new international version - thomas nelson bibles · a portion of the purchase price of your niv®...

New International Version

THECHARLES F. STANLEY

LIFE PRINCIPLES BIBLE

CHARLES F. STANLEY GENERAL EDITOR

www.ThomasNelson.com

9780718097042_00_fm_nivstanley.indd 3 2/27/17 2:24 PM

The NIV Charles F Stanley Life Principles Bible Copyright © 2017 by Thomas Nelson All rights reserved

The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

“New International Version” and “NIV” are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

The NIV Concordance copyright © 1982, 1984, 2011 by Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2017933087

The NIV® text may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio), up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without the express written permission of the publisher, providing the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.

Notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page as follows:

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

When quotations from the NIV® text are used by a local church in non-saleable media such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, overhead transparencies, or similar materials, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initials (NIV®) must appear at the end of each quotation.

Any commentary or other biblical reference work produced for commercial sale, that uses the NIV® text must obtain written permission for use of the NIV® text.

Permission requests for commercial use within the USA and Canada that exceeds the above guidelines must be directed to and approved in writing by Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, USA. www.Zondervan.com

Permission requests for commercial use within the UK, EU and EFTA that exceeds the above guidelines must be directed to and approved in writing by Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH, United Kingdom. www.Hodder.co.uk

Permission requests for non-commercial use that exceeds the above guidelines must be directed to and approved in writing by Biblica US, Inc., 1820 Jet Stream Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80921, USA. www.Biblica.com

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this Bible are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Thomas Nelson, nor does Thomas Nelson vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of the Bible.

All rights reserved.

Printed in China

17 18 19 20 21 22 /DSC/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A portion of the purchase price of your NIV® Bible is provided to Biblica so together we support the mission of Transforming lives through God’s Word.

Biblica provides God’s Word to people through translation, publishing and Bible engagement in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and North America. Through its worldwide reach, Biblica engages people with God’s Word so that their lives are transformed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.


vii

Dear Friend,When I was a young man, I had the op-

portunity to spend two very important and intensely rich weeks with my grandfather. He was a godly man, who loved the Lord with his whole heart. And though he did not have a formal education, he was tremendously wise and had great insight into the principles of God’s Word. One of the first things he taught me was this: “Obey God and leave the conse-quences to him. No matter what he tells you to do, do it and trust him for the outcome.” This is a principle that I have learned to live by each day. There is nothing too great for God. He is above and over all things. He is sovereign, omnipotent, and omnipresent. My greatest needs are all met within him.

The second thing my grandfather told me was to read my Bible every day. After his death, I was given his Bible and knew the moment it was placed in my hands that he had lived what he preached. Every page was well- worn, and most bore the marks of intense Bible study. Over the years, I have come to realize that God’s Word offers the wisdom and insight I need at every turn. I cannot and never will encounter anything that is beyond him and the principles he has written in Scripture.

The Christian life is a wondrous adven-ture, full of twists and turns, good times and also difficult challenges. Through all of it, God’s Word is our greatest resource for insight, wisdom, hope, and guidance. Every problem we face has its solution in the Word of God. Where there is a need for comfort, peace or courage, he provides it. To find his wisdom, there is simply no substitute for spending time alone with him in prayer and the study of his Scriptures. Each year, I receive countless letters from people who ask if there is a way for them to know God’s will for their lives. The answer is yes. But be-fore he will reveal this to us, we need to get to know him— the way he thinks, acts, and demonstrates his love for us.

The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible was written to provide powerful insight into the principles written in God’s Word. These lessons are ones that I have learned personally during my sixty years of ministry, and it is my prayer that they will become principles that God will use in your life to teach you more about himself and to draw you closer to his heart. There is no substitute for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the very core of God’s message to each one of us. If we want to know him, we need to get to know his Son.

The various features and helps included in this Bible are not designed to be a substitute for personal Bible study. Instead, they are meant to be signposts to help you journey even deeper into God’s Word. You can pray and ask the Lord to open your heart to his Word so that you will understand his prin-ciples and learn to apply them to your life. They are timeless.

In this resource, I have highlighted many of the most crucial ones so that you might grow in your faith and learn to trust God in every area of your life. By surrendering our lives to him and then asking him to teach us his truths, we can put into practice the Life Principles he has given us. We also can learn to live a life of spiritual success and avoid the snares and traps that lead to ineffectiveness, heartache, and disappointment. God’s great-est goals for your life are for you to know him and then for you to live your life com-mitted to him.

Throughout this Bible you’ll find several features designed to help you get the most out of your time in God’s Word:

• Book introductions to each of the 66 books of the Bible offer helpful back-ground information and alert you to some of the most crucial Life Principles found in each book.

• Life Principles articles highlight thirty of the Bible’s most critical principles for success ful Christian living. They focus on crucial topics such as building intimacy

vii

Welcome to The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible®


viii

with God, prayer, obedience, dealing with adversity, and more.

• What the Bible Says About articles bring Scriptural insight to bear on a wide vari-ety of topics of special concern to all believers in Christ: the Holy Spirit’s guid-ance, the process of spiritual growth, experiencing forgiveness, listening to God and many more.

• Answers to Life’s Questions focus on the many challenges we face in our Christian faith as we try to live for God in a world often hostile to our growth in grace. How do we deal with jealousy or bitterness, or how do we gain God’s mind in a tough situation? You’ll find those kinds of questions answered here.

• Life Examples briefly consider the lives of scores of God’s choice servants spot-lighted in the Bible, with a special eye toward discerning how their experiences can encourage and help us.

• Life Lessons offer more than 2,500 insights into individual Bible verses and passages, emphasizing the practical and personal nature of God’s Word to us.

• God’s Promises highlight more than 300 of the Lord’s promises to his people— promises meant to encourage, strengthen, and fill us with hope.

• The Life Principles Indexes and the Promises Index, located in the front of the Bible, give you a convenient way to study God’s principles and promises in the Old and New Testaments.As you read God’s holy Word, I encour-

age you to keep a notebook and a pen nearby so you can record the dates and times of your interactions with the Lord. As he shows you fresh truths, write them down. If he convicts you of a certain sin or attitude, make a note of it and write your prayer confessing that particular sin. If he gives you a moment of joy, praise him in writing. If you have ques-tions, write those down as well, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you God’s truth for every situation. You will also want to use other Bible helps, such as dictionaries and commentaries, to shed light on difficult pas-sages. Don’t try to read large portions of the Bible at one time; sit and meditate on one

verse or one portion of a verse. Also, be sure to ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what that verse means and how to make a practical application of it.

If you find a promise, a provision, a requirement, or a commandment that you sense he is giving you, record it in your note-book. Doing this faithfully day after day helps you to begin to think the way God thinks. You will start to use “the mind of Christ,” which the Bible says you have (1Co 2:16). You also will begin to see life from his per-spective, which will help you understand how you need to live each day. The more you learn about God, the richer your life will be-come through the knowledge of his Word.

By surrendering your life to God and fol-lowing his principles of obedience, you will be on the road to great blessing and reward. You will have the ability to live a liberated life— free from sin and full of God’s good-ness, grace, and mercy. When you obey him, you can anticipate that he will reveal exciting new things to you. Never forget that the key to crossing any bridge successfully is faith and obedience. Jesus said, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (Jn 14:21). The act of understanding his Word and obeying him comes from personal growth and inti-macy with the Lord. The closer you draw to him, the more you will know about him.

This is what makes the journey into God’s truth so exciting. You have the guarantee that the Lord will reveal more of himself and his goodness to you as you mature in your relationship with him. He also will pour out his blessings on your life until it overflows with joy, peace, and goodness; and I believe that as you put into practice his principles, you will enjoy the abundant life that Jesus so earnestly desires to give to you (Jn 10:10). It is my prayer that you will not only discover the treasure of his infinite love and truth, but that you will walk in the light of his goodness each and every day. There is only one way to do this, and it is by knowing God through prayer and the study of his Word.

Charles F. Stanley

viii


THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO

LUKELuke, a physician, writes with the compassion and warmth of a family doctor as he

carefully documents the perfect humanity of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. He emphasizes Jesus’ ancestry, birth and early life before moving carefully and chronologi-cally through his earthly ministry.

At the very beginning of his Gospel, Luke tells his audience that he wasn’t an original apostle or even an eyewitness to Jesus’ words and works. Many believe Luke came to faith in Christ through the ministry of the apostle Paul, whom he befriended and accompanied on some of his missionary journeys. Luke may have been a Gentile convert to Christianity, making him the only non- Jewish writer of a New Testament book (he also penned the Acts of the Apostles). Luke has a fondness for parables; of the twenty- five he includes in his Gospel, seventeen do not appear anywhere else. He also describes seven of Jesus’ miracles that were not mentioned in the other two Syn-optic Gospels.

Luke’s Gospel includes many details of Jesus’ life omitted from the other three Gospels. Only Luke records a detailed account of Jesus’ birth and the events surround-ing it. He includes the angelic announcement to Jesus’ mother, Mary, and the fact that she would give birth to the Messiah. He also records the story of the conception and birth of John the Baptist. Only Luke includes an account of the boyhood of Jesus.

Luke presents Jesus as a man of great compassion and intense emotions. Luke alone, for example, records how Jesus looked out over the holy city of Jerusalem and wept over its coming destruction. Luke also shows us that Jesus had a very sympa-thetic attitude toward women, the poor, the sinners, the sick and the dying. Christ’s resurrection ensures that his purpose is fulfilled: “To seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10).

Kata Loukon, “According to Luke,” is the ancient title added to this Gospel at a very early date. The Greek name Luke appears only three times in the New Testament (Col 4:14; 2Ti 4:11; Phm 24).Theme: Jesus is the Son of Man.

Author: Luke.

Time: Most scholars believe Luke wrote his Gospel a few years before he wrote the Acts of the Apostles, which he likely penned circa AD 63 or 64.

Structure: Luke starts his Gospel by explaining that he had thoroughly investigated Jesus’ story and had written his account based on his careful investigations. The first two chapters of this Gospel contain several incidents unique to Luke that are related to Jesus’ birth and early life.

As you read Luke, watch for the life principles that play an important role in this book:1. Our intimacy with God — his highest priority for our lives — determines the impact of our lives. See Luke 1:4; 3:11; 5:16; 10:42; 11:1; 12:15.22. To walk in the Spirit is to obey the initial promptings of the Spirit. See Luke 4:1.10. If necessary, God will move heaven and earth to show us his will. See Luke 7:30.23. You can never outgive God. See Luke 14:14.30. An eager anticipation of the Lord’s return keeps us living productively. See Luke 21:34.

9780718097042_05_matt_acts_nivstanley.indd 1423 2/27/17 2:27 PM

11 Then an an gel of the Lord ap peared to him, stand ing at the right side of the al tar of in cense. 12 When Zech a riah saw him, he was star tled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the an gel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zech a ri ah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Eliz a beth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and de light to you, and many will re joice be cause of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is nev er to take wine or oth er ferment ed drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spir it even be fore he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the peo ple of Is ra el to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on be fore the Lord, in the spir it and pow er of Eli jah, to turn the hearts of the par ents to their children and the dis obe di ent to the wisdom of the righ teous — to make ready a peo ple pre pared for the Lord.”

18 Zech a ri ah asked the an gel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

19 The an gel said to him, “I am Gabri el. I stand in the pres ence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be si lent and not able to speak un til the day this hap pens, because you did not be lieve my words, which will come true at their ap pointed time.”

Introduction

1 Many have un der tak en to draw up an ac count of the things that have

been ful filled a among us, 2 just as they were hand ed down to us by those who from the first were eye wit ness es and ser vants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I my self have care ful ly in ves ti gated ev ery thing from the be gin ning, I too de cid ed to write an or der ly ac count for you, most ex cel lent The oph i lus, 4 so that you may know the cer tain ty of the things you have been taught.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

5 In the time of Her od king of Ju dea there was a priest named Zech a ri ah, who be longed to the priest ly di vi sion of Abi jah; his wife Eliz a beth was also a de scen dant of Aar on. 6 Both of them were righ teous in the sight of God, observ ing all the Lord’s com mands and de crees blame less ly. 7 But they were child less be cause Eliz a beth was not able to con ceive, and they were both very old.

8 Once when Zech a ri ah’s di vi sion was on duty and he was serv ing as priest be fore God, 9 he was cho sen by lot, ac cord ing to the cus tom of the priest hood, to go into the tem ple of the Lord and burn in cense. 10 And when the time for the burn ing of in cense came, all the as sem bled wor ship ers were pray ing out side. a 1 Or been surely believed

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 1:3 — I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning. Luke wanted the recipient of his letter to know that he had accurately researched the life of Jesus Christ. Because he was a physician, we can conclude that his research was investigative and exten-sive. Only after careful study that probably included interviewing the people who knew the Savior personally, did he begin to write.

Ø 1:4 — That you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. The Lord wants us to know that the Bible contains his truth, and it can be trusted in all that it declares (2Ti 3:16 – 17; Heb 4:12). The Gospels are not a collection of religious fairy tales. They are the source of eternal truth — God’s revelation of himself and how we can have an intimate relationship with him.

Ø 1:17 — “He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” In ancient times, the arrival of a king was her-alded by a forerunner so that his subjects could prepare for his appearance. The cities would hold great festivals, and everything would be cleaned and repaired so that the king would see his dominion at its best. When the King of kings came to earth, the same was true (Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1). John the Baptist preached “in the spirit and power of Elijah” to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ. Like Elijah before him, he bravely and powerfully proclaimed the truth of the people’s need for repentance and salvation.

1424Luke 1:1


21 Mean while, the peo ple were waiting for Zech a ri ah and won der ing why he stayed so long in the tem ple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They re al ized he had seen a vi sion in the tem ple, for he kept mak ing signs to them but re mained un able to speak.

23 When his time of ser vice was complet ed, he re turned home. 24 Af ter this his wife Eliz a beth be came preg nant and for five months re mained in seclu sion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his fa vor and tak en away my dis grace among the peo ple.”

The Birth of Jesus Foretold26 In the sixth month of Eliz a beth’s

preg nan cy, God sent the an gel Ga bri el to Naz a reth, a town in Gal i lee, 27 to a vir gin pledged to be mar ried to a man named Jo seph, a de scen dant of Da vid. The vir gin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greet ings, you who are high ly fa vored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was great ly trou bled at his words and won dered what kind of greet ing this might be. 30 But the an gel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found fa vor with God. 31 You will con ceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his fa ther Da vid, 33 and he will reign over Ja cob’s de scen dants for ev er; his king dom will nev er end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the an gel, “since I am a vir gin?”

35 The an gel an swered, “The Holy Spir it will come on you, and the power of the Most High will over shad ow you. So the holy one to be born will be called a the Son of God. 36 Even

a 35 Or So the child to be born will be called holy,

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 1:30 — But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” The favor of God is worth any discom-fort it might entail. The Lord chose Mary to

give birth to the Savior of the world, but she also had to bear the public shame of people not understanding what he was doing through her and through Jesus.

L I F E E X A M P L E S

MARYWoman of Faith

LUKE 1:31 – 38When Mary was young, the custom-ary age for betrothal was thirteen or fourteen. More than likely, she was a young girl when Joseph asked her to marry him. Can you imagine the excitement she felt? But that quickly changed the moment the angel Gabriel stepped into her presence and announced that she would have a son and that he would be the Savior of the world.

Jewish tradition demanded harsh treatment for unmarried pregnant women. Religious leaders would have dealt with her severely. Yet Mary remained strong in her faith. She knew that she had heard God’s Word spoken to her, and she believed that he would provide what she needed to do his will.

She was an ordinary girl with extraordinary, godly character that gave her an uncommon faith. Com-pletely trusting in God, in every way Mary was a good and faithful servant. And she provides a model of inspi-ration for each one of us. For the most part, she lived her life in relative obscurity— happy and even grateful to be used by God. Yet today the world continues to celebrate her obedience to the Lord.

See the Life Principles Index for more:2. Obey God and leave all the

consequences to him.5. God does not require us to

understand his will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable.

1425 Luke 1:36


51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good

things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants

forever, just as he promised our

ancestors.”56 Mary stayed with Eliz a beth for

about three months and then re turned home.

The Birth of John the Baptist57 When it was time for Eliz a beth to

have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neigh bors and rel a tives heard that the Lord had shown her great mer cy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circum cise the child, and they were go ing to name him af ter his fa ther Zech a riah, 60 but his moth er spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your rel a tives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his fa ther, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writ ing tablet, and to ev ery one’s as ton ish ment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Im me diate ly his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he be gan to speak, prais ing God. 65 All the neigh bors were filled with awe, and through out the hill

Eliz a beth your rel a tive is go ing to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be un able to con ceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s ser vant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the an gel left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth39 At that time Mary got ready and

hur ried to a town in the hill coun try of Ju dea, 40 where she en tered Zecha ri ah’s home and greet ed Eliz a beth. 41 When Eliz a beth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Eliz a beth was filled with the Holy Spir it. 42 In a loud voice she ex claimed: “Blessed are you among wom en, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so fa vored, that the moth er of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has be lieved that the Lord would ful fill his prom is es to her!”

Mary’s Song46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my

Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his

servant. From now on all generations will

call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done

great things for me — holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who

fear him, from generation to generation.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 1:37 — “No word from God will ever fail.” We can trust God even in the most dif-ficult of circumstances, because no problem is too tough for him to handle and no challenge is beyond his power to overcome. He has the ability to do what he says he will do.

Ø 1:45 — “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” What would have happened had Mary not believed Gabriel’s words? Would she have disqualified herself from being the mother of Jesus? The fact is, she did believe and she obeyed God. Her obedience set the stage for the Lord’s blessings. He not only fulfilled his word in her, he also used her to accomplish his prophecy to our lost and dying world.

1426Luke 1:37


78 because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of

peace.”80 And the child grew and be came

strong in spir it b; and he lived in the wil der ness un til he ap peared pub lic ly to Is ra el.

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Cae sar Au gus tus issued a de cree that a cen sus should

be tak en of the en tire Ro man world. 2 (This was the first cen sus that took place while c Qui rin i us was gov er nor of Syr ia.) 3 And ev ery one went to their own town to reg is ter.

4 So Jo seph also went up from the town of Naz a reth in Gal i lee to Ju dea, to Beth le hem the town of Da vid, because he be longed to the house and line of Da vid. 5 He went there to regis ter with Mary, who was pledged to be mar ried to him and was ex pect ing a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a man ger, be cause there was no guest room avail able for them.

8 And there were shep herds liv ing out in the fields near by, keep ing watch over their flocks at night. 9 An an gel

coun try of Ju dea peo ple were talk ing about all these things. 66 Ev ery one who heard this won dered about it, ask ing, “What then is this child go ing to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Zechariah’s Song67 His fa ther Zech a ri ah was filled

with the Holy Spir it and proph e sied: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of

Israel, because he has come to his people

and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn a of

salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy

prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who

hate us — 72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy

covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father

Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our

enemies, and to enable us to serve him

without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness

before him all our days.

76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

a 69 Horn here symbolizes a strong king. b 80 Or in the Spirit c 2 Or This census took place before

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 1:74– 75 — “Serve him without fear in holi-ness and righteousness before him.” Those who fear God do not have to fear anything else. When we commit ourselves wholeheart-edly to serving the Lord, we can enjoy the great blessings that come with holiness and righ-teousness.

Ø 1:78 — “The rising sun will come to us from heaven.” Zechariah was referring to the prophecy of Malachi 4:2, “You who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise.” This of course, was speaking about the Messiah. By first listing God’s covenants to David and Abraham

(Lk 1:69,73), and then referring to the last thing the Lord said in Malachi, Zechariah was confirming that God had indeed kept every aspect of his promise to send the Savior. The good news that the Israelites had been longing to hear had finally arrived.

Ø 2:7 — She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. Amazingly, God stepped into this world not as the reigning king with pomp and ceremony, but as the humble child who was wrapped in simple swaddling clothes. Far from a royal crib, Jesus’ first resting place was a primitive feeding trough.

1427 Luke 2:9


23 (as it is writ ten in the Law of the Lord, “Ev ery first born male is to be con se crat ed to the Lord” a ), 24 and to of fer a sac ri fice in keep ing with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pi geons.” b

25 Now there was a man in Je ru sa lem called Sim e on, who was righ teous and de vout. He was wait ing for the conso la tion of Is ra el, and the Holy Spir it was on him. 26 It had been re vealed to him by the Holy Spir it that he would not die be fore he had seen the Lord’s Mes si ah. 27 Moved by the Spir it, he went into the tem ple courts. When the par ents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the cus tom of the Law re quired, 28 Sim e on took him in his arms and praised God, say ing: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have

promised, you may now dismiss c your

servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your

salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the

sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people

Israel.”33 The child’s fa ther and moth er

mar veled at what was said about him. 34 Then Sim e on blessed them and said to Mary, his moth er: “This child is destined to cause the fall ing and ris ing of many in Is ra el, and to be a sign that will be spo ken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a proph et, Anna, the daugh ter of Pe nu el, of the tribe of Ash er. She was very old; she had lived with her hus band sev en years af ter her

of the Lord ap peared to them, and the glo ry of the Lord shone around them, and they were ter ri fied. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the peo ple. 11 To day in the town of Da vid a Sav ior has been born to you; he is the Mes si ah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and ly ing in a man ger.”

13 Sud den ly a great com pa ny of the heav en ly host ap peared with the angel, prais ing God and say ing, 14 “Glory to God in the highest

heaven, and on earth peace to those on

whom his favor rests.”15 When the an gels had left them and

gone into heav en, the shep herds said to one an oth er, “Let’s go to Beth le hem and see this thing that has hap pened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hur ried off and found Mary and Jo seph, and the baby, who was ly ing in the man ger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word con cern ing what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shep herds said to them. 19 But Mary trea sured up all these things and pon dered them in her heart. 20 The shep herds re turned, glo ri fy ing and prais ing God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to cir cum cise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the an gel had giv en him be fore he was con ceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple22 When the time came for the pu ri

fi ca tion rites re quired by the Law of Mo ses, Jo seph and Mary took him to Je ru sa lem to pre sent him to the Lord

a 23 Exodus 13:2,12 b 24 Lev. 12:8 c 29 Or promised, / now dismiss

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 2:10 — The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” God cares about everyone, despite his or her occupation or standing in society. By Jewish tradition, shep-herds were known to be spiritually unclean. Yet the Lord chose these men to proclaim the birth

announcement of his Son — the Savior of the world. The angel told them not to fear, but to open their eyes and watch for the wonderfully good thing that the Lord was doing for them and for the whole world — something that would bring great joy to everyone.

1428Luke 2:10


mar riage, 37 and then was a wid ow until she was eightyfour. a She nev er left the tem ple but wor shiped night and day, fast ing and pray ing. 38 Com ing up to them at that very mo ment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were look ing for ward to the re demp tion of Je ru sa lem.

39 When Jo seph and Mary had done ev ery thing re quired by the Law of the Lord, they re turned to Gal i lee to their own town of Naz a reth. 40 And the child grew and be came strong; he was filled with wis dom, and the grace of God was on him.

The Boy Jesus at the Temple41 Ev ery year Jesus’ par ents went to

Je ru sa lem for the Fes ti val of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the fes ti val, ac cord ing to the cus tom. 43 Af ter the fes ti val was over, while his par ents were re turn ing home, the boy Jesus stayed be hind in Je ru sa lem, but they were un aware of it. 44 Think ing he was in their com pa ny, they trav eled on for a day. Then they be gan look ing for him among their rel a tives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Je rusa lem to look for him. 46 Af ter three days they found him in the tem ple courts, sit ting among the teach ers, listen ing to them and ask ing them questions. 47 Ev ery one who heard him was amazed at his un der stand ing and his an swers. 48 When his par ents saw him,

a 37 Or then had been a widow for eightyfour years.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 2:40 — The child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. Jesus had to grow, just like every other human child. He became strong in spirit and filled with wisdom because he grew up in the grace of God. The Lord’s loving- kindness is what makes us both strong and wise.

Ø 2:47 — Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. The wisdom of God is astounding. Even the teachers of the Law and temple scholars were completely amazed at Christ’s spiritual insight — especially at such a young age. Yet remember, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Pr 9:10). The Lord’s remarkable knowledge and understand-ing are available to all who truly believe in him (Jer 33:3; 1Co 1:18 — 2:16; Jas 1:5 – 6). Do you need God’s wisdom for your situation? Then trust and obey him, because he will surely reveal himself to you as you seek him (Lk 11:9 – 10).


SIMEONWhole in the Arms of God

LUKE 2:25 – 35As he made his way to the temple, we may wonder if Simeon thought, “The years must be catching up to me. How long will I have to wait for God to answer my prayer?” How long had it been since he had received the special word of the Lord? Five? Ten years? It didn’t matter. Each day brought him closer to the fulfillment of God’s promise that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Lk 2:26).

At that moment, a young couple emerged onto the temple porch with a newborn son. “ The Child!” Simeon thought. He approached the young family, took the babe in his arms and immediately knew this was the One for whom he had waited so long.

The Lord always keeps his prom-ises. And this faithful servant of God had the opportunity to witness the Savior as promised. He took Jesus in his arms and blessed him saying, “Sov-ereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk 2:29 – 30).

See the Life Principles Index for more:5. God does not require us to

understand his will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable.

9. Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.

14. God acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

1429 Luke 2:48


5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become

straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s

salvation.’ ” b

7 John said to the crowds com ing out to be bap tized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the com ing wrath? 8 Pro duce fruit in keeping with re pen tance. And do not be gin to say to your selves, ‘We have Abra ham as our fa ther.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up chil dren for Abra ham. 9 The ax is al ready at the root of the trees, and ev ery tree that does not pro duce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11 John an swered, “Any one who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and any one who has food should do the same.”

12 Even tax col lec tors came to be bap tized. “Teach er,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13 “Don’t col lect any more than you are re quired to,” he told them.

14 Then some sol diers asked him, “And what should we do?”

they were as ton ished. His moth er said to him, “Son, why have you treat ed us like this? Your fa ther and I have been anx ious ly search ing for you.”

49 “Why were you search ing for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Fa ther’s house?” a 50 But they did not un der stand what he was say ing to them.

51 Then he went down to Naz a reth with them and was obe di ent to them. But his moth er trea sured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wis dom and stat ure, and in fa vor with God and man.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In the fif teenth year of the reign of Ti be ri us Cae sar — when Pon tius

Pi late was gov er nor of Ju dea, Her od te trarch of Gal i lee, his broth er Phil ip te trarch of It u rea and Trac o ni tis, and Ly sa ni as te trarch of Ab i le ne — 2 during the highpriest hood of An nas and Ca ia phas, the word of God came to John son of Zech a ri ah in the wil derness. 3 He went into all the coun try around the Jor dan, preach ing a baptism of re pen tance for the for give ness of sins. 4 As it is writ ten in the book of the words of Isa iah the proph et: “A voice of one calling in the

wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

a 49 Or be about my Father’s business b 6 Isaiah 40:35

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 2:50 — They did not understand what he was saying to them. Even as a boy, Jesus spoke of spiritual issues in ways that his hearers often did not understand. Serious Christ- followers, however, strive to gain understanding, as did Mary (Lk 2:51) and his disciples (8:9).

Ø 2:51 — He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, but he was placed in the care and under the authority of his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. He submitted to them, not as an inferior, but as an example of obedience to us.

Ø 3:4 — “A voice of one calling in the wilder-ness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord.’ ” John faithfully fulfilled the calling given to him even before his birth, which was announced by the angel Gabriel to his father Zechariah

(Lk 1:11 – 19). Likewise, God created you for a very special purpose. Even before you were born, he had great plans for you as well (Ps 139:13 – 16; Eph 2:10).

Ø 3:11 — “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” An intimate relationship with God is about far more than merely enjoying warm feelings toward the Creator of the universe. Any genuine love for the Lord will move a person to perform real acts of love toward others (Jas 2:15 – 16; 1Jn 3:16 – 18). It also stirs people’s hearts toward salvation, commitment and obedience.

Ø 3:14 — “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely— be content with your pay.” John the Baptist did not advise soldiers

1430Luke 2:49


the son of Na hum, the son of Esli, the son of Nag gai, 26 the son of Ma

ath, the son of Mat ta thi as, the son of

Sem e in, the son of Jo sek, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Jo a nan, the son of

Rhe sa, the son of Ze rub ba bel, the son of

She al ti el, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Mel ki, the son of Addi, the son of Co sam, the son of El ma dam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Josh ua, the son of El i e

zer, the son of Jo rim, the son of Mat

that, the son of Levi, 30 the son of

Sim e on, the son of Ju dah, the son of Jo seph, the son of Jo nam, the son of Eli a

kim, 31 the son of Me lea, the son of Men na, the son of Mat ta tha, the son of Na

than, the son of Da vid, 32 the son of Jes se, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sal mon, b the son of

Nah shon, 33 the son of Am min a dab, the son of

Ram, c the son of Hez ron, the son of Pe rez, the son of Ju dah, 34 the son of Ja

cob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abra

ham, the son of Te rah, the son of Na hor, 35 the son of Se rug, the son of Reu, the son of Pe leg, the son of Eber, the son of She lah, 36 the son of Ca

i nan, the son of Ar phax ad, the son of

Shem,

He re plied, “Don’t ex tort mon ey and don’t ac cuse peo ple false ly — be content with your pay.”

15 The peo ple were wait ing ex pectant ly and were all won der ing in their hearts if John might pos si bly be the Mes si ah. 16 John an swered them all, “I bap tize you with a wa ter. But one who is more pow er ful than I will come, the straps of whose san dals I am not wor thy to un tie. He will bap tize you with a the Holy Spir it and fire. 17 His win now ing fork is in his hand to clear his thresh ing floor and to gath er the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with un quench able fire.” 18 And with many oth er words John exhort ed the peo ple and pro claimed the good news to them.

19 But when John re buked Her od the te trarch be cause of his mar riage to Hero di as, his broth er’s wife, and all the oth er evil things he had done, 20 Her od add ed this to them all: He locked John up in pris on.

The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus

21 When all the peo ple were be ing bap tized, Jesus was bap tized too. And as he was pray ing, heav en was opened 22 and the Holy Spir it de scend ed on him in bodi ly form like a dove. And a voice came from heav en: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

23 Now Jesus him self was about thirty years old when he be gan his min istry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Jo seph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Mat that, the son of Levi, the son of Mel ki, the son of Jan nai, the son of Jo

seph, 25 the son of Mat ta thi as, the son of

Amos,

a 16 Or in b 32 Some early manuscripts Sala c 33 Some manuscripts Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni ; other manuscripts vary widely.

L I F E L E S S O N Sto go into another profession. He did, however, instruct them to act justly and mercifully with those under their authority.

Ø 3:23 — Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. Jesus spent three decades preparing for his ministry, most of it in almost total obscurity. Most of the time, those whom God uses greatly he first puts through a period of preparation outside of the bright lights of fame and notoriety.

1431 Luke 3:36


11 they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ d ”

12 Jesus an swered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ e ”

13 When the dev il had fin ished all this tempt ing, he left him un til an oppor tune time.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth14 Jesus re turned to Gal i lee in the

pow er of the Spir it, and news about him spread through the whole country side. 15 He was teach ing in their syna gogues, and ev ery one praised him.

16 He went to Naz a reth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sab bath day he went into the syn a gogue, as was his cus tom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the proph et Isa iah was hand ed to him. Un roll ing it, he found the place where it is writ ten: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the

poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom

for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the

blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s

favor.” f20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave

it back to the at ten dant and sat down. The eyes of ev ery one in the syn a gogue

the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

37 the son of Me thu se lah, the son of Enoch,

the son of Ja red, the son of Ma hala lel,

the son of Ke nan, 38 the son of Enosh,

the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spir it, left the Jor dan and was led by the Spir

it into the wil der ness, 2 where for for ty days he was tempt ed a by the dev il. He ate noth ing dur ing those days, and at the end of them he was hun gry.

3 The dev il said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to be come bread.”

4 Jesus an swered, “It is writ ten: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ b ”

5 The dev il led him up to a high place and showed him in an in stant all the king doms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their au thori ty and splen dor; it has been giv en to me, and I can give it to any one I want to. 7 If you wor ship me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus an swered, “It is writ ten: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ c ”

9 The dev il led him to Je ru sa lem and had him stand on the high est point of the tem ple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw your self down from here. 10 For it is writ ten:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you

to guard you carefully;

a 2 The Greek for tempted can also mean tested. b 4 Deut. 8:3 c 8 Deut. 6:13 d 11 Psalm 91:11,12 e 12 Deut. 6:16 f 19 Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 4:1 — Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. To walk in the Spirit is to obey the initial promptings of the Spirit. This does not mean life will always be easy or problem- free. Sometimes the Lord will lead us into the wilderness or into situations that are difficult. In fact, this often happens after times of great spiritual growth or victory. However, if we trust and obey him, we will surely triumph, and our relationship with him will grow even deeper and stronger.

Ø 4:13 — When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Satan does not attack us in the same way at all times. He looks for opportune moments, when we feel weakest or most discouraged, to suggest that God cannot be trusted and we must take matters into our own hands. How do we fend off his lies? By walking daily with the Lord in prayer, studying his Word and staying strong in our faith (1Pe 5:8 – 11).

1432Luke 3:37


threw the man down be fore them all and came out with out in jur ing him.

36 All the peo ple were amazed and said to each oth er, “What words these are! With au thor i ty and pow er he gives or ders to im pure spir its and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread through out the sur round ing area.

Jesus Heals Many38 Jesus left the syn a gogue and went

to the home of Si mon. Now Si mon’s moth erinlaw was suf fer ing from a high fe ver, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fe ver, and it left her. She got up at once and be gan to wait on them.

40 At sun set, the peo ple brought to Jesus all who had var i ous kinds of sick ness, and lay ing his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 More over, demons came out of many peo ple, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he re buked them and would not al low them to speak, be cause they knew he was the Mes si ah.

42 At day break, Jesus went out to a sol i tary place. The peo ple were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leav ing them. 43 But he said, “I must pro claim the good news of the king dom of God to the oth er towns also, be cause that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preach ing in the syna gogues of Ju dea.

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

5 One day as Jesus was stand ing by the Lake of Gen nes a ret, b the peo

ple were crowd ing around him and listen ing to the word of God. 2 He saw at the wa ter’s edge two boats, left there by the fish er men, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one be long ing to Si mon,

were fas tened on him. 21 He be gan by say ing to them, “To day this scrip ture is ful filled in your hear ing.”

22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gra cious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Jo seph’s son?” they asked.

23 Jesus said to them, “Sure ly you will quote this prov erb to me: ‘Phy sician, heal your self !’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Ca perna um.’ ”

24 “Tru ly I tell you,” he con tin ued, “no proph et is ac cept ed in his home town. 25 I as sure you that there were many wid ows in Is ra el in Eli jah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a se vere fam ine through out the land. 26 Yet Eli jah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zar e phath in the re gion of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Is ra el with lep ro sy a in the time of Eli sha the proph et, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Na a man the Syr i an.”

28 All the peo ple in the syn a gogue were fu ri ous when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit31 Then he went down to Ca per na

um, a town in Gal i lee, and on the Sabbath he taught the peo ple. 32 They were amazed at his teach ing, be cause his words had au thor i ty.

33 In the syn a gogue there was a man pos sessed by a de mon, an im pure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Naz a reth? Have you come to de stroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”

35 “Be qui et!” Jesus said stern ly. “Come out of him!” Then the de mon

a 27 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin. b 1 That is, the Sea of Galilee

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 4:21 — “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Those in the synagogue under-stood that the text Jesus read (Isa 61) referred to the prophesied Messiah. Therefore, at the

outset of his ministry Jesus announced that he is the Savior and Redeemer that Israel and the world had been awaiting.

1433 Luke 5:3


tell any one, but go, show your self to the priest and of fer the sac ri fic es that Mo ses com mand ed for your cleans ing, as a tes ti mo ny to them.”

15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sick ness es. 16 But Jesus of ten with drew to lone ly plac es and prayed.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

17 One day Jesus was teach ing, and Phar i sees and teach ers of the law were sit ting there. They had come from every vil lage of Gal i lee and from Ju dea and Je ru sa lem. And the pow er of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came car ry ing a par alyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him be fore Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this be cause of the crowd, they went up on the roof and low ered him on his mat through the tiles into the mid dle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are for giv en.”

21 The Phar i sees and the teach ers of the law be gan think ing to them selves, “Who is this fel low who speaks blasphe my? Who can for give sins but God alone?”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you think ing these things in your hearts? 23 Which is eas i er: to say, ‘Your sins are for

and asked him to put out a lit tle from shore. Then he sat down and taught the peo ple from the boat.

4 When he had fin ished speak ing, he said to Si mon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Si mon an swered, “Mas ter, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught any thing. But be cause you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large num ber of fish that their nets be gan to break. 7 So they signaled their part ners in the oth er boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they be gan to sink.

8 When Si mon Pe ter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sin ful man!” 9 For he and all his com pan ions were as ton ished at the catch of fish they had tak en, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zeb e dee, Si mon’s part ners.

Then Jesus said to Si mon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for peo ple.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left ev ery thing and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy12 While Jesus was in one of the

towns, a man came along who was cov ered with lep ro sy. a When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are will ing, you can make me clean.”

13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am will ing,” he said. “Be clean!” And im me di ate ly the lep ro sy left him.

14 Then Jesus or dered him, “Don’t

a 12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 5:11 — They pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. The particulars of what Jesus requires of his disciples vary tremendously, but of all followers he demands total allegiance. He must be Lord of all, not merely one significant voice among many others.

Ø 5:13 — Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. Jesus did not have to touch people to cure them (Lk 7:1 – 10), but he made a point of

compassionately touching the leper — a man no one dared to touch. Jesus always gives us exactly what we need.

Ø 5:16 — Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Jesus cherished his times alone in prayer. As our example, he shows us that none of us can afford to skip our devo-tional times alone with the Lord. We were made for an intimate relationship with him, and that cannot happen if we never communicate with him or listen to him.

1434Luke 5:4


will have torn the new gar ment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wine skins. Other wise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wine skins. 39 And no one after drink ing old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is bet ter.’ ”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 One Sab bath Jesus was go ing through the grain fields, and his

dis ci ples be gan to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the ker nels. 2 Some of the Phar i sees asked, “Why are you do ing what is unlaw ful on the Sab bath?”

3 Jesus an swered them, “Have you nev er read what Da vid did when he and his com pan ions were hun gry? 4 He en tered the house of God, and tak ing the con se crat ed bread, he ate what is law ful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his com pan ions.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sab bath.”

6 On an oth er Sab bath he went into the syn a gogue and was teach ing, and a man was there whose right hand was shriv eled. 7 The Phar i sees and the teach ers of the law were look ing for a rea son to ac cuse Jesus, so they watched him close ly to see if he would heal on the Sab bath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were think ing and said to the man with the shriv eled hand, “Get up and stand in front of ev ery one.” So he got up and stood there.

9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is law ful on the Sab bath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was

giv en,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has au thor i ty on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the par a lyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Im me di ate ly he stood up in front of them, took what he had been ly ing on and went home prais ing God. 26 Ev ery one was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen re markable things to day.”

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

27 Af ter this, Jesus went out and saw a tax col lec tor by the name of Levi sit ting at his tax booth. “Fol low me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left ev ery thing and fol lowed him.

29 Then Levi held a great ban quet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax col lec tors and oth ers were eating with them. 30 But the Phar i sees and the teach ers of the law who be longed to their sect com plained to his dis ciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax col lec tors and sin ners?”

31 Jesus an swered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doc tor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sin ners to re pen tance.”

Jesus Questioned About Fasting33 They said to him, “John’s dis ci ples

of ten fast and pray, and so do the disci ples of the Phar i sees, but yours go on eat ing and drink ing.”

34 Jesus an swered, “Can you make the friends of the bride groom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bride groom will be tak en from them; in those days they will fast.”

36 He told them this par a ble: “No one tears a piece out of a new gar ment to patch an old one. Other wise, they

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 6:9 — “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” Every law or command-ment that God ever gave to his people, he gave for their own good (Dt 10:13). The Lord takes no pleasure in regulations that destroy, injure or allow injustice to remain — so the answer

to Jesus’ question should have been obvious. Sadly, these religious leaders had added so many stipulations to his commands that they prevented people from practicing the spirit of the Law — loving God and serving others (Mt 23:13 – 28).

1435 Luke 6:10


and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23 “Re joice in that day and leap for joy, be cause great is your re ward in heav en. For that is how their an ces tors treat ed the proph ets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received

your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks

well of you, for that is how their ancestors

treated the false prophets.

Love for Enemies27 “But to you who are lis ten ing I say:

Love your en e mies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mis treat you. 29 If some one slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the oth er also. If someone takes your coat, do not with hold your shirt from them. 30 Give to ev eryone who asks you, and if any one takes what be longs to you, do not de mand it back. 31 Do to oth ers as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what cred it is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what cred it is that to you? Even sin ners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you ex pect re payment, what cred it is that to you? Even sin ners lend to sin ners, ex pect ing to be re paid in full. 35 But love your ene mies, do good to them, and lend to them with out ex pect ing to get any

com plete ly re stored. 11 But the Phar isees and the teach ers of the law were fu ri ous and be gan to dis cuss with one an oth er what they might do to Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles12 One of those days Jesus went out

to a moun tain side to pray, and spent the night pray ing to God. 13 When morn ing came, he called his dis ciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also des ig nat ed apos tles: 14 Si mon (whom he named Pe ter), his broth er An drew, James, John, Phil ip, Bar thol o mew, 15 Mat thew, Thom as, James son of Al phae us, Si mon who was called the Zeal ot, 16 Ju das son of James, and Ju das Is car i ot, who became a trai tor.

Blessings and Woes17 He went down with them and

stood on a lev el place. A large crowd of his dis ci ples was there and a great num ber of peo ple from all over Ju dea, from Je ru sa lem, and from the coast al re gion around Tyre and Si don, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their dis eas es. Those trou bled by im pure spir its were cured, 19 and the peo ple all tried to touch him, be cause pow er was com ing from him and healing them all.

20 Look ing at his dis ci ples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate

you, when they exclude you and insult

you

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 6:12 — One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. Jesus spent all night in prayer immediately before he chose the twelve disciples who would accompany him everywhere. Whenever we make any deci-sion — major or minor — we should follow his example and wholeheartedly seek his counsel.

Ø 6:35 — “He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” If God were not kind to the unap-preciative and ungodly, where would any of us be (Ro 5:8)? The Lord will always judge sin, but he desires that we would turn from our sin and receive his salvation so that he can bless us, not judge us (1Pe 3:9). Likewise, we must be kind to all people — showing them God’s love and mercy — in the hope that they will repent and be saved (2Ti 2:24 – 26).

1436Luke 6:11


up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

The Wise and Foolish Builders46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

and do not do what I say? 47 As for every one who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into prac tice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man build ing a house, who dug down deep and laid the founda tion on rock. When a flood came, the tor rent struck that house but could not shake it, be cause it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into prac tice is like a man who built a house on the ground with out a foun da tion. The mo ment the tor rent struck that house, it col lapsed and its de struc tion was com plete.”

The Faith of the Centurion

7 When Jesus had fin ished say ing all this to the peo ple who were lis ten

ing, he en tered Ca per na um. 2 There a cen tu ri on’s ser vant, whom his mas ter val ued high ly, was sick and about to die. 3 The cen tu ri on heard of Jesus and sent some el ders of the Jews to him, ask ing him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they plead ed ear nest ly with him, “This man de serves to have you do this, 5 be cause he loves our na tion and has built our syn a gogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the cen tu ri on sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trou ble your self, for I do not de serve to have you come un der my roof. 7 That is why I did not even con sid er my self wor thy to come to you. But say the word, and my ser vant will be healed. 8 For I my self am a man

thing back. Then your re ward will be great, and you will be chil dren of the Most High, be cause he is kind to the un grate ful and wick ed. 36 Be mer ci ful, just as your Fa ther is mer ci ful.

Judging Others37 “Do not judge, and you will not be

judged. Do not con demn, and you will not be con demned. For give, and you will be for giv en. 38 Give, and it will be giv en to you. A good mea sure, pressed down, shak en to geth er and run ning over, will be poured into your lap. For with the mea sure you use, it will be mea sured to you.”

39 He also told them this par a ble: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The stu dent is not above the teach er, but every one who is ful ly trained will be like their teach er.

41 “Why do you look at the speck of saw dust in your broth er’s eye and pay no at ten tion to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Broth er, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you your self fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hyp o crite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clear ly to re move the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor

does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is rec og nized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bush es, or grapes from bri ers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 6:44 — “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.” What kind of fruit do you bear? How would your family, co- workers and neighbors describe you? Would they say you are loving or selfish? Godly or unscrupulous? The way to measure the effectiveness of your walk with the Lord is to see what is being produced. Are people being drawn to God through you, or are they turned off to him because of your ways? You can only make a difference in this world for Christ if you abide in him (Jn 15:5).

Ø 6:45 — “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart . . . For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Your speech says a lot about you. Is your conversation tainted by complaining and curs-ing? Or is it characterized by praise for the Lord and sound wisdom? This shows what is stored in your heart, and if it is negative, you should reevaluate what you’ve been focusing on. Set your heart on God because then good, helpful speech will flow from you.

1437 Luke 7:8


said, “John the Bap tist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we ex pect some one else?’ ”

21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had dis eas es, sick ness es and evil spir its, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he re plied to the messen gers, “Go back and re port to John what you have seen and heard: The blind re ceive sight, the lame walk, those who have lep ro sy a are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is pro claimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is any one who does not stum ble on ac count of me.”

24 Af ter John’s mes sen gers left, Jesus be gan to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wil der ness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear ex pen sive clothes and in dulge in lux u ry are in pal ac es. 26 But what did you go out to see? A proph et? Yes, I tell you, and more than a proph et. 27 This is the one about whom it is writ ten:

“ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.’ b

28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one great er than John; yet the one who is least in the king dom of God is great er than he.”

29 (All the peo ple, even the tax col lectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowl edged that God’s way was right, be cause they had been bap tized by John. 30 But the Phar i sees and the ex

un der au thor i ty, with sol diers un der me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my ser vant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turn ing to the crowd fol low ing him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Is ra el.” 10 Then the men who had been sent re turned to the house and found the ser vant well.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son11 Soon af ter ward, Jesus went to a

town called Nain, and his dis ci ples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he ap proached the town gate, a dead per son was be ing car ried out — the only son of his moth er, and she was a wid ow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were car ry ing him on, and the bear ers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and be gan to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his moth er.

16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great proph et has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his peo ple.” 17 This news about Jesus spread through out Ju dea and the sur round ing coun try.

Jesus and John the Baptist18 John’s dis ci ples told him about all

these things. Call ing two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we ex pect some one else?”

20 When the men came to Jesus, they

a 22 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin. b 27 Mal. 3:1

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 7:15 — The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. This was not the only time Jesus raised a dead person back to life. He who is called the “Word of life” (1Jn 1:1) is “Lord of both the dead and the living” (Ro 14:9).

Ø 7:21 — At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. In

prison, John had begun to doubt whether Jesus was the promised Messiah. In his grace, the Lord showed the discouraged John the truth. In the number and variety of his miracles, Jesus was doing what no Old Testament prophet had ever done.

Ø 7:30 — The Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for them-selves. It is possible to reject the Lord’s will

1438Luke 7:9


“Tell me, teach er,” he said.41 “Two peo ple owed mon ey to a cer

tain mon ey lend er. One owed him five hun dred de nar ii, a and the oth er fif ty. 42 Nei ther of them had the mon ey to pay him back, so he for gave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Si mon re plied, “I sup pose the one who had the big ger debt for giv en.”

“You have judged cor rect ly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned to ward the woman and said to Si mon, “Do you see this wom an? I came into your house. You did not give me any wa ter for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I en tered, has not stopped kiss ing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured per fume on my feet. 47 There fore, I tell you, her many sins have been for given — as her great love has shown. But who ev er has been for giv en lit tle loves lit tle.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are for giv en.”

49 The oth er guests be gan to say among them selves, “Who is this who even for gives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the wom an, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

The Parable of the Sower

8 Af ter this, Jesus trav eled about from one town and vil lage to an oth

er, pro claim ing the good news of the king dom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some wom en who had

perts in the law re ject ed God’s pur pose for them selves, be cause they had not been bap tized by John.)

31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I com pare the peo ple of this gen er a tion? What are they like? 32 They are like chil dren sit ting in the mar ketplace and call ing out to each oth er:

“ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’33 For John the Bap tist came nei ther eat ing bread nor drink ing wine, and you say, ‘He has a de mon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eat ing and drink ing, and you say, ‘Here is a glut ton and a drunkard, a friend of tax col lec tors and sinners.’ 35 But wis dom is proved right by all her chil dren.”

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman36 When one of the Phar i sees in vit ed

Jesus to have din ner with him, he went to the Phar i see’s house and re clined at the ta ble. 37 A wom an in that town who lived a sin ful life learned that Jesus was eat ing at the Phar i see’s house, so she came there with an al a bas ter jar of per fume. 38 As she stood be hind him at his feet weep ing, she be gan to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured per fume on them.

39 When the Phar i see who had invit ed him saw this, he said to him self, “If this man were a proph et, he would know who is touch ing him and what kind of wom an she is — that she is a sin ner.”

40 Jesus an swered him, “Si mon, I have some thing to tell you.”

a 41 A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see Matt. 20:2).

L I F E L E S S O N Sand even work against it. This will never happen accidentally, however, or take place despite your desires. If you want to know God’s will for your life, he will move heaven and earth to show it to you. But you have to choose it and obey him.

Ø 7:47 — “Whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” If we refuse to see the magnitude of our sin, the Lord’s sacrifice may not seem significant to us. But when we understand the

true condition of our sinful hearts and the ter-rible penalty of our transgressions, his immense sacrifice for us inspires deep love and devotion (Ro 3:10 – 26; 6:23).

Ø 8:2– 3 — Some women . . . were helping to support them out of their own means. Luke came from a culture that largely dismissed or at least downplayed the importance of women, yet he often highlights the contributions of women in the ministry of Jesus. He thus

1439 Luke 8:2


way they are choked by life’s wor ries, rich es and plea sures, and they do not ma ture. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a no ble and good heart, who hear the word, re tain it, and by per se ver ing pro duce a crop.

A Lamp on a Stand16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it

in a clay jar or puts it un der a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is noth ing hid den that will not be dis closed, and noth ing con cealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18 Therefore con sid er care ful ly how you lis ten. Who ever has will be giv en more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be tak en from them.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers19 Now Jesus’ moth er and broth ers

came to see him, but they were not able to get near him be cause of the crowd. 20 Some one told him, “Your moth er and broth ers are stand ing out side, want ing to see you.”

21 He re plied, “My moth er and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into prac tice.”

Jesus Calms the Storm22 One day Jesus said to his dis ci ples,

“Let us go over to the oth er side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was be ing swamped, and they were in great dan ger.

24 The dis ci ples went and woke him, say ing, “Mas ter, Mas ter, we’re go ing to drown!”

been cured of evil spir its and dis eas es: Mary (called Mag da lene) from whom sev en de mons had come out; 3 Jo an na the wife of Chu za, the man ag er of Herod’s house hold; Su san na; and many oth ers. These wom en were help ing to sup port them out of their own means.

4 While a large crowd was gath er ing and peo ple were com ing to Jesus from town af ter town, he told this par a ble: 5 “A farm er went out to sow his seed. As he was scat ter ing the seed, some fell along the path; it was tram pled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants with ered be cause they had no mois ture. 7 Oth er seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still oth er seed fell on good soil. It came up and yield ed a crop, a hun dred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Who ev er has ears to hear, let them hear.”

9 His dis ci ples asked him what this par a ble meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the se crets of the king dom of God has been giv en to you, but to others I speak in par a bles, so that,

“ ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not

understand.’ a

11 “This is the mean ing of the par a ble: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the dev il comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not be lieve and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who re ceive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They be lieve for a while, but in the time of test ing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their a 10 Isaiah 6:9

L I F E L E S S O N Santicipates the message of Galatians 3:28, “You are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Ø 8:16 — “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” When you accept

the light of the world, Jesus Christ (Jn 8:12), as your Lord and Savior, you cannot hide that you know him. Rather, you must allow his light to shine through you so that others can also have his light — so they also can accept the salvation he offers.

1440Luke 8:3


had been cured. 37 Then all the peo ple of the re gion of the Ger a senes asked Jesus to leave them, be cause they were over come with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

38 The man from whom the de mons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, say ing, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

40 Now when Jesus re turned, a crowd wel comed him, for they were all expect ing him. 41 Then a man named Jai rus, a syn a gogue lead er, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, plead ing with him to come to his house 42 be cause his only daugh ter, a girl of about twelve, was dy ing.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds al most crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been sub ject to bleed ing for twelve years, b but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and im me di ate ly her bleed ing stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.When they all de nied it, Pe ter said,

“Mas ter, the peo ple are crowd ing and press ing against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Some one touched me; I know that pow er has gone out from me.”

47 Then the wom an, see ing that she could not go un no ticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the peo ple, she told why she had touched him and how she had been in stant ly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daugh ter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

49 While Jesus was still speak ing, some one came from the house of Ja irus, the syn a gogue lead er. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t both er the teach er any more.”

50 Hear ing this, Jesus said to Ja i rus,

He got up and re buked the wind and the rag ing wa ters; the storm sub sided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his dis ci ples.

In fear and amaze ment they asked one an oth er, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the wa ter, and they obey him.”

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man

26 They sailed to the re gion of the Ger a senes, a which is across the lake from Gal i lee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a de monpossessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shout ing at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t tor ture me!” 29 For Jesus had command ed the im pure spir it to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept un der guard, he had bro ken his chains and had been driv en by the de mon into sol i tary plac es.

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Le gion,” he re plied, be cause many de mons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus re peat ed ly not to or der them to go into the Abyss.

32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hill side. The de mons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them per mis sion. 33 When the de mons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

34 When those tend ing the pigs saw what had hap pened, they ran off and re port ed this in the town and country side, 35 and the peo ple went out to see what had hap pened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the de mons had gone out, sit ting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the de monpos sessed man

a 26 Some manuscripts Gadarenes; other manuscripts Gergesenes; also in verse 37 b 43 Many manuscripts years, and she had spent all she had on doctors

1441 Luke 8:50


Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand10 When the apos tles re turned, they

re port ed to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they with drew by them selves to a town called Beth sa i da, 11 but the crowds learned about it and fol lowed him. He wel comed them and spoke to them about the king dom of God, and healed those who need ed heal ing.

12 Late in the af ter noon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the sur rounding vil lag es and coun try side and find food and lodg ing, be cause we are in a re mote place here.”

13 He re plied, “You give them something to eat.”

They an swered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish — un less we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thou sand men were there.)

But he said to his dis ci ples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The dis ci ples did so, and ev ery one sat down. 16 Tak ing the five loaves and the two fish and look ing up to heav en, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the dis ci ples to dis trib ute to the peo ple. 17 They all ate and were sat is fied, and the dis ci ples picked up twelve bas ketfuls of bro ken piec es that were left over.

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

18 Once when Jesus was pray ing in pri vate and his dis ci ples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

19 They re plied, “Some say John the Bap tist; oth ers say Eli jah; and still others, that one of the proph ets of long ago has come back to life.”

“Don’t be afraid; just be lieve, and she will be healed.”

51 When he ar rived at the house of Ja i rus, he did not let any one go in with him ex cept Pe ter, John and James, and the child’s fa ther and moth er. 52 Meanwhile, all the peo ple were wail ing and mourn ing for her. “Stop wail ing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

53 They laughed at him, know ing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spir it re turned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her some thing to eat. 56 Her parents were as ton ished, but he or dered them not to tell any one what had happened.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

9 When Jesus had called the Twelve to geth er, he gave them pow er and

au thor i ty to drive out all de mons and to cure dis eas es, 2 and he sent them out to pro claim the king dom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take noth ing for the jour ney — no staff, no bag, no bread, no mon ey, no ex tra shirt. 4 What ev er house you en ter, stay there un til you leave that town. 5 If peo ple do not wel come you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a tes ti mo ny against them.” 6 So they set out and went from vil lage to vil lage, pro claim ing the good news and heal ing peo ple ev erywhere.

7 Now Her od the te trarch heard about all that was go ing on. And he was perplexed be cause some were say ing that John had been raised from the dead, 8 oth ers that Eli jah had ap peared, and still oth ers that one of the proph ets of long ago had come back to life. 9 But Her od said, “I be head ed John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 8:53 — They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. As a physician, Luke wanted his audience to know that the child Jesus healed was really and truly dead. One day, Jesus will destroy death altogether (1Co 15:21), but in this passage, he clearly showed his mastery over it.

Ø 9:13 — He replied, “You give them some-thing to eat.” The Lord will never command us to do something without also providing whatever is required to obey him. In this case, feeding five thousand men seemed absolutely impossible, but he provided what they needed, and there were even leftovers.

1442Luke 8:51


32 Pe ter and his com pan ions were very sleepy, but when they be came ful ly awake, they saw his glo ry and the two men stand ing with him. 33 As the men were leav ing Jesus, Pe ter said to him, “Mas ter, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shel ters — one for you, one for Mo ses and one for Eli jah.” (He did not know what he was say ing.)

34 While he was speak ing, a cloud ap peared and cov ered them, and they were afraid as they en tered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, say ing, “This is my Son, whom I have cho sen; lis ten to him.” 36 When the voice had spo ken, they found that Jesus was alone. The dis ci ples kept this to themselves and did not tell any one at that time what they had seen.

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy

37 The next day, when they came down from the moun tain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teach er, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spir it seiz es him and he sud denly screams; it throws him into con vulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarce ly ever leaves him and is de stroy ing him. 40 I begged your dis ciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

41 “You un be liev ing and per verse gen er a tion,” Jesus re plied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 Even while the boy was com ing, the de mon threw him to the ground in

20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Pe ter an swered, “God’s Mes si ah.”

Jesus Predicts His Death21 Jesus strict ly warned them not to

tell this to any one. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suf fer many things and be re ject ed by the el ders, the chief priests and the teach ers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

23 Then he said to them all: “Who ever wants to be my dis ci ple must deny them selves and take up their cross dai ly and fol low me. 24 For whoev er wants to save their life will lose it, but who ev er los es their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for some one to gain the whole world, and yet lose or for feit their very self ? 26 Who ever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glo ry and in the glo ry of the Fa ther and of the holy an gels.

27 “Tru ly I tell you, some who are stand ing here will not taste death before they see the king dom of God.”

The Transfiguration28 About eight days af ter Jesus said

this, he took Pe ter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was pray ing, the ap pear ance of his face changed, and his clothes be came as bright as a flash of light ning. 30 Two men, Mo ses and Eli jah, ap peared in glo ri ous splen dor, talk ing with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his de par ture, a which he was about to bring to ful fill ment at Je ru sa lem. a 31 Greek exodos

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 9:20 — “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Ultimately, this is the question we must all answer and the foun-dation of our confession of faith (Ro 10:9 – 10). To say that Jesus is the Christ means we believe that he is God incarnate, born of a virgin, crucified unto death, buried, resurrected on the third day and fully capable of forgiving our sins and reconciling us to himself. We trust that all he taught is true, we have eternal life because of him, and all he has promised and has been prophesied about him will be fulfilled. Is this what you believe? Do you have faith that Jesus is the Savior? Who do you say he is?

Ø 9:29– 30 — As he was praying, the appear-ance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. Peter, James and John knew Jesus as a great teacher and son of a carpenter from Nazareth, but here they saw him as they never dreamed they would — as the glorified Messiah. Also, Elijah and Moses were talking to him — Moses the greatest of the lawgivers, and Elijah the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. So Jesus was also revealing himself to be the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets (Mt 5:17 – 18; Lk 24:44 – 47).

1443 Luke 9:42


for him; 53 but the peo ple there did not wel come him, be cause he was head ing for Je ru sa lem. 54 When the dis ci ples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heav en to de stroy them a ?” 55 But Jesus turned and re buked them. 56 Then he and his dis ci ples went to anoth er vil lage.

The Cost of Following Jesus57 As they were walk ing along the

road, a man said to him, “I will fol low you wher ev er you go.”

58 Jesus re plied, “Fox es have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to an oth er man, “Follow me.”

But he re plied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my fa ther.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and pro claim the king dom of God.”

61 Still an oth er said, “I will fol low you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my fam i ly.”

62 Jesus re plied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for ser vice in the king dom of God.”

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 Af ter this the Lord ap point ed sev en tytwo b oth ers and sent

them two by two ahead of him to ev ery town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The har vest is plen ti ful, but the work ers are few. Ask

a con vul sion. But Jesus re buked the im pure spir it, healed the boy and gave him back to his fa ther. 43 And they were all amazed at the great ness of God.

Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time

While ev ery one was mar vel ing at all that Jesus did, he said to his dis ci ples, 44 “Lis ten care ful ly to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is go ing to be de liv ered in to the hands of men.” 45 But they did not un der stand what this meant. It was hid den from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

46 An ar gu ment start ed among the dis ci ples as to which of them would be the great est. 47 Jesus, know ing their thoughts, took a lit tle child and had him stand be side him. 48 Then he said to them, “Who ev er wel comes this lit tle child in my name wel comes me; and who ev er wel comes me wel comes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

49 “Mas ter,” said John, “we saw someone driv ing out de mons in your name and we tried to stop him, be cause he is not one of us.”

50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for who ev er is not against you is for you.”

Samaritan Opposition51 As the time ap proached for him to

be tak en up to heav en, Jesus res o lutely set out for Je ru sa lem. 52 And he sent mes sen gers on ahead, who went into a Sa mar i tan vil lage to get things ready

a 54 Some manuscripts them, just as Elijah did b 1 Some manuscripts seventy; also in verse 17

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 9:43 — They were all amazed at the greatness of God. The majesty and greatness of God is displayed in many ways. In this case, it was demonstrated in his irresistible power over an unclean spirit. We should always remember, “His kingdom rules over all” (Ps 103:19), and he is certainly able to help us, no matter what challenge we face.

Ø 9:55 — Jesus turned and rebuked them. The disciples still did not understand who they really were in Christ. Sometimes we do not act like the new men and women he is transforming us into either. Yet we are new

creations all the same, and we must do our best to represent him with love and mercy so that others will believe and be saved (2Co 5:17 – 21; 2Ti 2:24 – 26).

Ø 10:2 — “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his har-vest field.” The Lord invites us to partner with him in expanding his kingdom. Even though he is the One who draws people to himself and redeems them, he still leaves the proclamation of the message to us.

1444Luke 9:43


you. 20 How ev er, do not re joice that the spir its sub mit to you, but re joice that your names are writ ten in heav en.”

21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spir it, said, “I praise you, Fa ther, Lord of heav en and earth, be cause you have hid den these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to lit tle chil dren. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

22 “All things have been com mit ted to me by my Fa ther. No one knows who the Son is ex cept the Fa ther, and no one knows who the Fa ther is ex cept the Son and those to whom the Son choos es to re veal him.”

23 Then he turned to his dis ci ples and said pri vate ly, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many proph ets and kings want ed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 On one oc ca sion an ex pert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teach er,” he asked, “what must I do to in her it eter nal life?”

26 “What is writ ten in the Law?” he re plied. “How do you read it?”

27 He an swered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ b; and, ‘Love your neigh bor as your self.’ c ”

28 “You have an swered cor rect ly,” Jesus re plied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he want ed to jus ti fy him self, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In re ply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Je ru sa lem to Jer i cho,

the Lord of the har vest, there fore, to send out work ers into his har vest field. 3 Go! I am send ing you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or san dals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5 “When you en ter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If some one who pro motes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will re turn to you. 7 Stay there, eat ing and drinking what ev er they give you, for the work er de serves his wag es. Do not move around from house to house.

8 “When you en ter a town and are wel comed, eat what is of fered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The king dom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you en ter a town and are not wel comed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warn ing to you. Yet be sure of this: The king dom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bear able on that day for Sod om than for that town.

13 “Woe to you, Cho ra zin! Woe to you, Beth sa i da! For if the mir a cles that were per formed in you had been per formed in Tyre and Si don, they would have re pent ed long ago, sit ting in sack cloth and ash es. 14 But it will be more bear able for Tyre and Si don at the judg ment than for you. 15 And you, Ca per na um, will you be lift ed to the heav ens? No, you will go down to Hades. a

16 “Who ev er lis tens to you lis tens to me; who ev er re jects you re jects me; but who ev er re jects me re jects him who sent me.”

17 The sev en tytwo re turned with joy and said, “Lord, even the de mons submit to us in your name.”

18 He re plied, “I saw Sa tan fall like light ning from heav en. 19 I have given you au thor i ty to tram ple on snakes and scor pi ons and to over come all the pow er of the en e my; noth ing will harm

a 15 That is, the realm of the dead b 27 Deut. 6:5 c 27 Lev. 19:18

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 10:20 — “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” We tend to get excited about miracles like curing cancer and casting out demons, but the Lord teaches us

that our greatest cause for rejoicing should be our salvation. Evangelism is therefore a more important work than we may imagine (Jn 14:12).

1445 Luke 10:30


Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

11 One day Jesus was pray ing in a cer tain place. When he fin ished,

one of his dis ci ples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his dis ci ples.”

2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“ ‘Father, c hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. d 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who

sins against us. e And lead us not into temptation. f ’ ”

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Sup pose you have a friend, and you go to him at mid night and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a jour ney has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one in side an swers, ‘Don’t both er me. The door is al ready locked, and my chil dren and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you any thing.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread be cause of friend ship, yet be cause of your shameless au dac i ty g he will sure ly get up and give you as much as you need.

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be giv en to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

when he was at tacked by rob bers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leav ing him half dead. 31 A priest hap pened to be go ing down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the oth er side. 32 So too, a Le vite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the oth er side. 33 But a Sa mar i tan, as he trav eled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and ban daged his wounds, pour ing on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two de nar ii a and gave them to the innkeep er. ‘Look af ter him,’ he said, ‘and when I re turn, I will re im burse you for any ex tra ex pense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neigh bor to the man who fell into the hands of rob bers?”

37 The ex pert in the law re plied, “The one who had mer cy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do like wise.”

At the Home of Martha and Mary38 As Jesus and his dis ci ples were on

their way, he came to a vil lage where a wom an named Mar tha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sis ter called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet lis tening to what he said. 40 But Mar tha was dis tract ed by all the prep a ra tions that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sis ter has left me to do the work by my self ? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Mar tha, Mar tha,” the Lord answered, “you are wor ried and up set about many things, 42 but few things are need ed — or in deed only one. b Mary has cho sen what is bet ter, and it will not be tak en away from her.”

a 35 A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see Matt. 20:2). b 42 Some manuscripts but only one thing is needed c 2 Some manuscripts Our Father in heaven d 2 Some manuscripts come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. e 4 Greek everyone who is indebted to us f 4 Some manuscripts temptation, but deliver us from the evil one g 8 Or yet to preserve his good name

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 10:42 — “Few things are needed— or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” God created us to enjoy a deep and inti-mate relationship with himself. While works of service are important, they must never eclipse the fellowship he wants to experience with each of us.

Ø 11:1 — “Lord, teach us to pray.” The disciples often saw Jesus off by himself in prayer. Seeing the power, wisdom and joy in his life, they asked him to teach them to pray as he did. They wanted to connect with God in an intimate relationship and experience his awesome presence. Are our lives characterized by our time before the throne of grace? Do we inspire others to communicate with and listen to the Lord?

1446Luke 10:31


and live there. And the fi nal con di tion of that per son is worse than the first.”

27 As Jesus was say ing these things, a wom an in the crowd called out, “ Blessed is the moth er who gave you birth and nursed you.”

28 He re plied, “Blessed rath er are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

The Sign of Jonah29 As the crowds in creased, Jesus

said, “This is a wick ed gen er a tion. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it ex cept the sign of Jo nah. 30 For as Jo nah was a sign to the Nin e vites, so also will the Son of Man be to this gener a tion. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judg ment with the peo ple of this gen er a tion and con demn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to lis ten to Sol o mon’s wis dom; and now some thing great er than Sol o mon is here. 32 The men of Nin e veh will stand up at the judg ment with this gen er ation and con demn it, for they re pented at the preach ing of Jo nah; and now some thing great er than Jo nah is here.

The Lamp of the Body33 “No one lights a lamp and puts

it in a place where it will be hid den, or un der a bowl. In stead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, b your whole body also is full of light. But when they are un healthy, c your body also is full of dark ness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not dark ness. 36 There fore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

10 For ev ery one who asks re ceives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “Which of you fa thers, if your son asks for a a fish, will give him a snake in stead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scor pi on? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your chil dren, how much more will your Fa ther in heav en give the Holy Spir it to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul14 Jesus was driv ing out a de mon that

was mute. When the de mon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Be el ze bul, the prince of de mons, he is driv ing out de mons.” 16 Oth ers test ed him by ask ing for a sign from heav en.

17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any king dom di vid ed against it self will be ru ined, and a house di vided against it self will fall. 18 If Sa tan is di vid ed against him self, how can his king dom stand? I say this be cause you claim that I drive out de mons by Beel ze bul. 19 Now if I drive out de mons by Be el ze bul, by whom do your follow ers drive them out? So then, they will be your judg es. 20 But if I drive out de mons by the fin ger of God, then the king dom of God has come upon you.

21 “When a strong man, ful ly armed, guards his own house, his pos ses sions are safe. 22 But when some one stron ger at tacks and over pow ers him, he takes away the ar mor in which the man trust ed and di vides up his plun der.

23 “Who ev er is not with me is against me, and who ev er does not gath er with me scat ters.

24 “When an im pure spir it comes out of a per son, it goes through arid plac es seek ing rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will re turn to the house I left.’ 25 When it ar rives, it finds the house swept clean and put in or der. 26 Then it goes and takes sev en oth er spir its more wick ed than it self, and they go in

a 11 Some manuscripts for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for b 34 The Greek for healthy here implies generous. c 34 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 11:28 — “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” God always promises to bless joyful obedience.

We delight his heart when we choose to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to do what he commands us to do.

1447 Luke 11:36


1448

because you say so, I will let down the nets” (5:5, emphasis added). The soon- to- be disciple chose to obey the Lord and to leave the consequences of his decision to him.

But notice what happened as a result of Peter’s obedience— Jesus demon-strated his power and sovereignty. Peter and his partners may have started the day off thinking their efforts had yielded nothing. But they ended it in complete amazement because they pulled in not one but two overflowing boatloads of fish (5:7). Saying yes to the Lord’s request resulted in a miracle that trans-formed not only one fisherman’s life, but the lives of the entire group.

Consider three reasons why obedi-ence is critical to the successful Chris-tian life:

1. Obeying God in small matters is an essential step in receiving God’s greatest blessings.

Suppose Peter had said, “Look, I’m busy cleaning my nets right now. I can’t help you because I’m going fishing again tonight.” Or he could have said, “Why don’t you ask to use that other boat, over there?” Or, “I’ve already been fish-ing today; it would be a waste of time to go again.” If Peter had said anything other than yes, he would have missed the greatest fishing experience of his life. But because of Peter’s obedience, the Lord arranged a miracle that he would never forget.

Often, God’s greatest blessings come

The Lord’s simple requests often serve as stepping- stones to life’s most won-

derful blessings. Simon Peter illustrates what can happen when we say yes to God.

One day a large crowd pressed around Jesus while he preached (Lk 5:1– 11). The Lord wanted to use Peter’s boat as a floating platform from which to address the multitude, so he asked the future apostle to push the vessel out a little way from shore (v. 3)— not in itself a partic-ularly remarkable request. But Peter’s compliance to his request paved the way for a life- changing blessing. From his example, we also learn how essential it is to obey God in even the smallest matters.

The noisy crowd received the first blessing of Peter’s obedience; the people could now clearly hear Jesus’ words. At the conclusion of the lesson, the Lord said to Peter, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (5:4)— a second opportunity to say yes or no. But this time, Peter may have felt tempted to decline. After all, he was a seasoned fisherman. He had worked the entire night for a catch but had returned empty- handed. Now this young teacher— a carpenter, by the way, not a fisherman— was asking him to go fishing again?

Peter’s reply demonstrates the begin-ning of a lifetime of faith in God. He said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But

LIFE PRINCIPLE 21OBEDIENCE ALWAYS BRINGS BLESSING.

Luke 11:28


1449

God’s ways will never disappoint us.

Our obedience always benefits others.

However, when we live obedient lives, those who know and love us will sense the peace and joy he has given us. Instead of conflict, there will be contentment— and that is just one part of experiencing God’s goodness.

3. When we obey God, we will never be disappointed.

Peter no doubt assumed that Jesus’ fishing instructions would amount to a waste of time. But when he com-plied with the Lord’s simple request, Christ brought about a miracle that gripped the disciple with amazement. Jesus turned an empty boat into a full one. We, like Peter, must recognize that obeying God is always the wisest course of action. He can also take our emptiness— whether related to finances, relationships or career— and change it into something splendid.

Perhaps you have hesitated to obey God because you fear the consequences of your decision. But the Lord’s com-mand is for you to fear him above all else. The same sovereign, omnipotent God who keeps your heart beating and the planets orbiting is more than able to handle the results of your obedience. When he tells you to do something and you know without a doubt it is his will, then you need to obey based solely on who is doing the talking.

When you choose to obey the Lord, he will bless you. This is because obe-dience always leads to blessing. I have always told people who say they do not understand why God is asking them to do a certain thing that if they will obey him, he will reward them with a sense of peace and joy that compares to nothing this world has to offer. Therefore, set a goal to obey the Lord and watch him work in your life.

See the Life Principles Index for further study.

as a result of our willingness to do something that appears very insignifi-cant. So ask yourself, “Has God been challenging me to do something seem-ingly unimportant that I have not yet made an effort to accomplish? Is there anything I have rationalized by saying, ‘It’s too difficult,’ ‘I don’t want to’ or ‘I have to pray about it first’”?

2. Our obedience always benefits others.Think of how many people were

blessed by Peter’s obedience. Not only could the crowd see the Lord and hear his lesson, but Jesus himself also benefited— preaching from the boat enabled him to sit down in comfort while he spoke (5:3). Then, of course, Peter’s friends had a very profitable day— they took in two vessels so full of fish that both began to sink. More impor-tantly, they had the opportunity to wit-ness the Lord’s supernatural provision.

God often rewards others— in par-ticular, those closest to us— as a result of our obedience. For example, when a parent obeys the Lord, the entire family reaps the reward of God’s blessings. Likewise, a child’s obedience will bless his or her parents. This does not mean that those who choose to disobey the Lord will escape his discipline because of someone else’s godly walk. His call to obedience always demands our response.


an ces tors who killed them. 48 So you tes ti fy that you ap prove of what your an ces tors did; they killed the proph ets, and you build their tombs. 49 Be cause of this, God in his wis dom said, ‘I will send them proph ets and apos tles, some of whom they will kill and oth ers they will per se cute.’ 50 There fore this gen er a tion will be held re spon si ble for the blood of all the proph ets that has been shed since the be gin ning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zech a ri ah, who was killed between the al tar and the sanc tu ary. Yes, I tell you, this gen er a tion will be held re spon si ble for it all.

52 “Woe to you ex perts in the law, because you have tak en away the key to knowl edge. You your selves have not en tered, and you have hin dered those who were en ter ing.”

53 When Jesus went out side, the Phar i sees and the teach ers of the law be gan to op pose him fierce ly and to be siege him with ques tions, 54 wait ing to catch him in some thing he might say.

Warnings and Encouragements

12 Mean while, when a crowd of many thou sands had gath ered,

so that they were tram pling on one anoth er, Jesus be gan to speak first to his dis ci ples, say ing: “Be a on your guard against the yeast of the Phar i sees, which is hy poc ri sy. 2 There is noth ing con cealed that will not be dis closed, or

Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law

37 When Jesus had fin ished speak ing, a Phar i see in vit ed him to eat with him; so he went in and re clined at the ta ble. 38 But the Phar i see was sur prised when he no ticed that Jesus did not first wash be fore the meal.

39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Phar i sees clean the out side of the cup and dish, but in side you are full of greed and wick ed ness. 40 You fool ish peo ple! Did not the one who made the out side make the in side also? 41 But now as for what is in side you — be gen er ous to the poor, and every thing will be clean for you.

42 “Woe to you Phar i sees, be cause you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all oth er kinds of gar den herbs, but you ne glect jus tice and the love of God. You should have prac ticed the latter with out leav ing the for mer un done.

43 “Woe to you Phar i sees, be cause you love the most im por tant seats in the syn a gogues and re spect ful greetings in the mar ket plac es.

44 “Woe to you, be cause you are like un marked graves, which peo ple walk over with out know ing it.”

45 One of the ex perts in the law answered him, “Teach er, when you say these things, you in sult us also.”

46 Jesus re plied, “And you ex perts in the law, woe to you, be cause you load peo ple down with bur dens they can hard ly car ry, and you your selves will not lift one fin ger to help them.

47 “Woe to you, be cause you build tombs for the proph ets, and it was your

a 1 Or speak to his disciples, saying: “First of all, be

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 11:44 — “You are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.” How were the scribes and Pharisees like unmarked graves? Because just as touching the dead defiled a person, so their teachings were causing people to remain unclean. These reli-gious leaders emphasized legalistic compliance to religious dogma and manmade traditions instead of encouraging people to genuinely submit to the Lord. Consequently, they were leading people to eternal separation from him instead of showing them how to be saved. “They are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge . . . They did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Ro 10:2 – 3).

Ø 11:45 — “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” In hearing the rebuke to the Pharisees, the lawyers were convicted about their own sins of hypocrisy and leading people astray. This upset them. Although Jesus knew how to answer tough questions in a manner that delighted his hearers, he did not neglect the truth to remain popular. He never shrank from rebuking those who needed it in the hope that they would repent and be saved.

1450Luke 11:37


16 And he told them this par a ble: “The ground of a cer tain rich man yield ed an abun dant har vest. 17 He thought to him self, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build big ger ones, and there I will store my sur plus grain. 19 And I’ll say to my self, “You have plen ty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be mer ry.” ’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demand ed from you. Then who will get what you have pre pared for your self ?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for them selves but is not rich to ward God.”

Do Not Worry22 Then Jesus said to his dis ci ples:

“There fore I tell you, do not wor ry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Con sid er the ra vens: They do not sow or reap, they have no store room or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valu able you are than birds! 25 Who of you by wor ry ing can add a sin gle hour to your life a ? 26 Since you can not do this very lit tle thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 “Con sid er how the wild flow ers grow. They do not la bor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Sol o mon in all his splen dor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here to day, and to mor row is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you — you of

hid den that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the day light, and what you have whis pered in the ear in the inner rooms will be pro claimed from the roofs.

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and af ter that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, af ter your body has been killed, has au thor i ty to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five spar rows sold for two pen nies? Yet not one of them is for got ten by God. 7 In deed, the very hairs of your head are all num bered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many spar rows.

8 “I tell you, who ev er pub lic ly acknowl edg es me be fore others, the Son of Man will also ac knowl edge be fore the an gels of God. 9 But who ev er disowns me be fore others will be disowned be fore the an gels of God. 10 And ev ery one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be for giv en, but any one who blas phemes against the Holy Spir it will not be for giv en.

11 “When you are brought be fore syn a gogues, rul ers and au thor i ties, do not wor ry about how you will de fend your selves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spir it will teach you at that time what you should say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool13 Some one in the crowd said to him,

“Teach er, tell my broth er to di vide the in her i tance with me.”

14 Jesus re plied, “Man, who ap pointed me a judge or an ar bi ter be tween you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not con sist in an abun dance of pos ses sions.” a 25 Or single cubit to your height

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 12:6 — “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” The Lord remembers even the sparrows that end up for sale at the market and knows their plight. So you never have to worry that he has forgotten you. He knows your situation and how best to deliver you from your troubles. Trust him.

Ø 12:15 — “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” True satisfaction in life flows out of fulfilling the purpose for which we were created — to enjoy an inti-mate relationship with God. Wealth can never substitute for a relationship with him, and it will ultimately only make the heart feel hollow (Ecc 6:2).

1451 Luke 12:28


42 The Lord an swered, “Who then is the faith ful and wise man ag er, whom the mas ter puts in charge of his servants to give them their food al lowance at the prop er time? 43 It will be good for that ser vant whom the mas ter finds do ing so when he re turns. 44 Tru ly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his pos ses sions. 45 But sup pose the ser vant says to him self, ‘My mas ter is tak ing a long time in com ing,’ and he then be gins to beat the oth er ser vants, both men and wom en, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The mas ter of that ser vant will come on a day when he does not ex pect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to piec es and as sign him a place with the un be liev ers.

47 “The ser vant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the mas ter wants will be beat en with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things de serv ing pun ish ment will be beat en with few blows. From ev ery one who has been giv en much, much will be de mand ed; and from the one who has been en trust ed with much, much more will be asked.

Not Peace but Division49 “I have come to bring fire on the

earth, and how I wish it were al ready kin dled! 50 But I have a bap tism to under go, and what con straint I am un der un til it is com plet ed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but di vi sion. 52 From now on there will be five in one fam i ly di vided against each oth er, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be di vid ed, fa ther against son and

lit tle faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not wor ry about it. 30 For the pa gan world runs af ter all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his king dom, and these things will be giv en to you as well.

32 “Do not be afraid, lit tle flock, for your Fa ther has been pleased to give you the king dom. 33 Sell your pos sessions and give to the poor. Pro vide purs es for your selves that will not wear out, a trea sure in heav en that will nev er fail, where no thief comes near and no moth de stroys. 34 For where your trea sure is, there your heart will be also.

Watchfulness35 “Be dressed ready for ser vice and

keep your lamps burn ing, 36 like servants wait ing for their mas ter to re turn from a wed ding ban quet, so that when he comes and knocks they can imme di ate ly open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those ser vants whose mas ter finds them watch ing when he comes. Tru ly I tell you, he will dress him self to serve, will have them re cline at the ta ble and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose mas ter finds them ready, even if he comes in the mid dle of the night or to ward day break. 39 But under stand this: If the own er of the house had known at what hour the thief was com ing, he would not have let his house be bro ken into. 40 You also must be ready, be cause the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not ex pect him.”

41 Pe ter asked, “Lord, are you tell ing this par a ble to us, or to ev ery one?”

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 12:37 — “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.” The Lord Jesus is coming again, and an eager anticipation of his return should keep us living productively. Although servants attend to their superiors in this world, Jesus says that he, the master, will bless his faithful disciples when he returns to settle accounts.

Ø 12:48 — “From the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Jesus does not give us gifts, talents and resources merely to spend them on ourselves. He gives them to us so that we will use them to expand his kingdom and to meet the needs of others — especially fellow believers (1Co 12:4 – 7; Gal 6:9 – 10).

1452Luke 12:29


did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vine yard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “ ‘Sir,’ the man re plied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fer til ize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ”

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

10 On a Sab bath Jesus was teaching in one of the syn a gogues, 11 and a wom an was there who had been crippled by a spir it for eigh teen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her for ward and said to her, “Wom an, you are set free from your in fir mi ty.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and im me di ate ly she straight ened up and praised God.

14 In dig nant be cause Jesus had healed on the Sab bath, the syn a gogue lead er said to the peo ple, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sab bath.”

15 The Lord an swered him, “You hyp o crites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sab bath un tie your ox or don key from the stall and lead it out to give it wa ter? 16 Then should not this woman, a daugh ter of Abra ham, whom Satan has kept bound for eigh teen long years, be set free on the Sab bath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his op ponents were hu mil i at ed, but the peo ple were de light ed with all the won der ful things he was do ing.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the

son against fa ther, moth er against daugh ter and daugh ter against moth er, moth erinlaw against daugh terinlaw and daugh terinlaw against moth erinlaw.”

Interpreting the Times54 He said to the crowd: “When you

see a cloud ris ing in the west, im medi ate ly you say, ‘It’s go ing to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s go ing to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hyp o crites! You know how to in ter pret the ap pear ance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to in ter pret this present time?

57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your ad ver sary to the mag istrate, try hard to be rec on ciled on the way, or your ad ver sary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the of fi cer, and the of fi cer throw you into pris on. 59 I tell you, you will not get out un til you have paid the last pen ny.”

Repent or Perish

13 Now there were some pres ent at that time who told Jesus about

the Gal i le ans whose blood Pi late had mixed with their sac ri fic es. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Gali le ans were worse sin ners than all the oth er Gal i le ans be cause they suf fered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But un less you re pent, you too will all per ish. 4 Or those eigh teen who died when the tow er in Si lo am fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the oth ers liv ing in Je ru sa lem? 5 I tell you, no! But un less you re pent, you too will all per ish.”

6 Then he told this par a ble: “A man had a fig tree grow ing in his vine yard, and he went to look for fruit on it but

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 13:3 — “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” The victims of tragedies are not necessarily the recipients of divine judgment. Yet because we live in a dangerous world where tragedies occur without warning, we must always be ready to meet our God (Heb 9:27).

Ø 13:16 — “Should not this woman . . . be set free on the Sabbath day . . . ?” When we care more for keeping rules than we do for the welfare of people made in God’s image, we miss the whole point of our existence. Romans 13:10 explains, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”

1453 Luke 13:18


to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go some where else. Her od wants to kill you.”

32 He re plied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driv ing out de mons and healing peo ple to day and to mor row, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on to day and to mor row and the next day — for sure ly no proph et can die out side Jeru sa lem!

34 “Je ru sa lem, Je ru sa lem, you who kill the proph ets and stone those sent to you, how of ten I have longed to gath er your chil dren to geth er, as a hen gath ers her chicks un der her wings, and you were not will ing. 35 Look, your house is left to you des o late. I tell you, you will not see me again un til you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ b ”

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House

14 One Sab bath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prom i

nent Phar i see, he was be ing care ful ly watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suf fer ing from ab nor mal swell ing of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Phar i sees and ex perts in the law, “Is it law ful to heal on the Sab bath or not?” 4 But they re mained si lent. So tak ing hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child c or an ox that falls into a well on the Sab bath day, will you not im me di ate ly pull it out?” 6 And they had noth ing to say.

7 When he no ticed how the guests picked the plac es of hon or at the table, he told them this par a ble: 8 “When

king dom of God like? What shall I com pare it to? 19 It is like a mus tard seed, which a man took and plant ed in his gar den. It grew and be came a tree, and the birds perched in its branch es.”

20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the king dom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a wom an took and mixed into about six ty pounds a of flour un til it worked all through the dough.”

The Narrow Door22 Then Jesus went through the towns

and vil lag es, teach ing as he made his way to Je ru sa lem. 23 Some one asked him, “Lord, are only a few peo ple going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Make ev ery ef fort to en ter through the nar row door, because many, I tell you, will try to en ter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and clos es the door, you will stand out side knock ing and plead ing, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will an swer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will re ply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evil do ers!’

28 “There will be weep ing there, and gnash ing of teeth, when you see Abra ham, Isaac and Ja cob and all the proph ets in the king dom of God, but you your selves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their plac es at the feast in the king dom of God. 30 In deed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem31 At that time some Phar i sees came

a 21 Or about 27 kilograms b 35 Psalm 118:26 c 5 Some manuscripts donkey

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 13:24 — “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” Not all roads lead to the Lord. Only one does, and that is through Jesus Christ. It’s not that the one true God is exclusive. In fact, he is completely inclusive. Jesus said in John 12:32, “I, when I am lifted up from

the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He offers salvation to everyone and would never turn away someone who put his or her faith in him (Ro 10:9 – 13). Jesus is the only door to heaven and the only way for us to know the Father (Jn 10:7; 14:6; Ac 4:12), but absolutely everyone has the opportunity to experience his wonderful grace.

1454Luke 13:19


ex cus es. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please ex cuse me.’

19 “An oth er said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please ex cuse me.’

20 “Still an oth er said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The ser vant came back and report ed this to his mas ter. Then the own er of the house be came an gry and or dered his ser vant, ‘Go out quick ly into the streets and al leys of the town and bring in the poor, the crip pled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “ ‘Sir,’ the ser vant said, ‘what you or dered has been done, but there is still room.’

23 “Then the mas ter told his ser vant, ‘Go out to the roads and coun try lanes and com pel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were in vit ed will get a taste of my ban quet.’ ”

The Cost of Being a Disciple25 Large crowds were trav el ing with

Jesus, and turn ing to them he said: 26 “If any one comes to me and does not hate fa ther and moth er, wife and children, broth ers and sis ters — yes, even their own life — such a per son can not be my dis ci ple. 27 And who ev er does not car ry their cross and fol low me can not be my dis ci ple.

28 “Sup pose one of you wants to build a tow er. Won’t you first sit down and es ti mate the cost to see if you have enough mon ey to com plete it? 29 For if you lay the foun da tion and are not able to fin ish it, ev ery one who sees it

some one in vites you to a wed ding feast, do not take the place of hon or, for a per son more dis tin guished than you may have been in vit ed. 9 If so, the host who in vit ed both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this per son your seat.’ Then, hu mil i at ed, you will have to take the least im por tant place. 10 But when you are in vit ed, take the low est place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a bet ter place.’ Then you will be honored in the pres ence of all the oth er guests. 11 For all those who ex alt themselves will be hum bled, and those who hum ble them selves will be ex alt ed.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lun cheon or din ner, do not in vite your friends, your broth ers or sis ters, your rel a tives, or your rich neigh bors; if you do, they may in vite you back and so you will be re paid. 13 But when you give a ban quet, invite the poor, the crip pled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Al though they can not re pay you, you will be re paid at the res ur rec tion of the righ teous.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet15 When one of those at the ta ble

with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the king dom of God.”

16 Jesus re plied: “A cer tain man was pre par ing a great ban quet and in vit ed many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his ser vant to tell those who had been in vit ed, ‘Come, for every thing is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike be gan to make

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 14:14 — “You will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” No one ever outgives God. Any kind deed that we do for someone else — without selfish motives, but in Jesus’ name and for his sake — will be rewarded in heaven. The Lord loves to reward his faithful people, especially when we do things for his glory and not for personal gain.

Ø 14:23 — “The master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.’ ” Far from wanting to exclude

people from heaven, God desires “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1Ti 2:4).

Ø 14:26 — “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters— yes, even their own life— such a person cannot be my disciple.” Jesus calls for an exclusive commitment from his disciples. Everything else should pale in comparison to our love for him because he alone must be enthroned in our hearts.

1455 Luke 14:29


The Parable of the Lost Coin8 “Or sup pose a wom an has ten sil ver

coins a and los es one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search care ful ly un til she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neigh bors to geth er and says, ‘Re joice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is re joic ing in the pres ence of the an gels of God over one sin ner who re pents.”

The Parable of the Lost Son11 Jesus con tin ued: “There was a man

who had two sons. 12 The youn ger one said to his fa ther, ‘Fa ther, give me my share of the es tate.’ So he di vid ed his prop er ty be tween them.

13 “Not long af ter that, the youn ger son got to geth er all he had, set off for a dis tant coun try and there squandered his wealth in wild liv ing. 14 Af ter he had spent ev ery thing, there was a se vere fam ine in that whole coun try, and he be gan to be in need. 15 So he went and hired him self out to a cit izen of that coun try, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stom ach with the pods that the pigs were eat ing, but no one gave him any thing.

17 “When he came to his sens es, he said, ‘How many of my fa ther’s hired ser vants have food to spare, and here I am starv ing to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my fa ther and say to him: Fa ther, I have sinned against heav en and against you. 19 I am no longer wor thy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired ser vants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his fa ther.

will rid i cule you, 30 say ing, ‘This person be gan to build and wasn’t able to fin ish.’

31 “Or sup pose a king is about to go to war against an oth er king. Won’t he first sit down and con sid er wheth er he is able with ten thou sand men to oppose the one com ing against him with twen ty thou sand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a del e ga tion while the oth er is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up ev ery thing you have can not be my disci ples.

34 “Salt is good, but if it los es its salti ness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit nei ther for the soil nor for the ma nure pile; it is thrown out.

“Who ev er has ears to hear, let them hear.”

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax col lec tors and sinners were all gath er ing around

to hear Jesus. 2 But the Phar i sees and the teach ers of the law mut tered, “This man wel comes sin ners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this par a ble: 4 “Sup pose one of you has a hun dred sheep and los es one of them. Doesn’t he leave the nine tynine in the open coun try and go af ter the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joy ful ly puts it on his shoul ders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neigh bors to geth er and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more re joic ing in heav en over one sin ner who re pents than over nine tynine righ teous per sons who do not need to re pent.

a 8 Greek ten drachmas, each worth about a day’s wages

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 15:6 — “He calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ” The Lord is passionate about redeeming the lost. He takes great joy in reestablishing a close bond with his wander-ing ones.

Ø 15:10 — “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus cannot talk about heaven and

about the redeemed who populate it without talking about joy and gladness. Heaven is a very happy place because we have been reconciled to the Lord (Ro 5:11) and have the privilege of enjoying his wonderful presence. Joy is an attribute of God (Gal 5:22), and we will surely be delightfully blessed by our relationship with him forever.

1456Luke 14:30


The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

16 Jesus told his dis ci ples: “There was a rich man whose man ag

er was ac cused of wast ing his pos sessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an ac count of your man age ment, be cause you can not be man ag er any lon ger.’

3 “The man ag er said to him self, ‘What shall I do now? My mas ter is tak ing away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg — 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, peo ple will wel come me into their hous es.’

5 “So he called in each one of his mas ter’s debt ors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my mas ter?’

6 “ ‘Nine hun dred gal lons a of ol ive oil,’ he re plied.

“The man ag er told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quick ly, and make it four hun dred and fif ty.’

7 “Then he asked the sec ond, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“ ‘A thou sand bush els b of wheat,’ he re plied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hun dred.’

8 “The mas ter com mend ed the dishon est man ag er be cause he had act ed shrewd ly. For the peo ple of this world are more shrewd in deal ing with their own kind than are the peo ple of the light. 9 I tell you, use world ly wealth to gain friends for your selves, so that when it is gone, you will be wel comed into eter nal dwell ings.

10 “Who ev er can be trust ed with very lit tle can also be trust ed with much, and who ev er is dis hon est with very

“But while he was still a long way off, his fa ther saw him and was filled with com pas sion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Fa ther, I have sinned against heav en and against you. I am no lon ger wor thy to be called your son.’

22 “But the fa ther said to his ser vants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his fin ger and san dals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and cel e brate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they be gan to cel e brate.

25 “Mean while, the old er son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard mu sic and danc ing. 26 So he called one of the ser vants and asked him what was go ing on. 27 ‘Your broth er has come,’ he re plied, ‘and your fa ther has killed the fat tened calf be cause he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The old er broth er be came an gry and re fused to go in. So his fa ther went out and plead ed with him. 29 But he an swered his fa ther, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slav ing for you and nev er dis obeyed your or ders. Yet you nev er gave me even a young goat so I could cel e brate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your prop er ty with pros ti tutes comes home, you kill the fat tened calf for him!’

31 “ ‘My son,’ the fa ther said, ‘you are al ways with me, and ev ery thing I have is yours. 32 But we had to cel e brate and be glad, be cause this broth er of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

a 6 Or about 3,000 liters b 7 Or about 30 tons

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 15:32 — “We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” By giving the son a ring, sandals and a robe, the father restored the young man to his position in the family. Likewise, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our rela-tionship with him is completely restored and we are given “the promised Holy Spirit, who

is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (Eph 1:13 – 14). We are irrevocably adopted into his family, which brings gladness and joy, both for us and for the Lord for all eternity.

Ø 16:10 — “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Faithfulness in the

1457 Luke 16:10


eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the an gels car ried him to Abra ham’s side. The rich man also died and was bur ied. 23 In Ha des, where he was in tor ment, he looked up and saw Abra ham far away, with Laz a rus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Fa ther Abra ham, have pity on me and send Laz a rus to dip the tip of his fin ger in wa ter and cool my tongue, be cause I am in ag o ny in this fire.’

25 “But Abra ham re plied, ‘Son, remem ber that in your life time you re ceived your good things, while Laza rus re ceived bad things, but now he is com fort ed here and you are in ag ony. 26 And be sides all this, be tween us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you can not, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He an swered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Laz a rus to my fam i ly, 28 for I have five broth ers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of tor ment.’

29 “Abra ham re plied, ‘They have Moses and the Proph ets; let them lis ten to them.’

30 “ ‘No, fa ther Abra ham,’ he said, ‘but if some one from the dead goes to them, they will re pent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Mo ses and the Proph ets, they will not be con vinced even if some one ris es from the dead.’ ”

lit tle will also be dis hon est with much. 11 So if you have not been trust wor thy in han dling world ly wealth, who will trust you with true rich es? 12 And if you have not been trust wor thy with someone else’s prop er ty, who will give you prop er ty of your own?

13 “No one can serve two mas ters. Ei ther you will hate the one and love the oth er, or you will be de vot ed to the one and de spise the oth er. You can not serve both God and mon ey.”

14 The Phar i sees, who loved mon ey, heard all this and were sneer ing at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who jus ti fy your selves in the eyes of oth ers, but God knows your hearts. What peo ple val ue high ly is de test able in God’s sight.

Additional Teachings16 “The Law and the Proph ets were

pro claimed un til John. Since that time, the good news of the king dom of God is be ing preached, and every one is forc ing their way into it. 17 It is eas i er for heav en and earth to dis ap pear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

18 “Any one who di vorc es his wife and mar ries an oth er wom an com mits adul tery, and the man who mar ries a di vorced wom an com mits adul tery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus19 “There was a rich man who was

dressed in pur ple and fine lin en and lived in lux u ry ev ery day. 20 At his gate was laid a beg gar named Laz a rus, cov ered with sores 21 and long ing to

L I F E L E S S O N Ssmall assignments the Lord gives us qualifies us for the opportunity to serve in greater and more influential ways. Be obedient and faithful where God plants you and watch what awe-some things he does through your life.

Ø 16:15 — “What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” Outwardly, the Pharisees were the picture of religious piety — observing every ritual and faithfully complying with each regulation. They pointed to their wealth as evidence of the Lord’s blessing. Yet they did these things to honor themselves, not God — and the Lord condemned their actions. There is nothing wrong with being

successful; the problem arises in how we try to go about it. God says that to be great in the kingdom of heaven we must humbly serve others and glorify him — not flaunt how great we are.

Ø 16:31 — “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” God did many wonders through Moses and the prophets and spoke through them about the Messiah, warned his people about judgment and admonished them to take care of the poor. If the rich man’s brothers would not heed their instruction, how could a miracle change their minds? Likewise, Jesus performed all kinds of

1458Luke 16:11


Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy11 Now on his way to Je ru sa lem,

Jesus trav eled along the bor der between Sa mar ia and Gal i lee. 12 As he was go ing into a vil lage, ten men who had lep ro sy b met him. They stood at a dis tance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “ Jesus, Mas ter, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show your selves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, prais ing God in a loud voice. 16 He threw him self at Jesus’ feet and thanked him — and he was a Sa mar i tan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the oth er nine? 18 Has no one re turned to give praise to God ex cept this for eign er?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The Coming of the Kingdom of God

20 Once, on be ing asked by the Phari sees when the king dom of God would come, Jesus re plied, “The com ing of the king dom of God is not some thing that can be ob served, 21 nor will peo ple

Sin, Faith, Duty

17 Jesus said to his dis ci ples: “Things that cause peo ple to

stum ble are bound to come, but woe to any one through whom they come. 2 It would be bet ter for them to be thrown into the sea with a mill stone tied around their neck than to cause one of these lit tle ones to stum ble. 3 So watch your selves.

“If your broth er or sis ter a sins against you, re buke them; and if they re pent, for give them. 4 Even if they sin against you sev en times in a day and sev en times come back to you say ing ‘I re pent,’ you must for give them.”

5 The apos tles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

6 He re plied, “If you have faith as small as a mus tard seed, you can say to this mul ber ry tree, ‘Be up root ed and plant ed in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

7 “Sup pose one of you has a ser vant plow ing or look ing af ter the sheep. Will he say to the ser vant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rath er say, ‘Pre pare my sup per, get your self ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; af ter that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the ser vant be cause he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done every thing you were told to do, should say, ‘We are un wor thy ser vants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

a 3 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman. b 12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

L I F E L E S S O N Smiracles — including raising people from the dead (Lk 7:12 – 15; 8:49 – 55; Jn 11:1 – 44) — and his enemies still crucified him. Even when he was raised from the dead on the third day, the religious leaders still refused to believe in him.

Ø 17:4 — “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” Jesus is not encouraging irresponsible behavior on the part of the offender, but mer-ciful and gracious behavior on the part of the person who has been wronged. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col 3:13).

Ø 17:5 — The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” We do not need more faith to comply with the Lord’s instructions, but genuine faith. It’s not the amount that matters — even a mustard seed of faith will do.

However, it must be based completely on the Lord’s ability, not our own. The almighty power of God can work in an amazing way through a willing vessel (2Co 4:7).

Ø 17:10 — “You also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ” Jesus does not want us to grow proud over the things he enables us to accomplish by his Spirit. So Paul writes, “When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach” (1Co 9:16).

Ø 17:18 — “Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Often, the most unlikely people are the ones who obey God and give him glory. The Lord always accepts their praise and frequently uses them as the examples of a righteous heart.

1459 Luke 17:21


a judge who nei ther feared God nor cared what peo ple thought. 3 And there was a wid ow in that town who kept com ing to him with the plea, ‘Grant me jus tice against my ad ver sary.’

4 “For some time he re fused. But final ly he said to him self, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what peo ple think, 5 yet be cause this wid ow keeps both er ing me, I will see that she gets jus tice, so that she won’t even tu al ly come and at tack me!’ ”

6 And the Lord said, “Lis ten to what the un just judge says. 7 And will not God bring about jus tice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep put ting them off ? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quick ly. How ev er, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 To some who were con fi dent of their own righ teous ness and looked down on ev ery one else, Jesus told this par a ble: 10 “Two men went up to the tem ple to pray, one a Phar i see and the oth er a tax col lec tor. 11 The Phar i see stood by him self and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like oth er people — rob bers, evil do ers, adul ter ers — or even like this tax col lec tor. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax col lec tor stood at a dis tance. He would not even look up to heav en, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mer cy on me, a sin ner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rath er than the oth er, went home jus ti fied before God. For all those who ex alt themselves will be hum bled, and those who hum ble them selves will be ex alt ed.”

say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ be cause the king dom of God is in your midst.” a

22 Then he said to his dis ci ples, “The time is com ing when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 Peo ple will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go run ning off af ter them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day b will be like the light ning, which flash es and lights up the sky from one end to the oth er. 25 But first he must suf fer many things and be re ject ed by this gen er a tion.

26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 Peo ple were eat ing, drinking, mar ry ing and be ing giv en in mar riage up to the day Noah en tered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. Peo ple were eat ing and drink ing, buying and sell ing, plant ing and build ing. 29 But the day Lot left Sod om, fire and sul fur rained down from heav en and de stroyed them all.

30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is re vealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the house top, with pos ses sions in side, should go down to get them. Like wise, no one in the field should go back for any thing. 32 Re mem ber Lot’s wife! 33 Who ev er tries to keep their life will lose it, and who ev er los es their life will pre serve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two peo ple will be in one bed; one will be tak en and the oth er left. 35 Two wom en will be grind ing grain to geth er; one will be tak en and the oth er left.” [36] c

37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.He re plied, “Where there is a dead

body, there the vul tures will gath er.”

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his dis ci ples a par a ble to show them that they

should al ways pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a cer tain town there was

a 21 Or is within you b 24 Some manuscripts do not have in his day. c 36 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 24:40.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 18:1 — Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. There may be many reasons why God does not answer our prayers quickly, but

until he lets us know that we should stop pray-ing about something, he calls us to persevere in faith and keep asking.

1460Luke 17:22


God desires that we develop great faith.

him were all he needed to reach his goal. The same is true for us.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the way you grow in your faith is by facing challenges and trials? The fact is: this is probably when we grow the most in our walk with Christ. A need arises and there is no way we can fill the void, solve the problem or decrease the pain. We struggle, fight and finally call out to the one person who knows us fully and loves us uncon-ditionally.

We also grow in faith when we learn to listen to and submit to God’s voice. As long as we are chattering and proclaiming our ability, we will never be able to discern his words of hope, direction, correction and encourage-ment. The Lord is always speaking to us, but if we aren’t hearing from and obeying him, it’s impossible for us to grow in faith.

Peter did the right things: he saw Jesus and he got out of the boat. He wanted to trust the Savior, but his faith was not sufficiently developed. For faith to increase requires our consistency, endurance and watchfulness. We must continue to stand firm in what we believe. When we do, God will pro-vide the strength and hope to perse-vere. Therefore, persevere in believing what he says to you. Obey and endure because you will certainly see the ful-fillment of all his promises.

See the Life Principles Index for more:9. Trusting God means looking beyond

what we can see to what God sees.24. To live the Christian life is to allow

Jesus to live his life in and through us.

In Matthew 14, we read how the dis-ciples were caught in a frightful situ-

ation. A storm swept in suddenly, and the threat of physical harm became very real. Just as they became convinced that they were about to be swamped by the raging sea, Peter looked out and saw what he thought was a ghost walking toward their boat. But it was not a ghost. It was Jesus. So the overzealous disciple called out to him asking the Lord to bid him to come to him.

Thus began a vital chapter in Peter’s chronicle of faith. He climbed out of the boat and started walking toward the Savior. Unfortunately, before the disciple reached his destination, the thunderous, buffeting waves took his attention away from the Savior. He froze in fear and immediately began to sink.

There are a couple of things that we can say about Peter’s quest that are very positive. First, he got out of the boat and began walking to Jesus while the others stayed put. Second, when he began to sink, he cried out to the Lord. Peter immediately understood the situ-ation was too grave for him and that he needed Jesus.

So the Lord reached out to him and pulled him to safety. Then he asked Peter, “You of little faith . . . why did you doubt?” (Mt 14:31). Jesus was not scolding Peter as much as he was teach-ing the disciple that faith and trust in

What the BiBle SayS aBout

GROWING IN OUR FAITHLuke 18:1 – 8

1461


wife or broth ers or sis ters or par ents or chil dren for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to re ceive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eter nal life.”

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are go ing up to Je ru salem, and ev ery thing that is writ ten by the proph ets about the Son of Man will be ful filled. 32 He will be de liv ered over to the Gen tiles. They will mock him, in sult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

34 The dis ci ples did not un der stand any of this. Its mean ing was hid den from them, and they did not know what he was talk ing about.

A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight35 As Jesus ap proached Jer i cho, a

blind man was sit ting by the road side beg ging. 36 When he heard the crowd go ing by, he asked what was hap pening. 37 They told him, “ Jesus of Naz areth is pass ing by.”

38 He called out, “ Jesus, Son of Da vid, have mer cy on me!”

39 Those who led the way re buked him and told him to be qui et, but he shout ed all the more, “Son of Da vid, have mer cy on me!”

40 Jesus stopped and or dered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he re plied.42 Jesus said to him, “Re ceive your

sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Imme di ate ly he re ceived his sight and fol lowed Jesus, prais ing God. When all the peo ple saw it, they also praised God.

The Little Children and Jesus15 Peo ple were also bring ing ba bies

to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the dis ci ples saw this, they re buked them. 16 But Jesus called the chil dren to him and said, “Let the lit tle chil dren come to me, and do not hin der them, for the king dom of God be longs to such as these. 17 Tru ly I tell you, any one who will not re ceive the king dom of God like a lit tle child will nev er en ter it.”

The Rich and the Kingdom of God18 A cer tain rul er asked him, “Good

teach er, what must I do to in her it eternal life?”

19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus an swered. “No one is good — ex cept God alone. 20 You know the command ments: ‘You shall not com mit adul tery, you shall not mur der, you shall not steal, you shall not give false tes ti mo ny, hon or your fa ther and moth er.’ a ”

21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell every thing you have and give to the poor, and you will have trea sure in heav en. Then come, fol low me.”

23 When he heard this, he be came very sad, be cause he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to en ter the kingdom of God! 25 In deed, it is eas i er for a cam el to go through the eye of a needle than for some one who is rich to enter the king dom of God.”

26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus re plied, “What is im pos si ble with man is pos si ble with God.”

28 Pe ter said to him, “We have left all we had to fol low you!”

29 “Tru ly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or a 20 Exodus 20:1216; Deut. 5:1620

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 18:34 — The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them. Why did the disciples so frequently misunderstand Jesus’ words? Can we blame faulty expectations, disobedience or some other cause? Luke says the truth was hidden

from them, and they did not understand what Jesus meant until after he rose from the grave (Lk 24:13 – 49). Thankfully, we now have the Holy Spirit to help us understand how he is directing us (Jn 14:26; 16:13 – 15; Jas 1:5).

1462Luke 18:15


Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

19 Jesus en tered Jer i cho and was pass ing through. 2 A man was

there by the name of Zac chae us; he was a chief tax col lec tor and was wealthy. 3 He want ed to see who Jesus was, but be cause he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a syc a morefig tree to see him, since Jesus was com ing that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zac chae us, come down im me di ate ly. I must stay at your house to day.” 6 So he came down at once and wel comed him glad ly.

7 All the peo ple saw this and be gan to mut ter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sin ner.”

8 But Zac chae us stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my pos ses sions to the poor, and if I have cheat ed any body out of any thing, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “To day sal va tion has come to this house, be cause this man, too, is a son of Abra ham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Ten Minas11 While they were lis ten ing to this,

he went on to tell them a par a ble, because he was near Je ru sa lem and the peo ple thought that the king dom of God was go ing to ap pear at once. 12 He said: “A man of no ble birth went to a

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 19:10 — “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The Lord does not merely provide us with an example of godly living, but makes it possible for us to enjoy an intimate relationship with himself. All of us “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro 3:23), which means that we are all lost. Yet Christ came to earth to save us (Jn 3:16 – 18). He did for us what we could never do on our own (Ro 5:1 – 2).

Ø 19:12 — “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.” Jesus gave a few clues like this one to indicate that he might not return to earth physically for a long time after his ascension. Until he comes again in his glory (Lk 17:24), we are to continue to faithfully do his work in the power of his Spirit — who is always with us (Jn 9:4; 14:16 – 17,26; 16:13 – 14).


ZACCHAEUSA Life That Counts

LUKE 19:1 – 10It wasn’t easy being one of the most hated (and shortest) men in the city, but Zacchaeus the tax collector had learned to handle it. His life was char-acterized by dishonesty and greed. He had not only collected taxes from the people of his hometown, he had also added an extra tariff for himself. He also had learned to overcome obsta-cles in unorthodox ways— which may be how he ended up in a tree trying to get a glimpse of the Messiah as he passed by.

Jesus knew who he was. He also knew that though Zacchaeus had wealth, his life was void of peace, joy and contentment. So when he saw him peering down from the tree, the Lord said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5). Within moments, the despised tax collector climbed down from his perch and walked with the Savior to his home.

Have you ever considered how God is willing to meet you right where you are? All he wants you to do is to admit your need for him. He wants you to do what this man did— turn your life over to him.

After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus stopped cheating the people and promised to restore four times all he had taken. He eagerly surrendered everything he had to Christ. For all his shortcomings, Zacchaeus realized that following the Savior was the only way to true meaning and purpose. He had spent many lonely nights count-ing money. But from this point on, he wanted his life to count for the kingdom of God.

See the Life Principles Index for more:4. The awareness of God’s presence

energizes us for our work.23. You can never outgive God.

1463 Luke 19:12


Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King28 Af ter Jesus had said this, he went

on ahead, go ing up to Je ru sa lem. 29 As he ap proached Beth pha ge and Beth any at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his dis ci ples, say ing to them, 30 “Go to the vil lage ahead of you, and as you en ter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever rid den. Un tie it and bring it here. 31 If any one asks you, ‘Why are you un tying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were un ty ing the colt, its own ers asked them, “Why are you unty ing the colt?”

34 They re plied, “The Lord needs it.”35 They brought it to Jesus, threw

their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, peo ple spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Ol ives, the whole crowd of dis ci ples be gan joy ful ly to praise God in loud voic es for all the mir a cles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in

the name of the Lord!” b

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Phar i sees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teach er, re buke your dis ci ples!”

40 “I tell you,” he re plied, “if they keep qui et, the stones will cry out.”

41 As he ap proached Je ru sa lem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hid den from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your en e mies will build an em bankment against you and en cir cle you and hem you in on ev ery side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the

dis tant coun try to have him self appoint ed king and then to re turn. 13 So he called ten of his ser vants and gave them ten mi nas. a ‘Put this mon ey to work,’ he said, ‘un til I come back.’

14 “But his sub jects hat ed him and sent a del e ga tion af ter him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

15 “He was made king, how ev er, and re turned home. Then he sent for the ser vants to whom he had giv en the mon ey, in or der to find out what they had gained with it.

16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

17 “ ‘Well done, my good ser vant!’ his mas ter re plied. ‘Be cause you have been trust wor thy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cit ies.’

18 “The sec ond came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

19 “His mas ter an swered, ‘You take charge of five cit ies.’

20 “Then an oth er ser vant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, be cause you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

22 “His mas ter re plied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wick ed ser vant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, tak ing out what I did not put in, and reap ing what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my mon ey on de pos it, so that when I came back, I could have col lect ed it with in ter est?’

24 “Then he said to those stand ing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten mi nas.’

25 “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he al ready has ten!’

26 “He re plied, ‘I tell you that to every one who has, more will be giv en, but as for the one who has noth ing, even what they have will be tak en away. 27 But those en e mies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ ”

a 13 A mina was about three months’ wages. b 38 Psalm 118:26

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 19:44 — “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” How is it that the vast majority of people alive in Jesus’ day did not real-

ize that they were in the presence of God in the flesh? More to the point, do we realize it when the Lord is doing something special in our midst?

1464Luke 19:13


par a ble: “A man plant ed a vine yard, rent ed it to some farm ers and went away for a long time. 10 At har vest time he sent a ser vant to the ten ants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vine yard. But the ten ants beat him and sent him away emp tyhand ed. 11 He sent an oth er ser vant, but that one also they beat and treat ed shame ful ly and sent away emp tyhand ed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wound ed him and threw him out.

13 “Then the own er of the vine yard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; per haps they will respect him.’

14 “But when the ten ants saw him, they talked the mat ter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the in her i tance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vine yard and killed him.

“What then will the own er of the vine yard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those ten ants and give the vine yard to oth ers.”

When the peo ple heard this, they said, “God for bid!”

17 Jesus looked di rect ly at them and asked, “Then what is the mean ing of that which is writ ten: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ c ?18 Ev ery one who falls on that stone will be bro ken to piec es; any one on whom it falls will be crushed.”

19 The teach ers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to ar rest him im me di ate ly, be cause they knew he had spo ken this par a ble against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Paying Taxes to Caesar20 Keep ing a close watch on him,

they sent spies, who pre tend ed to be

chil dren with in your walls. They will not leave one stone on an oth er, because you did not rec og nize the time of God’s com ing to you.”

Jesus at the Temple45 When Jesus en tered the tem ple

courts, he be gan to drive out those who were sell ing. 46 “It is writ ten,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’ a; but you have made it ‘a den of rob bers.’ b ”

47 Ev ery day he was teach ing at the tem ple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the lead ers among the peo ple were try ing to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, be cause all the peo ple hung on his words.

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

20 One day as Jesus was teach ing the peo ple in the tem ple courts

and pro claim ing the good news, the chief priests and the teach ers of the law, to geth er with the el ders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what au thor i ty you are do ing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this au thor i ty?”

3 He re plied, “I will also ask you a ques tion. Tell me: 4 John’s bap tism — was it from heav en, or of hu man or igin?”

5 They dis cussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heav en,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you be lieve him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘Of hu man or i gin,’ all the peo ple will stone us, because they are per suad ed that John was a proph et.”

7 So they an swered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

8 Jesus said, “Nei ther will I tell you by what au thor i ty I am do ing these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants9 He went on to tell the peo ple this

a 46 Isaiah 56:7 b 46 Jer. 7:11 c 17 Psalm 118:22

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 20:20 — Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. Every age has its false teachers and religious impostors, ours included. Jesus told

us to be on the alert for them — but even more to make sure that we do not become one of them ourselves. Each of us must guard our heart against ungodly teaching and the schemes of

1465 Luke 20:20


for they are like the an gels. They are God’s chil dren, since they are chil dren of the res ur rec tion. 37 But in the account of the burn ing bush, even Mo ses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abra ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Ja cob.’ a 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the liv ing, for to him all are alive.”

39 Some of the teach ers of the law respond ed, “Well said, teach er!” 40 And no one dared to ask him any more ques tions.

Whose Son Is the Messiah?41 Then Jesus said to them, “Why is

it said that the Mes si ah is the son of Da vid? 42 Da vid him self de clares in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’ b44 Da vid calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

45 While all the peo ple were lis ten ing, Jesus said to his dis ci ples, 46 “Be ware of the teach ers of the law. They like to walk around in flow ing robes and love to be greet ed with re spect in the market plac es and have the most im por tant seats in the syn a gogues and the plac es of hon or at ban quets. 47 They de vour wid ows’ hous es and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be pun ished most se vere ly.”

The Widow’s Offering

21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich put ting their gifts into the

sin cere. They hoped to catch Jesus in some thing he said, so that they might hand him over to the pow er and author i ty of the gov er nor. 21 So the spies ques tioned him: “Teach er, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show par tial i ty but teach the way of God in ac cor dance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay tax es to Cae sar or not?”

23 He saw through their du plic i ty and said to them, 24 “Show me a de nari us. Whose im age and in scrip tion are on it?”

“Cae sar’s,” they re plied.25 He said to them, “Then give back

to Cae sar what is Cae sar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

26 They were un able to trap him in what he had said there in pub lic. And as ton ished by his an swer, they be came si lent.

The Resurrection and Marriage27 Some of the Sad du cees, who

say there is no res ur rec tion, came to Jesus with a ques tion. 28 “Teach er,” they said, “Mo ses wrote for us that if a man’s broth er dies and leaves a wife but no chil dren, the man must mar ry the wid ow and raise up off spring for his broth er. 29 Now there were sev en broth ers. The first one mar ried a woman and died child less. 30 The sec ond 31 and then the third mar ried her, and in the same way the sev en died, leaving no chil dren. 32 Fi nal ly, the wom an died too. 33 Now then, at the res ur rection whose wife will she be, since the sev en were mar ried to her?”

34 Jesus re plied, “The peo ple of this age mar ry and are giv en in mar riage. 35 But those who are con sid ered worthy of tak ing part in the age to come and in the res ur rec tion from the dead will nei ther mar ry nor be giv en in marriage, 36 and they can no lon ger die; a 37 Exodus 3:6 b 43 Psalm 110:1

L I F E L E S S O N Sunbelievers. We must also be careful to remain in the center of God’s will and under his pro-tection.

Ø 20:47 — “These men will be punished most severely.” God’s judgment will fall more severely on those who pretend to serve him for their own personal gain and who use their reli-

gious credentials to deceive others. Although there is no longer condemnation for believ-ers (Ro 8:1), those who faithfully obey the Lord will receive greater rewards than those who disregard their divine assignments or serve God for their own selfish motives. Each will receive what he has earned (Ro 2:5 – 8; 1Co 3:11 – 15).

1466Luke 20:21


you and per se cute you. They will hand you over to syn a gogues and put you in pris on, and you will be brought before kings and gov er nors, and all on ac count of my name. 13 And so you will bear tes ti mo ny to me. 14 But make up your mind not to wor ry be fore hand how you will de fend your selves. 15 For I will give you words and wis dom that none of your ad ver sar ies will be able to re sist or con tra dict. 16 You will be betrayed even by par ents, broth ers and sis ters, rel a tives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Ev eryone will hate you be cause of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will per ish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

20 “When you see Je ru sa lem be ing sur round ed by ar mies, you will know that its des o la tion is near. 21 Then let those who are in Ju dea flee to the moun tains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the coun try not en ter the city. 22 For this is the time of punish ment in ful fill ment of all that has been writ ten. 23 How dread ful it will be in those days for preg nant wom en and nurs ing moth ers! There will be great dis tress in the land and wrath against this peo ple. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be tak en as pris oners to all the na tions. Je ru sa lem will be tram pled on by the Gen tiles un til the times of the Gen tiles are ful filled.

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, na tions will be in an guish and per plex i ty at the roar ing and toss ing of the sea. 26 Peo ple

tem ple trea sury. 2 He also saw a poor wid ow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Tru ly I tell you,” he said, “this poor wid ow has put in more than all the oth ers. 4 All these peo ple gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her pov er ty put in all she had to live on.”

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

5 Some of his dis ci ples were re marking about how the tem ple was adorned with beau ti ful stones and with gifts ded i cat ed to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on an oth er; ev ery one of them will be thrown down.”

7 “Teach er,” they asked, “when will these things hap pen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

8 He re plied: “Watch out that you are not de ceived. For many will come in my name, claim ing, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not fol low them. 9 When you hear of wars and up ris ings, do not be fright ened. These things must hap pen first, but the end will not come right away.”

10 Then he said to them: “Na tion will rise against na tion, and king dom against king dom. 11 There will be great earth quakes, fam ines and pes ti lenc es in var i ous plac es, and fear ful events and great signs from heav en.

12 “But be fore all this, they will seize

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 21:13 — “And so you will bear testimony to me.” Just as the imprisonments of the apos-tle Paul turned out to be divine opportunities to testify about the gospel of Christ (Ac 9:15; Php 1:12), so God will use persecutions to make his Word known.

Ø 21:18 — “Not a hair of your head will perish.” Jesus reminds believers that he will always remain in control, and every detail of our lives will be safe in his loving hands. Although we will certainly face persecution, not a hair of our heads will be touched without his permission. And if we lose our lives for his sake, it will be according to his purpose and timing. Our eternal lives are secure and our victories are guaranteed. So we should not

worry, but should always stand firm in our faith in the Lord.

Ø 21:24 — “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gen-tiles are fulfilled.” The “times of the Gen-tiles” began when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, and they will endure as long as Gentiles rule Jerusalem. Although the Jews have had brief control of Jerusalem over the years — especially since the Six Day War in 1967 — they will not truly take possession of the city until the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, returns. God promised the land to his people, and he will keep his covenant with them to the end (Ge 13:14 – 18; 28:10 – 16; 35:10 – 12; Ex 6:2 – 8; Eze 37:24 – 28).

1467 Luke 21:26


to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Ol ives, 38 and all the peo ple came ear ly in the morn ing to hear him at the tem ple.

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

22 Now the Fes ti val of Un leav ened Bread, called the Pass over, was

ap proach ing, 2 and the chief priests and the teach ers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the peo ple. 3 Then Sa tan en tered Ju das, called Iscar i ot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Ju das went to the chief priests and the of ficers of the tem ple guard and dis cussed with them how he might be tray Jesus. 5 They were de light ed and agreed to give him mon ey. 6 He con sent ed, and watched for an op por tu ni ty to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was pres ent.

The Last Supper7 Then came the day of Un leav ened

Bread on which the Pass over lamb had to be sac ri ficed. 8 Jesus sent Pe ter and John, say ing, “Go and make prep a rations for us to eat the Pass over.”

9 “Where do you want us to pre pare for it?” they asked.

10 He re plied, “As you en ter the city, a man car ry ing a jar of wa ter will meet you. Fol low him to the house that he

will faint from ter ror, ap pre hen sive of what is com ing on the world, for the heav en ly bod ies will be shak en. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man com ing in a cloud with pow er and great glo ry. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, be cause your re demp tion is draw ing near.”

29 He told them this par a ble: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for your selves and know that sum mer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things hap pen ing, you know that the king dom of God is near.

32 “Tru ly I tell you, this gen er a tion will cer tain ly not pass away un til all these things have hap pened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will nev er pass away.

34 “Be care ful, or your hearts will be weighed down with ca rous ing, drunken ness and the anx i eties of life, and that day will close on you sud denly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be al ways on the watch, and pray that you may be able to es cape all that is about to hap pen, and that you may be able to stand be fore the Son of Man.”

37 Each day Jesus was teach ing at the tem ple, and each eve ning he went out

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 21:34 — “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunken-ness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.” A constant awareness that the Lord could return at any time keeps us spiritually alert and living productively for the kingdom of God. When our focus is on Christ’s second coming, we will not be as concerned with the trivial matters of life but will be motivated to obey him and will diligently work to tell all people of the salvation he offers.

Ø 22:1 — The Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching. The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread both commemorated how the Lord had delivered the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt (Ex 12). The Passover celebrated how God spared the firstborn sons of Israel when the death angel passed over their houses, which

were marked with the blood of a lamb. During the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Jews observed their hasty escape from Pharaoh and how the Lord sustained them in the desert. Jewish men were required to go to Jerusalem to observe these two feasts. Therefore, Jews from every nation were present to witness Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Ø 22:3 — Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. Although others such as Saul (1Sa 16:14) and the Gadarene demoniacs (Mt 8:28 – 33) were tormented by evil spirits, Judas is the only person whom the Bible explic-itly says was possessed by Satan. Many Bible scholars believe the antichrist will be as well (Rev 12 – 13), and both men are called “doomed to destruction” (Jn 17:12; also 2Th 2:3). Yet realize that whenever we refuse to submit to God’s will, we are aiding the enemy’s plan (Jn 8:42 – 47).

1468Luke 21:27


among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my tri als. 29 And I con fer on you a kingdom, just as my Fa ther con ferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my ta ble in my king dom and sit on thrones, judg ing the twelve tribes of Is ra el.

31 “Si mon, Si mon, Sa tan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Si mon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strength en your brothers.”

33 But he re plied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to pris on and to death.”

34 Jesus an swered, “I tell you, Peter, be fore the roost er crows to day, you will deny three times that you know me.”

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you with out purse, bag or san dals, did you lack any thing?”

“Noth ing,” they an swered.36 He said to them, “But now if you

have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was num bered with the trans gres sors’ b; and I tell you that this must be ful filled in me. Yes, what is writ ten about me is reach ing its fulfill ment.”

38 The dis ci ples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he re plied.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

39 Jesus went out as usu al to the Mount of Ol ives, and his dis ci ples followed him. 40 On reach ing the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temp ta tion.” 41 He with drew about a stone’s throw be yond them,

en ters, 11 and say to the own er of the house, ‘The Teach er asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Pass over with my dis ci ples?’ 12 He will show you a large room up stairs, all fur nished. Make prep a ra tions there.”

13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they pre pared the Pass over.

14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apos tles re clined at the ta ble. 15 And he said to them, “I have ea ger ly de sired to eat this Pass over with you be fore I suf fer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again un til it finds ful fill ment in the king dom of God.”

17 Af ter tak ing the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and di vide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine un til the king dom of God comes.”

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body giv en for you; do this in re mem brance of me.”

20 In the same way, af ter the sup per he took the cup, say ing, “This cup is the new cov enant in my blood, which is poured out for you. a 21 But the hand of him who is go ing to be tray me is with mine on the ta ble. 22 The Son of Man will go as it has been de creed. But woe to that man who be trays him!” 23 They be gan to ques tion among them selves which of them it might be who would do this.

24 A dis pute also arose among them as to which of them was con sid ered to be great est. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gen tiles lord it over them; and those who ex er cise au thor i ty over them call them selves Bene fac tors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the great est among you should be like the youn gest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is great er, the one who is at the ta ble or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the ta ble? But I am

a 19,20 Some manuscripts do not have given for you . . . poured out for you. b 37 Isaiah 53:12

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 22:31 — “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.” When Peter denied Jesus three times, the enemy was invis-ibly working behind the scenes to encourage his spiritual failure. We must always remain on

the alert to detect the activity of our adversary, so we can resist him and stand firm in the faith (1Pe 5:8 – 11). We must also stay in the center of God’s will so that we will not give the enemy an opportunity to harm us (Eph 4:17 – 32).

1469 Luke 22:41


a dis tance. 55 And when some there had kin dled a fire in the mid dle of the court yard and had sat down to geth er, Pe ter sat down with them. 56 A ser vant girl saw him seat ed there in the firelight. She looked close ly at him and said, “This man was with him.”

57 But he de nied it. “Wom an, I don’t know him,” he said.

58 A lit tle lat er some one else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Pe ter re plied.59 About an hour lat er an oth er as

sert ed, “Cer tain ly this fel low was with him, for he is a Gal i le an.”

60 Pe ter re plied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talk ing about!” Just as he was speak ing, the roost er crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Pe ter. Then Pe ter re mem bered the word the Lord had spo ken to him: “Before the roost er crows to day, you will dis own me three times.” 62 And he went out side and wept bit ter ly.

The Guards Mock Jesus63 The men who were guard ing Jesus

be gan mock ing and beat ing him. 64 They blind fold ed him and de manded, “Proph e sy! Who hit you?” 65 And they said many oth er in sult ing things to him.

Jesus Before Pilate and Herod66 At day break the coun cil of the

el ders of the peo ple, both the chief priests and the teach ers of the law, met to geth er, and Jesus was led be fore them. 67 “If you are the Mes si ah,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus an swered, “If I tell you, you will not be lieve me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not an swer. 69 But from

knelt down and prayed, 42 “Fa ther, if you are will ing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An an gel from heav en ap peared to him and strength ened him. 44 And being in an guish, he prayed more earnest ly, and his sweat was like drops of blood fall ing to the ground. a

45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the dis ci ples, he found them asleep, ex haust ed from sor row. 46 “Why are you sleep ing?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temp ta tion.”

Jesus Arrested47 While he was still speak ing a

crowd came up, and the man who was called Ju das, one of the Twelve, was lead ing them. He ap proached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you be tray ing the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49 When Jesus’ fol low ers saw what was go ing to hap pen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the ser vant of the high priest, cut ting off his right ear.

51 But Jesus an swered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the of fi cers of the tem ple guard, and the el ders, who had come for him, “Am I lead ing a re bel lion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Ev ery day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — when dark ness reigns.”

Peter Disowns Jesus54 Then seiz ing him, they led him

away and took him into the house of the high priest. Pe ter fol lowed at

a 43,44 Many early manuscripts do not have verses 43 and 44.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 22:42 — “Not my will, but yours be done.” Taking the penalty for every sin ever committed is an unimaginable burden, and it weighed on Jesus’ sinless heart. Yet here the Lord shows us how to gain the victory in the most difficult situations and most heartbreaking circum-stances. We must completely submit our will to his wisdom and trust his unfailing love.

Ø 22:61 — The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. What kind of look was it? One that expressed compassion? Disappoint-ment? Resignation? Sorrow? We don’t know. We only know that Jesus used it to remind Peter of his prophetic word, and that look caused Peter to weep.

1470Luke 22:42


this man as one who was in cit ing the peo ple to re bel lion. I have ex am ined him in your pres ence and have found no ba sis for your charg es against him. 15 Nei ther has Her od, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done noth ing to de serve death. 16 There fore, I will pun ish him and then re lease him.” [17] a

18 But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Re lease Barab bas to us!” 19 (Bar ab bas had been thrown into pris on for an in sur rec tion in the city, and for mur der.)

20 Want ing to re lease Jesus, Pi late appealed to them again. 21 But they kept shout ing, “Cru ci fy him! Cru ci fy him!”

22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man com mit ted? I have found in him no grounds for the death pen al ty. Therefore I will have him pun ished and then re lease him.”

23 But with loud shouts they in sis tently de mand ed that he be cru ci fied, and their shouts pre vailed. 24 So Pi late decid ed to grant their de mand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into pris on for in sur rec tion and murder, the one they asked for, and sur rendered Jesus to their will.

The Crucifixion of Jesus26 As the sol diers led him away, they

seized Si mon from Cy re ne, who was on his way in from the coun try, and put the cross on him and made him car ry it be hind Jesus. 27 A large number of peo ple fol lowed him, in cluding wom en who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daugh ters of Je ru sa lem, do not weep for me; weep for your selves and for your chil dren. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the child less wom en, the wombs that

now on, the Son of Man will be seat ed at the right hand of the mighty God.”

70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He re plied, “You say that I am.”71 Then they said, “Why do we need

any more tes ti mo ny? We have heard it from his own lips.”

23 Then the whole as sem bly rose and led him off to Pi late. 2 And

they be gan to ac cuse him, say ing, “We have found this man sub vert ing our na tion. He op pos es pay ment of tax es to Cae sar and claims to be Mes si ah, a king.”

3 So Pi late asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus re plied.4 Then Pi late an nounced to the chief

priests and the crowd, “I find no ba sis for a charge against this man.”

5 But they in sist ed, “He stirs up the peo ple all over Ju dea by his teach ing. He start ed in Gal i lee and has come all the way here.”

6 On hear ing this, Pi late asked if the man was a Gal i le an. 7 When he learned that Jesus was un der Her od’s ju ris diction, he sent him to Her od, who was also in Je ru sa lem at that time.

8 When Her od saw Jesus, he was great ly pleased, be cause for a long time he had been want ing to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him per form a sign of some sort. 9 He plied him with many ques tions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were stand ing there, ve he ment ly ac cus ing him. 11 Then Her od and his sol diers rid i culed and mocked him. Dress ing him in an el egant robe, they sent him back to Pi late. 12 That day Her od and Pi late be came friends — be fore this they had been ene mies.

13 Pi late called to geth er the chief priests, the rul ers and the peo ple, 14 and said to them, “You brought me

a 17 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 27:15 and Mark 15:6.

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 23:8 — When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. Herod had no

interest in Jesus as Messiah or Savior; he simply wanted to see wonders performed for him. Yet Jesus refused to speak a single word to the king. No one can ever manipulate him into doing his or her bidding.

1471 Luke 23:29


43 Jesus an swered him, “Tru ly I tell you, to day you will be with me in para dise.”

The Death of Jesus44 It was now about noon, and dark

ness came over the whole land un til three in the af ter noon, 45 for the sun stopped shin ing. And the cur tain of the tem ple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Fa ther, into your hands I com mit my spir it.” d When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The cen tu ri on, see ing what had hap pened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righ teous man.” 48 When all the peo ple who had gath ered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, includ ing the wom en who had fol lowed him from Gal i lee, stood at a dis tance, watch ing these things.

The Burial of Jesus50 Now there was a man named Jo

seph, a mem ber of the Coun cil, a good and up right man, 51 who had not consent ed to their de ci sion and ac tion. He came from the Ju de an town of Ar i mathea, and he him self was wait ing for the king dom of God. 52 Go ing to Pi late, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in lin en cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Prep a ra tion Day, and the Sabbath was about to be gin.

nev er bore and the breasts that nev er nursed!’ 30 Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains,

“Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ a31 For if peo ple do these things when the tree is green, what will hap pen when it is dry?”

32 Two oth er men, both crim i nals, were also led out with him to be ex ecut ed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they cru ci fied him there, along with the crim i nals — one on his right, the oth er on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Fa ther, for give them, for they do not know what they are doing.” b And they di vid ed up his clothes by cast ing lots.

35 The peo ple stood watch ing, and the rul ers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved oth ers; let him save him self if he is God’s Mes si ah, the Cho sen One.”

36 The sol diers also came up and mocked him. They of fered him wine vin egar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save your self.”

38 There was a writ ten no tice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the crim i nals who hung there hurled in sults at him: “Aren’t you the Mes si ah? Save your self and us!”

40 But the oth er crim i nal re buked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are un der the same sentence? 41 We are pun ished just ly, for we are get ting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done noth ing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “ Jesus, re mem ber me when you come into your king dom. c ”

a 30 Hosea 10:8 b 34 Some early manuscripts do not have this sentence. c 42 Some manuscripts come with your kingly power d 46 Psalm 31:5

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 23:34 — Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Although their actions were cruel, the Roman soldiers who carried out the crucifixion could not have understood the eternal impli-cations of what they had done — that they were crucifying the Lord. So Jesus extended his mercy to them, just as he offers it to each of us. This is the nature of God’s unconditional love — no matter what we do, he still cares and bids us to return to him. This is also the standard he calls us to. No matter what others

do, we must imitate his example of forgiveness (Mt 18:21 – 35; Eph 4:32).

Ø 23:43 — “Today you will be with me in paradise.” One thief had a change of heart while on the cross, and Jesus accepted his expression of faith as genuine. Did the thief deserve such mercy? No. None of us do. But the point is that God’s grace saves us, not our merit.

1472Luke 23:30


On the Road to Emmaus13 Now that same day two of them

were go ing to a vil lage called Em maus, about sev en miles a from Je ru sa lem. 14 They were talk ing with each oth er about ev ery thing that had hap pened. 15 As they talked and dis cussed these things with each oth er, Jesus him self came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from rec og niz ing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discuss ing to geth er as you walk along?”

They stood still, their fac es downcast. 18 One of them, named Cle o pas, asked him, “Are you the only one visit ing Je ru sa lem who does not know the things that have hap pened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.“About Jesus of Naz a reth,” they re

plied. “He was a proph et, pow er ful in word and deed be fore God and all the peo ple. 20 The chief priests and our rulers hand ed him over to be sen tenced to death, and they cru ci fied him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was go ing to re deem Is ra el. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In ad di tion, some of our wom en amazed us. They went to the tomb ear ly this morn ing 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vi sion of an gels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our com pan ions went to the tomb and found it just as the wom en had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How fool ish you are, and how slow to be lieve all that the proph ets have spo ken! 26 Did not

55 The wom en who had come with Jesus from Gal i lee fol lowed Jo seph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and pre pared spic es and per fumes. But they rest ed on the Sab bath in obedi ence to the com mand ment.

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very ear ly in the morn ing, the wom

en took the spic es they had pre pared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they en tered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were won der ing about this, sudden ly two men in clothes that gleamed like light ning stood be side them. 5 In their fright the wom en bowed down with their fac es to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the liv ing among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has ris en! Re mem ber how he told you, while he was still with you in Gal i lee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be de liv ered over to the hands of sin ners, be cru ci fied and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they re membered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Elev en and to all the oth ers. 10 It was Mary Mag da lene, Jo an na, Mary the moth er of James, and the oth ers with them who told this to the apos tles. 11 But they did not be lieve the wom en, be cause their words seemed to them like non sense. 12 Pe ter, how ev er, got up and ran to the tomb. Bend ing over, he saw the strips of lin en ly ing by themselves, and he went away, won der ing to him self what had hap pened. a 13 Or about 11 kilometers

L I F E L E S S O N SØ 23:55 — The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. People who want to discredit the resurrec-tion have at times claimed that the disciples went to the wrong grave. But this verse shows that the women carefully noted which tomb held Jesus’ body.

Ø 24:11 — They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Because they were heartbroken and

disillusioned, it was difficult for the disciples to believe that Jesus really had risen from the dead. It was only after they saw the resurrected Lord and understood his victory over death that they became powerhouse witnesses for him.

Ø 24:25 — “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” In many accounts, the disciples did not at first believe that the Lord had risen or recognize him when he appeared to them. Usually it took hearing his voice or seeing him

1473 Luke 24:26


See the Life Principles Index for further study:9. Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.8. Fight all your battles on your knees and you win every time.

Satan loves to use fear and doubt to discourage believers. He knows if he

can get you to question God, then maybe you will give up and abandon his will for your life. Feelings of fear often accompany feelings of doubt and uncertainty. If left unattended, these runaway emotions can tempt you to stop trusting the Lord and his ability to provide for you.

The first step to turning away from doubt and discouragement is to proclaim your faith in Jesus Christ. When trouble strikes, he is your omniscient help. He also is the only One who truly understands you completely. He knows your weaknesses and strengths. He also knows exactly what is needed to encourage you and lift you up so you can continue walking forward in faith.

Second, set a goal to read God’s Word each day. This is the best way to combat fear and doubt. The Lord uses a daily reading program to train your mind and to teach you how to handle doubt. The book of Psalms highlights many personal battles over emotions such as fear, doubt, loneliness and discouragement. David and others made a conscious decision to trust the Lord through tremendously difficult circumstances and found that God never once failed them.

Third, prayer is essential in fighting fear and doubt. In essence, prayer is faith in action. When we pray, regardless of whether or not we feel like it, we make a statement of faith. We pray because we see God as the solution to what we face. If you are facing a difficult situation, don’t hesi-tate to ask him to show you the best way to handle it. If your level of trust seems

low, don’t worry. The Lord is wise and kind. He wants to teach you more about himself, not frighten you away. And your faith will increase as you get to know him better.

Even if you don’t feel you have the emotional strength to trust God, don’t worry. The Lord is your strength (Ps 18). A. B. Simpson often told those who found themselves in a difficult spot, “When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary.”

The last thing Satan wants you to do is to go to God in prayer and tell him you feel doubtful. Always be honest with him; he knows it all. Honesty breaks the pattern of doubt and provides the right atmo-sphere for God to work greatly in your life. Remember, he loves you with an eternal love, and he will provide for your every need.

ANSWERSTO LIFE’S QUESTIONS

How do I handle nagging doubt?Luke 24:38

1474


at my hands and my feet. It is I myself ! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not be lieve it be cause of joy and amaze ment, he asked them, “Do you have any thing here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Every thing must be ful filled that is written about me in the Law of Mo ses, the Proph ets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could un der stand the Scrip tures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Mes si ah will suf fer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and re pen tance for the for give ness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, be gin ning at Je ru sa lem. 48 You are wit ness es of these things. 49 I am go ing to send you what my Fa ther has prom ised; but stay in the city un til you have been clothed with pow er from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus50 When he had led them out to the

vi cin i ty of Beth a ny, he lift ed up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was bless ing them, he left them and was tak en up into heav en. 52 Then they wor shiped him and re turned to Je ru salem with great joy. 53 And they stayed con tin u al ly at the tem ple, prais ing God.

the Mes si ah have to suf fer these things and then en ter his glo ry?” 27 And begin ning with Mo ses and all the Prophets, he ex plained to them what was said in all the Scrip tures con cern ing him self.

28 As they ap proached the vil lage to which they were go ing, Jesus contin ued on as if he were go ing far ther. 29 But they urged him strong ly, “Stay with us, for it is near ly eve ning; the day is al most over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the ta ble with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and be gan to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they rec og nized him, and he dis appeared from their sight. 32 They asked each oth er, “Were not our hearts burning with in us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scrip tures to us?”

33 They got up and re turned at once to Je ru sa lem. There they found the Elev en and those with them, as sembled to geth er 34 and say ing, “It is true! The Lord has ris en and has ap peared to Si mon.” 35 Then the two told what had hap pened on the way, and how Jesus was rec og nized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples36 While they were still talk ing about

this, Jesus him self stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were star tled and fright ened, think ing they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you trou bled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look

L I F E L E S S O N Sperform some familiar action to open their eyes. Unbelief can blind us to the Lord’s work, but trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what he sees and is doing. Had they believed in his word through the prophets, they most likely would have anticipated the resurrec-tion with joy instead of being consumed with sorrow.

Ø 24:41 — While they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” Jesus had to prove to his unbelieving

disciples that he was not a ghost or figment of their imagination before they would accept the truth of his bodily resurrection. Because we know for certain that his body was raised, we can have full confidence that ours will be as well (1Co 15:50 – 54).

Ø 24:45 — He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the unbe-lieving natural man (1Co 2:14). It always takes the Lord’s wisdom and influence to help us understand and accept the truth of his Word.

1475 Luke 24:53


new international version - thomas nelson bibles · a portion of the purchase price of your niv®...

Documents