Author: Stephen Ricker

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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) […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]