Blog -Bible Daily Bread Devotional (BDBD)

A quick read of the passage could lead a person to say that Jesus’s mention of divorce and adultery is out of place and not connected to the “Parable of the Shrewd Manager” (1-13) nor Jesus’ response to the sneering Pharisees (14-17). However, upon study, it is in the perfect place.

Jesus mentioned that the Law of the Covenant with Israel (which is the first five books of the Bible) is still binding and important even though the good news of the kingdom of God was being preached (16).

One of the Ten Commandments states, “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14). Deuteronomy 24:1-4 mentions the certificate of divorce (though when it was first introduced to Israel is not known for that is not given in the Bible). So it is considered part of the law, though that was debated in Jesus’ time (Mark 10:2).

Jesus mentions divorce and adultery because they are still binding to Israel. The good news is preached, but adultery is still unlawful and still sinful. (Matthew 5:31-32, 19:8-9; Mark 10:2-12; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

The reason why divorce is such a serious matter to God the Father and Jesus is because marriage is a covenant relationship between one man and one woman, no different than the Lord’s covenant with Abraham and Israel. This was true with Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation (Matthew 19:8-9; Mark 10:2-12). And marriage was made to reflect the relationship between God the Father and the Son through the binding of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus divided Israel’s history into two covenant periods (though more can be found like God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who became Israel.). The former Jesus called “The Law and the Prophets.” The present he called “The Good News of the Kingdom of God.” God supplied words for both covenants, words to live by. Both have messages that were and are proclaimed and preached.

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets and the first to preach the good news (Luke 3:18) though Jesus was the first to say he preached “The Good News of the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 4:23; 9:35, Mark 1:14-15). Jesus said, they “…were proclaimed until John.”

Jesus was not downplaying the Law, the Prophets, nor the Psalms. No, for he said that came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44). They are the foundation that pointed to Jesus. He said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.”
John, Jesus, and the apostles preach the good news of the kingdom. Studying, obeying, and preaching their words is just as important, perhaps even more important than Israel’s need to study and obey the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. I am glad that God has revealed to me his splendid good news and ask they he keep revealing them to me.

Jesus was addressing his disciples (1). However, it appears that some Pharisees were also in the crowd (14). They were wolves in sheep’s clothing, sneering as Jesus taught.

Jesus stated, “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” (13). Oh, they did not like that. Why? Because they loved money. They self-justified their love of money. Jesus pointed out that God knew their heart. While they loved money, God detested it for people like the Pharisees love money more than God.

How can I tell what I love? Where is my zeal? What is my passion? Where are my thoughts? What do I desire? What do I spend my time doing? Self-deception is easy? Will I be honest with myself? Or will I be like the Pharisees and justify myself?

The words of the prophet Malachi are true about people who love money. They say to themselves, “It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly, the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.” However, those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. ‘They will be mine, my treasured possession, in the day when I act’ says the Lord Almighty…” (Malachi 3:14-17)

The quantity of valuables do not determine if a person is trustworthy with someone else’s possessions. Trust is earned by being faithful in small matters, for whether it is a small amount or a large amount, if a person is untrustworthy with one, they are untrustworthy with billions. If a person is untrustworthy with something that has no true value, then they are not worthy of something truly valuable.

Wonder why God has given so little? In part, he is determining what we will be worthy to be given at the resurrection of the dead. If proven unfaithful with a small amount of worldly wealth, which has no value in the kingdom of God, then why give what is really valuable as property of our own for eternity?

President Ronald Reagan international introduced the Russian proverb “trust but verify” when negotiating with Russia concerning nuclear treaty disarmament. That proverb is the way of the worldly wise, not the deeper wisdom and eternally valuable way of Christ.

How does Christ determine if one is loyal and trustworthy? He determines if they serve him or money by giving them money. Money is the most coveted worldly wealth because it can be used to gain power, control, freedom, and luxury in this world. Since the human soul can only covent and serve one entity all the time, if they are given money, they will eventually need to decide if they will use it to glorify God or to glorify themselves. Who am I serving right now?

The “Parable of the Shrewd Manager” (aka “The Parable of the Unfaithful Steward”, and “The Parable of the Dishonest Manager”) can distract a person’s attention to side debates and thoughts till one loses the main point of the parable. This is a difficult teaching to comprehend. The details, though interesting, seem mostly to support the main idea. Therefore, they only find importance in support instead of being a main point to consider.

Jesus’ main point is in verse 9, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” An ill side point to consider is that the manager was not using his own wealth to secure his future in this world. He was using someone else’s. What is Jesus saying? Another distraction would be how could Jesus use an unscrupulous man as the hero of the parable. Did he gain eternal life?

The first question I have is, “What worldly wealth do I have?” Worldly wealth is things that God has provided me that I can use to make friends, for in doing so, I have eternal dwellings. I am not saying that by good works I am saved. I am saved by grace through faith. Rather, I just want to know what can I do to obey Jesus’ teaching here. What did God give me that I can use to help others know Jesus?

The proper use of worldly wealth (which is more than money) is the point. Christians should use it so well here on earth, by expending it not selfishly on their own pleasures, but unselfishly for the good of others, and for the advancement of God’s kingdom, that instead of hindering them from reaching heaven, it will help them to enter there. The foresight of the steward is commended in this parable, not his dishonest use of someone else’s stuff.

Jesus concluded “The Parable of the Prodical Son” by revealing God’s love for both sons. Perhaps a better title would be “The Father’s Love for Sons Who Reject Him.” Yet, that is too long. How about simply “The Father’s Love”?

When the Father addresses the older son, Jesus does not say that the older son repented. We are left wondering. This seems to indicate that the parable and the former two address the Pharisees and teachers of the law more than those they labeled as tax collectors and sinners. They are given the choice to accept the Father’s love for their younger son or reject it.

The father explained his actions toward the younger brother to the older brother. I paraphrase here, “You have not lost anything upon his return. You sill have all that is mine. However, he did gain something. You gained younger son who has changed. He was dead when he left here. No love. No life. He was lost to the truth. He has returned full of life and love. He has repented.”

The father’s love is a beautiful picture of the return of the younger son, which also pictures Christian conversion (Romans 6:13; Ephesians 2:1,5) The words “lost and is found” are often used to mean “perished and saved” (19:10; Matthew 10:6, 18:10-14)

How many times does something happen in my life and I ask, “Why?” “Why did God allow this to happen?” I try to do the right thing, knowing that I will fall short of perfection. Yet, I believe that I have done enough of the right things to live a life where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Yet, they do not. These deplorable events happen. How I react displays my character.

The day his younger brother returned was such a day for the older brother. He had been busy in the field doing what was expected of him. He returns home to the sound of laughter and music. A party was commencing, and he was not informed. When the older brother learned the reason, he became angry. Nothing seems to come his way except toil and trouble, and now this.

The older son had a problem and was not aware of it. He was bitter with life. He did not know his Father’s love. Trouble and deplorable things happen to everyone. Knowing and adhering to righteousness does not guarantee happily ever after.

When a sinner returns to the heavenly Father, I can rejoice with the Father, or I can be like the older brother. The forgiving love of the father symbolizes the divine mercy of God, and the older brother’s resentment is like the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who opposed Jesus.

The younger son “came to his senses” (17, literally “came to himself”), meaning he had given himself over to experience stimuli, a type of madness of the soul (heart, will, and mind). Now, he retook control of his soul. He decided to return to his father, knowing not what awaited him. He hoped to experience the presence of his father, for he knew his father was good and loving.

When the father first caught sight of his younger son, he was filled with joy (20b), a response Jesus taught about in the previous two parables. This is a beautiful description, the image of his father’s happening to see him clad in rags, poor, and emaciated, and yet he recognized his son, and all the warm feelings of a father prompted him to go and embrace him.

The comfort of the embrace of a forgiving heavenly Father warms the soul and delights the spirit. Rest is His name. Peace is His presence. Love is his heart. The energy in the kiss of our passionate heavenly Father straightens the bent back and washes the soiled soul. Everlasting Father is His name. Power is His presence. Holy is his heart.

“Father, I have sinned,” is the only anticipated response. “I was worthy to be your son. I no longer am worth. Through my submission to sin and darkness, I died.”

“You are now alive again.” The Father has the power to raise to life, that which is dead.

Jesus continued his teaching to a mixed crowd. Luke notes two differences to those who were present. One personality type was the social outcasts and sinners who gathered around to hear Jesus (1). The other personality type was the self-righteous socially accepted religious leaders who came to destroy God’s work through Jesus’ ministry (2). Jesus told them “The Parable of The Lost Sheep” and “The Parable of The Lost Coin”. Now he would tell all a third, “The Parable of the Lost Son.”

The two previous parables had several mutual components. One aspect easily overlooked is that they compare an owner’s response to two identical elements, except one has more value than the other; one sheep in contrast to ninety-nine, and one coin in contrast to nine. “The Parable of the Lost Son” would do likewise. Jesus would compare a father’s response to two sons.

The younger son abandoned his place in his father’s house. He left his responsibilities. He abandoned his father’s lifestyle. He wanted nothing to do with anything about his father, except his wealth. He decided to enjoy life by doing whatever he wanted to do. He represents the social outcasts and sinners. They, like the younger son, had abandoned their place in their heavenly father’s house.

The oldest son remained with his father. He watched as his younger brother dishonored their father. He said nothing to his younger sibling when their father gave his younger brother a share of the inheritance. The parable will show that the older brother, though with his father, did not agree with all his father’s beliefs and lifestyle choices, especially when dealing with this younger brother. Jesus exposes that the older brother did not love his rebellious younger brother as his father did. The older brother represents the self-righteous socially accepted religious leaders who came to destroy God’s work through Jesus’ ministry. Unlike their father, they hated the tax collectors and sinners.

The Parable of the Lost Coin is similar to the Parable of the Lost Sheep. However, Jesus’s conclusion is slightly different. The difference is in the Lost Coin. Jesus says, “…rejoicing… over one sinner who repents.” In the Lost Sheep, Jesus says, “…more rejoicing…over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” The point of the Lost Coin is that one person repenting is very important.

Many in my society do not consider individuals important. However, Jesus considered each person important. He especially takes note when they change their ways and thinking to righteousness.

The drachma, worth a day’s wages that was lost, is an expressive emblem of a sinner who is estranged from God and enslaved to habits of iniquity. The longer a piece of money is lost, the less probability there is of its being again found. It may not only lose its color and not be easily observed but will continue to be increasingly covered with dust and dirt. Its value may be vastly lessened by being so trampled on that a part of the substance, together with the image and superscription, may be worn off. So the sinner sinks deeper and deeper into the impurities of sin, loses even his character among men. Still, Jesus finds it valuable and worth rejoicing when found.

Jesus receives lost rejected souls and socially scorned people, those who have rebelled against God and selfishly hates others. He compares them to lost sheep. He receives them cordially and affectionately. He embraces them, taking them in his arms to his bosom, near his heart, as the word implies. What mercy! Jesus receives sinners in the most loving, affectionate manner and saves them unto eternal life!

Jesus is telling this to tax collectors who, of their own accord, joined what their society considered their enemy, Rome. He is telling this to the religious elite, those who publically labeled people “sinners” because they did not keep their erroneous religious rules. He is telling this to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (scribes) who, while being the religious elite and social leaders, were rejecting the Messiah. All of them have gone astray – lost, wandering the dangerous valley alone.

Those Jesus addressed some 2,000 years ago are no different than us today. We are like Isaiah the prophet wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6)

Jesus gives away a secret of heaven. He opens the curtain to see what they consider a reason to party. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Jesus concludes his teaching to the large crowds that followed him. He had been expounding on his claim, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (27). His concluding remark is, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”

Salt has a large number of positive uses. It is used as a food preservative, to improve and empasize food’s taste, and to give food a distinctive taste. It is also used to clean, sanitize, deodorize, and heal. Similarly, when a person follows Jesus and takes up his personal cross, then the Holy Spirit enters that person, and they change. With the Spirit inside, the converted soul becomes a positive influence on those around them. They have the characteristics of salt.

However, if a believer walks away from Jesus and their cross they lose their saltiness. They lose their peace within and without. They become argumentative and bitter. They become stubborn fools who have rejected God and reject others. They negatively affect those around them. Jesus asks, “How can they be made salty again?” If they go from being a good influence to repulsing others, can their errors be corrected?

Jesus provides two illustrations to explain and support the truth that I must carry my cross as Jesus bore his cross. The first example illustrates the important preconstruction practice of considering the cost before building. Making and keeping a budget at the get-go with milestones is important for any project. If I do not have enough money, I should either not build or not build so big and elaborate.

Jesus is saying, “Following me is not going to be easy. You will, at times, have to sacrifice your ambitions, hopes, and dreams when following me or doing good for others. Are you willing to give up what you love to obey me and carry your cross?”

The other example Jesus provided is the preemptive tactic of war. If a king has ten thousand troops and his opponent has twice as many, he needs to consider if he can win. If he can not, it is best to ask for the price of peace when the invader is far off.

Jesus concludes the illustrations, “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” The cost of following him, Jesus warned, is complete surrender to him. Can you still say, “I love Jesus,” while not complying with complete surrender?

Jesus had something to say to the large crowds following him. They needed to know that following him came at a high price. Tolls did not exist on Roman roads. Jesus did not charge a fee to listen to him. No record exists showing he took an offering from anyone. However, there was a price to be paid to follow Jesus. They needed to be prepared. The price was full dedication and allegiance.

According to Matthew 10:37, Jesus said almost the same words when he sent the twelve out. “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…” To the large crowd, he used hyperbole, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters- yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple…” (26) Jesus is to be our first love.

Jesus continues, “…and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus said this before, when Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ of God (9:23). The cross was an instrument of death and torture. Here, it symbolizes the necessity of total commitment -even unto death- on the part of Jesus’s disciples. These dramatic words coincide well with 13:24, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to,” except here Jesus says all his disciples have hard and dangerous kingdom work assigned to them. Following Jesus sometimes is not light and easy labor.

Jesus continued his parable, “The Great Banquet,” explaining what was happening right before the established elite’s eyes and repeating the ancient prophets’ words concerning what was to come.

The servant in the parable had just reported to his master the absentee excuses of those who were invited to the banquet. The master, who owned a great house, became angry. The master’s words to his servant, Jesus picked directly out prophecy. (Isaiah 29:18-10; 35:5-6; 61:1; Deut. 18:15 and Psalms 72:2,4,12,13)

Jesus gave these words before to John the Baptist while he was in prison. John, through his disciples, asked Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (Matthew 11:3-5) The servant in the parable is describing Jesus’ last 3 years, his ministry unfolding right in front of the established elite’s eyes, those who had rejected Jesus’ invitation to the Great Banquet.

Jesus concluded his parable with a prophesy. Because there was still room, the master of the great house instructed his servant to go on a road trip until his house was filled. Jesus had been preparing his disciples to be his messengers to the Gentiles after he ascended. The prophecy is being fulfilled today. Best to be sure that one accepts the invitation before the guest list is closed.

The people invited to the banquet initially accepted the invitation. But when the time came to attend, all had excuses for why they couldn’t. Their excuses were ridiculous. The first said he just bought a field and must go to see it. Who buys a field without seeing it? And couldn’t seeing a field wait for one day? It was not going anywhere.

The excuse of the man who bought five yoke of oxen was also not genuine. Who buys a farming team of five oxen without inspecting them beforehand?

The man, whose pretext was that he just got married, was also not sincere. Why plan to be married on the day of a banquet you knew was coming?

The man who invited these guests was God. The servant delivering the invitations was Jesus. The invited guests were the Jews of Jesus’s day. Most made excuses for why they rejected Jesus and his kingdom. They would not eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.

Many in my day also have reasons why they put other things before getting to know Jesus. They sleep late rather than pray, meditate on the word of God, and commune with God the Father. Sports are more important than generosity and servitude. Self gain is put in place of self sacrifice. I know that I need to prepare for the coming seventh trumpet call to the banquet. The time is now. No excuses are accepted.

Jesus and his disciples were invited to dinner at the home of a prominent Pharisee. Jesus had been discoursing with the host, teaching him a better way of thinking and life. He concluded a parable about the reward that goes with covert generosity by saying, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (13-14)

Picking up on “the resurrection of the righteous” one of those at the table with him said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Sounds like the great Messianic banquet to come was one of the person’s favorite subjects. The association of the future kingdom with a feast was common then and is still so now. (13:29; Isaiah 25:6; Matthew 8:11, 25:1-10, 26:29; Revelation 19:9)

Jesus used the person’s remark as the occasion for a new parable warning that not everyone would enter the kingdom. The parable’s characters were a host of a coming banquet, his servant, and some invited guests. It was common in those days to send out an early invitation, make arrangements for the banquet, and when all was ready send a servant to tell the guests to come for the banquet is ready.

God is the host of the future Messianic banquet. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles are his servants who tell others that they are invited to attend. Now I am one too. A great banquet is coming. Are you ready and willing to attend?

Acts of kindness do not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. Jesus continued teaching the host who disapproved of Jesus’ kind act of healing a man with dropsy on the Sabbath. Jesus switched the subject from humility to being rewarded for acts of kindness.

The host, a prominent Pharisee invited Jesus and his disciples to a dinner on the Sabbath. He wanted to investigate whether Jesus would violate one of his laws. Jesus began teaching the error of the leader’s laws, customs, and ways. Now he would teach about the secret blessedness of living servitude.

Apostle Paul told Jesus’ people, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” (Acts 20:35) Why is it better?

Jesus’ answer is, “You will be blessed (when you do so). Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” The resurrection of the righteous is distinct from the resurrection of the unrighteous. The unrighteous will be judged. The righteous will be rewarded. (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:4-6) The righteous are those who have been pronounced so by God on the basis of Christ’s atonement and who have evidenced their faith by their actions. (Matthew 25:34-40) I need to act on compassion and love when I see the need for a random act of kindness.

It is better to be honored by another than to be embarrassed by an honorable host. Jesus’ parable concludes with God’s unchangeable conduct: He is ever abasing the proud and giving grace, honor, and glory to the humble. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This is part of God’s regular plan: to raise up those bowed down, and show his favors to those who are poor and needy.

Insincere humility is the hypocrite’s hidden pride. I should honor others more than myself without forgetting that I am a child of God and that is enough honor for eternity.

I am invited to the King’s wedding banquet, honor is attending dressed, ready for servicing, with my lamp burning. (Luke 12:35) “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:4-6)

Jesus was often invited to Pharisee’s houses on the Sabbath. (Luke 7:36, 11:37) This was considered an honor. However, the religious leaders did not honor Jesus in their hearts. They watched him closely hoping to find some reason to discredit him. (Matthew 12:10; Mark 3:2; Luke 6:7, 20:20) Luke’s record of this healing reveals today was no different.

Dropsy is an old name for a disease in which the body becomes swollen because it retains an unusual amount of fluid. Luke hints that the Pharisees arranged this intentionally noting that the infected man was placed in front of Jesus. The intent was to discredit Jesus. They believed that their words held large sway amongst the public. Intimidation and humiliation were their source of power and influence.

Jesus used their trap as a teaching tool. “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” Jesus exposed the hypocrisy and malicious intent. He gave them a chance to repent. But they remained silent. Their duplicity was caught. They remained stubborn fools.

Motivation is key. Why do I do what I do? An ill heart can not be overlooked, yet the self often excuses it. 1 John 2:4-6 says, “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

How decisive am I to seek and fulfill God’s plans for me? Do I have the resolve to continue to the end? What if I knew that from here to there, from now through awaited suffering, rejection, torture, persecution, and even death till the destination? Will I make every effort to seek the kingdom of God even though the road to forever happily ever after is narrow and treacherous?

Jesus did.

The news that Herod wanted to kill Jesus was supplied by some Pharisees. Jesus’ reply reveals his resolve was complete. He will continue whether Herod or anyone else wants to kill him. Indeed, Jesus knew what awaited him when he reached Jerusalem. “I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.”

“Goal”, “perfected”, or “finished” means, “I shall then have accomplished the purpose for which I came into the world, leaving nothing undone which the counsel of God designed me to complete. Hence, in reference to our Lord, the word implies his dying; as the plan of human redemption was not finished, till he bowed his head and gave up the ghost on the cross.” (John 19:30) Of course on the third day after his crucifixion he rose from death. Do today’s work today, and do tomorrow’s work tomorrow. I will do each day’s on that day and all day’s one day at a time till I rise and work no more.

What is the difference between an excuse and a reason? An excuse is spoken to either explain a fault or an offense in the hope of being forgiven or understood and/or to seek to remove the blame from oneself. An excuse is saying, “It wasn’t my fault,” or “I had no choice.”

A reason is the basis or motive for an action and may even be a declaration made to explain or justify a decision or conviction with the possibility of obtaining a reduction in sentence. A reason is saying, “Yes I did that, and here is why.”

The people in Jesus’ parable “The Narrow Door” were doing neither. They were saying, “You are mistaken, Jesus. We are not the people you say we are. We did not do anything wrong. You do know us. We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.”

Jesus’ answer is clear. He did not know them. He still does not know them. Jesus is telling them they did not accept him in his heart. They did not have a relationship.

Right now the needing and seeking soul will be asking, “Do I know Jesus? What does it mean to know someone? How does a person know Jesus?” As Apostle Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to obtain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

Get to know Jesus or make yourself weep in the future.

“I will make every effort to be the best athlete in my sport to be honored by the crowd.”
“I will make every effort to be the best business tycoon in the land to have power and wealth.”
“I will make every effort to be the best artist to be celebrated for my skill and brilliance.”
“I will make every effort to be the best parent so my children will succeed.”
“I will make every effort to be the best .”
Jesus says, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
“That is too much to ask Jesus. I cannot make every effort.”
“You mean you do not want to make any effort.”
Silence.
Jesus warned, “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “
“We will make every effort to do what we want.”
“You do not want me nor my Father.”

Jesus started his final trip to Jerusalem. He was in a hurry, but not so much a hurry that he quickly passed people. Jesus stopped by every big town and small village he passed. He did not stop to rest. He stopped to teach the people about the kingdom of God, his favorite subject these last few months.

An unnamed person asked, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” The person was probably a believer for he called Jesus Lord. “Lord” is “Kyrios” in the original Greek, a designation of supremacy. “Saved” is the Greek verb “sozo” meaning “to make whole”, “to be whole”, and “to heal” while implying a person is delivered and protected. Why did he ask this question?

Several reasons exist for what led this person to ask this question. Perhaps he heard and thought about what Jesus had taught in verses 2-9. Jesus’ teachings had convicted him because he was an average person of his day, no different than those Pilate had desecrated or who were killed when the tower collapsed. Jesus said he had to repent or he would perish.

Another possibility was the person noticed how although many came to hear Jesus so that there were often large crowds, few actually remained loyal to Jesus and followed him. This would explain Jesus’ answer about not putting off making a decision and thus being fickle.

Or perhaps the unnamed person could not accept how everyone needed repentance even though many, he thought appeared to be good people who obeyed God’s law and were good citizens.

A slight possibility is that this person was trying to trap Jesus. If Jesus answered, “Yes,” then many could have left Jesus in contempt. Another slight possibility was that he admired Jesus’ hard-line stand he also believed everyone needed to repent.

No matter which, Jesus’ answer in tomorrow’s BDBD would have been and still is a shocker.

The crowd was thinking, “We are God’s kingdom. Israel is God’s kingdom. The Messiah by the power of God’s hand will fight for God’s kingdom.”

Jesus knew their thoughts. So he asked them questions. He taught them parables. “What is the kingdom of God like?”

“It is like a mighty kingdom getting all kinds of tribute from other nations so that no one in Israel will be oppressed nor need to work,” they answered him in their heart.

Jesus continued asking them questions. He wanted them to consider something else. “What shall I compare it to?”

“Oh no. Here comes another one of his parables which we don’t understand.” Most in the crowd silently moaned.

Jesus taught them about a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds of the air perched in its branches.

“Israel is small, but with God fighting for us we will grow to encompass the world, bigger than Rome,” some uttered. “But why would he let others dwell in our kingdom?”

Jesus knew those on the outside did not understand because their hearts were closed to God. To those who put their faith in him, he told another parable, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

By this Jesus meant that God’s kingdom does not destroy other nations. God’s kingdom changes other nations. Together they become a new creation much better than the former.

Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath as he made his final trip to Jerusalem. He had healed on the Sabbath before and been criticized. (Luke 6:6-11, 14:1-6, Matthew 12:1-8, 11-12, John 5:1-18) The synagogue ruler was reasonable because, from his point of view, the people could have waited a day to be healed and thus not disrupted the service, including reading the Word and the sermon, thus breaking established worship order, and according to them, the Sabbath law calling for rest. The religious leaders had narrowly defined what it meant to rest and not rest on the Sabbath. The religious Jewish leadership had taken God’s direction, “Remember the Sabbath… on it you shall not do any work…” (Exodus 20:6) to extremes that were not acceptable to God. Jesus often pointed this out. The traditions that they created became a burden.

From the woman’s point of view, she had to be healed now because she did not know if Jesus would be in her village tomorrow. She was desperate and Jesus is the helper of the despondent. Why wait for tomorrow to be healed when Jesus is here now waiting for you to come and be healed?

From Jesus’ point of view, this woman was a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had kept bound for eighteen long years. Jesus untied her from her stall and led her to his healing water. From Jesus’ point of view, the synagogue ruler was a hypocrite who suppressed the woman. He did not care that she was set free from Satan’s chains. The man was more concerned about his status than praising God.

From the people’s point of view, they were delighted with all the wonderful things Jesus was doing. Whose view do I have? Jesus’? The synagogue ruler’s? The woman’s? Or the people’s?

Jesus’ parable is a continuation and graphic explanation of his warning to the people, “Repent or else…” The man who owes the fig tree in his vineyard is God. The fig tree is often used in the Bible to represent Israel, thus referring to the misguided Jews who came to Jesus wanting to incite Jesus to start a revolt against Pilate and the Rome Pilate represented. They stubbornly continued in an opposite direction than God wanted them to go.

The vineyard represents the kingdom of God. God had planted Israel in his kingdom. Like the man in the parable, God wanted Israel to bear fruit, meaning he wanted them to be his messengers to the world. They were not. They bore no fruit for the three years Jesus had preached, taught, and done miracles. They did not put their faith in him. They did not follow him. They did not obey him. Instead, they wanted to kill all of their enemies. No matter how much Jesus had taken care of the fig tree for the three years of his ministry, they did not bear fruit. God wanted to cut them down.

Jesus pleaded for God to give them some more time to change their ways. He would send his disciples to dig around it and fertilize it. They would continue his work exponentially. Jesus told his Father, “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” The Jews did not bear fruit and in 70 AD they were destroyed by Rome. Similarly, I can take Jesus’ parable as a warning to bear fruit as God intends for my life or else…

Jesus was told of a horrible act committed by Pilate. Perhaps the messengers thought Jesus would proclaim a woe or curse on Pilate. Maybe they wanted this to be the catalyst to start a war against Rome. Jesus did none of these things. Rather, Jesus indirectly focused on the messengers through an indirect association.

The main point of Jesus’s response is repeated twice, “…unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Repent is a feeling of regret, a changing of the mind, and/or a turning from sin to God. As a feeling of regret, the term can apply even to God. This feeling is enough to change one’s mind regarding the subject and thus change one’s actions hopefully for the better.

“Perish” is “apollymi” in the original Greek meaning to die or be destroyed especially in a violent or untimely manner, and to pass from existence. Jesus was warning those who delivered this grim news. Their motive in telling Jesus was all wrong, they needed to change it, and if they didn’t they would exist no more.

When someone dies a terrible unexpected death like the Galileans or the eighteen many believe they deserved it. “Deserves them right,” we say. We judge them of either a known or unknown sin. Jesus teaches here that such things are not for me to judge. Rather, I am to judge myself and change if I need be. If I find myself judging another I should repent and change myself.

The general concept Jesus is speaking about here is that through cause and effect and patterns we know what will happen in the physical world in regards to the weather. Predicting the weather in the next few hours based on what we see and feel in the atmosphere is possible.

Similarly, the Old Testament reveals a lot about Jesus’ first coming. Any Jew could have studied the Bible and looked at what was happening in John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ ministry to know that the Messiah had come as the Lamb of God. But most did not. Thus, they deprived themselves of knowing the needed truth to make a good and right decision.

The future would be bleak for the generation that rejected the Messiah. A war with Rome that would lead to the nation’s destruction would come. A war that Israel would not recover from for almost two thousand years. The result for generations of Jews that would follow them would be rejection and persecution from one nation after another. Jesus’ rebuke to the crowd was a warning to not reject him as the Messiah and the result their rejecting would have. Jesus called them hypocrites.

Who is the modern hypocrite? The modern hypocrites do not study the Bible, pray, meditate, and see what is going on in the world around them. They do not seek God’s plans from theirself through personal study, prayer, and meditation. Their only chance to gain understanding and see from God’s perspective is from what other people tell them is in the Bible the few days they go to church, but even then something else is on their mind. They do not study themselves. They will be surprised when they experience what they did not prepare for.

Some believe that Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Here, Jesus said he did not. The misconception rests on the misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what he did when he came. The world has always had war, people fighting each other. The belief amongst many Jews was that the Messiah would forcefully stop the actions of those who were “sinners” and Gentile heathens, there would be a war, and many would die. Those who would remain would be on God’s side. Through this peace would come to earth. Or so they believed.

This thinking was wrong. The Messiah was coming to bring peace with God in a person’s heart, not between two opposing sides. A sinner is converted into a saint if they accept what Jesus did for them on the cross.

Jesus had been talking about his coming baptism, that is the crucifixion. Now he states that this would bring division. When faced with the cross and the implication of it a person has to make a decision, accept or reject. This binary decision causes division. Some accept.- some reject. The human conversion is from the love of God, not vengeance. The love of God is not forced on someone. The love of God seeks faith, hope and love. Some accept – some reject. Thus, division.

Jesus states that division will occur, even in families. Why? When a person accepts Jesus’s death for their sins, they become a member of the family of God. When a person rejects Jesus’s death for their sins, they remain in the house of Satan. These two sides are a division amongst mankind, even in a family.

Jesus speaks of a consuming fire. The fire here is not the chemical reaction that results in light and heat. Rather, this is a descriptive word used to illustrate an ongoing action/reaction after Jesus completes his work. What was that work; preaching, teaching, raising disciples, the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, or the work of the Holy Spirit he would send? Theologians have taken the fire here to refer to anyone and several of these.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit took the seed that Jesus planted and acted to quickly spread it all over the world. His work was and is like a violent altering consuming fire.

Luke 3:16 reveals more. Matthew 3:11 is the same. They record John the Baptist saying, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Keys to “fire” being the Holy Spirit is that Jesus wanted it to come, being God’s nature which is always good. Jesus places this after his death. He was just talking about his disciple’s responsibilities. Jesus states that he is distressed until it is completed. Finally, Jesus uses “baptism” as a descriptive word for his suffering and death, the second part of this bi-fold revelation. The fire that Jesus is speaking of continues still.

This is a continuation of yesterday’s BDBD.

“Of corroborative value is the personal history of Peter (John 21:18, 19; 2 Pet. 1:14). Jesus foretold that Peter, then middle-aged (“when you were younge”), would die at an infirm old age (“when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you”). If we try to save the imminence of the Parousia by saying that Peter could have been martyred at any time, we forget that his infirmity and old age were not imminent. And if we say that the prediction concerning Peter was not common knowledge among Christians until long after his death, we overlook the presence of other apostles on the occasion of the prediction. Furthermore, John writes of the incident in order to correct a misimpression which had arisen concerning his own death. The whole matter, then, must have received some publicity in the early Church.

“To claim that these delays were “general in nature, without specific length;” merely avoids the issue. Whether general or specific, long or short, the delays were delays and, by being stated, rendered the second coming non-imminent to the apostolic Church. Moreover, the delays were not entirely general in nature. The specificity of the great commission (“in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth”), of the promise that Paul should bear witness at Rome, and of Peter’s old age as a time of infirmity to the degree of inability to dress himself make the delays much more pointed than the doctrine of imminence can allow.

“Again, to claim that “the delays had been fulfilled by the time the exhortations to watch were written” runs afoul of historical facts. At least those exhortations to watch in the epistles appeared in writing before the disciples could have fulfilled the great commission, before Paul had completed his extensive missionary efforts, and before Peter had reached old age, become infirm, and died. From the very beginning, even before the written exhortations, Christians knew that they were to watch through the oral ministry of Jesus and the apostles and prophets. In one of his earliest epistles Paul already commends believers for their watchfulness (1 Thess. 1:9, 10). The point remains that if watching could not have connoted imminence in the apostolic age, it need not connote imminence now.

“But should we not think that all else was contingent upon the second coming, that an “only if Christ does not return beforehand” qualified every other expectation? Possibly, but only possibly, in connection with the personal circumstances of Peter and Paul. It is very hard to think, however, that an imminent return of Christ might have taken away sufficient opportunity to fulfill the great commission. Moreover, when imminence becomes the ruling principle by which all else was and is rendered contingent, even the events of the tribulation do not have to take place; they might “die on the vine” just as the great commission and the predictions concerning Paul and Peter would have done had Jesus returned beforehand.” This ends the quote from “The Church and the Tribulation” by Robert H. Gundry.

Peter wanted to know if what Jesus said was for everyone or just the disciples. Jesus answered with a parable. His answer should be considered to accompany the previous. Today’s BDBD is a continuation of yesterday’s. The quote below from “The Church and the Tribulation” continues yesterday’s.

“Jesus bases the parable of the servants on the presupposition of a delay in His coming, for without the delay no interval would have provided opportunity for the servants to display their true colors (Luke 12:41-48; Matt. 24:45-51). And when Jesus has the wicked servant say, “My master will be a long time in coming,” He tacitly admits that there will be a delay. As the wicked servant’s eternal judgment “with the unbelievers (or hypocrites)” shows, the contrast in servants distinguishes true disciples, whose characteristic it is to watch, from false disciples, whose characteristic it is not to watch. The necessary delay made no difference to the expectant attitude of the true servant, but it revealed the falsity of the wicked servant. Jesus does not condemn recognition of delay, but the attitude that takes selfish advantage of the delay. Moreover, readiness denotes not so much tiptoe anticipation as faithful service day by day: “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes” (Luke’s version).

“We might suppose that the long period of delay required in the parables would be satisfied by “a few years.” But a few years is all the delay post-tribulationism requires. Jesus could not have given in good faith the great commission with its worldwide extent (“all the nations” and “the remotest part of the earth”) without providing a considerable lapse of time so that the disciples might have opportunity to perform the task. The long-range missionary endeavors of Paul may not possess independent argumentative weight (Paul’s journey to Rome was contingent on the Lord’s will, Rom. 1:9, 10). Yet as the Lord’s commission for him to go “far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22: 21) and to witness before “kings” (Acts 9:15) and as the promise in Jerusalem that he would “witness… at Rome” (Acts 23:11; cf. 27:24) link up with the great commission generally, they gain considerable weight.

“It may be countered, with an appeal to Paul’s statement “the gospel… was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col. 1:23), that “the extensive preaching of the gospel in the first century might… satisfy the program of preaching to the ends of the earth.” However, Paul wrote his statement during his first Roman imprisonment, some thirty years after Jesus gave the Great Commission, an interval more than four times as long as the tribulation. And Paul had not fulfilled his intention of visiting Spain, where the Gospel had not yet been preached (Rom. 15:20, 24). Evidently, he himself did not regard the great commission as fulfilled. Apparently, then, in Colossians 1:23 Paul is not affirming a fulfillment of the Great Commission but is setting the universality of the Gospel (the good news is for all men, even though it has not reached all men) in opposition to the esotericism of the Colossian heresy.

One more quote will continue on a special Sunday BDBD. I normally do not post BDBD on Sunday because I encourage all to attend a Bible believing and teaching congregation near their home.

Jesus wants his faithful servant to always be “dressed and ready”, eagerly and patiently waiting for his coming to take us away to be with him for eternity. (1 Cor. 15:51-52, Phil. 3:20, 1 Thess. 1:10, 1 Tim. 6:14, James 5:8) The servants being “taken away” (“rapture”, only found in the Latin Septuagint) at the last of the seven trumpets is the next occurrence in the church’s calendar. (The first six trumpets are for the world. See https://stephenricker.com/novels/the_believers_future.htm) The seventh trumpet is when Jesus will appear in the heavens before touching the earth (Acts 1:9-11) and his angels reaping the harvest of believers (1 Thess. 4:13-18). We shall be changed and see him with our own eyes (Psalm 17:19, 1 John 3:2). We will then descend with him to earth.

Jesus taught his servants in many parables like this one to “keep watch” for his sure coming. (Matt. 13:30, 21:34, 24:32, 25:13, 19, Mark 4:29, 12:2, 13:35) The word “imminence” meaning, “something is about to happen” is not in any English translation of the Bible. Yet, Jesus’ servants have always looked to his coming to take them away. Habakkuk 2:2-3 states, “Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” What then does Jesus mean by telling us to “keep watch”? Does “keep watching” imply imminence? Many who call themselves Christians believe in imminence, that is, that Jesus can return at any time since his ascension. Is this in line with Jesus’ parables like this one? And what of the claim that the gospel must be preached in the whole world before he came again which did not happen until recent years? Below is a quote from “The Church and the Tribulation” by Robert H. Gundry in chapter 3 under the heading “Expectation and Imminence”.

“If the second coming could not have been imminent for those originally commanded to watch at the time they were so commanded, then the commanded expectancy could not have implied imminence of the event looked for. It then becomes unnecessary for us to regard Jesus’ coming as imminent, for we have received no further and no different exhortations. In other words, if a delay in the Parousia of at least several years was compatible with expectancy in apostolic times, a delay for the several years of the tribulation is compatible with expectancy in current times. Jesus clearly indicates to the early disciples that His coming will be delayed for some time. The express purpose of the parable concerning the nobleman who went to a “far country” is that the disciples should not think “the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately” (Luke 19: 11-27). “While the bridegroom was delaying” also intimates delay (Matt. 25:5). In the parable of the talents, Jesus likens His return to the lord who “after a long time” came back from a far country (Matt. 25:19).

More in tomorrow’s BDBD.

Jesus will start his final long journey to Jerusalem after teaching this series (13:22, 31, 14:25, 17:11). While walking from town to town, he will seek to focus his disciples’ attention on his death, resurrection, and ascension and on what they are to do when he is gone.

These three verses concern his kingdom which the Father is pleased to give to them (32). Jesus tells his flock not to be afraid, for the kingdom is theirs. Jesus is speaking to believers, who already possess the kingdom. His command is to believers who should seek the spiritual benefits of the kingdom, rather than the riches of the world (33).

The treasure-full purses we are to pursue are heavenly and thus do not wear out and will never never be exhausted. Heavenly treasure which we acquire by faithly obedience now will never be stolen nor dropped through a hole in our purses because a moth eats through it.

Many faithful have often sacrificed worldly treasure in obedience to their King’s call. They value his treasure more than the wealth of this world. They know and believe what Jesus offers is better than fine living.

The heavenly treasure is the approval of our heavenly Father, which is represented as wealth stored up in heaven, ready to be enjoyed hereafter. The earthly treasure is not only wealth (though that is its most striking exemplification), but everything lower than God Himself on which men set their hearts,—honor, fame, pleasure, ease, power, excitement, luxury, and animal enjoyment.

Rebuking worry Jesus said, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

The Kingdom of God is where King Jesus rules completely and unquestionably. (John 14:15-24) The bride of the Kingdom of God thinks about him, loves him, and lives to enjoy him and fulfill his will. Luke 17:20-21 records, “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “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.” Jesus transfers people from being subjects of the worldly kingdom to subjects of God’s kingdom. The transformation starts in the heart, mind, and will continue until one’s whole being is changed. (Rom. 12:2) Paul calls it circumcision of the heart. (Rom. 2:29) Colossians 1:13-14 states, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Mark 10:13-15 states, “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The Kingdom of God is where Jesus rules the humble repentant heart.

People who are subjects to this world’s kingdoms have their minds and hearts set on this world. They do all they can to build up a stockpile of goods for themselves. A famous bumper sticker reads, “The one with the most toys wins.” After Jesus told the parables concerning the Kingdom of God (seeds parable), he finished with, “The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'” (Mark 4:11-12) A person whose heart is set on this world will not be given the secrets of Jesus’ kingdom. If a heart willingly is transformed, Jesus will reveal his truths to it.

Jesus tells me to seek first the kingdom of his Father (aka the Kingdom of Heaven). Jesus has mentioned the kingdom of God at least thirteen times before (4:43, 6:20, 7:28, 8:1, 10, 9:2, 11, 27, 62, etc.). The kingdom of God is mentioned over 1,300 times in the Bible.

Many of Jesus’ parables concern the Kingdom of God, especially in the coming chapters. Jesus stated that he “preached the good news of the Kingdom of God” from town to town. (Luke 4:43, 8:1, 9:11) Jesus sent out his disciples to preach about the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:1) Jesus often told people, “The Kingdom of God is near you,” or at least something similar. (Matt. 12:28, Mark 1:15, Mark 12:34, Luke 10:9, 11, 20) When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, the second subject (after honoring God our Father) he told them to pray for was The Kingdom of God’s coming. “Thy kingdom come,” he taught his disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The question is often raised, or at least should be raised; what is Jesus asking us to seek when he said, “…seek his kingdom”? What was Jesus referring to when he spoke of the Kingdom of God? Is it a real place? Is it in this world? Is it the church (congregation)? Is it in heaven or is it heaven itself? Is it something yet to come? Is it some mystical realm in another dimension? Will it be on the moon or some other planet in a galaxy far away? Is it the same as the Kingdom of Heaven? Sadly most today including many modern Christians have either no idea or the wrong idea of the Kingdom of God because most, including modern believers, seldom take time to think about the Kingdom of God let alone talk about it and study what the Bible has to say about it.

More on the kingdom of God in the next BDBD.

Worry is mentioned four times in the universal mending subject in this passage. Worry can affect all; no matter being rich, poor, or of moderate income. A sociable elite and a society outcast will worry about an unfathomable future. Living on the north and south poles, on the equator, and anywhere in between will not stave someone from worry. Worry is in the fabric that binds our bones. We could fall to pieces at any moment.

Jesus prescribes the only salve to worry. He does not merely command, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.” Nor does he not merely give the reason not to worry, “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Nor does Jesus stop at giving me the illustrations of the worry-free raven and the lilies of the field. No, Jesus does not stop here.

Jesus points to the problem and solves it. The medical ointment to worry is faith. “O you of little faith!” (28) The faith that Jesus prescribes is faith in God’s love. “How much more valuable you are than these!” (24) “Your heavenly Father knows…” (30) God love me. Believe it. Live it. Set my mind, will, and emotions on God and his kingdom. (31) Get my faith priorities right. Then my bones will be free of worry.

Investing involves time. Both long-term and short-term investments must be considered. Short-term investments should not endanger long-term investments.

Investing does not only involve finances. One must also invest in the body, mind, and emotions. Physical planning determines what, when, and how much I eat and includes proper physical exercise. Mental investing demarcates what, when, and how much I allow my senses to feed my mind and includes proper mental exercise. Emotional investing delimitates what, when, and how much I control and exercise emotions. These four; financial, body, mind, and emotions are short-term investments.

Jesus’s parable reveals a fifth investment, the premiere investment. This investment is in God and his kingdom. This is the only long-term investment. The rich man in the parable gave the short-term investments his undue attention while ignoring the long-term investment of God and his kingdom. Jesus taught his disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:19, 33)

The Lord has graciously allowed me to see people in many parts of the world. Several years ago on a short mission trip, he sent me to one of the poorest nations in the world. where most of the people were friendly, happy, and satisfied. Upon my return, I traveled through many of the richest nations in the world where people were hostile, depressed, and wanting more. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (15)

John the Baptist said concerning greed, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:11-14)

Apostle Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

Considering some who taught false doctrines that included “Godliness is a means to financial gain,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Live and rejoice in God at the moment and be thankful for what he supplies today. Worrying about tomorrow is like smoke in the wind. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Many noble children of God have praised God for wonderful works in others, helped the poor, and forgiven those who sinned against them. They did not deny Jesus in the face of suffering, famine, poverty, and humiliation. They have stayed in Jesus’ light and drink from the heavenly fount.

These often dissolute humble pilgrims have not been perfect by anyone’s standards. However, when they sinned they returned humbly to their master and asked for forgiveness wanting all the more to be given another chance to walk the path of salvation. Their destination is the celestial city.

When insulted they have turned the other cheek through the wisdom of Jesus and the strength of the Spirit. They return pain with prayer and supplications. They put vengeance in the hands of their master as King David did when Saul was trying to kill him.

The healed warrior did not insult God nor slandered those who hated them. They prayed in closets and whispered their pleas in the middle of the night. They have been alone and been treated as outcasts. Their fate is eternal wholeness though in this age they have at times been broken.

The witnessing child of the Holy One has been brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities on account of the life they have given to the honor of Jesus. Their concern was not their defense for they trusted their master. The Holy Spirit filled them. He had taught and will continue to teach them. The words they speak are not their own. Their lips produce melodies of peace and love. They humbly have learned the Spirit’s message of reconciliation.

Jesus makes it clear that my decisions now will lead to actions that will set my future for the rest of eternity. If, when pressed before others to admit that I have faith in Jesus, I must not deny him, doing so will bring shame before the heavenly hosts in my future. Note though that Peter denied Jesus three times when Jesus was arrested as Jesus foretold, and Peter was forgiven by repentant Peter as Jesus said in verse 10.

However, Jesus promises that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in verse 10. Matthew 12:31 and Mark 3:28:29 are similar claims Jesus makes about this subject. The context of all three passages clarifies that the unforgivable sin is claiming the work of the Holy Spirit is evil and the work of Satan. This is what the Pharisees and the teacher of the law were stating about the work of Jesus (Mark 3:30).

If I were told that there is a hungry lion in the next room and I am going to be sent into it I would be afraid. If I am told there is an evil man in the next room and he is angry with me and I am going to be sent into it I would be afraid. If I die an unrepentant and unforgiven sinner and stand before the judgment seat of God I would be frightened.

Someone would say, “I would never be afraid of God.” Jesus says there is a reason to be afraid of God. “Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yet, I tell you, fear him.” Solomon wrote, “…if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding… then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:3, 5)

Jesus is talking to his disciples. He concludes by reassuring them of his unfailing love for them with a comparative illustration. God cares for sparrows which man considered nearly worthless. Now much more is a person who believes in and follows the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus had become very popular. Films about the gospels often show Jesus, the twelve apostles, and perhaps a few others walking down lonely dirt roads. However, the gospels make it clear, such as verse one that many thousands of people would gather at their stops and also walk with them (10:1). Jesus was very popular with the average person though the leaders constantly opposed him.

Jesus uses yeast as the similitude’s focus making this similar to Matthew 16:5-12 and Mark 8:14-21 which also uses yeast to illustrate a truth. However, those two gospel accounts record different times.

Hypocrisy is like yeast. Practiced even a few times in secret will affect the whole person and even those around them. Hypocrisy changes a person in ways that are not visible at first. It is slow, corrupting, and unstoppable. Hypocrisy is a pretense to being what one really is not, especially the pretense of being a better person than one really is.

A hypocrite is like an actor in a play, except a hypocrite often falsely believes they are the hero of the drama. They expect and want people to celebrate their delusion… their deception. Everyone is a hypocrite at one time, and then another, and another. The character of a follower of Jesus is to contain sincerity. Christian love (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22), faith (1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:5), and wisdom (James 3:17) should be sincere.

Jesus pronounces one final woe upon the Pharisees, who barrage him with questions to trap and discredit him (5:21, 5:30, 6:2, 11, 19:47-48, 20:19-20, 22:2). Jesus claims that they have taken away the key to knowledge and hindered those who are entering (52).

In 7:30, Luke comments, “The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves because they had not been baptized by John.” God’s purpose for them was to lead people to the Messiah. Now the Messiah arrived and they did all they could to lock people out.

The very persons who should have opened the people’s minds and hearts concerning the law obscured their understanding by faulty interpretation and an erroneous system of theology. They kept themselves and the people in ignorance of the way of salvation, or, as Matthew puts it, they “shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.” (Matthew23:13)

Do I share the good news? Or am I like the Pharisees and shut the door on others?

Who is helped when an elaborate tomb or memorial is built? Surely, it is not for the person who died. Does the family benefit from a pile of stones with a shiny plaque? Does the society that pays for it profit? After a few years, no one even notices it. Perhaps a few who visit a city will take five minutes to look at it and be reminded of the long-dead and soon-forgotten. An intricate tomb is usually built to make the statement, “They were somebody great, but not as great as me who built this monument.”

In Jesus’ day, Jerusalem was littered with monuments built at locations they believed were prophets’ tombs. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy. Their forefathers harassed, persecuted, and killed most of the prophets. Now centuries later their descendants build their tombs.

Outwardly the Jews appeared to honor the prophets in building and rebuilding memorials, but inwardly they rejected the Christ the prophets announced was coming. They lived in opposition to the teachings of the prophets, just as their forefathers had done. Some Christians build memorials in their home to honor God while in their hearts they still despise others. How can we believe we love God when he cannot even love others?

“Expert(s) in the law” is a term used mostly by Luke (7:25, 30, 37 45-46, 52, 13:3). However, Matthew once referred to a man as “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:35). They were “scribes”, most of which were a sect of the Pharisees trained in writing skills and used to record events and decisions (Jeremiah 36:26; 1 Chronicle 24:6; Esther 3:12; Matthew 23:2). During the exile in Babylon educated scribes apparently became the experts in God’s written word, copying, preserving, and teaching it. Ezra was a scribe (Exra 7:6). By Jesus’ time a scribe was a profession (Mark 2:16).

When an expert in the law heard Jesus’ first three woes he protested, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” He did not receive Jesus’ words properly as he would have if he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. God’s word is received based on the beliefs and prejudices of the hearer. A believer would be conscious stricken and humbly ask for forgiveness. A hypocrite would be insulted.

Jesus replied with the fourth woe, “You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” They did so by adding rules and regulations to the authentic law of Moses (Matthew 15:2). They did not help the people and they found ways to circumvent the regulations they made. They did not shepherd people. They were wolves who kill and destroy.

Am I insulted by God’s word? Do I burden people and do not help?

Jesus continues his confrontation with the religious leaders by citing six woes. A woe is deep distress and misery, as from grief.

The first woe is for being exact and zealous for the observation of religious traditions and rituals while neglecting justice and the love of God. Jesus cited that their love for others and God should be as exact as their tithing of spices and all kinds of garden herbs.

The second woe is the love of exaltation. So they exalted themself and loved when people honored them. Pride and self-ambition are detestable sins, especially when Jesus expects me to teach humility.

The third is they were like unmarked graves. Walking over a grave would defile a person for some time until they would perform a ceremonial wash. It did not matter if the grave was marked or not. The people that the Pharisees taught did not know it, but they were being taught that which made them unclean.

When studying the Bible it can sometimes be hard to understand the point of a passage, chapter, or the entire book. I should not give up. Rather, I should ask the Lord of the Word to reveal to me so I may do that which is important.

The Pharisees and all the Jews held onto traditions that many began believing were as important as the Law of Moses. They considered these traditions a form of worship. (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:3) For example, “When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.” (Mark 7:4)

One day, a Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him. He noticed that Jesus did not engage in their ceremonial washings. Jesus’s response deserves considerable self-examination.

Jesus replied, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” God considers what is inside more important than religious ceremonies, traditions, and practices. Love and charity are more important than ceremony.

“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'” (Mark 7:20-23)

Jesus continues his response to those who ask for a sign from heaven (16).

First, he uses the similitude and proverb in verse 33. Jesus would give no sign to them to show that he was the Messiah at this time because it would do no good. Jesus preached and did works openly, not in secret. The light is already shining brightly and they choose to remain in the dark.

The blessed who hear the word of God and obey it, as stated in verse 28 come to him, see the light, and believe. Blessed are those who see, believe, practice, and share the light with others.

Second, Jesus uses the parable in verses 34 to 36 to say their problem is with their eyes. Though it receives the light it chooses not to see it. What the eyes see, if we choose to accept it will affect our whole being. If when we see Jesus and accept the light of truth the power of the Holy Spirit will enter our soul and we will be whole.

What the eye is to the body, so the soul (the mind, will, and affections) is to the whole person. If those who asked for a sign from heaven will only regard His work and teaching without prejudice, then their own consciences will testify that Jesus has a real mission from God.

Look around and consider carefully what is seen. For soon the light will be no more, the sun will set and your day will be over.

When the religious leaders claimed Jesus was driving out demons by Beelzebub’s authority, they also tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. When they said, “…from heaven,” they meant something that clearly only God could do. They believed that Satan would command other demons to come out of someone. Jesus taught the silliness of that statement. Then he answered their request for a sign from heaven.

As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” A man coming out of the mouth of a fish after being in its belly for three days, marching into an enemy capital city, and preaching repentance or punishment will come is clearly a sign of heaven. Satan could not and would not do that. That is the sign that Jesus’ generation would receive.

Jesus was saying that he would die, be buried for three days, and then come out of the tomb, which is the mouth of the earth. Only God could do that. But even then the religious leaders would not believe that Jesus is the Messiah of God. Miraculous signs from God are not enough for a hard and proud heart to believe.

Jesus continues by telling those who rejected him that the people of Nineveh will stand up, meaning rise from the dead at judgment with this generation and condemn it. They repented at the preaching of Jonah, the man who came forth from the mouth of a fish, and now Jesus who is greater than Jonah is among them and they rejected him.

Jesus’s parable illustrates what will happen to a person and society that does not have God’s presence after it has been freed of demons. Jesus continues to address the comment that he drives out demons with the power of Satan.

When asked Jesus will drive out a demon. That is only the beginning of a life’s restoration. A person’s actions and thoughts must be cleaned up and kept clean. I need to keep my side of the street clean. Most importantly one must allow God and his word to dwell in the heart. The Spirit of God will live in the heart if allowed.

When the Holy Spirit lives in the heart, a demon will not enter. Satan cannot creep in, stay in, and plant thoughts in the brain if the Holy Spirit dwells. Oil and water do not mix. Satan will constantly bombard a person from the outside, but he will never live where the Holy Spirit dwells.

However, when the evil spirit returns and finds the Holy Spirit is not allowed in, it will bring seven more wicked with it to dwell in the same person. The person has a relapse and life spirals down again. All improvement is lost. Yet, hope remains for God through the grace offered because of Jesus will forgive again when a heart is humble and asks for help a second and third time.

Jesus teaches through a parable that he has ultimate power. Jesus attacks Satan who also has power. Jesus overpowers Satan and utterly defeats him. Thus, Jesus rescues people from Satan’s evil rule. Satan never wins.

Addressing the religious leaders, Jesus also teaches that a person is either against him or for him. Neutrality does not exist. The one who does not intentionally support Jesus opposes him. Is a person who goes to church, but does nothing in the kingdom of God neutral? No.

I was captive in Satan’s dungeons. Jesus defeated Satan and rescued me. He brought me into his fold and made me a citizen of the kingdom of God. Jesus always wins. Why would I return to the dungeon?

Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows everyone’s thoughts to the deepest crevices, the dark hidden places, thoughts that haunt our every moment, and the soul’s joy. So, Jesus knew the thoughts of those who came to him. Jesus knows every thought through the Spirit right now.

The jealous and fearful religious leaders were attempting to rationalize their objections to Jesus with the opinion that Jesus was driving out unclean spirits by Satan. They could not accept that Jesus had authority over all spirits because he was the Messiah and the Lord of Israel, the heavens, and all the earth. Jesus points out the ridiculous assumptions they made about the kingdom of Satan.

Jesus first tells the religious leaders and all who want to hear that Satan leads a kingdom. If Satan drove out those who followed him he would cause division that would turn into insurrection and civil war that would eventually end the kingdom of Satan. If Satan gave power to Jesus, who opposed him in every way, Satan would be supporting an attack on himself through his enemy.

Secondly, Jesus points out that some of their followers had driven out demons. Jesus did not say whether the followers of the Pharisees actually drove out demons, but they claimed to drive them out by the power of God, and Jesus claimed the same. So to accuse Jesus of using Satanic power was implicitly to condemn their own followers as well.

Jesus firmly states that he drives out demons with the finger of God. This is nothing for God Almighty. Jesus’ word is the finger of God.

Jesus had been driving out demons for three years. So did the twelve and the seventy-two when he sent them out. Now a great crowd followed him. The religious leaders were jealous. Their pride and pay were hurt. They attacked Jesus’s character and ministry. They claimed, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” (15; Matthew 12:24) Other people tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. (16) They believed and spread the gossip that Jesus was a fraud, not sent by God, and working with evil forces.

The very people God chose to be a witness to the world opposed Jesus every chance they could. They had no evidence that their statements and beliefs were true. They relied on their religious institutions and propaganda to keep them in the people’s favor.

I must always examine my heart to see why I say what I do and why I do what I do. The religious leaders believed God called them to instruct and lead the people. As their power and influence increased, so did pride and fear increased in their soul. Pride and fear began controlling their actions. Good intentions not rutted in the work God has established will drive a person to oppose God’s work.

Jesus’ teaching in these three verses is among the best that illustrates prayer is a religious word that means personal communication with God, my Father. The communication is similar to that of a father with a child. It is not business communication. It is not a drama or a play. It is not a political or legal exchange. Prayer is an exchange between parent and child, creator with creation, exulted with blessed. Prayer is personable, emotional, honest, logical, and open communion.

Jesus is conveying to his disciples to have prayer boldness, persistence, and assurance that God answers his children. Jesus’ teaching is that if a loving human father who has flaws and sins (evil from God’s perspective) gives good gifts when asked, then how much more will my Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

The Lord’s prayer in verses 2 through 4 does not include asking for the Holy Spirit. Yet, here Jesus is saying God will give the Holy Spirit if I ask. The Holy Spirit is the highest gift that God the Father can give. As fish and eggs sustain physical life, so the Holy Spirit sustains spiritual life in a very personal, loving, and powerful way. Ask and you will receive. Be persistent and wait for the Lord to supply. The disciples would not receive the Holy Spirit until Pentecost, four to six months from this moment.

I ask for what I wish, seek for what I miss, and knock for that from which I feel shut out. Jesus gives assurance that I will receive, find, and the door will be opened. The point in these two verses is confidence and faith in God.

I have owned a coo-coo clock for many years. The other day, I was changing the time after a long vacation trip when the hour arm snapped off. It flew quicker than my eye could see. I heard, “Ting,” for it hit something somewhere in the direction I logically believed it had flown. I did not see it, but I believe it went that way.

Not much was in the direction I logically concluded it flew. However, when I looked and looked again it was not to be seen. Still, I cannot find it. Every once in a while I know I will look for it again in the hope that it can be found. The clock will not be whole and correct until its hour arm is back on. I cannot be sure I will ever find the coo-coo clock hour arm.

However, Jesus wants me to be sure that I will get what I ask God for. I just need to be persistent in faith. I am reminded of the Syrophoenician woman who was persistent in asking Jesus to heal her daughter of demon possession. “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (Matthew 15:27; Mark 7:28)

Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

After Jesus taught his disciples topics to include in their conversations with God he told some parables. The first concerns a friend who comes asking at midnight for food to serve to an unexpected traveling friend. He is not asking for selfish things. He is asking so he can help another.

“Yo, neighbor,” he calls as he bangs on the door and repeatedly rings the bell. “Open the door man. I know you are home.” He looks in the window. Across the street, a light turns on a porch. “Come on man. Open the door. I need food, three loaves of bread will do. My buddy showed his face at my door, stopping while on a journey. He’s hungry and I do not have anything to give him, not even leftover pizza crust. You and I ate up all my food at the game party on Sunday.”

An answer comes over the door speaker. Another light turns on across the street. “Stop ringing the bell fool. The security system is set, the doors are all locked and the kids are down for the night. Leave me be. They got school tomorrow and I gotta go to work early. Leave me be. I cannot give you anything.” The friend at the door rings the doorbell a few more times. “I am not leaving till you give me the food.” His friend inside gets up and supplies what is asked for.

Jesus makes the point of this parable in verse 8. The man inside would not give him what he requested because they were friends. Yet, he was forced to give what was requested because the friend urgently pressed the point to annoyance. He was persistent.

Therefore, keep asking again and again, and continue in prayer. Apostle Paul wrote, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)

Jesus taught this prayer to his followers, those seeking to learn from and follow him. After Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist he was full of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:11-12 states, “Jesus… was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” Perhaps Jesus was thinking of this when he taught his disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Some old manuscripts do not have the last half of that verse.) The period of temptation was hard.

God does not tempt (James 1:13). The devil and those who follow him are the tempters (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). Temptation’s power over me is only when I have an evil desire. If I had no evil desire, then I could easily resist temptation. Temptation would have no power over me. If an evil desire remains in my soul, then I can fall when tempted (James 1:14).

Maturity in the Lord contains the moral strength to resist sin. Defeating the tempter is resisting sin which is hard. Adam and Eve did not resist temptation’s allure. Their desire led to sin, and their sin led to death (James 1:15). Growth to maturity continues when I am tempted and resist its allure. I fight off the evil desire in my soul. When I pass the test, the evil desire is reduced in power over me. Do not entertain the evil desire in my mind. If I do, then the power of evil increases. Then, when tempted I am less likely to resist that which destroys soul, body, mind, family, and society.

Jesus taught his disciples what to pray, including asking God for the forgiveness of sins against him (4a). Then he taught them to tell God, “…for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” The original Greek reads, “…for we forgive everyone who is indebted to us,” which is like Matthew 6:12, “…as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Sin is a debt, to be either paid back or as Jesus teaches to be pardoned. If someone sincerely apologizes and asks me to forgive them, then I am to forgive.

We are not making a request for a debt against me can only be forgiven by me. Rather, Jesus intends me to declare a statement of truth, a confession that am doing to others what was done unto me. Jesus used several parables to get this message to sink into thick skulls and hard hearts. Many messages have been given on love; God’s love, and how I am to love. Well, one way I am to love is to forgive others.

Jesus makes it clear, the two go hand in hand. I should not ask for forgiveness and then not forgive others. If I am expecting God to forgive me, then I better forgive those who owe me. Not only is forgiving others good for others but forgiving others is good for me. For one thing, it teaches me just how hard forgiving me is for God. And in some cases forgiving a debt someone owes me could be similar to sacrificing that which I love. Can I so carelessly ignore God’s sacrifice to forgive me?

“And forgive us our sin” is a direct word-for-word translation from the original Greek, “Kai aphiemi hemin hemon hamartia” (a transliteration). There are no extra words and no excluded words. To appreciate what is being asked of God, I need to understand and accept that I possess sin (hamartia). So, what is sin? What is hamartia (“Chata” in Hebrew.)?

“Hamartia” and “chata” literally mean “to miss the mark”. When these words are used to describe sin, they mean that the person has missed the mark that God has established for the person’s life and being. It does not mean that I discover who I am, sin and all, and accept that this is how I was made and intended to be. I was not made to sin, that is I was not made to miss the mark. Rather, I chose sin. I chose not to live to God’s potential and intent for me. Sin is choosing to miss the mark I can hit. And that mark is good. God’s mark for me is not bad, wrong, or misfortune. God’s mark for me is goodness and good accomplished. All humans except Jesus missed God’s personal mark for them. Therefore, sin is more than violating God’s law.

Sin this like this. I create an item to do something specific and good. My creation is perfectly made to accomplish my intent and that intent is good for the item I created. I give that device the ability to make choices. From the beginning, the item makes choices that keep it from meeting the good intent that it was made for. The choices rotten the device to a point where it is incapable of completing its good and perfect intended purpose. The device missed the mark and in the process destroyed itself.

When I say, “And forgive me my sin” I am asking for absolution and to be made right again.

Jesus continues teaching his disciples the topics that are important to pray about. He had mentioned these prayer topics including a few more during The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). “Give us each day our daily bread,” is stated both times.

God is the one who gives me food including physical bread. The Lord God gave the Israelites a substance to eat that was like unleavened bread while they were in the desert after they left Egypt. The Israelites called it manna (Exodus 16:31). Manna came with eating instructions that included only collecting enough for each day except Friday and Saturday (Sabbath). On the Sabbath, no bread would appear on the desert floor, so they were to take a double portion on Friday.

After Jesus fed the 5,000 who sat all day to listen to his teaching he left them. They followed because they wanted more free food. They asked for manna like their forefathers had been given (John 6:30-31). “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:32-33, 35)

Jesus is life. In him is the life of men. Without him I am dead. Without Jesus in me, I will die and my body will decay. With Jesus I am. Without Jesus, I am not.

Conversations with God His Father were an essential and desired part of Jesus’ life. For three years, his disciples watched him pray in solitude. John the Baptist also prayed and taught his disciples to pray. Now Jesus’s disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.

Elsewhere, Jesus taught them when and where to pray. He also gave them examples of what not to do when praying. Here, he started by giving them an example of what to pray about.

“Father…” God is my loving Father. He gives and maintains my existence. He is the breath of life. He provides substance. He disciplines me. He teaches me. He is always with me. Most of all, he loves me, as all righteous fathers do. All he does is based on love. God my Father so loved me that he sent his one and only Son to die for me. As was done for me, so I should do to others.

My heavenly Father is holy. Holiness is being perfect, transcendent, and pure, thus evoking adoration and reverence. My holy Father, God evokes respect, reverence, and awe. He is frightening beyond belief. He is perfect power, wisdom, existence, and perfect love and beauty. My Father, God is life, the desire of all mankind. God is ecstasy perfection.

My Father is invincible. He has an everlasting kingdom beyond human imaginations of holy perfection. His kingdom has been coming and will continue to come. No power in heaven, earth, or hell can prevail against my Father’s kingdom. He is always advancing. He is never retreating. His perfect love cannot be denied.

God is, always has been, and always will be my Father.

Martha and Mary both loved Jesus. Martha opened her house to him and his disciples. Martha wanted to be a good host, so she was busy with all the preparations that had to be made. Mary listened to Jesus while sitting at his feet. She was listening carefully to what Jesus said.
Martha was upset with Mary because she wasn’t helping her with the preparations. She did not say anything to Mary about it, but she did say something to Jesus. She complained. She was hurt. She believed Jesus didn’t care for her because Mary wasn’t helping and he did nothing about it. Martha felt less than. Martha was worried and upset.
Jesus acknowledged Martha’s feelings. He knew she was preparing food for him and his disciples. However, he said, “Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” I cry because I identify with Martha. I am always busy with the Lord’s work. I need to make sure I do the one thing that is needed, listen to Jesus at his feet; meditate, pray, and study.

Jesus explained to a self-righteous religious leader, a Bible teacher what love for a neighbor is with a now well-known parable. It is known as “The Parable of the Good Samaritan”.

Jesus and the Bible expert agreed that if a person loved God and neighbor they would inherit eternal life. Jesus told him if he did this he would live. The Bible teacher was challenged because he knew that he did not love everyone all the time. They had just entered Samaria. He, like most Jews of the day, did not love Samaritans. In fact, many hated Samaritans. So here he stood wanting to test Jesus (25) and instead found himself tested.

The religious Bible teacher tried to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” He would have taught others that a neighbor is a person we know. Religious teachers in that day said, “A stranger and an enemy are not our neighbors. We do not have to love them.” Jesus with this famous parable states that my neighbor includes strangers and enemies. Samaritans and Jews were practically enemies. Yet, the Samaritan in the parable showed mercy to a Jew when a Jewish Levite and Jewish Priest did not.

Jesus taught simply during the Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

When I am asked similar questions twice, I grow annoyed. When I am asked a third time, I grow tired of answering. However, Jesus finds new ways to articulate an answer when asked similar questions over and over again. Jesus was often asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? and, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?” Many believe that practically applying the answer to the latter is the answer to the first.

The rich young man in Matthew 19:16 asked the first because he kept the latter. Then an expert in the law asked the second believing he could obtain the first by keeping the latter (Matthew 22:36 and Mark 12:28). Now another expert in the law who was listening to Jesus stood and asked the first because like the rich young ruler, he wanted to obtain eternal life. Jesus’ answer is remarkable. Luke is the only one to record this exchange.

When the expert in the law asked the question that binds humanity, “How to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied with two questions. “What is written in the Law?” Then Jesus personalized it, “How do you read it?” Of course, an expert in the Low of Moses would have greatly studied this subject, because he would have been asked this. He answered Jesus from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

Jesus agreed. “Do this and you will live.” If I were to stop there and read no more I could wonder how does this not conflict with, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, – and this not from yourself, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) No conflict exists with the two statements for the person who acknowledges their inability to keep perfectly the requirements of eternal life, love God and love neighbor. I try, but am unable to do these all the time. Jesus perfectly illustrates this to the man who did not accept his inability to love God and people perfectly all the time. This is in tomorrow’s BDBD.

What is hidden and what is exposed is the subject of Jesus’s joy through the Holy Spirit. God reveals the truth to whom he chooses when he chooses. The hidden thing that Jesus refers to is Satan falling from heaven as fast as lightning because Jesus gave authority to the laymen evangelists in his care to drive out demons. The Father committed this authority to Jesus and Jesus confirms it to those he chooses. They were not wise and learned. They are his little children.

Jesus’s statement, “No one knows the Son except the Father” is shocking because we Christians say we have a personal relationship with Jesus. Yet, he says none of us knows him. But this is unsurprising when I think about my relationship with my children and wife. I have a personal relationship with them, but I do not know them. I know some things about them, but I do not know their thoughts, I often do not understand the motivation of their actions, and I often wonder what they think. Why do I think these things? Because I really do not know them.

Jesus continues the hidden which he exposes with, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those whom the Son chooses to reveal him” Jesus confirms that he and he alone are the only true source of information about the Father. The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent after he ascended into heaven, is in fact the Spirit of Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the one that now reveals the Father to us, and the words of Christ recorded in the Bible are also the way we can learn of the Father, but without the moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts the words I read would be misinterpreted.

The laymen evangelist teams were joyful when they returned because demons submitted to them in his name. Jesus acknowledged that Satan fell as fast as lightning from heaven because of their work that trampled on snakes and scorpions. Jesus described the evil spirits who rebel against God as the lowest and most dangerous of creatures in Palestine. As a warning to spiritual pride, he tells them what is joy worthy. It isn’t that demons submit. He says, “Rather, rejoice that your name is written in heaven.”

Jesus gives each believer a mission and all that is needed to accomplish that mission. The mission will have difficulties. He calls mission, “carrying your cross daily.” The ability to achieve that mission is only possible because God gives me the authority, power, and all that is needed for me to accomplish the mission. I should be thankful. But never prideful as I have seen some “successful” clergy and staff do.

I am glad that my name is written in heaven. I have teary joy that I have a place in heaven, a home where I am welcomed and loved. Heaven is a place where my Father and my Lord and Master are. They know me and acknowledge me. They do not judge me. They shepherd me.

Jesus is still instructing the seventy-two laymen evangelists before they enter the Samarian mission field. They are to be attentive to the people’s reaction to the good news. If the town welcomes them they are to eat what is given them, heal the sick, and preach, “The kingdom of God is near you.” They are to practice what Jesus has taught and teach what Jesus has practiced.

Jesus tells the seventy-two (or seventy) that if the people of a town reject their message they are to give a non-violent visual display of the result of rejection. The town can keep its dirt because even the dirt will not be part of the kingdom of God. Even though the town rejects them, the disciples are to preach, “The kingdom of God is near.” Perhaps one or two will leave the town to walk with the disciples.

Jesus’ instruction continues with the theme of the outcome of those who reject or accept the message of the kingdom of God. The disciples are not to take the rejection personally. Jesus preached and performed many miracles in Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Many there did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. The citizens of these Jewish towns will find it worse on the day of Judgement than the gentile towns of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus visited those towns and did few miracles and many believed (Mark 3:8, 7:24-37).

As I dispense the message of Jesus and his kingdom Jesus says, “He who listens to me listens to Jesus; he who rejects me rejects Jesus; but he who rejects Jesus rejects him who sent Jesus.” I do not need to be apologetic or sentimental.

Jesus gives the thirty-six laymen evangeliic (i.e., missionaries to their region) pairs some instructions before they go to their mission field. I, like most Christians, am a layman evangelist; that is, I do not receive pay from my local congregation. I can learn some good advice from this on how to obtain a hundredfold crop.

Jesus does not give a detailed plan for which village to visit and when to do so, nor does He tell them which towns to avoid. He simply said, “Every town and place where I am about to go.” (It isn’t a quote, only Luke’s comment.)

First, I must show love and respect to those who accept the good news Jesus taught me. I am to bless them verbally with words of peace. I am to love them as I have been and still am loved. They may or may not accept the mission of grace. I am not to grow angry or seek revenge. Instead, I am to expect to remain a man of peace.

I am to accept where God opens the door by staying where he opens people’s hearts. If a ministry is bearing fruit, then water and fertilize it. Sure, some aspects may be unpleasant for a while, like learning Java and Perl (HTML and CSS were not as bad). Yet, God has appointed me and is working through me. I am blessed.

So keep working in the field that shows eternal kingdom potential. If I receive support from his work then thank God and be blessed. However, in over thirty years of online evangelical ministry, I have never received enough to pay the mission bills let alone eat and drink from offerings. Still, I see many coming every day to read and hear the good news. So, I stay in the house of online ministry, the modern-day tent evangelism. Personally, I believe that tent evangelism is better because it was more personal. However, that type of ministry was my before and my now is as God instructed me through a pastor to begin an online ministry. I am staying in this house now.

Before Jesus went through Samaria, he sent 36 pairs (seventy-two lay persons) ahead of the group traveling with him. The twelve apostles were not sent with them. The laymen were instructed to go into every town and place where he was about to go. Luke did not use a Greek adjective that would designate them as men. Rather, he used the adjective “heteros” which could include male and female, though considering the culture none were probably a pair of women.

With a passion for bringing many people into the kingdom of God through faith in him, Jesus regretted that not enough had accepted his call to follow him. This is perhaps why Luke recorded right before this passage three rejecting the call and Jesus’s response to their rejection. Luke, as a layman, not a leader like the apostles understood the importance of accepting Jesus’ call to the laymen’s mission field.

Jesus told the seventy-two laymen, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus refers to laymen as field workers. We are the ones who prepare the field, plant the seed, look for weeds, and harvest the crop which is actually little different than the call of the twelve.

A layman’s call is not easy. We are lambs working amongst wolves. We have to live by faith that the Lord will meet our personal financial needs and our mission’s financial needs. We live by faith, not by wealth’s strength. Our mission is a one-by-one encounter. We depend on God and the companion he calls to walk with us. Few laymen are remembered in history, yet church history would have stop if not for their continued mission work.

When people hear the good news, they either quickly reject it, accept it superficially, conditionally, or wholeheartedly and absolutely. Jesus’ parable of the soil types is meant to help those who follow him understand this and be prepared (Matthew 13, Mark 4).

Luke 14:25-34 records that Jesus will tell the crowds who follow him to Jerusalem short allegories concerning deciding to follow him. He concludes with, “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27, 33)

The first man publicly decided to follow Jesus wherever he would go. Jesus’ allegories of foxes and birds having homes and he does not are meant to tell the man that he must leave everything, expect not to return, and expect to live in uncomfortable and unpleasant places.

The second man Jesus invited to follow him. The man wanted to delay because he wanted to “bury his father”. It is unlikely his father had just died because he would have been too occupied with funeral preparations to see Jesus. Most likely he believed his father would die soon and he wanted to delay following Jesus till his father passed. Commonly, death is impossible to predict. It could have been years.

Jesus’s reply would be a stunning instruction to his fellow Jews, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Most in Jesus’ day considered burying their parents a commandment of the Law of Moses. Jesus told him that the spiritually dead could bury the physically dead, and the spiritually alive should preach the kingdom of God.

The third man publicly declared that he wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus’ answer is simple. As soon as I decide I am to be ready to work. The allegory of the plow reminds of Elisha being called by Elijah to follow him (1 Kings 19:19-20). Understand and be prepared mentally.

Samaria was a region sandwiched between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. Perea was the eastern neighbor on the other side of the Jordan River and The Mediterranean Sea was its western shore.

The people of Samaria and the Jews had dissension since the time of King Solomon (John 4). The Jewish return from Babylon centuries later did not change the discord caused by social and religious differences. The disciples were no different than their fellow Jews.

Jesus however was different. Jesus did not exclude the Samaritans from his ministry during, as he called it, “The year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:19) As Jesus headed south from Mount Herman to Jerusalem he decided to pass through Samaria as he had done at least one time earlier. Jesus sent messengers on ahead to get things ready for him. At this time a crowd was following him (52).

The Samaritans in this village knew that the band of Jews preparing to stay in their town were going to The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah, The Feast of Lights). The old differences of religious opinions arose mostly stemming from the fact that when Jews returned from Babylon centuries earlier excluded the Samaritans from helping in the rebuilding of the Temple. They did not welcome Jesus.

The Apostles James and John were fiery fellows. They asked Jesus if they could use their God-given power “to call fire down from heaven to destroy them.” (54) Elijah, the ancient prophet who lived in this area had done this (2 Kings 1:9-16). Luke records that Jesus rebuked them. This is probably how these two disciples were given the name “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17).

I learn two things. First, to use God’s given gifts as he intends them to be used, not for personal vendettas. Second, to be open-hearted and help those working in God’s mission field even if they are one of “me”.

Luke records in verse 51, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Luke marks time so the reader will relate to Jesus and the disciple’s mindset and heart. The two were very different. Jesus would leave and the disciples were not ready. For me to relate I need to understand what was happening at this time.

Luke uniquely records the events in verses 51-56 and many that follow, up to Luke 18:14. The unique accounts are mostly parables. The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record many prior events; Jesus sending out the twelve, feeding the 5,000, Peter’s confession, Jesus’ transfiguration, healing a boy with an evil spirit, and the disciple’s argument about who is the greatest. Then Luke records unique events until the Synoptic Gospels record the same event again, people bringing little children to Jesus (Luke 18:15, Matthew 19:13, and Mark 10:13).

The events are recorded only in Luke, which records Jesus’ trip from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights). The festival is in December (winter in Palestine). John 10:22-39 records some of Jesus’ activities during the festival in Jerusalem. After Hanukkah Jesus stayed across the Jordan far east Judea (perhaps Perea), not near Jerusalem. (John 10:40-42)

Luke 13:22 marks Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, which is in the spring. Matthew 20:17 and Mark 10:1 also record the start of this final journey. Where he started is not clear but might be somewhere in the south of Galilee and north of Samaria (Luke 17:11). Jesus’ passion would be during the coming Passover, around four months from 9:51. Twice already Jesus told them what would come to pass. They did not understand Jesus. They held onto the false teachings about the Messiah taught by the religious leaders. They were not ready. They were about to be surprised, frightened, and crushed. They did not listen to Jesus. How many now have a wrong understanding of Jesus’ second coming?

Jesus’ teaching here is related to the former concerning the disciples’ pride. The Twelve were more exclusive than Jesus. Jesus’ disciples wanted to stop a man who they believed was practicing faith without Jesus’ official license and authority. He was not “one of them.” They were greater, and he was lesser, was the thought that drove the disciples to want to stop him. Happily, they asked Jesus before they stopped him.

Jesus told his disciples to not stop the man who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name. Then he gave them a brief lesson. “Whoever is not against you is for you.” Jesus contrasted the opposition the religious leaders were giving them because they were not taught by one of them to their request to stop the man acting in Jesus’ name because he was not one of them. The disciples’ hearts were fermenting the yeast of the religious leaders.

Institutionalized religious education has its benefits. However, it has just as many inherited problems and even hindrances to the spread of the gospel. Silo-authority mentality and niche-group practices can be more harmful to a believer than the threat of world mentality. Neither Jesus, John the Baptist, many of the prophets, and even the Twelve went to the equivalent of a seminary school in their time.

The disciples were presumptuously proud. They argued about who was the greatest among them (46; Mark 9:33-35). The argument came from their pride and ambitions. Pride is an arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment caused by a high opinion of oneself; our skills, accomplishments, state, possessions, or position. Pride is easier to recognize than define, easier to recognize in others than oneself.

Many biblical words describe this concept, each with its own emphasis. Some of the synonyms for pride include arrogance, presumption, conceit, self-satisfaction, boasting, and high-mindedness. It is the opposite of humility, the proper attitude one should have in relation to God. Pride is rebellion against God because it attributes to self the honor and glory due to God alone.

Jesus knew the disciples’ thoughts and hearts (47). Jesus does not want his disciples to be proud. So, he teaches me with a simple illustration with a child. “Then he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.'” Humility is the opposite of pride.

Proverbs 11:2 states, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” And Proverbs 22:4 promises, “Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.”

Jesus rebuked the evil (unclean, unholy) spirit. Jesus has authority over unholy demons because he is the ultimate power. Evil spirits fear his power. They leave when he says, “Leave” (Zechariah 3:2; Mark 1:25; Luke 4:25, 39; Jude 1:9). Luke states that the boy was healed. Jesus gave the boy back to his father. The people marveled at Jesus’ power and authority for the boy was cured.

While the people were distracted by amazement at Jesus’ power, Jesus pulled his disciples aside and told them, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” This was the second time Jesus told them (Luke 9:22), only this time he added, “Listen carefully…” Again, they did not understand for they did not consider it the first time they heard it. “In one ear and out the other,” as the old saying goes.

If the disciples had thought about what Jesus was saying at this miracle, they would have learned that Jesus could easily stop his suffering and crucifixion from happening. This would have saved them from confusion and humiliation when it happened.

When Jesus was arrested by the temple guards Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, probably a boy. Jesus did not command an army of angels to fight for him. He did not command his disples to fight for him. Instead, Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (John 18:11) Listen to Jesus today and not be ashamed tomorrow.

Jesus and three of his apostles came down the mountain after Jesus was transfigured to find a large crowd, confusion, and arguing. (Mark 9:14-15) The commotion centered around a father who wanted Jesus to drive an evil (unclean) spirit out of his boy.

The signs of demon possession in the New Testament include: speechlessness (Matthew 9:33); deafness (Mark 9:25); blindness (Matthew 12:22); fierceness (Matthew 8:28); unusual strength (Mark 5:4); convulsions (Mark 1:26); and foaming at the mouth (Luke 9:39). Most of the New Testament references to demon possession appear in the Gospels and represent the outburst of satanic opposition to God’s work in and through Christ. The gospel writers made clear distinctions between diseases and the work of demons in and through a person. (Matthew 4:23-24)

The nine apostles who did not go up the mountain could not drive the unclean spirit out (40). Interesting because a short while before when Jesus sent all twelve apostles out they could. (9:1-2, 6; Mark 6:7, 13; Matthew 10:1, 8) To them Jesus said, “O unbelieving and perverse generation how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” (Matthew 17:19-21; Mark 9:28-29)

Considering my own faith, or rather lack of faith, I am ashamed. I know and accept all the Bible says and enjoy exploring its great riches. I commune with God in prayer and meditation. I meet with fellow believers regularly. Yet, on a day-to-day basis, when life comes at me like a manic, I am no different than the nine apostles. Lord, put up with me as I seek today to apply faith.