Chapter Fourteen: The Joys of Salvation (Luke 15)
Testing: Heeding God’s Word ()
By the time the Lord had finished giving “the Parables of the Kingdom” (), the disciples must have felt like postgraduate students in the School of Faith! They now understood mysteries that were hidden from the scribes and rabbis and even from the Old Testament prophets. What they did not realize (and we are so like them!) is that faith must be tested before it can be trusted. It is one thing to learn a new spiritual truth, but quite something else to practice that truth in the everyday experiences of life.
Satan does not care how much Bible truth we learn so long as we do not live it. Truth that is only in the head is purely academic and never will get into the heart until it is practiced by the will. “Doing the will of God from the heart” is what God wants from His children (). Satan knows that academic truth is not dangerous, but active truth is.
Watch the Lord Jesus Christ as He meets four challenges to faith and comes forth the Victor. His people face these same challenges today and can also overcome by faith.
Dangerous circumstances (vv. ). Jesus was weary from a long day of teaching and went to sleep as the ship left Capernaum for the opposite shore. But before He did, He gave them a word of command that was also a word of promise: they were going to the opposite shore. This word should have encouraged and strengthened the disciples during the storm, but their faith was still small ().
While our tour group was sailing from Tiberias to Capernaum, I asked our guide if he had even been in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. His eyes opened wide and he said, “Yes, and I hope it never happens to me again!” The situation is such that sudden squalls occur as winds from the mountains funnel to the lake located 600 feet below sea level. When the cold air and warm air meet in this natural basin, a storm is sure to develop.
The disciples were afraid, but Jesus was not! He kept on sleeping, confident that His Father was completely in control (). The disciples became so frightened that they awakened Him and begged Him to rescue them. The title Master is the same one Peter used in . Of course, their problem was not the storm around them but the unbelief within them. Actually, their unbelief was more dangerous than the storm!
The word rebuked was used by Jesus when dealing with demons (, ; ). It is possible that Satan was behind this severe storm, attempting to destroy Jesus or at least hinder Him from reaching the demonized men at Gadara. But Jesus calmed both the wind and the sea by simply speaking the word. Usually after the winds die down, the waves remain rough for hours; but in this instance, everything became calm immediately and stayed that way ().
The disciples failed this test of faith because they did not lay hold of His word that He was going to the other side. It has well been said that faith is not believing in spite of circumstances; it is obeying in spite of feelings and consequences. The disciples looked around and saw danger, and looked within and saw fear; but they failed to look up by faith and see God. Faith and fear cannot dwell together in the same heart.
A woman said to D.L. Moody, “I have found a wonderful promise!” and she quoted , “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”
“Let me give you a better one,” said Moody; and he quoted , “Behold God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.”
Satan (vv. ). Two demonized men met Jesus when He landed at Gadara (), but one of them was the more forward and did all the speaking. Both were pitiful cases: naked, living in the tombs, violent, dangerous, a menace to the area, and controlled by a legion of demons. (A Roman legion could have as many as 6,000 men!) Satan is the thief () who robs his people of everything good and then tries to destroy them. No amount of man-made authority or restraint can control or change the devil’s servants. Their only hope is in the Saviour.
Demons have faith (), but it is not saving faith. They believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God with authority to command them. They believe in a future judgment () and in the existence of a place of torment to which Jesus could send them (“the abyss,” ). They also believe in prayer, for the demons begged Jesus not to send them to the abyss. They asked to be sent into the pigs, and Jesus granted their request.
Did Jesus have the right to permit the legion of demons to destroy a herd of 2,000 swine and perhaps put the owners out of business? God owns everything (see ) and can dispose of it as He pleases. Furthermore, these two men were worth far more than many pigs (see ). The community should have thanked Jesus for ridding their neighborhood of these two menaces, but instead, they begged Him to leave!
What a transformation in these two men! You would have expected the people who saw the miracle to ask Jesus to stay and heal others who were sick and afflicted. Apparently money was more important to them than mercy, and they asked Jesus to leave.
The one former demoniac kept pleading with Jesus to be allowed to travel with Him and help Him. What a noble desire from a newly converted man! He had more spiritual discernment than all the other citizens put together. The man was not yet ready to become a disciple, but he could serve Jesus as a witness, starting at home among his Gentile relatives and friends. Jesus did not want Jews who had been healed to say too much about it, but it was safe for the Gentiles to tell others what Jesus had done for them, and that is what he did.
Sickness (vv. ). When Jesus returned to Capernaum, the people welcomed Him, particularly a man and a woman who each had heavy burdens to share with Jesus. The contrast here is interesting, for it shows the variety of people who came to Jesus for help. The man’s name is given (Jairus) but the woman is anonymous. Jairus was a wealthy leading citizen, but the woman was a lowly person who had spent all her money trying to get well. Here was a man interceding for his child and a woman hoping to get help for herself, and both came to the feet of Jesus. Jairus had been blessed with twelve years of joy with his daughter, and now might lose her, while the woman had experienced twelve years of misery because of her affliction, and now she was hoping to get well.
This woman had a hidden need, a burden she had lived with for twelve long years. It affected her physically and made life difficult. But it also affected her spiritually, because the hemorrhage made her ceremonially defiled and unable to participate in the religious life of the nation (). She was defiled, destitute, discouraged, and desperate; but she came to Jesus and her need was met.
Her faith was almost superstitious, but the Lord honored it. She knew that He had healed others and she wanted Him to heal her. She could have used many excuses—the crowd was pressing around Him; nothing had worked for twelve years; it was not right to come to Jesus as a last resort; she was not an important person; He was on His way to heal Jairus’ daughter—but she allowed nothing to stand in her way.
Jewish men wore tassels of blue twisted cords on the corners of their outer garments, as a reminder that they were to obey God’s commandments (; ). The Pharisees went to extremes in obeying this rule to impress people with their sanctity (). Why the woman chose to touch this part of His garment, we do not know, but Jesus knew somebody with faith had touched Him and had been healed by His power. The healing was immediate and complete.
Why did the Lord ask her to give witness publicly? Was this not an embarrassment to her? Not in the least. To begin with, this public confession was for her sake. It was an opportunity for her to confess Christ and glorify God. Had she stolen away in the crowd, she would not have met Jesus personally or heard His words of assurance and comfort ().
But her confession was also an encouragement to Jairus, who would soon hear that his daughter had died. (Perhaps he wanted to blame the woman for the delay!) The woman’s twelve years of trial were ended, and the same Christ who helped her would help Jairus. She was a testimony to the power of faith. True, she did not exercise “great faith,” but Christ honored it and healed her body.
Finally, her witness was a rebuke to the multitude. You can be a part of the crowd and never get any blessing from being near Jesus! It is one thing to “press Him” and another thing to “touch Him” by faith. We may not have strong faith, but we do have a strong Saviour, and He responds even to a touch at the hem of His garment.
When the inventor of chloroform, Sir James Simpson, was dying, a friend said to him, “You will soon be resting on His bosom.” Simpson humbly replied, “I don’t know as I can do that, but I think I have hold of the hem of His garment.”
Death (vv. ). The ruler of a synagogue was the elder in charge of the public services and the care of the facilities. He saw to it that people were appointed to pray, read the Scriptures, and give the sermon. He presided over the elders of the synagogue and was usually a man of reputation and wealth. It took a great deal of humility and courage for Jairus to approach Jesus and ask His help, for by this time the Jewish religious leaders were plotting to kill Him.
When Jairus left home, his daughter was so sick she was ready to die. By the time Jesus got away from the crowd to go with him, the girl had died. Jairus’ friends thought that Jesus could help only living people, so they advised Jairus to drop the matter and come home. But Jesus encouraged the distraught father with a word of hope.
The scene at the home would have discouraged anybody! The professional mourners were already there, weeping and wailing; and a crowd of friends and neighbors had gathered. Jewish people in that day lost no time or energy in showing and sharing their grief. The body of the deceased would be buried that same day, after being washed and anointed.
Jesus took command of the situation and told the crowd to stop weeping because the girl was not dead but asleep. Of course she was dead, for her spirit had left her body (compare with ); but to Jesus, death was only sleep. This image is often used in the New Testament to describe the death of believers (; ; ; ). Sleep is a normal experience that we do not fear, and we should not fear death. It is the body that sleeps, not the spirit, for the spirit of the believer goes to be with Christ (; ). At the resurrection, the body will be “awakened” and glorified, and God’s people will share the image of Christ ().
The mourners laughed at Jesus because they knew the girl was dead and that death was final. But they failed to realize that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” (). Had He not raised the widow’s son from the dead? Did He not tell John the Baptist that the dead were being raised? () Apparently the mourners did not believe these reports and thought Jesus was a fool.
So He put them all out! This situation was much too tender and special for Him to allow dozens of unbelieving spectators to watch. He took the parents and three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John; and together they entered the room where the little girl lay dead.
He took her by the hand and spoke in Aramaic, “Talitha cumi! Little girl, arise!” (Peter would one day say “Tabitha cumi!”—.) This was not a magic formula but a word of command from the Lord of life and death (). Her spirit returned to her body and she arose and began to walk around the room! Jesus told them to give her something to eat, for it is likely that during her illness she had eaten little or nothing. Jesus also instructed them not to spread the news, but still the word got around ().
Resurrection is a picture of the way Jesus Christ saves lost sinners and raises them from spiritual death (; ). The Gospels record three such resurrections, though Jesus probably performed more. In each instance, the person raised gave evidence of life. The widow’s son began to speak (), Jairus’ daughter walked and ate food, and Lazarus was loosed from the graveclothes (). When a lost sinner is raised from the dead, you can tell it by his speech, his walk, his appetite, and his “change of clothes” (). You cannot hide life!
Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus on three special occasions; and this was the first. The second was on the Mount of Transfiguration (), and the third was in the Garden of Gethsemane (). Campbell Morgan has pointed out that each of these events has something to do with death and that the three disciples learned from these experiences some valuable lessons about Jesus and death.
In the home of Jairus, they learned that Jesus is victorious over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, they discovered that He would be glorified in His death; and in the Garden, they saw that He was surrendered to death. James was the first of the Twelve to die (), John the last to die, and Peter’s death was predicted by Jesus (; ). All three men needed these lessons, and we need them today.
Luke 9
It was an exasperating evening. I was studying and writing, and the phone was ringing every half hour. Had the calls been from friends, I would have enjoyed taking a break and chatting, but they came from people wanting to sell me everything from dance tickets to investments. By the time I got to bed that night, I had just about decided to get an unlisted number and start protecting my privacy.
At 11 o’clock, a man phoned who was contemplating committing suicide; and with the Lord’s help, I was able to encourage him to get a new grip on life. When I hung up, I gave thanks that I did not have an unlisted number. As I lay down to go back to sleep, I thought of the Lord Jesus and the kind of schedule He must have had. He was available to all kinds of people at all times, and He did not turn anyone away. He probably would not have had an unlisted number.
In this chapter, Dr. Luke described the busy life of the compassionate Son of man as He performed four ministries.
The commission (vv. ). The Twelve had been ordained some months before () and had been traveling with Jesus as His helpers. Now He was going to send them out in pairs () to have their own ministry and to put into practice what they had learned. This was their “solo flight.”
But before He sent them out, He gave them the equipment needed to get the job done, as well as the instructions to follow. The parallel passage in Matthew 10 reveals that the Twelve were sent only to the people of Israel (). Luke does not mention this since he wrote primarily for the Gentiles and emphasized the worldwide outreach of the Gospel.
Power is the ability to accomplish a task, and authority is the right to do it, and Jesus gave both to His Apostles. They were able to cast out demons and heal the sick, but the most important ministry He gave them was that of preaching the Gospel. The word preach in describes a herald proclaiming a message from the king, and in it means “to preach the Good News.” They were heralds of the Good News!
The Apostles’ ability to heal was a special gift that authenticated their ministry (see ; ; ). Miracles were one evidence that the Lord had sent them and was working through them (). Today we test a person’s ministry by the truth of the Word of God (; ). Miracles alone are not proof that a person is truly sent of God, for Satan can enable his false ministers to do amazing things (; ; ).
Jesus told the Apostles what to take on their journey, with an emphasis on urgency and simplicity. They were not to take a “begging bag” along but were to trust God to open up homes for their hospitality. tells how they were to select these homes. If they were refused, they should shake off the dust from their feet, a familiar act performed by orthodox Jews whenever they left Gentile territory (see ; ).
The confusion (vv. ). When the disciples left, Jesus also departed and ministered for a time in Galilee (); and together they attracted a great deal of attention. In fact, their work was even discussed in the highest levels of government! Herod Antipas () was a son of Herod the Great and the man who had John the Baptist killed (; ).
Who was this miracle worker? John the Baptist had done no miracles (), but that might change if he were raised from the dead. The Jews expected Elijah to come, so perhaps the prophecy was being fulfilled (see ; ; ; ). Herod’s conscience was no doubt convicting him, and he was wondering if perhaps God had sent John back to judge him.
Herod kept trying to see Jesus; but Jesus, unlike some modern “religious celebrities,” did not make it a point to go out of His way to mingle with the high and mighty. Jesus called the evil king a “fox” and was not intimidated by his threats (). When Herod and Jesus did finally meet, the king hoped to see a miracle, but the Son of God did nothing and said nothing to him. Evil King Herod had silenced God’s voice to him ().
The conclusion (vv. ). The Apostles returned and gave a glowing report of their ministry, and Jesus suggested that they all take some time off for rest (). As the popular speaker Vance Havner used to say, “If we don’t come apart and rest, we’ll just come apart.” Their mission of preaching and healing had been demanding and they all needed time alone for physical and spiritual renewal. This is a good example for busy (and sometimes overworked) Christian workers to imitate.
Attracted by the signs Jesus was doing, the crowds would not leave Him alone, but followed Him from the cities. When Jesus and the Twelve landed, the crowd was already there to meet them, and Jesus had compassion on them and ministered to them (). The Son of man could not even take a day off!
Our Lord was not the kind of person who could teach the Word and then say to hungry people, “Depart in peace, be ye warm and filled” (). The disciples were only too eager to see the crowd leave (; see ). They had not yet caught the compassion of Christ and the burden He had for the multitudes, but one day they would.
When you combine all four accounts of this miracle, you find that Jesus first asked Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed such a great crowd. (There could well have been 10,000 people there.) He was only testing Philip, “for He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (, NASB). In the crisis hours of life, when your resources are low and your responsibilities are great, it is good to remember that God already has the problem solved.
Jesus started with what they had, a few loaves and fishes that were generously donated by a lad found by Andrew (). Did Andrew know the boy? Or did the boy offer his little lunch without being asked? Before we ask God to do the impossible, let’s start with the possible and give Him what we have. And while we are at it, let’s give thanks for mothers who give their sons something to give to Jesus.
The Lord looked up to heaven, the source of our daily bread (), gave thanks, and blessed the food; and then He multiplied the few loaves and fishes. Jesus was the “producer” and His disciples were the “distributors.” The amazing thing is that everybody was served and satisfied, and there were twelve baskets of leftovers, one for each of the disciples. Jesus takes good care of His servants.
This miracle was more than an act of mercy for hungry people, though that was important. It was also a sign of our Lord’s messiahship and an illustration of God’s gracious provision for man’s salvation. The next day, Jesus preached a sermon on “the bread of life” and urged the people to receive Him just as they had received the bread (). But the people were more interested in their stomachs than their souls, and completely missed the spiritual impact of the miracle. Their desire was to make Jesus King so He could give them bread for the rest of their lives! ()
After Jesus returned to heaven, the disciples must often have been encouraged by remembering this miracle. It teaches us to have compassion, to look on problems as opportunities for God to work, and to give Him all that we have and trust Him to meet the needs. If we do all we can, He will step in and do the rest. “Let God’s promises shine on your problems,” said Corrie Ten Boom, and that is good counsel for us.
In Luke’s Gospel, the feeding of the 5,000 marks the end of what is called the “Great Galilean Ministry” (Luke 4:14–9:17). Jesus now begins His journey to Jerusalem (see ; ; ; ; and , ). This would be a time of relative retirement with His disciples as He prepared them for what lay ahead. There is a parallel between this account and the account in Acts of Paul’s last journey to Jerusalem. In both books we have “a tale of two cities”: in Luke, from Nazareth to Jerusalem; and in Acts, from Jerusalem to Rome.
In this section, you see Jesus teaching them three basic lessons about His person, His sacrifice, and His kingdom.
His person (vv. ). If any of us asked our friends what people were saying about us, it would be an evidence of pride, but not so with Jesus Christ. People had better know who He is, because what we think about Jesus determines our eternal destiny (; ). It is impossible to be wrong about Jesus and right with God.
Jesus had prayed all night before choosing His disciples (), and now He prayed before asking for their personal confession of faith. The crowd would have its opinions (see ), but His disciples must have convictions. Peter was the spokesman for the group and gave a clear witness to the deity of Jesus Christ. This was the second time that he confessed Christ publicly (). Except for Judas (), all of the Twelve had faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus commanded them (the word means “an order from a military officer”) not to spread this truth openly. To begin with, the message of His messiahship could not be divorced from the fact of His death and resurrection, and He was now going to teach this to the Twelve. They had a difficult time grasping this new lesson and did not really understand it until after He was raised from the dead (). The Jewish people saw Jesus primarily as a healer and a potential deliverer. If the Apostles began preaching that He was indeed the Messiah, it might cause a popular uprising against Rome.
His sacrifice (vv. ). Jesus had already given a number of “hints” about His sacrificial death, but now He began to teach this truth clearly to His disciples. John the Baptist had presented Him as the “Lamb of God” (), and Jesus had predicted the “destruction” of the temple of His body (). When He compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness () and to Jonah (), Jesus was making statements about His suffering and death.
This is the first of three statements in Luke about His coming passion in Jerusalem (; ). It is clear that the Twelve did not understand, partly because of their unbelief and immaturity, and partly because it was “hidden” from them by God. Jesus taught them as they were able to receive the truth (). It must have shocked the men to hear that their own religious leaders would kill their Master.
But Jesus did not stop with a private announcement of His own death. He also made a public declaration about a cross for every disciple. In his Gospel, Matthew tells us that this was necessary because of Peter’s desire to protect Jesus from suffering (). Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about discipleship and not sonship. We are not saved from our sins because we take up a cross and follow Jesus, but because we trust the Saviour who died on the cross for our sins. After we become children of God, then we become disciples.
The closest contemporary word to “disciple” is probably “apprentice.” A disciple is more than a student who learns lessons by means of lectures and books. He is one who learns by living and working with his teacher in a daily “hands on” experience. Too many Christians are content to be listeners who gain a lot of knowledge but who have never put that knowledge into practice.
In the Roman world, the cross was a symbol of shame, guilt, suffering, and rejection. There could be no more despicable way to die. Crucifixion was not mentioned in polite conversation, and the people would no more think of wearing crosses on their person than we would think of wearing gold or silver electric chairs.
Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body () and let God do the rest.
Of course, this kind of life seems foolish to the world; but to the Christian, it is wisdom. To save your life is to lose it, and how can you ever get it back again? But to give your life to Christ is to save it and to live it in fullness. If a person owned the whole world, he would still be too poor to buy back a lost life.
Discipleship is a daily discipline: we follow Jesus a step at a time, a day at a time. A weary cleaning woman said to a friend of mine, “The trouble with life is that it’s so daily!” But she was wrong. One of the best things about life is that we can take it a day at a time ().
Our motive should be to glorify Christ. Anyone who is ashamed of Christ will never take up a cross and follow Him. But if we are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of us when He comes again (; ) and we will be ashamed before Him ().
His kingdom (vv. ). As far as the Gospel record is concerned, the Transfiguration was the only occasion during Christ’s earthly ministry when He revealed the glory of His person. Luke did not use the word transfigure but he described the same scene (; ). The word means “a change in appearance that comes from within,” and it gives us the English word metamorphosis.
What were the reasons behind this event? For one thing, it was God’s seal of approval to Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Son of God (). It was also the Father’s way of encouraging the Son as He began to make His way to Jerusalem. The Father had spoken at the baptism () and would speak again during that final week of the Son’s earthly ministry (). Beyond the suffering of the cross would be the glory of the throne, a lesson that Peter emphasized in his first epistle (1 Peter 4:12–5:4).
Our Lord’s own words in indicate that the event was a demonstration (or illustration) of the promised kingdom of God. This seems logical, for the disciples were confused about the kingdom because of Jesus’ words about the cross. (We must not be too hard on them because the prophets were also confused—.) Jesus was reassuring them that the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled, but first He had to suffer before He could enter into His glory (note especially ).
But there is also a practical lesson here, for we can have a spiritual “transfiguration” experience each day as we walk with the Lord. and tell us how. As we surrender body, mind, and will, the Lord transforms us from within so that we are not conformed to the world. As we behold Him in the Word (the mirror), we are “transfigured” by the Spirit “from glory to glory.” The theological name for this experience is sanctification, the process by which we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s goal for each of His children (; ). Note that our Lord was once again praying, which suggests that prayer is one of the keys to a transformed life.
Peter, James, and John had accompanied Jesus when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (), and they would accompany Him when He prayed in the Garden (). These three occasions remind me of , “That I may know Him [the Transfiguration], and the power of His resurrection [raising the girl], and the fellowship of His sufferings [in the Garden].”
This may well have been the greatest “Bible conference” ever held on earth! Even apart from the great glory that was involved, here you certainly had the greatest speakers: Moses, the Law; Elijah, the Prophets; and Jesus, who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. You had the greatest topic: Jesus’ “decease” (the Greek is exodus) that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses had led Israel out of bondage to Egypt, and Elijah had delivered them from bondage to false gods; but Jesus would die to set a sinful world free from bondage to sin and death (; ; ).
And while all of this was going on, the three privileged disciples were sleeping! (They would repeat this failure in the Garden.) Peter’s suggestion reminds us of the Jewish “Feast of Booths” that in the Bible is related to the future kingdom (; ). Peter wanted Jesus to hold on to the glory apart from the suffering, but this is not God’s plan.
The Father interrupted Peter by bathing the scene in a cloud of glory (; , ) and speaking out of the cloud. (Peter would one day be interrupted by the Son [] and by the Spirit [].) These arresting words from heaven remind us of ; ; and . When the cloud was gone, Elijah and Moses were also gone.
As wonderful as these experiences are, they are not the basis for a consistent Christian life. That can come only through the Word of God. Experiences come and go, but the Word remains. Our recollection of past experiences will fade, but God’s Word never changes. The farther we get from these events, the less impact they make on our lives. That was why the Father said, “Hear Him!” and why Peter made this same emphasis on the Word in his report (). Our own personal “transfiguration” comes from inner renewal (), and that comes from the Word ().
“How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” (,NIV¸) You might expect that lament to come from an overworked kindergarten teacher, or an impatient army drill instructor, but it was made by the sinless Son of God! We are prone to forget how long-suffering our Lord had to be while He was ministering on earth, especially with His own disciples.
When you analyze this section of Luke’s Gospel, you can better understand why Jesus spoke those words: He was grieved over the failures of His followers. He had given His Apostles authority over Satan, yet they were too weak to cast out a demon (). In feeding the 5,000, Jesus gave them an example of compassion, yet they persisted in manifesting selfishness and lack of love (). He taught clearly what it meant to follow Him, yet the volunteers turned out to be “me first” disciples (). No wonder He was grieved!
Lack of power (vv. ). We dare not stay on the glorious mountaintop when there are battles to fight in the valley below. Here was another “only child” needing the help of the Lord (; ), and even more so because His own disciples had failed. They had the power and the authority () but they did not have the success. Why?
When you study all three reports (Matt. 17; Mark 9), you discover what was lacking in their lives. First on the list was faith (); they were part of an unbelieving generation and had lost the confidence that they needed in order to use their power. But prayer and fasting were also lacking (), which indicates that the nine men had allowed their devotional disciplines to erode during their Lord’s brief absence. No matter what spiritual gifts we may have, their exercise is never automatic.
The devil tried one last throw (a wresthng term in the Greek), but Jesus rebuked the demon and cast him out. The Lord lovingly gave the boy back to his father (see ) and then took the Twelve aside for another lesson about the cross. After all, it was at the cross that Jesus would give Satan that final blow of defeat (; ).
Lack of love (vv. ). The disciples did not have much love for each other, or they would not have argued over who was the greatest (). Perhaps this debate started because of envy (three of the disciples had been with Jesus on the mount), or because of pride (the other nine had failed to cast out the demon). Also, just before this, Jesus had paid Peter’s temple tax for him (); and this may have aroused some envy.
In His kingdom, the example of greatness is a little child—helpless, dependent, without status, living by faith. The only thing worse than a child trying to act like an adult is an adult acting like a child! There is a great difference between being childlike and childish! (see ; )
They also showed a lack of love for believers outside their own group (). This is what we would expect from a “son of thunder”! () Perhaps John was trying to impress Jesus with his zeal for protecting His name, but the Lord was not impressed. Believers who think that their group is the only group God recognizes and blesses are in for a shock when they get to heaven.
Nor did the Apostles love their enemies (). James and John had seen the Prophet Elijah on the mount, so they thought they might imitate him and call down fire from heaven! (2 Kings 1) The Samaritans and Jews had been enemies for centuries (), so it was understandable that this village would reject Jesus as He traveled toward Jerusalem (, ). Jesus rebuked their vengeful spirit and simply went to another village (). Later, Samaria would be reached with the Gospel (Acts 8).
Lack of discipline (vv. ). Three men could have become disciples, but they would not meet the conditions that Jesus laid down. The first man was a scribe () who volunteered to go until he heard the cost: he had to deny himself. Apparently he was accustomed to a comfortable home.
The second man was called by Jesus (what an honor!), but he was rejected because he would not take up the cross and die to self. He was worried about somebody else’s funeral when he should have been planning his own! Jesus is not suggesting here that we dishonor our parents, but only that we not permit our love for family to weaken our love for the Lord. We should love Christ so much that our love for family would look like hatred in comparison ().
The third man also volunteered, but he could not follow Christ because he was looking back instead of ahead. There is nothing wrong with a loving farewell (), but if it gets in the way of obedience, it becomes sin. Jesus saw that this man’s heart was not wholly with Him, but that he would be plowing and looking back (see , ; ).
No wonder the laborers are few! ()
It would appear that what Jesus taught His disciples and the multitudes had done them little good. They lacked power, love, and discipline, and they grieved His heart. If we today lack these spiritual essentials, we can never truly be His disciples, but they are available to us from the Lord. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, of love and of self-discipline” (, NIV).
Are we a joy to Jesus Christ, or are we breaking His heart?
Luke 10
The three scenes in Luke 10 illustrate the threefold ministry of every Christian believer, and they answer the question, “What in the world does a Christian do?”
To begin with, we are the Lord’s ambassadors, sent to represent Him in this world (). We are also neighbors, looking for opportunities to show mercy in the name of Christ (). But at the heart of all our ministry is devotion to Christ, so we must be worshipers who take time to listen to His Word and commune with Him ().
Whether we are in the harvest field, on the highway, or in the home, our highest privilege and our greatest joy is to do the will of God.
Ambassadors: Representing the Lord ()
This event should not be confused with the sending out of the Twelve (Matt. 10; ). There are similarities in the charges given, but this is to be expected since both groups were sent by the same Master to do the same basic job. The 12 Apostles ministered throughout Galilee, but these men were sent into Judea, and the men in this chapter are not called Apostles. They were anonymous disciples.
Why is this event recorded only by Luke, and why did Jesus select seventy men instead of some other number? (Some texts say seventy-two, and the textual evidence is about even.) Just as the Twelve were associated in number with the twelve sons of Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel, so the Seventy may be associated with the seventy nations listed in Genesis 10. Luke’s emphasis is on the universality of the Gospel message, so it seems reasonable that he would be led by the Holy Spirit to include this event. It was a symbolic way of saying, “Jesus wants the message spread to all nations.”
Explanation (vv. ). These men were not called “apostles,” but they were still “sent [apostello] with a commission” to represent the Lord. They were therefore truly ambassadors of the King. Not only were they sent by Him, but they were also sent before Him to prepare the way for His coming. Their calling was certainly a dignified one.
It was also a difficult calling (). Harvesting is hard work, even when there are many people helping you, but these men were sent into a vast field with very few workers to help them reap a great harvest. Instead of praying for an easier job, they were to pray for more laborers to join them, and we today need to pray that same prayer. (Please note that it is laborers, not spectators, who pray for more laborers! Too many Christians are praying for somebody else to do a job they are unwilling to do themselves.)
Their calling was a dangerous one. As they invaded enemy territory (), they would be like “lambs among wolves” (). But as long as they relied on the Lord, they would win the battle. “Any man who takes Jesus Christ seriously becomes the target of the devil,” Vance Havner often told audiences. “Most church members do not give Satan enough trouble to arouse his opposition.”
It would require discipline and faith for them to do the job (). There was an urgency about the work, and the Lord did not want them to be overburdened with extra supplies or be delayed on the road by elaborate Eastern greetings. They had to trust God to provide homes and food for them, and they were not to be embarrassed to accept hospitality. After all, they were laboring for the Lord and bringing blessing into the home, and “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (; see also ; ).
They were ambassadors of peace, bringing healing to the sick, deliverance to the possessed, and the Good News of salvation to lost sinners. Like Joshua’s army of old, they first proclaimed peace to the cities. If a city rejected the offer of peace, then it chose judgment (). It is a serious thing to reject the ambassadors God sends.
It is important to note that the special power that Jesus gave to His Apostles () and to the Seventy is not ours to claim today. These two preaching missions were very special ministries, and God did not promise to duplicate them in our age. Our Lord’s commission to us emphasizes the proclamation of the message, not the performing of miracles (; ).
Denunciation (vv. ). This seems like harsh language from the lips of the Son of God, but we dare not ignore it or try to explain it away. He named three ancient cities that had been judged by God—Sodom (Gen. 19), and Tyre and Sidon (Ezek. 26–28; Isa. 23)—and used them to warn three cities of His day: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. These three cities had been given more privileges than the three ancient cities, and therefore they had more responsibility. If Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon were destroyed, how could Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum escape?
To hear Christ’s ambassadors means to hear Him, and to despise His representatives means to despise Him. “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (; see also ). The way a nation treats an ambassador is the way it treats the government the ambassador represents. For an interesting illustration of this truth, read 2 Samuel 10.
Jubilation (vv. ). There is a threefold joy here: the joy of service (), the joy of salvation (), and the joy of sovereignty ().
We can well understand the joy of the Seventy as they returned to report their victories to Jesus. He had given them power and authority to heal, to cast out demons, and to preach the Word, and they were successful! In the midst of their great joy, they were careful to give God the glory (“in Thy name”).
They had seen individual victories from city to city, but Jesus saw these victories as part of a war that dethroned and defeated Satan (note ; ; and ). As believers, we are weak in ourselves, but we can be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (). Each victory is important to the Lord, no matter how insignificant it may seem in our eyes. Satan will not finally be judged until Jesus casts him into the lake of fire (), but God’s people can today claim Christ’s Calvary victory by faith ().
But the enemy will not give up! Satan would certainly attack Christ’s servants and seek to destroy them. That is why our Lord added the words of encouragement in . He assured them that their authority was not gone now that the preaching mission had ended, and that they could safely tread on the “old serpent” without fear (; ).
The Lord cautioned them not to “go on rejoicing” over their victories but to rejoice because their names had been written in heaven. (The verb means “they have been written and they stand written.” It is a statement of assurance. See ; .) As wonderful as their miracles were, the greatest miracle of all is still the salvation of a lost soul. The Greek word translated “written” means “to inscribe formally and solemnly.” It was used for the signing of a will, a marriage document, or a peace treaty, and also for the enrolling of a citizen. The perfect tense in the Greek means “it stands written.”
But our highest joy is not found in service or even in our salvation, but in being submitted to the sovereign will of the Heavenly Father, for this is the foundation for both service and salvation. Here we see God the Son rejoicing through God the Holy Spirit because of the will of God the Father! “I delight to do Thy will, O my God” ().
Jesus was not rejoicing because sinners were blind to God’s truth, for God is “not willing that any should perish” (). He rejoiced because the understanding of that truth did not depend on natural abilities or education. If that were the case, most of the people in the world would be shut out of the kingdom. When the Twelve and the Seventy were preaching, they did not see the “wise and learned” humbling themselves to receive God’s truth and grace, but they saw the “common people” trusting the Word (; ). In His sovereign will, God has ordained that sinners must humble themselves before they can be lifted up (; ).
Christ’s ambassadors were indeed privileged people. They were able to see and hear things that the greatest saints in the Old Testament ages yearned to see and hear but could not. The Messiah was at work, and they were a part of His work!
Neighbors: Imitating the Lord ()
It was expected that rabbis would discuss theological matters in public, and the question this scribe (lawyer) asked was one that was often debated by the Jews. It was a good question asked with a bad motive, because the lawyer hoped to trap our Lord. However, Jesus trapped the lawyer!
Our Lord sent the man back to the Law, not because the Law saves us (, ; ), but because the Law shows us that we need to be saved. There can be no real conversion without conviction, and the Law is what God uses to convict sinners ().
The scribe gave the right answer, but he would not apply it personally to himself and admit his own lack of love for both God and his neighbor. So, instead of being justified by throwing himself on the mercy of God (), he tried to justify himself and wriggle out of his predicament. He used the old debating tactic, “Define your terms! What do you mean by ‘neighbor’? Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus did not say that this story was a parable, so it could well be the report of an actual occurrence. For Jesus to tell a story that made the Jews look bad and the Samaritans look good would either be dangerous or self-defeating. “You just made that up!” they could say. “We all know that nothing like that would ever happen!” So it is possible that some of His listeners, including the lawyer, knew that such a thing had really happened. Either way, the account is realistic.
The worst thing we can do with any parable, especially this one, is turn it into an allegory and make everything stand for something. The victim becomes the lost sinner who is half dead (alive physically, dead spiritually), helplessly left on the road of life. The priest and Levite represent the Law and the sacrifices, neither of which can save the sinner.
The Samaritan is Jesus Christ who saves the man, pays the bill, and promises to come again. The inn stands for the local church where believers are cared for, and the “two pence” are the two ordinances, baptism and Communion. If you take this approach to Scripture, you can make the Bible say almost anything you please, and you are sure to miss the messages God wants you to get.
The road from Jerusalem down to Jericho was indeed a dangerous one. Since the temple workers used it so much, you would have thought the Jews or Romans would have taken steps to make it safe. It is much easier to maintain a religious system than it is to improve the neighborhood.
Most of us can think up excuses for the priest and Levite as they ignored the victim. (Maybe we have used them ourselves!) The priest had been serving God at the temple all week and was anxious to get home. Perhaps the bandits were still lurking in the vicinity and using the victim as “bait.” Why take a chance? Anyway, it was not his fault that the man was attacked. The road was busy, so somebody else was bound to come along and help the man. The priest left it to the Levite, and then the Levite did what the priest did—nothing! Such is the power of the bad example of a religious man.
By using a Samaritan as the hero, Jesus disarmed the Jews, for the Jews and Samaritans were enemies (; ). It was not a Jew helping a Samaritan but a Samaritan helping a Jew who had been ignored by his fellow Jews! The Samaritan loved those who hated him, risked his own life, spent his own money (two days’ wages for a laborer), and was never publicly rewarded or honored as far as we know.
What the Samaritan did helps us better understand what it means to “show mercy” (), and it also illustrates the ministry of Jesus Christ. The Samaritan identified with the needs of the stranger and had compassion on him. There was no logical reason why he should rearrange his plans and spend his money just to help an “enemy” in need, but mercy does not need reasons. Being an expert in the Law, the scribe certainly knew that God required His people to show mercy, even to strangers and enemies (; ; ).
See how wisely Jesus “turned the tables” on the lawyer. Trying to evade responsibility, the man asked, “Who is my neighbor?” But Jesus asked, “Which of these three men was neighbor to the victim?” The big question is, “To whom can I be a neighbor?” and this has nothing to do with geography, citizenship, or race. Wherever people need us, there we can be neighbors and, like Jesus Christ, show mercy.
The lawyer wanted to discuss “neighbor” in a general way, but Jesus forced him to consider a specific man in need. How easy it is for us to talk about abstract ideals and fail to help solve concrete problems. We can discuss things like “poverty” and “job opportunities” and yet never personally help feed a hungry family or help somebody find a job.
Of course, the lawyer wanted to make the issue somewhat complex and philosophical, but Jesus made it simple and practical. He moved it from duty to love, from debating to doing. To be sure, our Lord was not condemning discussions or debates; He was only warning us not to use these things as excuses for doing nothing. Committees are not always committed!
One of my favorite D.L. Moody stories illustrates this point. Attending a convention in Indianapolis, Mr. Moody asked singer Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o’clock one evening at a certain street corner. When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody put him on a box and asked him to sing, and it was not long before a crowd gathered. Moody spoke briefly, inviting the crowd to follow him to the nearby opera house. Before long, the auditorium was filled, and the evangelist preached the Gospel to the spiritually hungry people.
When the delegates to the convention started to arrive, Moody stopped preaching and said, “Now we must close as the brethren of the convention wish to come and to discuss the question, ‘How to Reach the Masses.’ ” Touche!
We may read this passage and think only of “the high cost of caring,” but it is far more costly not to care. The priest and the Levite lost far more by their neglect than the Samaritan did by his concern. They lost the opportunity to become better men and good stewards of what God had given them. They could have been a good influence in a bad world, but they chose to be a bad influence. The Samaritan’s one deed of mercy has inspired sacrificial ministry all over the world. Never say that such ministry is wasted! God sees to it that no act of loving service in Christ’s name is ever lost.
It all depends on your outlook. To the thieves, this traveling Jew was a victim to exploit, so they attacked him. To the priest and Levite, he was a nuisance to avoid, so they ignored him. But to the Samaritan, he was a neighbor to love and help, so he took care of him. What Jesus said to the lawyer, He says to us: “Go and keep on doing it likewise” (literal translation).
Worshipers: Listening to the Lord ()
Worship is at the heart of all that we are and all that we do in the Christian life. It is important that we be busy ambassadors, taking the message of the Gospel to lost souls. It is also essential to be merciful Samaritans, seeking to help exploited and hurting people who need God’s mercy. But before we can represent Christ as we should, or imitate Him in our caring ministry, we must spend time with Him and learn from Him. We must “take time to be holy.”
Mary of Bethany is seen three times in the Gospel record, and on each occasion, she is in the same place: at the feet of Jesus. She sat at His feet and listened to His Word (), fell at His feet and shared her woe (), and came to His feet and poured out her worship (). It is interesting to note that in each of these instances, there is some kind of fragrance: in Luke 10, it is food; in John 11, it is death (); and in John 12, it is perfume.
Mary and Martha are often contrasted as though each believer must make a choice: be a worker like Martha or a worshiper like Mary. Certainly our personalities and gifts are different, but that does not mean that the Christian life is an either/or situation. Charles Wesley said it perfectly in one of his hymns:
Faithful to my Lord’s commands,
I still would choose the better part;
Serve with careful Martha’s hands,
And loving Mary’s heart.
It seems evident that the Lord wants each of us to imitate Mary in our worship and Martha in our work. Blessed are the balanced!
Consider Martha’s situation. She received Jesus into her home and then neglected Him as she prepared an elaborate meal that He did not need! Certainly a meal was in order, but what we do with Christ is far more important than what we do for Christ. Again, it is not an either/or situation; it is a matter of balance. Mary had done her share of the work in the kitchen and then had gone to “feed” on the Lord’s teachings. Martha felt neglected after Mary left the kitchen, and she began to complain and to suggest that neither the Lord nor Mary really cared!
Few things are as damaging to the Christian life as trying to work for Christ without taking time to commune with Christ. “For without Me ye can do nothing” (). Mary chose the better part, the part that could not be taken from her. She knew that she could not live “by bread alone” ().
Whenever we criticize others and pity ourselves because we feel overworked, we had better take time to examine our lives. Perhaps in all of our busyness, we have been ignoring the Lord. Martha’s problem was not that she had too much work to do, but that she allowed her work to distract her and pull her apart. She was trying to serve two masters! If serving Christ makes us difficult to live with, then something is terribly wrong with our service!
The key is to have the right priorities: Jesus Christ first, then others, then ourselves. It is vitally important that we spend time “at the feet of Jesus” every single day, letting Him share His Word with us. The most important part of the Christian life is the part that only God sees. Unless we meet Christ personally and privately each day, we will soon end up like Martha: busy but not blessed.
Often in my pastoral ministry, I have asked people with serious problems, “Tell me about your devotional life.” The usual response has been an embarrassed look, a bowed head, and the quiet confession, “I stopped reading my Bible and praying a long time ago.” And they wondered why they had problems!
According to , Martha must have learned her lesson, for she prepared a feast for Jesus, the Twelve, and her brother and sister—that’s fifteen people—and did not utter one word of complaint! She had God’s peace in her heart because she had learned to sit at the feet of Jesus.
We are ambassadors, neighbors, and worshipers, these three; and the greatest of these is worshipers.
Luke 11
Our Lord’s teaching in Luke 11 grew out of a prayer meeting, a miracle, and an invitation to dinner. Jesus used these occasions to give instructions about four important topics: prayer, Satan, spiritual opportunity, and hypocrisy. It is important that we today understand these topics and apply these truths to our own lives.
The priority of prayer (v. ). We usually think of John the Baptist as a prophet and martyr, and yet our Lord’s disciples remembered him as a man of prayer. John was a “miracle baby,” filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born, and yet he had to pray. He was privileged to introduce the Messiah to Israel, and yet he had to pray. Jesus said that John was the greatest of the prophets (), and yet John had to depend on prayer. If prayer was that vital to a man who had these many advantages, how much more important it ought to be to us who do not have these advantages!
John’s disciples had to pray and Jesus’ disciples wanted to learn better how to pray. They did not ask the Master to teach them how to preach or do great signs; they asked Him to teach them to pray. We today sometimes think that we would be better Christians if only we had been with Jesus when He was on earth, but this is not likely. The disciples were with Him and yet they failed many times! They could perform miracles, and yet they wanted to learn to pray.
But the greatest argument for the priority of prayer is the fact that our Lord was a Man of prayer. Thus far we have seen that He prayed at His baptism (), before He chose the Twelve (), when the crowds increased (), before He asked the Twelve for their confession of faith (), and at His Transfiguration (). The disciples knew that He often prayed alone (), and they wanted to learn from Him this secret of spiritual power and wisdom.
If Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, had to depend on prayer during “the days of His flesh” (), then how much more do you and I need to pray! Effective prayer is the provision for every need and the solution for every problem.
Pattern for prayer (vv. ). We call this “The Lord’s Prayer,” not because Jesus prayed it (He never had to ask for forgiveness), but because Jesus taught it. There is nothing wrong with praying this prayer personally or as part of a congregation, so long as we do it from a believing heart that is sincere and submitted. How easy it is to “recite” these words and not really mean them, but that can happen even when we sing and preach! The fault lies with us, not with this prayer.
This is a “pattern prayer,” given to guide us in our own praying (see for the parallel). It teaches us that true prayer depends on a spiritual relationship with God that enables us to call Him “Father,” and this can come only through faith in Jesus Christ (; ).
Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary, Bill Moyers, was saying grace at a staff lunch, and the President shouted, “Speak up, Bill! I can’t hear a thing!” Moyers quietly replied, “I wasn’t addressing you, Mr. President.” It is good to remind ourselves that when we pray, we talk to God.
True prayer also involves responsibilities: honoring God’s kingdom and doing God’s will (). It has well been said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth. Prayer is not telling God what we want and then selfishly enjoying it. Prayer is asking God to use us to accomplish what He wants so that His name is glorified, His kingdom is extended and strengthened, and His will is done. I must test all of my personal requests by these overruling concerns if I expect God to hear and answer my prayers.
It is important for Christians to know the Word of God, for there we discover the will of God. We must never separate prayer and the Word (). During my ministry, I have seen professing Christians disobey God and defend themselves by saying, “I prayed about it and God said it was all right!” This includes a girl who married an unsaved man (), a fellow living with a girl who was not his wife (), and a preacher who started his own church because all the other churches were wrong and only he had true “spiritual insight” ().
Once we are secure in our relationship with God and His will, then we can bring our requests to Him (). We can ask Him to provide our needs (not our greeds!) for today, to forgive us for what we have done yesterday, and to lead us in the future. All of our needs may be included in these three requests: material and physical provision, moral and spiritual perfection, and divine protection and direction. If we pray this way, we can be sure of praying in God’s will.
Persistence in prayer (vv. ). In this parable, Jesus did not say that God is like this grouchy neighbor. In fact, He said just the opposite. If a tired and selfish neighbor finally meets the needs of a bothersome friend, how much more will a loving Heavenly Father meet the needs of His own dear children! He is arguing from the lesser to the greater.
We have already seen that prayer is based on sonship (“Our Father”), not on friendship; but Jesus used friendship to illustrate persistence in prayer. God the Father is not like this neighbor, for He never sleeps, never gets impatient or irritable, is always generous, and delights in meeting the needs of His children. The friend at the door had to keep on knocking in order to get what he needed, but God is quick to respond to His children’s cries ().
The argument is clear: If persistence finally paid off as a man beat on the door of a reluctant friend, how much more would persistence bring blessing as we pray to a loving Heavenly Father! After all, we are the children in the house with Him!
The word translated “importunity” means “shamelessness” or “avoidance of shame.” It can refer to the man at the door who was not ashamed to wake up his friend, but it can also refer to the friend in the house. Hospitality to strangers is a basic law in the East (). If a person refused to entertain a guest, he brought disgrace on the whole village and the neighbors would have nothing to do with him. The man in the house knew this and did not want to embarrass himself, his family, or his village; so he got up and met the need.
Why does our Father in heaven answer prayer? Not just to meet the needs of His children, but to meet them in such a way that it brings glory to His name. “Hallowed be Thy name.” When God’s people pray, God’s reputation is at stake. The way He takes care of His children is a witness to the world that He can be trusted. Phillips Brooks said that prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness. Persistence in prayer is not an attempt to change God’s mind (“Thy will be done”) but to get ourselves to the place where He can trust us with the answer.
Promises for prayer (vv. ). The tenses of the verbs are important here: “Keep on asking … keep on seeking … keep on knocking.” In other words, don’t come to God only in the midnight emergencies, but keep in constant communion with your Father. Jesus called this “abiding” (), and Paul exhorted, “Pray without ceasing” (). As we pray, God will either answer or show us why He cannot answer. Then it is up to us to do whatever is necessary in our lives so that the Father can trust us with the answer.
Note that the lesson closes with an emphasis on God as Father (). Because He knows us and loves us, we never need to be afraid of the answers that He gives. Again, Jesus argued from the lesser to the greater: if an earthly father gives what is best to his children, surely the Father in heaven will do even more. This even includes “the good things of the Holy Spirit” (compare with ), blessings that in the Old Testament were reserved only for a special few.
Accusation (vv. ). This is the third miracle of deliverance our Lord performed that elicited from His enemies the accusation that He was in league with Satan (see ; ). Instead of rejoicing that God had sent a Redeemer, the religious leaders were rebelling against the truth of God’s Word and seeking to discredit Christ’s work and character. Imagine people being so blind that they could not distinguish a work of God from a work of Satan!
“Beelzebub” was one of the names of the Philistine god Baal (); it means “lord of flies.” A variant is “Beelzebul” which means “lord of the dwelling” and ties in with Christ’s illustrations in . The Jews often used this name when referring to Satan.
The request in was a part of the accusation. “If you are really working for God,” they were saying in effect, “prove it by giving us a sign from heaven, not just a miracle on earth.” They were tempting God, which is a dangerous thing to do.
Refutation (vv. ). Jesus answered their charges with three arguments. First, their accusation was illogical. Why would Satan fight against himself and divide his own kingdom? (Note that Jesus believed in a real devil who has a kingdom that is strong and united. See ; ) Second, their charges were self-incriminating: by what power were the Jews casting out demons? How do their works differ from Christ’s works? On the contrary, Christ’s miracles show that the kingdom of God is present, not the kingdom of Satan!
Finally, their accusation was really an admission of His power, for He could not defeat Satan unless He were stronger than Satan. Jesus pictured Satan as a strong man in armor, guarding his palace and his goods. But Jesus invaded Satan’s territory, destroyed his armor and weapons, and claimed his spoils! (see ; ; ) Our Lord has “led captivity captive” () and set the prisoners free (). Though he is permitted limited authority, Satan is a defeated enemy.
Application (vv. ). It is impossible to be neutral in this spiritual war (; also see ), for neutrality means standing against Him. There are two spiritual forces at work in the world, and we must choose between them. Satan is scattering and destroying, but Jesus Christ is gathering and building. We must make a choice, and if we choose to make no choice, we are really choosing against Him.
Jesus illustrated the danger of neutrality by telling the story of the man and the demon. The man’s body was the demon’s “house” (, and note vv. and ). For some unknown reason, the demonic tenant decided to leave his “house” and go elsewhere. The man’s condition improved immediately, but the man did not invite God to come and dwell within. In other words, the man remained neutral. What happened? The demon returned with seven other demons worse than himself, and the man’s condition was abominable.
“Neutrality in religion is always cowardice,” wrote Oswald Chambers. “God turns the cowardice of a desired neutrality into terror.”
Taking sides with Jesus means much more than saying the right things, like the woman who cried, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You” (, NKJV). She was certainly sincere, but that was not enough. We take sides with Jesus Christ when we hear His Word and obey it (see ; ).
Because He knew what was in their hearts, Jesus was not impressed by the big crowds, but the disciples were. In order to keep the Twelve from being swayed by “success,” Jesus gave them some insights into what was really happening as they ministered the Word. He used three illustrations to show the seriousness of spiritual opportunities.
Jonah (vv. , ). The leaders kept asking Jesus for a sign to prove that He was the Messiah. The only sign He promised was “the sign of Jonah the prophet,” which is death, burial, and resurrection. It is the resurrection of our Lord that proves He is the Messiah, the Son of God (), and this is what Peter preached to Israel on the Day of Pentecost (). The witness of the early church was centered on Christ’s resurrection (; ; ; ). Jonah was a living miracle and so is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Solomon (v. ). The emphasis here is on the wisdom of a king, not the works of a prophet. The Queen of Sheba traveled many miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10), but here was the very Son of God in their midst, and the Jews would not believe His words! Even if Jesus had performed a sign, it would not have changed their hearts. They needed the living wisdom of God, but they were content with their stale religious tradition.
The important thing about these illustrations is that they involved Gentiles. When Jonah preached to the Gentiles in Nineveh, they repented and were spared. When a Gentile queen heard Solomon’s wisdom, she marveled and believed. If, with all their privileges, the Jews did not repent, then the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba would bear witness against them in the last judgment. The Lord gave Israel so many opportunities, yet they would not believe (; ).
Light (vv. ). The third illustration was from daily life, not from history, and was one Jesus had used before (). God’s Word is a light that shines in this dark world (; ). But it is not enough that the light be shining externally; it must enter our lives before it can do any good. “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (). The brightest sun cannot enable a blind man to see.
When we trust Jesus Christ, our eyes are opened, the light shines in, and we become children of light (; ; ). The important thing is that we take advantage of the light and have a single outlook of faith. If we keep one eye on the things of God and the other eye on the world (), the light will turn into darkness! There is no “twilight living” for the Christian, for God demands total submission and obedience ().
Three men in the Bible illustrate this truth. They began in the light and ended up in the darkness because they were double-minded. The name Samson probably means “sunny,” yet he ended up a blind slave in a dark dungeon because he yielded to the “lust of the flesh” (Judg. 16). Lot began as a pilgrim with his uncle Abraham. He ended as a drunk in a cave, committing incest (), because he yielded to “the lust of the eyes” (). Lot wanted to serve two masters and look in two directions!
King Saul began his reign as a humble leader but his pride led him to a witch’s cave (1 Sam. 28), and he died of suicide on the field of battle (1 Sam. 31). His sin was “the pride of life”; he would not humble himself and obey the will of God.
Each of us is controlled either by light or darkness. The frightening thing is that some people have so hardened themselves against the Lord that they cannot tell the difference! They think they are following the light when, in reality, they are following the darkness. The scribes and Pharisees claimed to “see the light” as they studied the Law, but they were living in the darkness (see ).
At this stage in Christ’s ministry, when the religious leaders were bent on destroying Him, why would a Pharisee invite Him to his home for a meal? If he had been sincerely seeking truth, he would have talked with our Lord privately. It seems obvious that he was looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus, and he thought he had it when Jesus did not practice the ceremonial washing before eating (). Knowing what the host was thinking, Jesus responded by giving a “spiritual analysis” of the Pharisees.
He exposed their folly (vv. ). The basic error of the Pharisees was thinking that righteousness was only a matter of external actions, and they minimized internal attitudes. They were very careful to keep the outside clean, but they ignored the wickedness within. They seemed to forget that the same God who created the outside also created the inside, the “inner person” that also needs cleansing (, ).
The Pharisees boasted of their giving (; ), but they did not give what was within to the Lord. The way to make the outside pure is to make the inside pure (). Kenneth Wuest translates this verse, “Rather, the things which are inside give as alms, and behold, all things are clean to you” (WUEST). The way to clean up a dirty vocabulary is not to brush your teeth but to cleanse your heart.
He denounced their sins (vv. ). These six “woes” parallel the “woes” in Matthew 23. Jesus started with the sins of the Pharisees () and then turned to the sins of the scribes, for it was their interpretations of the Law that formed the basis for the whole pharisaical system ().
The first three “woes” denounce the Pharisees for their wrong priorities. They were careful about tithing even the tiny leaves and seeds from the herbs, but they forgot about important things like justice and love (). They majored on the minors! Jesus did not say they should stop tithing but that they should put their religious activities into proper perspective.
They also put reputation above character. They thought that sitting in the right seats and being acknowledged by the right people would make them spiritual. Reputation is what people think we are; character is what God knows we are.
The comparison in must have infuriated the host and the other Pharisees who were present. The Jews had to be especially careful about ceremonial defilement from dead bodies (; note especially v. ), so they made sure the graves were carefully marked. But the Pharisees were like unmarked graves that did not look like graves at all! This meant that they were unconsciously defiling others when they thought they were helping them become holier! Instead of helping people, the Pharisees were harming them.
The scribes felt the sting of our Lord’s words and tried to defend themselves. Jesus used three vivid illustrations in answering them: burdens, tombs, and keys.
The scribes were good at adding to the burdens of the people, but they had no heart for helping them carry those burdens. What a tragedy when “ministers” of God’s Word create more problems for people who already have problems enough! A pastor friend of mine prays daily, “Lord, help me today not to add to anybody’s problems.” Jesus had these “religious burdens” in mind when He gave the gracious invitation recorded in .
The scribes were also good at “embalming” the past and honoring the prophets who had been martyred by the religious establishment to which they belonged. Both Bible history and church history reveal that true servants of God are usually rejected by the people who most need their ministry, but the next generation will come along and honor these people. The Pharisees were like “hidden graves,” but the scribes built elaborate tombs!
The first recorded martyrdom in the Old Testament is that of Abel, and the last is that of Zechariah (see ; , and remember that 2 Chron. is the last book in the Hebrew Bible). Jesus did not suggest that the scribes and Pharisees were personally responsible for killing the Old Testament prophets. Rather, He was affirming that people just like the scribes and Pharisees did these terrible things to God’s servants. Their ultimate crime would be the crucifixion of the Son of God.
Finally, the scribes were guilty of robbing the common people of the knowledge of the Word of God. It was bad enough that they would not enter the kingdom themselves, but they were hindering others from going in! It is a serious thing to teach God’s Word and not everyone is supposed to do it (). Unfortunately, what some people call “Bible study” is too often just a group of unprepared people exchanging their ignorance.
But there is another side to this: the scribes convinced the people that nobody could understand and explain the Law except the trained and authorized teachers. We have some of that arrogant attitude showing itself today. Teachers who overemphasize the Bible languages give people the impression that the Holy Spirit cannot teach anyone who does not know Greek and Hebrew. There are so many “study Bibles” these days (and many of them are helpful) that you wonder if a student can learn anything from a simple text Bible. We must not despise true Christian scholarship, but we must also keep things in balance.
Jesus is the key to the Scriptures (). When you take away that key, you cannot understand what God has written. As helpful and necessary as theological studies are, the most important requirements for Bible study are a yielded heart and an obedient will. Some of the best Bible teachers I have known in my own ministry were men and women who learned the truth of God’s Word on their knees and on the battlefield of life. They were Spirit-taught, not man-taught.
He aroused their anger (vv. ). Hypocrites do not want their sins exposed; it hurts their reputation. Instead of opposing the Lord, these men should have been seeking His mercy. They deliberately began to attack Him with “catch questions” in hopes they could trap Him in some heresy and then arrest Him. What a disgraceful way to treat the Son of God.
But there are religious systems today that are very much like the system defended by the scribes and Pharisees. The leaders interpret and apply the Word for the followers and you are not permitted to ask embarrassing questions or raise objections. The leaders exploit the people and do little or nothing to ease their burdens. Worst of all, the leaders use the system to cover up their own sins. God’s truth should set us free, but these groups only lead people into more and more bondage.
God has given teachers to His church (), and we should listen to them. But we should also test what we hear by the Scriptures to make sure they are teaching the truth (), and we should not permit anyone to bring us into bondage and exploit us ().
It is a privilege to have the light of the Word of God and the privilege of prayer. The enemy wants to rob us of the blessings of spiritual growth and freedom. His plan is to substitute hypocrisy for reality and to encourage us to be more concerned about the outside than the inside: reputation and not character.
So serious is this danger that Jesus will have more to say about it in Luke 12. Meanwhile, let us beware!
Luke 12
Our Lord’s disciples may not have realized it, but they were in great danger. For one thing, they were surrounded by immense crowds of people whose major concern was not to hear spiritual truth but to see Jesus do a miracle or meet some personal need. At the same time, the scribes and Pharisees were plotting against Jesus and trying to get Him out of the way. The snare of popularity and the fear of man has brought ruin to more than one servant of God.
In Luke 12, Luke recorded five warnings from our Lord. Four of these warnings must be heeded by God’s people today if we are to be faithful disciples; and the fifth warning should be heeded by a lost world.
The word hypocrite comes from a Greek word that means “an actor,” “one who plays a part.” There are hypocrites in every walk of life, people who try to impress others in order to hide their real selves. In the Christian life, a hypocrite is somebody who tries to appear more spiritual than he or she really is. These people know that they are pretending, and they hope they will not be found out. Their Christian life is only a shallow masquerade.
It is easy to see why Jesus gave this warning at this particular time. The disciples might be tempted either to gain popularity by pleasing the crowds, or avoid trouble by pleasing the scribes and Pharisees. All of us want people to like us, and it seems such an easy thing to “act the part” that others want to see.
How can we keep hypocrisy out of our lives?
We must understand what hypocrisy really is (v. ). Jesus compared it to leaven (yeast), something that every Jew would associate with evil. (See . Paul also used leaven to symbolize sin. See ; .) Like yeast, hypocrisy begins very small but grows quickly and quietly. As it grows, it infects the whole person. Hypocrisy does to the ego what yeast does to bread dough: it puffs it up (see , ; ). Soon pride takes over and the person’s character deteriorates rapidly.
If we want to keep hypocrisy out of our lives, we must avoid that first bit of “leaven.” Once we start to pretend, the process goes on quickly; and the longer we wait, the worse it gets. Sir Walter Scott wrote:
O what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.
Hypocrisy is foolish and futile (vv. ). Why? Because nothing can really be hidden. Jesus referred here primarily to His own teachings, but the principle applies to other areas of life. The Twelve might be tempted to cover or compromise the truth so that neither the crowds nor the Pharisees would be offended (see ; ). God’s truth is like light, not leaven, and it must not be hidden. The lies of the hypocrite will one day be revealed, so why go on pretending? Let your light shine!
We must understand what causes hypocrisy (vv. ). Jesus mentioned “fear” five times in these verses, so He is teaching us that a basic cause of hypocrisy is the fear of man. When we are afraid of what others may say about us or do to us, then we try to impress them in order to gain their approval. If necessary, we will even lie to accomplish our purposes, and this is hypocrisy. Unfortunately, many of the scribes and Pharisees were more concerned about reputation than character, what people thought about them than what God knew about them. The fear of man always brings a snare (), and Jesus wanted His disciples to avoid that snare.
The remedy for hypocrisy is to forget about what people may say and do and fear God alone. The fear of God is the fear that conquers all other fears, for the person who truly fears God need fear nothing else. All that men can do is kill the body, but God can condemn the soul! Since He is the final Judge, and He judges for eternity, it is logical that we put the fear of God ahead of everything else. Our God knows us and cares for us. He cares for the sparrows, and we are of more value than they; so what do we have to fear from men?
We must confess Christ openly (vv. ). Once we have done this, we will have an easier time living the truth and avoiding hypocrisy. How can we fear men when we know Jesus Christ is confessing us before the Father in heaven? It is not important that men praise our names on earth, but it is important that God acknowledges us in heaven (see ).
We must depend on the Holy Spirit (vv. ). Jesus appears to be contradicting Himself. In , He demands that we openly confess Him, but in , He says we can speak against Him and be forgiven. However, if we speak against the Spirit, there is no forgiveness! Does this mean that the Holy Spirit is more important than the Son of God?
Note that this statement is connected with the ministry of the Spirit in and through the Apostles (). The Jewish nation rejected God the Father when they refused to obey John the Baptist and repent, for John was sent by the Father. They rejected God the Son when they asked Pilate to crucify Him. But that sin could be forgiven because there was still the ministry of the Spirit.
God did not judge the nation immediately. Instead, Jesus prayed for them as He hanged on the cross (; see also ). Then God sent the Holy Spirit who ministered through the Apostles and other believers in the church. This was the last opportunity for the nation, and they failed by rejecting the witness of the Spirit (). was fulfilled during the first chapters of Acts when the message went “to the Jew first” (; ; ). Israel’s third “national sin” was the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7), after which the message went out to the Samaritans (Acts 8), and then the Gentiles (Acts 10). Note that Stephen said, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” ().
I do not believe that the “sin against the Holy Spirit” is committed by people today as it was by Israel centuries ago. I believe that the only “unpardonable sin” today is the final rejection of Jesus Christ (). The Spirit of God witnesses through the Word, and it is possible for sinners to reject that witness and resist the Spirit. But the Spirit bears witness to Christ (); so the way people treat the Spirit is the way they treat the Son of God.
At this point, a man in the crowd interrupted Jesus and asked Him to solve a family problem. Rabbis were expected to help settle legal matters, but Jesus refused to get involved. Why? Because He knew that no answer He gave would solve the real problem, which was covetousness in the hearts of the two brothers. (The “you” in is plural.) As long as both men were greedy, no settlement would be satisfactory. Their greatest need was to have their hearts changed. Like too many people today, they wanted Jesus to serve them but not to save them.
Covetousness is an unquenchable thirst for getting more and more of something we think we need in order to be truly satisfied. It may be a thirst for money or the things that money can buy, or even a thirst for position and power. Jesus made it clear that true life does not depend on an abundance of possessions. He did not deny that we have certain basic needs (; ). He only affirmed that we will not make life richer by acquiring more of these things.
Mark Twain once defined “civilization” as “a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities,” and he was right. In fact, many Christians are infected with covetousness and do not know it. They think that Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 6 applies only to the “rich and famous.” Measured by the living standards of the rest of the world, most believers in America are indeed wealthy people.
Jesus told this parable to reveal the dangers that lurk in a covetous heart. As you read it, test your own responses to this farmer’s various experiences.
How do you respond to the wealthy farmer’s dilemma? Here was a man who had a problem with too much wealth! If we say, “I certainly wish I had that problem!” we may be revealing covetousness in our hearts. If suddenly you inherited a great deal of wealth, would it create a problem for you? Or would you simply praise God and ask Him what He wanted you to do with it?
There are perils to prosperity (). Wealth can choke the Word of God (), create snares and temptations (, ), and give you a false sense of security. People say that money does not satisfy, but it does satisfy if you want to live on that level. People who are satisfied only with the things that money can buy are in great danger of losing the things that money cannot buy.
This farmer saw his wealth as an opportunity to please himself. He had no thoughts of others or of God.
How do you respond to the decisions of the rich man? Are you saying, “Now that is shrewd business! Save and have it ready for the future!” But Jesus saw selfishness in all that this man did (note the eleven personal pronouns), and He said the man was a fool. The world’s philosophy is “Take care of Number One!” But Jesus does not endorse that philosophy.
There is certainly nothing wrong with following good business principles, or even with saving for the future (). Jesus does not encourage waste (). But neither does He encourage selfishness motivated by covetousness.
How do you respond to the farmer’s desires? Are you saying, “This is the life! The man has success, satisfaction, and security! What more could he want?” But Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life; He saw him facing death! Wealth cannot keep us alive when our time comes to die, nor can it buy back the opportunities we missed while we were thinking of ourselves and ignoring God and others.
Jesus made it clear that true life does not come from an abundance of things, nor do true success or security. This man had a false view of both life and death. He thought that life came from accumulating things, and that death was far away. On March 11, 1856, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal, “That man is the richest whose pleasures are cheapest.” He also said, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”
Finally, how do you respond to the death of the boastful farmer? We are prone to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him! How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.” But the greatest tragedy is not what the man left behind but what lay before him: eternity without God! The man lived without God and died without God, and his wealth was but an incident in his life. God is not impressed with our money.
What does it mean to be “rich toward God”? It means to acknowledge gratefully that everything we have comes from God, and then make an effort to use what He gives us for the good of others and the glory of God. Wealth can be enjoyed and employed at the same time if our purpose is to honor God (). To be rich toward God means spiritual enrichment, not just personal enjoyment. How tragic when people are rich in this world but poor in the next! (see )
The rich farmer worried because he had too much, but the disciples might be tempted to worry because they did not have enough! They had given up all they had in order to follow Christ. They were living by faith, and faith is always tested.
Worry is destructive. The word translated “anxious” in means “to be torn apart,” and the phrase “doubtful mind” () means “to be held in suspense.” It is the picture of a ship being tossed in a storm. Our English word worry comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word that means “to strangle.” “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow,” said Corrie Ten Boom; “it empties today of its strength.”
Worry is also deceptive. It gives us a false view of life, of itself, and of God. Worry convinces us that life is made up of what we eat and what we wear. We get so concerned about the means that we totally forget about the end, which is to glorify God (). There is a great difference between making a living and making a life.
Worry blinds us to the world around us and the way God cares for His creation. God makes the flowers beautiful, and He even feeds the unclean ravens who have no ability to sow or reap. He ought to be able to care for men to whom He has given the ability to work. Jesus was not suggesting that we sit around and let God feed us, for the birds themselves work hard to stay alive. Rather, He encourages us to trust Him and cooperate with Him in using the abilities and opportunities that He gives us ().
But worry even blinds us to itself. We can get to the place where we actually think that worry accomplishes good things in our lives! In , Jesus pointed out that our worries do not add one extra minute to our lives () or one extra inch to our height. The rich farmer’s fretting certainly did not lengthen his life! Instead of adding to our lives, our worries take away from our lives. People can worry themselves into the hospital or into the grave!
Once again, Jesus argued from the lesser to the greater. If God feeds the birds, He will surely feed His children. If He beautifies the plants that grow up one day and are cut down the next, surely He will clothe His own people. The problem is not His little power, for He can do anything; the problem is our little faith.
Worry is deformative. It keeps us from growing and it makes us like the unsaved in the world (). In short, worry is unchristian; worry is a sin. How can we witness to a lost world and encourage them to put faith in Jesus Christ if we ourselves are doubting God and worrying? Is it not inconsistent to preach faith and yet not practice it? The late chaplain of the United States Senate, Peter Marshall, once prayed “that ulcers would not become the badge of our faith.” Too often they are!
How do we win over worry? The first step is to realize that God knows our needs, so we can trust Him to meet them. We are sheep in His little flock, children in His family, and servants in His kingdom; and He will see to it that our needs are fully met. It is His pleasure to give us His kingdom, so will He not give us everything that we need? (see )
But God’s pleasures and our treasures must go together. We must look at earth from heaven’s point of view and make sure that we put God’s kingdom first in everything. The main question is, “Where is your heart?” If our hearts are fixed on the transient things of earth, then we will always worry. But if we are fixed on the eternal, then God’s peace will guard our minds and hearts (). We must “hang loose” when it comes to this world’s goods, and be willing even to sell what we have in order to help others (; ). It is not wrong to own things so long as things do not own us.
Jesus shifted the emphasis from being worried about the present to being watchful about the future. The themes in Luke 12 all go together, for one of the best ways to conquer hypocrisy, covetousness, and worry is to look for the Lord’s return. When you are “living in the future tense,” it is difficult for the things of the world to ensnare you. In this section, Jesus explained how we can be ready for His return.
Waiting and watching (vv. ). Jewish weddings were held at night, and a bridegroom’s servants would have to wait for their master to come home with his bride. The new husband would certainly not want to be kept waiting at the door with his bride! But the servants had to be sure they were ready to go to work, with their robes tucked under their girdles so they were free to move (see ).
But the remarkable thing in this story is that the master serves the servants! In Jewish weddings, the bride was treated like a queen and the groom like a king; so you would not expect the “king” to minister to his staff. Our King will minister to His faithful servants when He greets us at His return, and He will reward us for our faithfulness.
To “watch” means to be alert, to be ready, not to be caught by surprise. That is the attitude we must have toward the second coming of Jesus Christ. His coming will be like that of a thief: unannounced and unexpected (; ; ). We must be ready!
The saintly Presbyterian pastor Robert Murray McCheyne sometimes asked people, “Do you believe that Jesus is coming today?” If they replied in the negative, he would say, “Then you had better be ready, for He is coming at an hour when you think not!”
Working (vv. ). Lest we get the idea that watching and waiting are all that He requires, Jesus added this parable to encourage us to be working when He comes. The Apostles had a special responsibility to feed God’s household, His church; but each of us has some work to do in this world, assigned to us by the Lord. Our responsibility is to be faithful when He comes. We may not appear successful in our own eyes, or in the eyes of others; but that is not important. The thing God wants is faithfulness ().
Once a believer starts to think his Master is not coming back, his life begins to deteriorate. Our relationship with others depends on our relationship to the Lord; so if we stop looking for Him, we will stop loving His people. The motive for Christian life and service must be a desire to please the Lord and be found faithful at His return.
I do not think that teaches that unfaithful believers lose their salvation, because our going to heaven depends on faith in Jesus Christ and not good works (; ). The phrase “cut him in sunder” means “cut him off, separate him”; and “unbelievers” can also be translated “unfaithful.” Our Lord will separate the faithful believers from the unfaithful; He will reward the faithful, but the unfaithful servants will lose their rewards ().
God’s judgment will be fair. It will be based on what the servants know of God’s will. This is not to suggest that the more ignorant we are, the easier time we will have at the Judgment Seat of Christ! We are admonished to know God’s will (; ) and to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ (). Jesus is stating a general principle: the more we have from God, the greater our accountability before God.
Warring (vv. ). As we wait, watch, and work, we will not have an easy time, because we are aliens in enemy territory. The images Jesus used—fire, baptism, division—speak of opposition and conflict. To the Jews, fire was a symbol of judgment; and our Lord’s coming into this world did bring judgment ().
Our Lord’s “baptism” in refers to His suffering and death, which was pictured by His baptism in the Jordan. (See and , and note His reference to Jonah in .) The Apostles certainly received a baptism of suffering as they witnessed for Christ after Pentecost.
Luke opened his book announcing “peace on earth” (), but now he has the Lord seemingly contradicting this promise. Jesus does give peace to those who trust Him (), but often their confession of faith becomes a declaration of war among their family and friends. Jesus is a cause of division (see , ; ; ). But even if there is not “peace on earth,” there is “peace in heaven” () because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
After instructing His disciples, Jesus turned and gave a final warning to the people around Him.
Beware of Spiritual Dullness ()
Jesus used two illustrations to impress on the crowds the importance of discernment and diligence in spiritual matters. First, He talked about the weather, and then He talked about a lawsuit.
Discernment (vv. ). If people were as discerning about spiritual things as they are about the weather, they would be better off! The crowd could predict a storm, but it could not foresee the coming judgment. It knew that the temperature was about to change, but it could not interpret the “signs of the times.” The Jewish nation had the prophetic Scriptures for centuries and should have known what God was doing, but their religious leaders led them astray.
How tragic that men today can predict the movements of the heavenly bodies, split atoms, and even put men on the moon; but they are blind to what God is doing in the world. They know how to get to the stars, but they do not know how to get to heaven! Our educated world possesses a great deal of scientific knowledge but not much spiritual wisdom.
Diligence (vv. ). Anyone will do whatever is necessary to stay out of prison, but how many people will apply that same concern and diligence to stay out of hell? If lawyers and judges would examine God’s Word as diligently as they examine their law books, they will gain a wisdom that the law cannot give.
The nation of Israel was marching to judgment, and the Judge was Almighty God, yet they would not seek for terms of peace (). Jesus knew that the Roman armies would come to destroy the city and the temple (), but He could not convince the people to repent. Their debt was mounting up and they would pay the last mite.
We must apply these truths to our own lives personally. If we knew a storm was coming, we would prepare for it. If we knew the officer was coming to take us to court, we would get a lawyer and try to settle the case out of court. The storm of God’s wrath is coming, and the Judge is already standing before the door ().
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” ().
Luke 13
A Jewish student asked his teacher, “Rabbi, why is it that when I ask you a question, you always reply by asking me another question?”
The rabbi replied, “So why shouldn’t I?”
As Jesus continued His journey toward Jerusalem, He encountered four situations involving questions that had to be answered. “To question a wise man is the beginning of wisdom,” says a German proverb. Not everyone who questioned the Lord did so from a right motive, but that did not stop Jesus from teaching them what they needed to know. As you study His replies in Luke 13, you can learn more about Him and His ministry, and also more about living the Christian life so as to please Him.
A Political Question about Justice ()
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, did not get along with the Jews because he was insensitive to their religious convictions. For example, he brought the official Roman ensigns into Jerusalem and infuriated the Jews who resented having Caesar’s image in the Holy City. Pilate threatened to kill the protestors and they were willing to die! Seeing their determination, the governor relented and moved the ensigns to Caesarea, but that did not stop the hostilities.
The atrocity mentioned in may have taken place when Pilate “appropriated” money from the temple treasury to help finance an aqueduct. A large crowd of angry Jews gathered in protest; so Pilate had soldiers in civilian clothes mingle with the mob. Using concealed weapons, the soldiers killed a number of innocent and unarmed Jews, and this only added to the Jews’ hatred for their governor.
Since Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, anything He said about Pilate was sure to get there before Him. If He ignored the issue, the crowd would accuse Him of being pro-Roman and disloyal to His people. If He defended the Jews and accused Pilate, He would be in trouble with the Romans, and the Jewish leaders would have a good excuse to get Him arrested.
Our Lord moved the whole issue to a higher level and avoided politics completely. Instead of discussing Pilate’s sins, He dealt with the sins of the people questioning Him. He answered their question by asking a question!
To begin with, He made it clear that human tragedies are not always divine punishments and that it is wrong for us to “play God” and pass judgment. Job’s friends made this mistake when they said that Job’s afflictions were evidence that he was a sinner. If we take that approach to tragedy, then we will have a hard time explaining the sufferings of the Prophets and Apostles, and even of our Lord Himself.
“How would you explain the deaths of the people on whom the tower in Siloam fell?” He asked. “That was not the fault of Pilate. Was it God’s fault? Shall we blame Him? The eighteen who were killed were just doing their job, yet they died. They were not protesting or creating trouble.”
When the blind English poet John Milton was old and obscure, he was visited one day by Charles II, son of the king that the Puritans had beheaded. “Your blindness is a judgment from God for the part you took against my father,” said the king. Milton replied, “If I have lost my sight through God’s judgment, what can you say of your father who lost his head?”
Jesus went on to show the logical conclusion of their argument: if God does punish sinners in this way, then they themselves had better repent because all men are sinners! The question is not, “Why did these people die?” but, “What right do you have to live?” None of us is sinless, so we had all better get prepared.
It is easier to talk about other people’s deaths than it is to face our own sin and possible death. The American publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst would not permit anyone to mention death in his presence, yet he died. I asked a friend of mine what the death rate was in his city, and he replied, “One apiece.” Then he added, “People are dying who never died before.”
According to , fruit from newly planted trees was not eaten the first three years, and the fourth year the crops belonged to the Lord. A farmer would not get any figs for himself until the fifth year, but this man had now been waiting for seven years! No wonder he wanted to cut down the fruitless tree!
The parable has an application to individuals and to the nation of Israel. God is gracious and long-suffering toward people () and does more than enough to encourage us to repent and bear fruit (). He has had every right to cut us down, but in His mercy, He has spared us. Yet we must not presume upon the kindness and long-suffering of the Lord, for the day of judgment will finally come.
But the tree also reminds us of God’s special goodness to Israel (; ) and His patience with them. God waited three years during our Lord’s earthly ministry, but the nation did not produce fruit. He then waited about forty years more before He allowed the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem and the temple; and during those years, the church gave to the nation a powerful witness of the Gospel message. Finally, the tree was cut down.
It is significant that the parable was “open-ended,” so that the listeners had to supply the conclusion. (The Book of Jonah is another example of this approach.) Did the tree bear fruit? Did the special care accomplish anything? Was the tree spared or cut down? We have no way to know the answers to these questions, but we can answer as far as our own lives are concerned! Again, the question is not “What happened to the tree?” but “What will happen to me?”
God is seeking fruit. He will accept no substitutes, and the time to repent is NOW. The next time you hear about a tragedy that claims many lives, ask yourself, “Am I just taking up space, or am I bearing fruit to God’s glory?”
A Legal Question about the Sabbath ()
Liberation (vv. ). If I had been crippled for eighteen years, I wonder if I would be faithful to worship God week after week in the synagogue? Surely this woman had prayed and asked God for help, and yet she was not delivered. However, God’s seeming unconcern did not cause her to become bitter or resentful. There she was in the synagogue.
Ever sensitive to the needs of others, Jesus saw the woman and called her to come forward. It may have seemed heartless to the congregation for Him to do this and expose her handicap publicly (see ), but He knew what He was doing. For one thing, Satan was in the synagogue and He wanted to expose him and defeat him. But He also wanted the woman to help Him teach the people an important lesson about freedom.
Not only does Satan bow people down, but so do sin (), sorrow (), and suffering (). Jesus Christ is the only One who can set the prisoner free. He spoke the word, laid His hands on her, and she was healed and gave glory to God! That was a synagogue service the people never forgot.
Indignation (v. ). Instead of rejoicing and giving God the glory, the ruler of the synagogue (see ) became very angry. He did not have the courage to express his anger to Jesus, so he scolded the congregation! But the more you ponder his tirade, the more laughable it becomes. Suppose they did bring their sick to be healed; who would heal them? Did he have that kind of power; and, if he did, why had he not used it to help people before? What a cowardly hypocrite!
The bondage of the ruler of the synagogue was worse than that of the woman. Her bondage affected only her body, but his bondage shackled his mind and heart. He was so bound and blinded by tradition that he ended up opposing the Son of God! Elbert Hubbard called tradition “a clock that tells us what time it was.” The ruler of the synagogue could not “discern this time” (, , ) and he stood condemned.
Vindication (vv. ). Jesus could have healed this woman on any other day of the week. After all, she had been bound for eighteen painful years, and one more day would have made little difference. But He deliberately chose the Sabbath Day because He wanted to teach a lesson about freedom. Note the repetition of the word “loose” (, ).
First, the Lord defended the woman and rebuked the ruler of the synagogue. Jesus reminded him that he treated his animals far better than he treated this poor woman. This indictment included the people in the congregation as well. Our Lord was arguing from the lesser to the greater: if God permits people to help their thirsty animals on the Sabbath, would He not want us to care for needy people made in the image of God? Any tradition that keeps us from helping others is not from God. In fact, it is easy to use tradition as an excuse for not caring for others.
Jesus said that the woman was a “daughter of Abraham,” referring to her spiritual condition and not her physical birth (; ). All the Jewish women present would have been “daughters of Abraham.” Does this mean that she was a converted person before the Lord healed her? If so, then she is the only believer in the New Testament who was physically afflicted because of demonic attack. (We are not sure what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was or exactly how Satan used it to buffet Paul. See 2 Cor. 12.)
Perhaps it is a matter of semantics, but I prefer to speak of demonic work in believers as “demon oppression” rather than “demon possession.” In fact, the Greek word is “demonized,” so we need not think of “possession” in spatial terms. Certainly Satan can and does attack the bodies and minds of God’s people. Some satanic oppression could last for many years until someone detects that Satan is at work. Not all sickness is caused by demons (), so we must not blame everything on Satan.
There were people in the congregation who hoped to use this Sabbath violation to accuse Jesus, but He left them so ashamed that they said nothing. The lesson that He taught was clear: Satan puts people into bondage, but true freedom comes from trusting Christ. The Sabbath that God wants to give us is a “heart rest” that comes through His grace and not from obeying traditions ().
The parables in were probably spoken to the congregation just before Jesus and the Twelve departed from the synagogue. He had used these parables before and the disciples understood them (, ). Some see in them a picture of the visible outward growth of the kingdom (the mustard seed) and the invisible inward influence of the kingdom (the leaven). By using these parables, Jesus was saying, “You Jewish religious leaders may hold to your dead traditions and oppose the truth, but God’s living kingdom will still increase. Satan will be defeated!”
But, we must keep two other considerations in mind. First, Jesus had already used leaven as a picture of evil (), and He was not likely to contradict Himself. Second, the context of Matthew 13 indicates opposition and seeming defeat for God’s kingdom, not worldwide conquest. Yes, there will be ultimate victory; but meanwhile, much of the seed sown will bear no fruit, Satan will sow counterfeits, and the net will catch all kinds of fish, good and bad. I cannot find either in church history or in contemporary reports any proof that the kingdom of God has “permeated the whole world.” In view of the population increase, we are losing ground!
The Jews knew their Scriptures and recognized the images that Jesus used. Leaven represented evil (), and a mighty tree pictured a great world kingdom (; ; ). A mustard seed produces a shrub, not a great tree. The kingdom would be infected with false teaching (), and the small seed (“little flock,” ) would grow into an organization that would be a home for Satan. (The birds represent the evil one, .) The professing church today fits both descriptions.
A Theological Question about Salvation ()
The events recorded in John 9–10 fit between and . Note in that Jesus then left Judea and went beyond the Jordan into Perea. The events of Luke 13:22–17:10 took place in Perea as the Lord gradually moved toward Jerusalem.
The scribes often discussed the question of how many people would be saved, and somebody asked Jesus to give His thoughts on the issue. As with the question about Pilate, Jesus immediately made the matter personal. “The question is not how many will be saved, but whether or not you will be saved! Get that settled first, and then we can discuss what you can do to help get others saved.”
I sometimes receive “theological letters” from radio listeners who want to argue about predestination, election, and other difficult doctrines. When I reply, I usually ask them about their prayer life, their witnessing, and their work in the local church. That often ends the correspondence. Too many professed Christians want to discuss these profound doctrines, but they do not want to put them into practice by seeking to win people to Jesus Christ! D.L. Moody prayed, “Lord, save the elect, and then elect some more!”
“Many … will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (). Why? The parable tells us why, and it focuses primarily on the Jewish people of that day. However, it has a personal application to all of us today.
Jesus pictured the kingdom as a great feast, with the patriarchs and prophets as honored guests (). But many of the people who were invited waited too long to respond; and, when they arrived at the banquet hall, it was too late and the door was shut (see ; ).
But why did they wait so long? The parable suggests several reasons. To begin with, salvation is not easy; the sinner must enter a narrow gate and walk a narrow way (; also see ). The world’s crowd is on the easy way, the way that leads to destruction (), and it is much easier to walk with them.
Another reason for their delay was their false sense of security. Jesus had been among them; they had even eaten with Him and enjoyed His fellowship, yet they had never trusted Him. God gave the nation many privileges and opportunities, but they wasted them (see ). God is long-suffering; however, there comes a time when even God shuts the door.
Pride also played a big part: they would not humble themselves before God. In their own eyes, they were first, but in God’s eyes, they were last—and the Gentiles would come and take their place! (see ) Imagine the “unclean Gentile dogs” sitting at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while the unbelieving Jews were outside!
These people were lost because they depended on their ancient religion to save them; but Jesus saw them as “workers of iniquity,” not doers of righteousness (; ). It takes more than reverence for tradition to get into God’s kingdom!
But the major reason was given by Jesus Himself: “Ye would not” (). Their minds had been instructed by the Word (), and their hearts had been stirred by His mighty works, but their wills were stubborn and would not submit to Him. This is the deadly consequence of delay. The longer sinners wait, the harder their hearts become. “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” ().
The Spanish composer Manuel de Falla was notorious for not answering his mail. When he heard that a friend had died, the composer said, “What a pity! He died before I answered his letter, which he sent me five years ago!”
When sinners fail to answer God’s invitation to His feast, they are the ones who die. They are “thrust out” of the joys of the kingdom and are punished with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (). It is a picture of people who are overwhelmed with regret because they see how foolish they were to delay; but, alas, it is too late. One of the agonies of hell will be the remembrance of opportunities wasted.
What is the answer? “Strive to enter in at the narrow gate!” () The word strive comes from the sports arena and describes an athlete giving his best to win the contest. Our English word agonize comes from this word. If people today would put as much effort into things spiritual as they do things athletic, they would be much better off.
A Personal Question about Danger ()
Jesus was in Perea, which was ruled by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. The Pharisees wanted to get Jesus back into Judea where the religious leaders could watch Him and ultimately trap Him, so they tried to frighten Him away.
Herod had been perplexed by our Lord’s ministry and was afraid that John the Baptist, whom he murdered, had come back from the dead (). In fact, at one point, Herod wanted to meet Jesus so he could see Him perform a miracle! () But it appears that Herod’s heart was getting harder, for now he threatened to kill Jesus. The warning the Pharisees gave () was undoubtedly true or Jesus would not have answered as He did.
Our Lord was not afraid of danger. He followed a “divine timetable” and nothing could harm Him. He was doing the will of God according to the Father’s schedule (see ; ; ; ; ). It had been decreed from eternity that the Son of God would be crucified in Jerusalem at the Passover (; ), and even Herod Antipas could not hinder the purposes of God. Quite the contrary, our Lord’s enemies only helped fulfill the will of God (; ).
Jesus used a bit of “holy sarcasm” in His reply. He compared Herod to a fox, an animal that was not held in high esteem by the Jews (). Known for its cunning, the fox was an apt illustration of the crafty Herod. Jesus had work to do and He would accomplish it. After all, Jesus walked in the light (; ), and foxes went hunting in the darkness!
But Jesus also had a word to say about His nation: “It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem” (). This parallels what He had said to the scribes and Pharisees in . The nation not only rejected God’s loving invitation to His feast, but they even killed the servants who brought them the invitation! (see )
Our Lord’s heart was grieved as He saw the unbelief and rebellion around Him, and He broke out in a lamentation over the sad plight of the Jewish nation. It was a sob of anguish, not an expression of anger. His compassionate heart was broken.
The image of the hen and her chicks would be a familiar one to an agricultural people like the Jews (see ). Some of the Old Testament references to “wings” refer to the wings of the cherubim in the holy of holies in the tabernacle or temple (see ; ; ; ). The hen gathers her chicks when she sees danger is coming. The Pharisees told Jesus that He was in danger, when in reality they were in danger!
In this lament, Jesus was addressing the whole nation and not just the Pharisees who had tried to provoke Him. The people had been given many opportunities to repent and be saved, but they had refused to heed His call. “House” refers both to the “family” of Jacob (“the house of Israel”) and to the temple (“the house of God”), both of which would be “left desolate.” The city and temple were destroyed and the people were scattered.
But there is a future for Israel. The time will come when their Messiah will return and be recognized and received by the people. They will say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (; also see ). Some of the people would use these words at His “triumphal entry” (), but they will not have their fulfillment until His coming in glory (see ; ; ).
Israel’s house has been left desolate. The nation has no king or priest, no temple or sacrifice (). But the nation has God’s promise that she has not been forsaken (). There can be no peace on earth until the Prince of Peace () is seated on David’s throne ().
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ()
Strive to enter in at the narrow gate!
Luke 14
Sabbath Day hospitality was an important part of Jewish life, so it was not unusual for Jesus to be invited to a home for a meal after the weekly synagogue service. Sometimes the host invited Him sincerely because he wanted to learn more of God’s truth. But many times Jesus was asked to dine only so His enemies could watch Him and find something to criticize and condemn. That was the case on the occasion described in Luke 14 when a leader of the Pharisees invited Jesus to dinner.
Jesus was fully aware of what was in men’s hearts (), so He was never caught off guard. In fact, instead of hosts or guests judging Jesus, it was Jesus who passed judgment on them when they least expected it. Indeed, in this respect, He was a dangerous person to sit with at a meal or to follow on the road! In Luke 14, we see Jesus dealing with five different kinds of people and exposing what was false in their lives and their thinking.
Instead of bringing them to repentance, Jesus’ severe denunciation of the Pharisees and scribes () only provoked them to retaliation, and they plotted against Him. The Pharisee who invited Jesus to his home for dinner also invited a man afflicted with dropsy. This is a painful disease in which, because of kidney trouble, a heart ailment, or liver disease, the tissues fill with water. How heartless of the Pharisees to “use” this man as a tool to accomplish their wicked plan, but if we do not love the Lord, neither will we love our neighbor. Their heartless treatment of the man was far worse than our Lord’s “lawless” behavior on the Sabbath.
This afflicted man would not have been invited to such an important dinner were it not that the Pharisees wanted to use him as “bait” to catch Jesus. They knew that Jesus could not be in the presence of human suffering very long without doing something about it. If He ignored the afflicted man, then He was without compassion; but if He healed him, then He was openly violating the Sabbath and they could accuse Him. They put the dropsied man right in front of the Master so He could not avoid him, and then they waited for the trap to spring.
Keep in mind that Jesus had already “violated” their Sabbath traditions on at least seven different occasions. On the Sabbath Day, He had cast out a demon (), healed a fever (), allowed His disciples to pluck grain (), healed a lame man (), healed a man with a paralyzed hand (), delivered a crippled woman who was afflicted by a demon (), and healed a man born blind (John 9). Why our Lord’s enemies thought that one more bit of evidence was necessary, we do not know, but we do know that their whole scheme backfired.
When Jesus asked what their convictions were about the Sabbath Day, He used on them the weapon they had forged for Him. To begin with, they couldn’t heal anybody on any day, and everybody knew it. But even more, if the Pharisees said that nobody should be healed on the Sabbath, the people would consider them heartless; if they gave permission for healing, their associates would consider them lawless. The dilemma was now theirs, not the Lord’s, and they needed a way to escape. As they did on more than one occasion, the scribes and Pharisees evaded the issue by saying nothing.
Jesus healed the man and let him go, knowing that the Pharisee’s house was not the safest place for him. Instead of providing evidence against Jesus, the man provided evidence against the Pharisees, for he was “exhibit A” of the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord knew too much about this legalistic crowd to let them escape. He knew that on the Sabbath Day they would deliver their farm animals from danger, so why not permit Him to deliver a man who was made in the likeness of God? Seemingly, they were suggesting that animals were more important than people. (It is tragic that some people even today have more love for their pets than they do for their family members, their neighbors, or even for a lost world.)
Jesus exposed the false piety of the Pharisees and the scribes. They claimed to be defending God’s Sabbath laws, when in reality they were denying God by the way they abused people and accused the Saviour. There is a big difference between protecting God’s truth and promoting man’s traditions.
The Guests: False Popularity ()
Experts in management tell us that most people wear an invisible sign that reads, “Please make me feel important”; if we heed that sign, we can succeed in human relations. On the other hand, if we say or do things that make others feel insignificant, we will fail. Then people will respond by becoming angry and resentful, because everybody wants to be noticed and made to feel important.
In Jesus’ day, as today, there were “status symbols” that helped people enhance and protect their high standing in society. If you were invited to the “right homes” and if you were seated in the “right places,” then people would know how important you really were. The emphasis was on reputation, not character. It was more important to sit in the right places than to live the right kind of life.
In New Testament times, the closer you sat to the host, the higher you stood on the social ladder and the more attention (and invitations) you would receive from others. Naturally, many people rushed to the “head table” when the doors were opened because they wanted to be important.
This kind of attitude betrays a false view of success. “Try not to become a man of success,” said Albert Einstein, “but try to become a man of value.” While there may be some exceptions, it is usually true that valuable people are eventually recognized and appropriately honored. Success that comes only from self-promotion is temporary, and you may be embarrassed as you are asked to move down ().
When Jesus advised the guests to take the lowest places, He was not giving them a “gimmick” that guaranteed promotion. The false humility that takes the lowest place is just as hateful to God as the pride that takes the highest place. God is not impressed by our status in society or in the church. He is not influenced by what people say or think about us, because He sees the thoughts and motives of the heart (). God still humbles the proud and exalts the humble ().
British essayist Francis Bacon compared fame to a river that easily carried “things light and swollen” but that drowned “things weighty and solid.” It is interesting to scan old editions of encyclopedias and see how many “famous people” are “forgotten people” today.
Humility is a fundamental grace in the Christian life, and yet it is elusive; if you know you have it, you have lost it! It has well been said that humility is not thinking meanly of ourselves; it is simply not thinking of ourselves at all. Jesus is the greatest example of humility, and we would do well to ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to imitate Him ().
The Host: False Hospitality ()
Jesus knew that the host had invited his guests for two reasons: (1) to pay them back because they had invited him to past feasts, or (2) to put them under his debt so that they would invite him to future feasts. Such hospitality was not an expression of love and grace but rather an evidence of pride and selfishness. He was “buying” recognition.
Jesus does not prohibit us from entertaining family and friends, but He warns us against entertaining only family and friends exclusively and habitually. That kind of “fellowship” quickly degenerates into a “mutual admiration society” in which each one tries to outdo the others and no one dares to break the cycle. Sad to say, too much church social life fits this description.
Our motive for sharing must be the praise of God and not the applause of men, the eternal reward in heaven and not the temporary recognition on earth. A pastor friend of mine used to remind me, “You can’t get your reward twice!” and he was right (see ). On the day of judgment, many who today are first in the eyes of men will be last in God’s eyes, and many who are last in the eyes of men will be first in the eyes of God ().
In our Lord’s time, it was not considered proper to ask poor people and handicapped people to public banquets. (The women were not invited either!) But Jesus commanded us to put these needy people at the top of our guest list because they cannot pay us back. If our hearts are right, God will see to it that we are properly rewarded, though getting a reward must not be the motive for our generosity. When we serve others from unselfish hearts, we are laying up treasures in heaven () and becoming “rich toward God” ().
Our modern world is very competitive, and it is easy for God’s people to become more concerned about profit and loss than they are about sacrifice and service. “What will I get out of it?” may easily become life’s most important question (). We must strive to maintain the unselfish attitude that Jesus had and share what we have with others.
When Jesus mentioned “the resurrection of the just,” one of the guests became excited and said, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” The Jewish people pictured their future kingdom as a great feast with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets as the honored guests (; see ). This anonymous guest was confident that he would one day be at the “kingdom feast” with them! Jesus responded by telling him a parable that revealed the sad consequences of false confidence.
In Jesus’ day when you invited guests to a dinner, you told them the day but not the exact hour of the meal. A host had to know how many guests were coming so he could butcher the right amount of animals and prepare sufficient food. Just before the feast was to begin, the host sent his servants to each of the guests to tell them the banquet was ready and they should come (see ; ). In other words, each of the guests in this parable had already agreed to attend the banquet. The host expected them to be there.
But instead of eagerly coming to the feast, all of the guests insulted the host by refusing to attend, and they all gave very feeble excuses to defend their change in plans.
The first guest begged off because he had to “go and see” a piece of real estate he had purchased. In the East, the purchasing of property is often a long and complicated process, and the man would have had many opportunities to examine the land he was buying. Anybody who purchases land that he has never examined is certainly taking a chance. Since most banquets were held in the evening, the man had little daylight left even for a cursory investigation.
The second man had also made a purchase—ten oxen that he was anxious to prove. Again, who would purchase that many animals without first testing them? Not many customers in our modern world would buy a used car that they had not taken out for a “test drive.” Furthermore, how could this man really put these oxen to the test when it was so late in the day? His statement “I go to prove them!” suggests that he was already on his way to the farm when the servant came with the final call to the dinner.
The third guest really had no excuse at all. Since they involved so much elaborate preparation, Jewish weddings were never surprises, so this man knew well in advance that he was taking a wife. That being the case, he should not have agreed to attend the feast in the first place. Since only Jewish men were invited to banquets, the host did not expect the wife to come anyway. Having a new wife could have kept the man from the battlefield () but not from the festive board.
Of course, these were only excuses. I think it was Billy Sunday who defined an excuse as “the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” The person who is good at excuses is usually not good at anything else. These three guests actually expected to get another invitation in the future, but that invitation never came.
Having prepared a great dinner for many guests, the host did not want all that food to go to waste, so he sent his servant out to gather a crowd and bring them to the banquet hall. What kind of men would be found in the streets and lanes of the city or in the highways and hedges? The outcasts, the loiterers, the homeless, the undesirables, the kind of people that Jesus came to save (; ). There might even be some Gentiles in the crowd!
These men may have had only one reason for refusing the kind invitation: they were unprepared to attend such a fine dinner. So, the servant constrained them to accept (see ). They had no excuses. The poor could not afford to buy oxen; the blind could not go to examine real estate; and the poor, maimed, lame, and blind were usually not given in marriage. This crowd would be hungry and lonely and only too happy to accept an invitation to a free banquet.
Not only did the host get other people to take the places assigned to the invited guests, but he also shut the door so that the excuse-makers could not change their minds and come in (see ). In fact, the host was angry. We rarely think of God expressing judicial anger against those who reject His gracious invitations, but verses like and give a solemn warning that we not treat His calls lightly.
This parable had a special message for the proud Jewish people who were so sure they would “eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Within a few short years, the Gospel would be rejected by the official religious leaders, and the message would go out to the Samaritans (Acts 8) and then to the Gentiles (Acts 10; 13ff).
But the message of this parable applies to all lost sinners today. God still says, “All things are now ready. Come!” Nothing more need be done for the salvation of your soul, for Jesus Christ finished the work of redemption when He died for you on the cross and arose from the dead. The feast has been spread, the invitation is free, and you are invited to come.
People today make the same mistake that the people in the parable made: they delay in responding to the invitation because they settle for second best. There is certainly nothing wrong with owning a farm, examining purchases, or spending an evening with your wife. But if these good things keep you from enjoying the best things, then they become bad things. The excuse-makers were actually successful people in the eyes of their friends, but they were failures in the eyes of Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is a feast, not a funeral, and all are invited to come. Each of us as believers must herald abroad the message, “Come, for all things are now ready!” God wants to see His house filled, and “yet there is room.” He wants us to go home (), go into the streets and lanes (), go into the highways and hedges (), and go into all the world () with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This parable was the text of the last sermon D.L. Moody preached, “Excuses.” It was given on November 23, 1899 in the Civic Auditorium in Kansas City, and Moody was a sick man as he preached. “I must have souls in Kansas City,” he told the students at his school in Chicago. “Never, never have I wanted so much to lead men and women to Christ as I do this time!”
There was a throbbing in his chest, and he had to hold to the organ to keep from falling, but Moody bravely preached the Gospel; and some fifty people responded to trust Christ. The next day, Moody left for home, and a month later he died. Up to the very end, Moody was “compelling them to come in.”
The Multitudes: False Expectancy ()
When Jesus left the Pharisee’s house, great crowds followed Him, but He was not impressed by their enthusiasm. He knew that most of those in the crowd were not the least bit interested in spiritual things. Some wanted only to see miracles, others heard that He fed the hungry, and a few hoped He would overthrow Rome and establish David’s promised kingdom. They were expecting the wrong things.
Jesus turned to the multitude and preached a sermon that deliberately thinned out the ranks. He made it clear that, when it comes to personal discipleship, He is more interested in quality than quantity. In the matter of saving lost souls, He wants His house to be filled (); but in the matter of personal discipleship, He wants only those who are willing to pay the price.
A “disciple” is a learner, one who attaches himself or herself to a teacher in order to learn a trade or a subject. Perhaps our nearest modern equivalent is “apprentice,” one who learns by watching and by doing. The word disciple was the most common name for the followers of Jesus Christ and is used 264 times in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
Jesus seems to make a distinction between salvation and discipleship. Salvation is open to all who will come by faith, while discipleship is for believers willing to pay a price. Salvation means coming to the cross and trusting Jesus Christ, while discipleship means carrying the cross and following Jesus Christ. Jesus wants as many sinners saved as possible (“that My house may be filled”), but He cautions us not to take discipleship lightly; and in the three parables He gave, He made it clear that there is a price to pay.
To begin with, we must love Christ supremely, even more than we love our own flesh and blood (). The word hate does not suggest positive antagonism but rather “to love less” (see ; ; and ). Our love for Christ must be so strong that all other love is like hatred in comparison. In fact, we must hate our own lives and be willing to bear the cross after Him.
What does it mean to “carry the cross”? It means daily identification with Christ in shame, suffering, and surrender to God’s will. It means death to self, to our own plans and ambitions, and a willingness to serve Him as He directs (). A “cross” is something we willingly accept from God as part of His will for our lives. The Christian who called his noisy neighbors the “cross” he had to bear certainly did not understand the meaning of dying to self.
Jesus gave three parables to explain why He makes such costly demands on His followers: the man building a tower, the king fighting a war, and the salt losing its flavor. The usual interpretation is that believers are represented by the man building the tower and the king fighting the war, and we had better “count the cost” before we start, lest we start and not be able to finish. But I agree with Campbell Morgan that the builder and the king represent not the believer but Jesus Christ. He is the One who must “count the cost” to see whether we are the kind of material He can use to build the church and battle the enemy. He cannot get the job done with halfhearted followers who will not pay the price.
As I write this chapter, I can look up and see on my library shelves hundreds of volumes of Christian biographies and autobiographies, the stories of godly men and women who made great contributions to the building of the church and the battle against the enemy. They were willing to pay the price, and God blessed them and used them. They were people with “salt” in their character.
Jesus had already told His disciples that they were “the salt of the earth” (). When the sinner trusts Jesus Christ as Saviour, a miracle takes place and “clay” is turned into “salt.” Salt was a valued item in that day; in fact, part of a soldier’s pay was given in salt. (The words salt and salary are related; hence, the saying, “He’s not worth his salt.”)
Salt is a preservative, and God’s people in this world are helping to retard the growth of evil and decay. Salt is also a purifying agent, an antiseptic that makes things cleaner. It may sting when it touches the wound, but it helps to kill infection. Salt gives flavor to things and, most of all, makes people thirsty. By our character and conduct, we ought to make others thirsty for the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that He alone can give.
Our modern salt is pure and does not lose its flavor, but the salt in Jesus’ day was impure and could lose its flavor, especially if it came in contact with earth. Once the saltiness was gone, there was no way to restore it, and the salt was thrown out into the street to be walked on. When a disciple loses his Christian character, he is “good for nothing” and will eventually be “walked on” by others and bring disgrace to Christ.
Discipleship is serious business. If we are not true disciples, then Jesus cannot build the tower and fight the war. “There is always an if in connection with discipleship,” wrote Oswald Chambers, “and it implies that we need not [be disciples] unless we like. There is never any compulsion; Jesus does not coerce us. There is only one way of being a disciple, and that is by being devoted to Jesus.”
If we tell Jesus that we want to take up our cross and follow Him as His disciples, then He wants us to know exactly what we are getting into. He wants no false expectancy, no illusions, no bargains. He wants to use us as stones for building His church, soldiers for batthng His enemies, and salt for bettering His world; and He is looking for quality.
After all, He was on His way to Jerusalem when He spoke these words, and look what happened to Him there! He does not ask us to do anything for Him that He has not already done for us.
To some, Jesus says, “You cannot be My disciples!” Why? Because they will not forsake all for Him, bear shame and reproach for Him, and let their love for Him control them.
And they are the losers.
Will you be His disciple?
Luke 15
When D.L. Moody was directing his Sunday School in Chicago, one boy walked several miles to attend; and somebody asked him, “Why don’t you go to a Sunday School closer to home?”
His reply might have been used by the publicans and sinners in Jesus’ day: “Because they love a feller over there.”
It is significant that Jesus attracted sinners while the Pharisees repelled them. (What does this say about some of our churches today?) Lost sinners came to Jesus, not because He catered to them or compromised His message, but because He cared for them. He understood their needs and tried to help them, while the Pharisees criticized them and kept their distance (see ). The Pharisees had a knowledge of the Old Testament Law and a desire for personal purity, yet they had no love for lost souls.
Three words summarize the message of this chapter: lost, found, and rejoice. Jesus spoke these parables to answer the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes who were scandalized at His behavior. It was bad enough that Jesus welcomed these outcasts and taught them, but He went so far as to eat with them! The Jewish religious leaders did not yet understand that the Son of man had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (). Even more, they were still blind to the fact that they themselves were among the lost.
This chapter makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners. But these parables also reveal that there are two aspects to this salvation. There is God’s part: the shepherd seeks the lost sheep, and the woman searches for the lost coin. But there is also man’s part in salvation, for the wayward son willingly repented and returned home. To emphasize but one aspect is to give a false view of salvation, for both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man must be considered (see ; ).
Since one of the major themes of this chapter is joy, let’s consider the three different joys that are involved in salvation. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven,” and it is a joy in which you and I can share.
The story about the lost sheep would touch the hearts of the men and boys in the crowd, and the women and girls would appreciate the story about the coin that was lost from the wedding necklace. Jesus sought to reach everybody’s heart.
The lost sheep (vv. ). The sheep was lost because of foolishness. Sheep have a tendency to go astray, and that is why they need a shepherd (; ). The scribes and Pharisees had no problem seeing the publicans and sinners as “lost sheep,” but they would not apply that image to themselves! And yet the prophet made it clear that all of us have sinned and gone astray, and that includes religious people.
The shepherd was responsible for each sheep; if one was missing, the shepherd had to pay for it unless he could prove that it was killed by a predator (see ; ; ). This explains why he would leave the flock with the other shepherds, go and search for the missing animal, and then rejoice when he found it. Not to find the lost sheep meant money out of his own pocket, plus the disgrace of being known as a careless shepherd.
By leaving the ninety-nine sheep, the shepherd was not saying they were unimportant to him. They were safe but the lost sheep was in danger. The fact that the shepherd would go after one sheep is proof that each animal was dear to him. Jesus was not suggesting that the scribes and Pharisees were not in need of salvation, for they certainly were. We must not make every part of the parable mean something, otherwise we will turn it into an allegory and distort the message.
There is a fourfold joy expressed when a lost sinner comes to the Saviour. Though nothing is said in the story about how the sheep felt, there is certainly joy in the heart of the person found. Both Scripture (; ) and our own personal experience verify the joy of salvation.
But there is also the joy of the person who does the finding. Whenever you assist in leading a lost soul to faith in Christ, you experience a wonderful joy within. Others join with us in rejoicing as we share the good news of a new child of God in the family, and there is also joy in heaven (, ). The angels know better than we do what we are saved from and to, and they rejoice with us.
The lost coin (vv. ). The sheep was lost because of its foolishness, but the coin was lost because of the carelessness of another. It is a sobering thought that our carelessness at home could result in a soul being lost.
When a Jewish girl married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife. It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring, and it would be considered a calamity for her to lose one of those coins. Palestinian houses were dark, so she had to light a lamp and search until she found the lost coin; and we can imagine her joy at finding it.
We must not press parabolic images too far, but it is worth noting that the coin would have on it the image of the ruler (). The lost sinner bears the image of God, even though that image has been marred by sin. When a lost sinner is “found,” God begins to restore that divine image through the power of the Spirit; and one day, the believer will be like Jesus Christ (; ; ; ).
These two parables help us understand something of what it means to be lost. To begin with, it means being out of place. Sheep belong with the flock, coins belong on the chain, and lost sinners belong in fellowship with God. But to be lost also means being out of service. A lost sheep is of no value to the shepherd, a lost coin has no value to the owner, and a lost sinner cannot experience the enriching fulfillment God has for him in Jesus Christ.
But to turn this around, to be “found” (saved) means that you are back in place (reconciled to God), back in service (life has a purpose), and out of danger. No wonder the shepherd and the woman rejoiced and invited their friends to rejoice with them!
It is easy for us today to read these two parables and take their message for granted, but the people who first heard them must have been shocked. Jesus was saying that God actually searches for lost sinners! No wonder the scribes and Pharisees were offended, for there was no place in their legalistic theology for a God like that. They had forgotten that God had sought out Adam and Eve when they had sinned and hidden from God (). In spite of their supposed knowledge of Scripture, the scribes and Pharisees forgot that God was like a father who pitied his wayward children ().
There are few joys that match the joy of finding the lost and bringing them to the Saviour. “The church has nothing to do but to save souls,” said John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. “Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”
We call this story “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” (the word prodigal means “wasteful”), but it could also be called “The Parable of the Loving Father,” for it emphasizes the graciousness of the father more than the sinfulness of the son. Unlike the shepherd and the woman in the previous parables, the father did not go out to seek the son, but it was the memory of his father’s goodness that brought the boy to repentance and forgiveness (see ). Note in the story the three experiences of the younger son.
Rebellion—he went to the far country (vv. ). According to Jewish law, an elder son received twice as much as the other sons (), and a father could distribute his wealth during his lifetime if he wished. It was perfectly legal for the younger son to ask for his share of the estate and even to sell it, but it was certainly not a very loving thing on his part. It was as though he were saying to his father, “I wish you were dead!” Thomas Huxley said, “A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes.” How true!
We are always heading for trouble whenever we value things more than people, pleasure more than duty, and distant scenes more than the blessings we have right at home. Jesus once warned two disputing brothers, “Take heed and beware of covetousness!” () Why? Because the covetous person can never be satisfied, no matter how much he acquires, and a dissatisfied heart leads to a disappointed life. The prodigal learned the hard way that you cannot enjoy the things money can buy if you ignore the things money cannot buy.
“The far country” is not necessarily a distant place to which we must travel, because “the far country” exists first of all in our hearts. The younger son dreamed of “enjoying” his freedom far from home and away from his father and older brother. If the sheep was lost through foolishness and the coin through carelessness, then the son was lost because of willfulness. He wanted to have his own way so he rebelled against his own father and broke his father’s heart.
But life in the far country was not what he expected. His resources ran out, his friends left him, a famine came, and the boy was forced to do for a stranger what he would not do for his own father—go to work! This scene in the drama is our Lord’s way of emphasizing what sin really does in the lives of those who reject the Father’s will. Sin promises freedom, but it only brings slavery (); it promises success, but brings failure; it promises life, but “the wages of sin is death” (). The boy thought he would “find himself,” but he only lost himself! When God is left out of our lives, enjoyment becomes enslavement.
Repentance—he came to himself (vv. ). To “repent” means “to change one’s mind,” and that is exactly what the young man did as he cared for the pigs. (What a job for a Jewish boy!) He “came to himself,” which suggests that up to this point he had not really “been himself.” There is an “insanity” in sin that seems to paralyze the image of God within us and liberate the “animal” inside. Students of Shakespeare like to contrast two quotations that describe this contradiction in man’s nature.
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!
(Hamlet, II, ii)
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
(The Merchant of Venice, I, ii)
The young man changed his mind about himself and his situation, and he admitted that he was a sinner. He confessed that his father was a generous man and that service at home was far better than “freedom” in the far country. It is God’s goodness, not just man’s badness, that leads us to repentance (). If the boy had thought only about himself—his hunger, his homesickness, his loneliness—he would have despaired. But his painful circumstances helped him to see his father in a new way, and this brought him hope. If his father was so good to servants, maybe he would be willing to forgive a son.
Had he stopped there, the boy would have experienced only regret or remorse (), but true repentance involves the will as well as the mind and the emotions—“I will arise … I will go … I will say …” Our resolutions may be noble, but unless we act on them, they can never of themselves bring about any permanent good. If repentance is truly the work of God (), then the sinner will obey God and put saving faith in Jesus Christ ().
Rejoicing—he came to the father (vv. ). Here Jesus answered the accusations of the scribes and Pharisees (), for the father not only ran to welcome his son, but he honored the boy’s homecoming by preparing a great feast and inviting the village to attend. The father never did permit the younger son to finish his confession; he interrupted him, forgave him, and ordered the celebration to begin!
Of course, the father pictures to us the attitude of our Heavenly Father toward sinners who repent: He is rich in His mercy and grace, and great in His love toward them (). All of this is possible because of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. No matter what some preachers (and singers) claim, we are not saved by God’s love; God loves the whole world, and the whole world is not saved. We are saved by God’s grace, and grace is love that pays a price.
In the East, old men do not run; yet the father ran to meet his son. Why? One obvious reason was his love for him and his desire to show that love. But there is something else involved. This wayward son had brought disgrace to his family and village and, according to , he should have been stoned to death. If the neighbors had started to stone him, they would have hit the father who was embracing him! What a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross!
Everything the younger son had hoped to find in the far country, he discovered back home: clothes, jewelry, friends, joyful celebration, love, and assurance for the future. What made the difference? Instead of saying, “Father, give me!” he said, “Father, make me!” He was willing to be a servant! Of course, the father did not ask him to “earn” his forgiveness, because no amount of good works can save us from our sins (; ). In the far country, the prodigal learned the meaning of misery; but back home, he discovered the meaning of mercy.
The ring was a sign of sonship, and the “best robe” (no doubt the father’s) was proof of his acceptance back into the family (see ; ; ). Servants did not wear rings, shoes, or expensive garments. The feast was the father’s way of showing his joy and sharing it with others. Had the boy been dealt with according to the Law, there would have been a funeral, not a feast. What a beautiful illustration of !
It is interesting to consider the father’s description of his son’s experience: he was dead, and was now alive; he was lost, and now was found. This is the spiritual experience of every lost sinner who comes to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ (; ). Note the parallels between the prodigal’s coming to the father and our coming to the Father through Christ ():
The Prodigal
Jesus Christ
“I am the way”
“I am the truth”
“I am the life”
There is only one way to come to the Father, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. Have you come home?