church at Corinth, Apostle Paul appropriately removed the meal before celebrating the cup and bread. The first disciples, most being Jews at this time, accepted and obeyed Jesus’s new covenant from that Supper, including the first century church, to this very day.

The unleavened bread that Jesus broke and gave to his disciples he designated as representing his body given for us (19; Matthew 26:26: Mark 14:22; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24). Jesus, as with the cup said of the broken and shared bread, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Apostle Paul comments, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Luke 19:45-48 is today’s BDBD

On Monday morning at dawn, when the temple gates opened to the public, the day after the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (41; Matthew 21:10; Mark 11:11-12, 15), Jesus entered the temple courts (45). This was a large open area, 35 acres (0.14 sq. km), where the Gentiles who converted to Judaism were allowed to pray and worship the Lord God. He had noticed something the evening before that he wanted to take care of first thing in the morning.

Jesus began driving out those who were selling (45). Matthew and Mark record more details, writing, “He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. (Mark 11:15; Matthew 21:12).

Jesus rebuked those doing these things by quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11: “‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'” Prayer is a personal, intimate communion with God. How can that be done with animal noises and smells and price haggling? Jesus had taught, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”. (Matthew 6:6) The priests, who controlled the temple and its courts, let greed and convenience get in the way of someone else’s prayer.

According to Apostle John, Jesus had done this before, at the very beginning of his public ministry, when he had only a few disciples (John 2:12-25). At that time, his disciples remembered Psalm 69:9: “Zeal for your house will consume me”. How important is my personal time with God, both prayer and meditation? And what happens when I worship in song? Do I have zeal? Sadly, my head and heart, which are the temple of God in this age, are often filled with noise and smelly things. I find it hard to concentrate.

Luke 19:28-40 is today’s BDBD

The Sunday before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus and his disciples arrived in Jerusalem, traveling from Jericho and passing through Bethaphage and Bethany, two small towns less than two miles east of Jerusalem. (28-29; John 12:1, 12) When he arrived at the Mount of Olive in Bethphage he stopped at a crossroads where one street went to the temple, a distance of less than two miles (3.2 km).

Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead to borrow a donkey with her colt so he could ride it into Jerusalem (30; Matthew 21:2). A donkey then is like an old junk car today. Whereas a horse was like a tank today. Why did he do this? Jesus was making a significant announcement by fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”. (Matthew 21:5; John 12:5)

No wonder the disciples began joyfully praising God loudly for all the miracles they had seen (37; John 12:17-18). Hosanna means save now. The disciples were reciting the words of Psalm 118:25-26, which were understood at that time and before to refer to the Messiah.

Jesus and his disciples make the greatest claim yet that he is the Messiah, the king of Israel and Judea, to the people. Everyone knew what he was saying, for kings, including David, rode into the capital city either on a horse (as conqueror) or a donkey (in peace). They joyfully welcomed him into Jerusalem. Will you allow the King to enter your heat?

Luke 18:22-30 is today’s BDBD

Jesus answered a certain ruler who asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus cited the second half of the Ten Commandments, the ones that concern our interaction with other people. When the ruler heard Jesus’s answer, he replied, “All these I have kept as a boy” (21). Perhaps Jesus was going to cite all ten, but the man, in excitement, cut Jesus off before he finished.

Jesus replied by directly addressing the ruler’s problem. “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (22). The ruler was rich. When he heard Jesus, he became sad. When Jesus saw this, he openly acknowledged the man’s internal struggle and gave him a proverb as a warning. (24-25)

I note that this encounter interchanges “eternal life” (18, 30), “treasure in heaven” (22), “the kingdom of God” (24, 25, 29), and “the age to come” (30). Jesus warned the rich, now-sad ruler with the proverb “The Camel and Needle-Eye” that if he didn’t obey, he would forfeit them. The choice was and is always ours. Jesus’s disciples made the right choice (28-30). Did he? We do not know.

The ruler’s problem was that he loved others and God because he believed he kept the Ten Commandments. He kept the letter of the Law but not the spirit of the law, that is, love. The man loved wealth more than God and others. He could not give his first love away. Thus, Jesus’s prediction in “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager” is proven true: “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (16:13)

Luke 18:18-21 is today’s BDBD

A “certain ruler” came to Jesus as he approached the entrance to Jericho (35, 19:1). He was a ruler (18), most likely Jericho’s synagogue ruler (8:41 is Capernaum’s synagogue ruler). He certainly had the qualifications. He kept the commandments (19) probably including the extra rules created by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, he was wealthy (23), and the disciples recognized his post from the unique religious garbs that synagogue rulers wore (26).

The rich young good guy went out to Jesus to ask him a question that must have troubled his soul for some time. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asked (18). The question of eternity is asked by all, for as Solomon wrote, “He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiasties 3:11)

Jesus mentiones eternal life (aka everlasting life) many times in this teaching (Matthew 18:8, 19:16, 29, 25:46; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 10:25; John 3:15-16, 36, 4:14, 36, 5:24, 39, 6:24, 40, 47, 54, 68, 10:28, 12:25, 50, 17:2-3). The Apostle John records it the most, often taken the place of the term “kingdom of God (or kingdom of heaven)” used in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) which treat the following expressions as synonymous (only looking at this passage): 1) eternal life, 2) entering the kingdom of heaven (24-25, 29; Matthew 19:23; Mark 10:24), 3) being saved (26; Matthew 19:25; Mark 10:26), 4) age to come (30; Mark 10:30), and 5) at the renewal of all things (Matthew 19:28).

Jesus answered the man by citing half the Ten Commandments, the ones that deal with interaction with others. He did not cite the ones that deal with interaction with God. Before Jesus quoted from Exodus 20:12-15 and Deuteronomy 5:16-20 he asked an interesting question and made an interesting comment about being good. The reason was that the ruler, like many, had mistakenly believed in salvation in terms of righteousness through good works. Jesus had to correct this misunderstanding first before answering the question more fully.

Luke 18:15-17 is today’s BDBD

The social and spiritual health of a nation, society, religion, and city can be determined by how their children are faring. Children fare well when they learn love, respect, faith, and discipline from their parents, family, and neighbors (Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21; Hebrews 12:7-11). When children see their parents love and respect God and each other, they have obtained a storehouse full of treasure that no one can steal. When their parents, family, and neighbors point children to Jesus, they are shown the gates to the city of righteousness, well-being, and eternity.

People often brought little children and babies to Jesus to be blessed (Matthew 18:2-4, 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16). The disciples were busy doing crowd control for the group traveling with them to Jerusalem for the Passover was large (17:11). When they saw the parents bringing babies to Jesus, they strictly forbade (harshly rebuked) them to do that. They believed Jesus had way more important things to do than touch babies. (Look of the meaning of the original Greek word “brephos”. It will surprise you.) The disciples were more like the heartless judge and egotistical Pharisee than the persistent widow and humble tax collector in the former two parables.

Jesus allowed the babies to be brought to him and used the incident as a lesson to the disciples. He had taught them this before, but they had obviously forgotten. Jesus taught that “…the kingdom of God belongs to such as these…. Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Simply, Jesus is saying they want to come to the King, the reason for the kingdom of God. Let them come.

David’s short Psalm 131 says, “My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.”

Luke 18:13-14 is today’s BDBD

Humility is Jesus’s lesson in this parable. The tax collector is the example given of humility before God and men. Humility is a personal quality in which an individual knows his state before God, shows dependence on God, and respects others.

The tax collector did not look up to heaven. He bowed his head because he knew he was unworthy and full of distress at his guilt. Beating the breast was a response of grief and guilt, a form of punishing a sinful heart. The tax collector confessed out loud in the temple for all to hear, including the Pharisee, “I am a sinner”. He asked for God’s mercy.

Jesus Christ’s life provides the best example of what it means to have humility (Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 2:1-11). Hebrews 2:7-9 states, “You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Luke 18:9-12 is today’s BDBD

“The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector” follows “The Parable of the Persistent Widow”. This is the last parable that is unique to Luke’s gospel. Three more follow. However, they are in another gospel account and thus not unique to Luke.

Luke supplies a comment at the beginning, as he had done with former parables. He states that Jesus gave this parable to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else. The arrogant and proud were addressed.

The self-righteous are well-defined. They are contrasted with a tax collector. The two have somethings in common. They are men. They are Jews. Most notably, both went to the temple to pray.

Periods for prayer were scheduled daily at the temple in connection with the morning and evening sacrifices. People could also go to the temple at any time for private prayer. This was probably the former time and not the latter. So more would be present than the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee would be sitting with those like him during the public prayer time. The Parisees would not permit others to be near them, which is sadly often true of congregations today. “Birds of a feather flock together”, as the old saying goes. In this case, the saying can be, “The self-righteous put others in cages.”

A difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector is that the Pharisee stood up by himself to pray about himself. This can also read that he prayed to himself. Though he gave thanks to God, the topic of thanksgiving is how much better he was than others. He specifically mentioned that he was thankful that he was not like the tax collector who was obviously in sight of all those with him.

The Pharisee gave two examples of how he was better than others. First, he fasted twice a week, which was not required in the Law. The only fasting in the Mosaic Law was during the Day of Atonement. Secondly, he gave a tenth of all he got. In addition to tithing earnings required by Mosaic Law to support the Levites (Numbers 18:21), the Pharisee had tithed everything that he possessed, even in the smallest matters like mint and cummin (Luke 11:42). In short, the Pharisee had the appearance of great piety for the sake of bragging rights.

Tomorrow’s BDBD will look at the tax collector and Jesus’s conclusion.

Luke 18:8 is today’s BDBD

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2) Jesus’s example of the persistent widow in the first seven verses is a prime example of faith expressed with pleading day after day, even though the odds of being granted her request were very low.

Faith involves time, for how can hope exist and certainty be exposed if time is not involved? Abraham waited twenty-five years for the promise of a son. David waited over twenty-two years from being anointed to becoming king of all Israel. Judah waited seventy years in captivity until the Lord returned them to the Promised Land as he promised through the prophet Jeremiah. Faith is proven true for those who wait with persistent prayers.

Jesus interestingly concluded the parable with, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” Does this counter the parable’s point, which required time? Or did he mean that when God does answer prayer, justice will be quickly executed? The latter, for time was the opponent that the persistent widow conquered with faithful pleas.

Jesus concluded by asking the rhetorical question, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” As I wait for the quick execution of God on those who neither fear God nor care about others I wonder if my faith will hold to the end.

Luke 18:1-8 is today’s BDBD

How do you spot a genius? When someone says, “Chopin was a genius composer,” how do they know? Many claim, “Leonardo da Vinci was a true genius who graced this world with his presence.” Is this true? And why do historians say, “William Shakespeare was the world’s premier genius playwright and poet.” Really? Of all the writers in history? What makes a person a genius composer, artist, or playwright?

Of the definitions for genius in the AHD, two stand out. “A person of extraordinary intellect, inclination, and talent”. And “A person who has great influence over others”.

Therefore, the heroine of Jesus’ parable “The Persistent Widow” is a genius. She was inclined to daily insist on justice from an unjust judge who did not care for others and God nor care what they thought of him. Through persistent faith, she of little social power influenced one of the most influential social elites. That is genius.

Luke notes in verse one that Jesus told this parable to show his disciples that they should always pray and not give up. Jesus had just told them that he would soon leave and that when he did, life would become very hard for them (17:20-37). They would long to see the day of the Son of Man to come day after day after day. So now Jesus gives them a genius’ response to seemingly endless hardship and unanswered prayers for relief. The answer is persistent prayer.

Persistent prayer is the art of a genius. It possesses unchanging faith. It moves God’s heart and propels action of compassion and justice from the most powerful loving judge. Anyone can be a prayer genius, though it may be one of the hardest to continue to the end.

Luke 17:26-27 is today’s BDBD

Jesus just told his disciples that he would suffer many things, be rejected by his generation, and then leave them (25). They would desire to see him, but he would not be with them for a long time (22). He would, however, eventually return. The whole world will know when he returns. No one will say to another, “Jesus is over there. Come with me and see” (23), for when he comes, he will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky. When Jesus comes, he will be a brilliant light like he was on the Mount of Transfiguration (24).

Jesus says that when he comes again, the people will be as the people of Noah’s time when the flood came (26, Genesis 7:11-12, 23) and Lot’s time when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed (28, Genesis 19:23-25). They were not ready because they did not believe in God. They did not keep watch because they believed in themselves.

Jesus warns of the trap many fall in. He said, “I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” (34,35)

Jesus wants his people to keep watch and be ready. Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” (Matthew 24:42) and “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him”. (Matthew 24:44)

Luke 17:22-25 is today’s BDBD

Jesus, referring to himself as the Son of Man, meaning the Messiah per Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 80:17-18, tells his disciples they will long to be with him for he will have left them, but only after he must suffer many things and be rejected by his generation. This was the second time he told them of his coming crucifixion.

During their separation, people will try to deceive them into thinking he has returned or is about to return. Surely, this has happened more than once in my lifetime too. Jesus says pay no attention to them. They are false prophets. No one will need to tell his disciples when he comes, for all will see him in his glory.

When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples saw him in his glory. They reported, “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” (Luke 9:29)

Daniel the prophet saw him and reports, “As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.” (Daniel 7:9)

John the Apostle reported of his appearance in Revelation 1:12-16. “I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

Appearing is such splender will anyone need to tell another, “He is over here. Come and see?” He will be seen by all just as surely as he died and rose from the dead.

Luke 17:20-21 is today’s BDBD

A group of Pharisees approached Jesus with a question about the Kingdom of God. It is rather peculiar that a group of them came to ask Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. To understand their intent I need to understand the popular teachings and understanding about the Kingdom of God at the time.

Luke comments elsewhere on the teachings, thoughts, and hopes of Jews at this time. 19:11 states, “…Jesus went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.”

Luke also records in 21:7 the reply of some of Jesus’s disciples when he told them about the temple’s imminent destruction. He said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” In shock, they asked, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” Luke records in Acts 1:6 the disciples asking Jesus just before he ascended, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (aka “The Qumran Cave Scrolls”) shows that many in Jewish society believed the Kingdom of God was a territory, the territory of the Covenant at Mount Sinai that would be established when the Messiah came and defeated all of Israel’s enemies and purge all “sinners” from Israel. In one short statement, Jesus counters this ill-gotten idea. “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

The Pharisees’ question was a trap meant to put him against Rome and Herod. They thought he would say he was going to Jerusalem to start a rebellion. With this, they could report to Pilate and Herod Jesus’s plans. His answer confounded them because their hearts and minds were far from God’s plan and not in God’s kingdom.

Luke 17:11-19 is today’s BDBD

Luke is the only Gentile of the four gospel writers. He is the only one who records the healing of the ten lepers. The emphasis of the passage is that only one of the lepers returned to “give praise to God,” and he was a “foreigner” (18). The other nine were Jews. Jesus often pointed out that Gentiles quickly and forcefully believed him more so than the Jews. This is the main reason why the gospel spread so quickly to the Gentiles, more so than the Jews after his death, resurrection, ascension, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Jesus embraced and followed the Law given through Moses, as this passage details. He was not against the Jews. Most of his ministry was where Jews lived. Yet, no matter how the good news was revealed, the Jews mostly either rejected it or accepted it on their terms.

The Apostle John explains the phenomenon well in his Gospel. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:10-13)

Even though God works miracles in me, I cannot use that to determine my place with God. For I could be like the nine and not respond to the gift properly.

Luke 17:7-10 is today’s BDBD

Jesus’s teaching is concluded by a short, unnamed parable. So I will name it, “The Parable of the Duty of the Unworthy Servants”. The premise is this: 1. Christians are God’s servants. 2. God owns his servants. 3. God gives his servants duties. 4. God’s servants obey his commands, the duties he commits to us. 5. The servants do not merit rewards because we obey. 6. God owes us nothing for duty. 7. If God gives us anything, it is not because he owes us. 8. Servants are to mind their places. 9. Duty is not a job with wages, even if obeyed perfectly. Duty is an expected obligation to our owner.

Calvin commented on “The Parable of the Duty of Unworthy Servants”. “With respect to merit, we must remove the difficulty by which many are perplexed; for Scripture so frequently promises a reward to our works, that they think it allows them some merit. The reply is easy. A reward is promised, not as a debt, but from the mere good pleasure of God. It is a great mistake to suppose that there is a mutual relation between Reward and Merit; for it is by his own undeserved favor, and not by the value of our works, that God is induced to reward them.

“By the engagements of the Law, I readily acknowledge, God is bound to men, if they were to discharge fully all that is required from them; but still, as this is a voluntary obligation, it remains a fixed principle, that man can demand nothing from God, as if he had merited any thing.

“And thus the arrogance of the flesh falls to the ground; for, granting that any man fulfilled the Law, he cannot plead that he has any claims on God, having done no more than he was bound to do. When he says that we are unprofitable servants, his meaning is that God receives from us nothing beyond what is justly due but only collects the lawful revenues of his dominion.” (Calvin’s Commentaries)

Luke 17:5-6 is today’s BDBD

When Jesus told his disciples that if a brother or sister in Christ were to sin against them, they were to confront them about it, and if they repented, forgive them, the disciples were like deer staring into an oncoming truck’s headlights (3). Most stunning is that Jesus said they should repeat this seven times a day if need be. SEVEN!

Believing they were incapable of obeying this once, let alone seven times a day, they exclaimed, “Increase our faith!” (5) The disciples believed they had a faith problem, for this seemed too hard a teaching for a normal human being to obey.

On the one hand, this is good because they were hearing Jesus continually praising faith and saying, “Your faith has made you well.” (7:50, 8:38, 17:19, 18:42, etc.) They were getting the message that faith in Jesus has the power to heal, and this certainly involved being hurt.

On the other hand, this is not good because faith was not their problem in this matter. Jesus told them that faith as small as a mustard seed can uproot a mulberry tree and plant it into the sea (a silly mental picture, a mulberry tree growing in a sea). Small faith is not the problem to forgiving a repentive brother or sister in Christ. Usually, the problem is my stubborn human ego. I can forgive because the one who forgave my horrendous sins lives in me. It is time to teach a mulberry tree to swim.

Luke 17:3b-4 is today’s BDBD

Jesus continued to build upon his statement that offenses will come to all; however, those offenses (stumbling blocks) should not come from his disciples. The type of offense Jesus meant is a behavior or attitude that leads another to sin, especially a brother or sister in Christ. I am to watch myself so I am not the cause of another’s sin.

But what if my behavior or attitude causes someone to sin? And what if someone else’s behavior or attitude causes me to sin? Jesus addresses both next and in more detail in Matthew 18:15-17. If my brother or sister sins, and causes me to sin I am to rebuke them (3b). If he repents, then I am to forgive them. This cycle can continue seven times a day and each time I am to forgive them. Jesus says seven times in a day here. When Peter asked him about forgiving on another occasion Jesus told Peter seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22).

Some natural impulses when someone sins against me or I sin against another are:

1) Ignore the problem and hope it goes away. This seems righteous, but according to Jesus, it is not.

2) Hold a grudge.

3) Complain to others about that person.

4) Strike out against them and to get even.

5) Wait until they come to us.

6) Publicly criticize.

7) Go to the congregation’s leader and complain about the one who offended me.

These reactions when I am sinned against are because of my hurt feelings and the selfish need for either gratification or personal healing.

Proverbs 11:30 states, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” Colossians 3:13 states, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Luke 17:1-3a is today’s BDBD

After preaching about the Law given through Moses and the writings of the prophets (16:31), Jesus flows through four related teachings (1-3a, 3b-4, 5-6, 7-10). The first is today’s BDBD, where Jesus warns his disciples to be sure that they are not to be the cause of someone else’s sin. He was not teaching this to those who were not his disciples (1), though some may have been present.

Sin is acting out the evil impulses already in our hearts and minds (Proverbs 6:25-26; Obadiah 1:3). Many evil impulses reside in the human soul that are not acted upon (Matthew 5:27-28). For example, a person may hate someone but never do anything to harm them. And for example, someone who could not control their alcohol or drug use suddenly finds the will and ability to resist it for many weeks and even the rest of their life. The impulse is always there, but they never take the poison again.

Jesus warns his disciples to watch themselves so that they do not cause their brother in Christ to lose control and act out the sin in their heart (3a). Jesus says, “who to that person through whom sin comes.” (1) “It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (2)

A millstone is a heavy carved stone used for grinding grain. No faster way to drown than Jesus’ illustration. The illustration Jesus gave was an ancient mode of punishment. A little one is someone either young in age or in faith in Jesus (10:21; Matthew 18:6; Mark 10:24).

Luke 16:27-31 is today’s BDBD

How many seek God and his righteousness? “Seek and you will find,” promises Jesus (Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9). This is true if the Bible and God’s people are but a few minutes away or in a place where they are hours away, even in areas where Christianity is illegal. The promise was true in all Israel during Jesus and John the Baptist’s ministry.

The Lord Jesus will respond immediately if a soul will wholeheartedly seek him. Jesus’ concluding statement in The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is not only confirming this truth, but also saying why it is true.

Abraham in the parable said to the rich man in hell, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” A heart that is closed will not accept the truth if they close their heart.

Luke 16:19-26 is today’s BDBD

Jesus continued teaching on the subject of riches for before him were Pharisees who loved money and were sneering at him (14) and his poor disciples who gave up everything to follow him (15:1, 3; 16:1). He told them “The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus”. The parable contrasts the life results of an unnamed rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. The rich man lived in luxury and Lazarus longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table (21).

Both men died, for whose body can sustain itself forever (22)? Hebrews 9:27 states, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Though physical bodies die, the soul continues. The two men’s souls had different destinies. Jesus did not directly state what determined their destination. He does go into great detail about the reasons the soul goes to one of two destinies many times elsewhere (Matthew 23:33; John 5:29, 6:51, 57-58, 11:25-26, 14:19).

The angels carried the poor man to “Abraham’s side”. The original Greek word translated as “side” is “kolpos” which refers to the fold of a Greek garment near the hips where valuables are kept safe. The rich man ended up in hell for the angels did not lift him up. “Hell” is the noun “Hades” in the original Greek. Jesus describes it well in this parable (23-24).

The lack of compassion for the poor man Lazarus shows his soul’s state. He lived in luxury and ignored Lazurus. Being rich does not determine a person’s destiny. However, being rich and keeping the wealth to one’s own well-being shows that the love of God does not dwell in a person’s heart. The rich man failed the test of wealth. He was given, but did not share.

Jesus is not teaching to take from the rich and give to the poor for that is akin to stealing. Rather, he is teaching the destiny of the stingy. He is also giving hope the those who are unable to find all the means necessary to support themselves.