Luke

The Gospel according to

LUKE

Dedicatory

¹Given that many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those things that really did take place among us,Upon reflection it seems obvious that anyone who knew how to write would likely jot down salient points about Jesus, but Luke affirms that there were ‘many’ who attempted a serious account. Such records may well have furnished material, presumably factual, for spurious ‘improvements’ added to the four inspired accounts in the early decades of copying.²just as those who became eyewitnesses, from the beginning, and ministers of the Word delivered them to us,Luke insists that his information comes from responsible eyewitnesses, who were there all the time.³it seemed good to me also, most excellent Theophilus,‘Theophilus’ means ‘God-lover’; although Luke is evidently addressing a specific person, I would like to think that the account is also addressed to all lovers of God. having taken careful note of everything from Above,The normal meaning of the Greek word here, ανωθεν, is precisely ‘from above’, and I see no reason to reject that meaning (although the secondary meaning ‘from the beginning’ is possible). The more so since in the prior verse he already used the normal phrase, απ αρχη, that means ‘from the beginning’. I take it that Luke is claiming divine inspiration, up front. to write to you with precision and in sequence,In fact, with a few exceptions Luke’s narrative is in chronological sequence, and as a physician he doubtless valued precision.⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things in which you were instructed.Given Luke’s stated purpose in writing, his account needs to be historically accurate. Note that Theophilus had already received some instruction.

The birth of John the Baptizer foretold

⁵In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah.See 1 Chronicles 24:10. There were 24 divisions, so each division could only serve for two weeks in a year. The members of a division would take turns. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. ⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and they both were well advanced in years.

The setting

⁸Now it happened, as he was officiating as priest before God in the order of his division, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, that his lot was to burn incense, upon entering the sanctuary of the Lord; ¹⁰and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense; ¹²and upon seeing him Zacharias was shaken, and a fear fell upon him.

Gabriel delivers

¹³But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your prayer was heard,Given his expression of doubt this evidently was not a recent prayer. Zacharias had given up hope (since having a child was now a physical impossibility), and may well have been unhappy with God for not having answered. He was not even impressed with the tremendous things the angel said, but continued to doubt. and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴And you will have joy and exultation, and many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must not drink either wine or strong drink;This sounds like a Nazirite—Numbers 6:3. indeed, he will be filled with Holy SpiritSince ‘Holy Spirit’ occurs without a definite article, I take the phrase as a proper name. already from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God; ¹⁷in fact he himself will go before HimThe antecedent of “Him” is “the Lord their God”; in effect Gabriel is affirming that the Messiah, Jesus, is God—since he was speaking Hebrew, he may well have said ‘Jehovah their God’. in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of fathers to children’See Malachi 4:5-6. and the disobedient to the mindset of the righteous,The righteous have one mindset; the disobedient have a different one. To change someone’s conduct you need to change his mindset. to prepare a people made ready for the Lord.”

Zacharias doubts

¹⁸But Zacharias said to the angel: “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”Does it occur to you to wonder why God would choose such an old couple for a job like this? Perhaps because they would no longer be sidetracked by personal ambitions and would dedicate their energies to preparing John.¹⁹So in answer the angel said to him: “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God;Gabriel is no ordinary angel, possibly one of the cherubim; he is probably not far below Michael in rank. He imposes his authority on the priest. I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. ²⁰Now look, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day in which these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

Zacharias punished

²¹Now the people were waiting for Zacharias and wondering at his delay in the sanctuary. ²²But when he came out he was unable to speak to them, and they understood that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary—he kept gesturing to them while remaining mute. ²³And so, when the days of his service were fulfilled, he took off for home.We know the time frame when it was the division of Abijah’s turn to serve (for only two weeks). Assuming that Elizabeth became pregnant as soon as Zacharias got home, we may deduce that Jesus was born in September/October (six months after John).

²⁴Well after those daysWhich ones? Presumably “the days of his service” in verse 23. his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and stayed in seclusion five months.Her menopause was ancient history, so what was happening was ‘impossible’; besides, even if she was pregnant the likelihood of a miscarriage would be high; so she kept quiet. But after five months she would begin to ‘show’, and the prospect of success was good. She kept saying, ²⁵“So that’s what the Lord has done for me in the daysA pregnancy involves a fair number of days, and divine intervention was necessary all the time to enable her to carry the baby to term. when He concerned Himself to take away my reproach among the people!”At that time people looked down on a married woman who had no children.

The birth of Jesus foretold—5 bc

²⁶Now in the sixth monthOf Elizabeth’s pregnancy. the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee named Natsareth,For an explanation of this spelling, and its importance, please see the note at Matthew 2:23.²⁷to a virgin betrothedThis involved a signed legal document, so much so that the couple were then called husband and wife, so ‘engaged’ (at least in contemporary society) is not an adequate rendering. to a man whose name was Joseph, of the houseSee Luke 2:4. of David; the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸So upon entering where she was the angel said, “Rejoice, recipient of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”To be the mother of the Messiah was a blessing granted to only one woman in the whole history of this world (see Genesis 3:15). Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘blessed are you among women’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).²⁹But upon seeing him she was perplexed at his word and was trying to figure out what sort of greeting it might be.In Zacharias the angel inspired fear, but Mary sensed immediately that the angel did not represent a menace or threat and concentrated on his astounding words. In typical female fashion, she was trying to figure out the hidden agenda.

Gabriel delivers

³⁰The angel said to her: “Do not be afraid,He is not telling her not to be afraid of himself, because she wasn’t; I take it that he is telling her not to fear the future and the implications of his message. Mary, because you have found favor with God. ³¹Now then, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS.Although the angel presumably addressed Mary in Hebrew, when it came to pronouncing the name, he may well have used the Greek name as we know it. The precise sequence of sounds can be written and pronounced in Hebrew.³²He will be great, and will be called ‘Son of the Most High’; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,Through Mary, Jesus received some of David’s genes; David was literally His ancestor (see Mary’s genealogy in Luke 3:23-38).³³and He will reign over the house of JacobThe ‘house of Jacob’ is not the Church, but the unending Kingdom will include much more than just that ‘house’. into the ages; indeed, of His kingdom there will be no end!”This world will come to an end, but not Christ’s Kingdom. What the angel said to Mary was even more tremendous than what he said to Zacharias.

Mary agrees

³⁴So Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I do not know a man?”Zacharias expressed doubt, but Mary simply requests some necessary information. She has understood that God wants her to be the Messiah’s mother—she was doubtless highly intelligent and perceptive. (In the Bible the verb ‘to know’ is used to refer to sexual intercourse.).³⁵In answer the angel said to her: “Holy SpiritThe Text does not have a definite article with ‘Holy Spirit’. will come upon you and the power of the Most High will hover over you; precisely for this reason the holy One who is to be born will be called ‘Son of God’!Literally so—the Holy Spirit supplied the genes that normally are supplied by a human father.³⁶Furthermore, your relative Elizabeth, she has actually conceived a son in her old age and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren; ³⁷because any word spoken by God will be possible.” ³⁸So Mary said: “Yes, I am the Lord’s slave! Let it happen to me according to your word.”Mary had to understand the proposal and be in full agreement, or she would not have been a good mother. And the angel departed from her.

Mary visits Elizabeth

³⁹Then Mary quickly got ready and went into the hill country in those days, to a town of Judah, ⁴⁰and entered the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth.I take it that Mary understood that the angel’s reference to Elizabeth was relevant to her.⁴¹Well it happened that as Elizabeth heard Mary’s salutation the babe bounced up and down in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth prophesies

⁴²And she cried out with a great voiceTo cry or call out suggests unusual volume by itself, so why add ‘with a great/loud voice’? Since she spoke under the Holy Spirit’s control, there was probably an unusual quality to the voice, and the neighbors heard it. and said: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! ⁴³Why am I so favored that the mother of my LordWhat Elizabeth is saying, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is that the Messiah is already in Mary’s womb, as witnessed by baby John’s reaction. There was no human way that Elizabeth could know of the angel’s conversation with Mary. Her prophecy served as a tremendous confirmation and encouragement to Mary—I imagine that the Holy Spirit had fertilized her as soon as she said, “Yes”. should come to me? ⁴⁴Yes indeed, because as the sound of your salutation came into my ears the babe bounced up and down in my womb for joy.The clear implication is that baby John was aware, was already a person in the womb.⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed, because there will be a fulfillment of the things that have been spoken to her from the Lord.”She is stating that Mary had heard from God through the angel, although she had no human way of knowing anything about it.

Mary worships

⁴⁶So Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit has exulted over God my Savior,Mary declares her own need of a Savior.

⁴⁸in that He paid attention

to the humble station of His slave (f).

Yes indeed, because from now on

all generations will declare me to be highly favored,So it has been for 2000 years; in every generation there have been those who called her ‘blessed’.

⁴⁹in that the Mighty One did sublime things for me,

and Holy is His name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for generations of generations

to those fearing Him.

⁵¹He has done mighty deeds with His arm;

He has dispersed the arrogant in the reasoning of their hearts.

⁵²He has dethroned rulers and exalted the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things

and sent the rich away empty.This sounds like social justice.

⁵⁴He has taken the part of His servant Israel,

in remembrance of mercy,

⁵⁵just as He spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his seed while there is an age.”I follow the best line of transmission, as I believe, albeit representing only 35% of the Greek manuscripts, in this case. I take the point to be that the things mentioned are pertinent to this world, not the next.

⁵⁶So Mary stayed with her about three months,Those three months in the home of a priest were doubtless filled with relevant instruction from the Scriptures (of course Zacharias was mute, so he would have to write everything), part of Mary’s preparation for her role. Note that Mary evidently took off before John was born [I wonder why]. On the other hand, being three months pregnant it was high time that she go home and face the situation that awaited her. Although Joseph evidently took her to his house immediately, at God’s direction, after only six months a full size baby would be born. and returned to her house.

The birth of John

⁵⁷Now the time for Elizabeth to give birth was completed and she bore a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had used His great mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her.

John is named

⁵⁹So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child,‘The eighth day’—two different blood clotting agents, vitamin K and prothrombin, are at their highest level (110% of normal) on the eighth day of a person’s life, so it is the best of all days for minor surgery. Who but the Creator knew that 4000 years ago, when He told Abraham to do it? and they started calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias. ⁶⁰His mother reacted and said, “Absolutely not;She was emphatic! he shall be called John!” ⁶¹So they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” ⁶²So they started motioning to his father, as to what he would have him called. ⁶³Asking for a writing tablet he wrote this: “His name is to be John!” They all marveled. ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed and he started to speak, blessing God. ⁶⁵(Well a fear came on all who lived around them; and all these sayings kept being talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶All who heard kept them in their hearts saying, “What then will this child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.)The material within parentheses is an historical aside, after the fact. Presumably Zacharias started right in with his prophecy.

Zacharias prophesies

⁶⁷Now his father Zacharias was filled with Holy Spirit and prophesied saying:

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord,They spoke Hebrew in Judea, and Zacharias probably said “Jehovah”. the God of Israel,

because He has visited and provided redemption for His people;

⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of deliverance for us

in the house of His servant David

⁷⁰—just as He spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from antiquity—

⁷¹deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us;Zacharias knew that the Messiah would soon be born, but was evidently expecting a physical, political kingdom that would deliver them from Roman domination. For that matter, Jesus’ own disciples evidently shared the same expectation.

⁷²to use mercy with our fathers,

even to remember His Holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that He swore to our father Abraham;

⁷⁴to grant to us (having been rescued from the hand of our enemies) to serve Him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness‘To serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness’—that is what life is supposed to be about, but is only possible because the Messiah came. before Him

all the days of our life.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called Prophet of the Most High,

because you will go before the face of the LordZacharias is affirming that Jesus is ‘the Lord’ and ‘the Most High’!

to prepare His ways,

⁷⁷to give a knowledge of salvation to His people

by the forgiveness of their sins,In this paragraph Zacharias emphasizes the spiritual benefits of Messiah’s coming.

⁷⁸through the merciful compassions of our God,

with which the divine Dawn has contemplated us,Without doubt, the coming of the Messiah, with all that involved, represented the dawning of a new Day for this world. Instead of “has contemplated us”, less than 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have “will contemplate us” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The difference may appear to be small, but I take the point to be that the Messiah was already in the virgin Mary’s womb—the incarnation was irreversibly underway.

⁷⁹to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰So the child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit,The verb ‘strengthen’ is in the passive voice, so John had outside help—just like Gabriel said. and he stayed in uninhabited areas until the day of his manifestation to Israel.Because of their advanced age, his parents may well have died by the time he was a teenager. Although as Zacharias’ son he was in line to become a priest, he could not begin to serve until he was thirty, which was when he began his public ministry. He evidently spent the interval as a recluse.

The birth of Jesus—4 bc

¹Now it happened in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole inhabited world should be enrolled.Of course the Roman Empire did not control the whole world, but the decree was doubtless worded in grandiose terms.²This first census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.Quirinius served two terms: the best known was in ad 6-10, but there is good evidence for a prior term in 4-1 bc³So everyone was traveling, each to his own town, to enroll himself.

At night, in Bethlehem, the Savior is born

⁴So Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of Natsareth town, into Judea to the city of David, that is called Bethlehem, because he was of David’s ‘house’, that is, line of descent, ⁵to enroll himself with Mary, the woman who had been betrothed to him,That is what the Text says. We know from Matthew 1:24-25 that Joseph had already received her as his wife, but still had not had sexual relations with her—obviously an atypical situation. He had taken responsibility for her as his wife, but as far as sex was concerned she was still ‘pledged’—thus Luke’s unusual turn of phrase. who was pregnant. ⁶So it happened that when they got there the days for her to give birth were completed; ⁷and she gave birth to her firstbornLuke’s use of the term ‘firstborn’, writing after Mary had passed the age that she could bear children, clearly implies that she had other children after the first; otherwise Luke would have used ‘only’ rather than ‘first’. Son, wrapped Him in pieces of cloth and laid Him in the manger,Some 95% of the Greek manuscripts have the definite article with ‘manger’, so there was only one in the place, which implies that it was a stable. Since Bethlehem stands on a limestone ridge, there were probably natural caves that would make excellent stables. Actually, mother and baby were probably better off there than in the crowded lodging. because there was no room for them in the lodging place.

Angels and shepherds

⁸Now there were shepherds in that same area, staying out in the field and keeping the nightly watchesThey would take turns standing watch. over their flock. ⁹When wow, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰The angel said to them: “Do not be afraid because listen, I am announcing the most joyful news to you, which will be to all the people! ¹¹You see, today,The shepherds were Jews, and their ‘day’ began at 6 p.m. The angel’s use of ‘today’ indicates that Jesus was born at night, since the angel delivered his message at night. in David’s city, a Savior was born to you, who is Lord Christ! ¹²And this is the sign to you: you will find a Baby wrapped in pieces of cloth, lying in a manger.”This may not seem like much of a ‘sign’ to us, but doubtless there was only one newborn baby in the whole area who met those conditions.¹³Suddenly a multitude of the heavenly army was with the angel praising God and saying,

¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace, good will toward mankind!”“Good will toward mankind”—what greater proof of God’s good will could there be than the whole plan of salvation, the center piece of which was the incarnation! “Good will toward mankind” reflects some 1700 Greek manuscripts; only six known Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “among those with whom He is pleased” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.); the New Living Translation favors us with a footnote: “Some manuscripts read… goodwill among people”—by ‘some’ they mean (1,700 against six! [how could the editors be so perverse?]).

Shepherds go and report

¹⁵So when the angels went away from them into the sky the men, the shepherds, said to one another, “Hey, let’s go to Bethlehem and see this event that has taken place, that the Lord made known to us!” ¹⁶So they went in a hurry and located both Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷And having seen they spread an exact account of the saying that had been spoken to them concerning this Child. ¹⁸All who heard marveled at the things told them by the shepherds.Since the shepherds lived in that town, presumably, they would certainly tell their families and friends; in short order the whole town had heard the news. In all probability, the very next day someone offered Joseph a house to use.¹⁹As for Mary, she treasured all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God over all that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

Jesus is named

²¹When eight days were completed so as to circumcise Him, His name was indeed called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Jesus is presented to God

²²And when the days of theirThe Text has ‘their’, not ‘her’; since a woman was not to have intercourse for forty days after giving birth to a boy (80 for a girl), Leviticus 12:2-5, her purification obviously affected her husband as well. purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³(just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens a womb shall be called holy to the Lord”See Exodus 13:2, 12-15.), ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice according to what was specified in the Lord’s Law, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”.See Leviticus 12:8. The prescribed sacrifice was a lamb; only if the couple was too poor to bring a lamb could they substitute the birds (since they could be caught in the wild, the poorest of the poor could meet this requirement). Evidently Joseph and Mary could not afford a lamb, which indicates that they had not yet received the gifts from the magi.

Simeon

²⁵Well now, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, expectantly waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶(It had been revealed to him repeatedly by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Messiah.The Greek Text has ‘Christ’, but the Holy Spirit presumably used Hebrew to communicate with Simeon. The man evidently lived in communion with God, and thus the Holy Spirit could guide him at any time—here He sends him into the temple at just the right moment.) ²⁷So by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought the Child Jesus in, to do concerning Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸Simeon took Him into his arms and blessed God and said:

²⁹“Sovereign,Simon actually used the term from which we get ‘despot’, but in English this term has a negative flavor, unless one adds ‘benevolent’; but ‘benevolent despot’ does not work very well in direct address—so I render ‘Sovereign’. [When I myself address God, I habitually follow Simeon’s example—I also am His slave.] now You can release your slave in peace,

according to Your word,

³⁰because my eyes have seen Your salvation,

³¹which You have prepared before the face of all peoples:

³²a light for revelation to Gentiles,

and the glory of Your people Israel.”

³³And JosephInstead of ‘Joseph’, about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘his father’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). and His mother were marveling at the thingsSimeon may have actually said more than is here recorded; in fact, I rather imagine that he did. being spoken concerning Him.

³⁴Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: “Listen, this One is appointed to bring about the fall and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that is spoken against, ³⁵so that the reasonings of many hearts may be revealed (furthermore, a sword will pass through your own soul also).”Watching her Son suffer, Mary would also suffer. Jesus obliged the people, especially the leaders, to take sides, and so the reasonings of their hearts were exposed.

Anna

³⁶Also there was a prophetess Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher—she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity ³⁷and having been a widow for about eighty-four yearsIf she married at 15 she would have been about 105 at the time. Instead of “for about eighty-four”, perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read ‘until eighty-four’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, etc.).—who did not depart from the temple, serving God with fastings and petitions night and day. ³⁸Well she, having come up at that very moment, started praising the Lord,Instead of ‘the Lord’, less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘God’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). and kept on speaking of Him to all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption.She must have known who they were.

Back to Natsareth

³⁹When they had completed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they went back to Galilee, to their own town, Natsareth.We know from Matthew that there was a detour through Egypt, that began from Bethlehem, so from Jerusalem they went back to Bethlehem.⁴⁰And the Child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit,Less than half a percent of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘in spirit’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). being filledBoth ‘strengthened’ and ‘filled’ are in the passive voice; like John, only more so, Jesus had outside help. with wisdom; yes, the grace of God was upon Him.

A twelve-year-old Boy

⁴¹Now every year His parents would go to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover; ⁴²so when He was twelve years old they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. ⁴³When they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but Joseph and His motherInstead of ‘Joseph and His mother’, perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts, have ‘his parents’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). did not know it. ⁴⁴Supposing Him to be in the caravan, they went a day’s journey and then started looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵Not finding Him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him. ⁴⁶So it happened that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷(All who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.Really and truly—how many of us could discuss theology intelligently for one hour, let alone three days!)

⁴⁸So upon seeing Him they were amazed, and His mother said to Him: “Son, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in distress.”They evidently thought that Jesus had met with foul play; they were afraid for His life. In contrast, Jesus never worried about suffering harm (see next note).⁴⁹So He said to them: “Why were you seeking me? Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s concerns?”At twelve Jesus knew precisely who He was—“my father” cannot refer to Joseph because Jesus was not discussing carpentry with the doctors of the Law—He was consciously about God’s business. Notice that Jesus does not even come close to apologizing; in fact He rebukes them for worrying—after all, they also knew just who He was. (Jesus was no doubt unusually mature for His age, and may have just had His bar mitzvah.) The only time Jesus feared for His life was in Gethsemane—Matthew 26:38, Mark 14:34, Luke 22:44, Hebrews 5:7-8 (compare by contrast Luke 4:28-30, Mark 4:35-41, John 8:59, 10:39, 18:6).⁵⁰But they did not understand the statement that He made to them.Perhaps they should have, knowing who He really was, but by now they probably had at least four children and each day was filled with very ordinary concerns—do the concerns of life not cause us also to forget spiritual realities?

⁵¹Then He went down with them and came to Natsareth, and continued subordinating Himself to them; His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.This is the second time Luke records this. No doubt Mary was one of the eyewitnesses that Luke interviewed; I imagine it was a long and detailed interview, and maybe several.⁵²And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Enter John the Baptizer—26 AD

¹Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, while his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas (also Caiaphas),Annas was the real high priest, which office was for life. But in an effort to diminish the political influence of the high priest (presumably) the Roman government obliged the Jews to name a different high priest each year, and the governor dealt with him—so that particular year it was Caiaphas. Notice how Luke emphasizes historicity. the word of God came uponThat’s what the Text says, ‘upon’ not ‘to’; I take it that that Word compelled him to action. John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ³So he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins;There are those who squirm at the plain meaning of the Text—John was offering forgiveness of sins. Well, throughout the Old Testament, if you brought an animal offering you were confessing to being a sinner, and expecting to be forgiven. As forerunner to the Lamb of God, who would provide the ultimate payment for sin, John represented a transition, from the old to the new.⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“A voice calling out:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness,

make His paths straight.The Hebrew text of Isa. 40:3 has “in the desert” here, making it overtly parallel to “in the wilderness”, so both are part of what the ‘voice’ is saying.

⁵Every ravine will be filled up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;That is, where the highway passes, not all over the place; just like modern superhighways.

the crooked parts of the roads will be straightened out,

and the rough parts will be smoothed out;

⁶and all fleshThat’s what the Text says. I resist the temptation to limit the reference to people, because the animals will also see it (Isaiah 11:6-9). In Genesis 6:17 “all flesh” clearly includes the animals. will see the salvation of God.’ ”

“Brood of vipers!”

⁷Then he said to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him: “You sons of poisonous snakes!We don’t know the precise type of snake, except that it was presumably poisonous. The Text has ‘offsprings’, plural, which doesn’t make very good English, so I put ‘sons’. From Matthew 3:7 we may conclude that he was mainly referring to Pharisees and Sadducees (who had come to evaluate what was happening, but did not themselves submit to the baptism; they would not want to admit that they had sin to confess). Who tipped you off to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Well then, produce fruits befitting repentance, and don’t even begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father,’ because I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!To be born into a Christian family is certainly an advantage, but does not guarantee your eternal destiny. God has no ‘grandchildren’; you must believe into the Lord Jesus Christ to become God’s child.⁹But even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees;The Messiah was about to be introduced and to begin His public ministry; among other things He would condemn the Pharisees and other ‘snakes’—‘thrown into the fire’ refers to their eternal destiny. so then, every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“What shall we do?”

¹⁰So the peopleThe Text has ‘crowds’. started asking him, “What then must we do?” ¹¹In answer he said to them, “He who has two coats,Literally, ‘tunics’. let him share with him who has none; and he who has food should do likewise.”The verb ‘share’ is an aorist imperative, implying a one time event—you give the extra coat, but get to keep one. The verb ‘do’ is a present imperative, implying a continuing action—food is to be shared all the time.¹²Well even tax collectors came to be baptized by him and said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?” ¹³So He said to them, “Don’t charge more than what was determined to you.”Right on. The tax collectors were hated, among other things, because they usually added a percentage for themselves.¹⁴So the soldiers started asking him too: “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Don’t extort or harass anyone, and be content with your wages.”Right on again. Soldiers would frequently try to ‘supplement’ their wages.

“A greater One is coming”

¹⁵Now as the people were expectant and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether he just might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John anticipated them all saying: “I indeed am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire;I suppose that this was fulfilled at Pentecost, although it is also true that all our works will be tested by fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).¹⁷whose winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”“Unquenchable fire” is a clear reference to the Lake; recall that there is always more chaff than grain, but the chaff is also part of the wheat plant. I suspect that most churches have more chaff than grain.

John is imprisoned—an historical aside

¹⁸(Indeed, with many other exhortations as well he kept on preaching to the people; ¹⁹but Herod the tetrarch—being reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother’s wife, as also about all the wicked things that Herod perpetratedA coward John was not!— ²⁰added this also to them all: he actually locked John up in his prison.)

Jesus is baptized

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus, having been baptized also, was praying, when the heaven was opened ²²and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove and rested upon Him, and a Voice came out of heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am always well pleased.”The Trinity is manifested here, which would be an important confirmation for Jesus.

Mary’s genealogyThe genealogy interrupts the chronological sequence of the narrative, which resumes at 4:1.

²³(Beginning His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph,

Jesus HimselfThere are several unusual grammatical features in the Greek text of this verse, which has been badly translated by every version I have seen; resulting in contradictions and errors of fact. Here is the Greek, for those who can read it: Και αυτος ἦν ὁ Ιησους, ὡσει ετων τριακοντα αρχομενος, ων ὡς ενομιζετο υἱος Ιωσηφ, του Ηλει, του Ματθαν, του Λευι, του Μελχι,… There are four words here that invite special attention: και, αυτος, ἦν and ὡς. Since verse 22 ends with a statement from the Father at Jesus’ baptism, it is clear that verse 23 begins another section. But the conjunction that signals the transition is και and not δε, as one would expect—this means that ‘Jesus’ continues as the topic. But in that event, how does one explain the personal pronoun αυτος, the more so in such an emphatic position? If the author’s purpose was simply to register Jesus as a son of Joseph, as many suppose, why did he not just write και ὁ Ιησους ἦν υἱος Ιωσηφ, etc.? But then, why write ὡς ενομιζετο? It seems to me that the normal meaning of “as was supposed” is to affirm that Jesus was in fact Joseph’s son; but that is precisely what Jesus was not. Luke has already made clear that Jesus’ real Father was the Holy Spirit—1:34-35, 43, 45; 2:49. So what Luke is really saying is that although the people supposed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, He actually had a different lineage—we should translate “so it was supposed”. (Recall that a faithful and loyal translation seeks to transmit correctly the meaning intended by the author.) The verb ἦν is the only independent one in the whole paragraph, verses 23-38. Is it working with the participle αρχομενος in a periphrastic construction? That appears to be the tendency of the eclectic text that places the participle right after ‘Jesus’ (following about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality), which makes Jesus out to be in fact Joseph’s son. It seems to me to be far more natural to take the participial clauses as being circumstantial: “beginning at about thirty years of age” and “being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph”. Setting those two clauses aside, the independent clause that remains is ἦν ὁ Ιησους του Ηλει, “Jesus was of Eli”. The participle ‘beginning’ requires an object, that the Text leaves implicit; from the context it seems clear that we may supply ‘His ministry’, or some such thing, which is why most versions do so. I suggest the following rendering: “Beginning His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph, Jesus was actually of Eli, of Mathan, of Levi…” I take it that the emphatic pronoun αυτος heightens the contrast between what the people imagined and the reality. Jesus was a grandson of Eli, Mary’s father—Luke gives the genealogy of Jesus through His mother, while Matthew gives it through His stepfather. The eclectic text gives our verse a different wording: και αυτος ἦν Ιησους αρχομενος ὡσει ετων τριακοντα, ων υἱος, ὡς ενομιζετο, Ιωσηφ του Ηλι του Μαθθατ του Λευι του Μελκι,… The RSV translates it like this: “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat,…” Is not the normal meaning of this rendering that Jesus was in fact the son of Joseph? However, every version that I recall seeing has “Joseph, the son of Heli”, which directly contradicts Matthew, “Jacob begot Joseph”. The word ‘son’ (without the article) occurs only with Joseph, although most versions supply it on down the genealogy. But Luke is precisely correct in not using it, because it would not hold for the first and last names in the list—Eli did not beget Jesus (nor Joseph) and God did not beget Adam. So then, properly understood Luke does not contradict Matthew (with reference to Joseph’s father), nor does he affirm an error of fact (with reference to Jesus’ father). was of Eli,All published Bibles that I have seen add ‘son’ or ‘the son’ to each prepositional phrase in the genealogy, but Luke did not write that—from ‘Eli’ to ‘God’ there is no ‘son’. Why not? I do not know, I was not there, but with both Eli and God the word would have a different meaning than with the rest of the names in the list. Adam could be called a ‘son’ of God by creation, but not procreation. I take it that Eli was Mary’s father, and thus the maternal grandfather of Jesus, so here also ‘son’ would have a different meaning. For all that, through Mary and Eli Jesus received some of David’s genes, so He was literally a descendant of David, through his son Nathan.

²⁴of Matthan,There is considerable confusion among the Greek manuscripts as to the spelling of all these names. I have generally just followed the spelling we are used to (since the meaning is not affected), but not always. of Levi, of Melchi, of Janna, of Joseph,

²⁵of Mattathiah, of Amos, of Nahum, of Esli, of Naggai,

²⁶of Maath, of Mattathiah, of Semei, of Joseph, of Judah,

²⁷of Joannan, of Rhesa, of Zerubbabel,For more on this man see the whole book of Haggai and Zechariah 4:6. of Shealtiel,The Greek form is actually ‘Salathiel’. of Neri,

²⁸of Melchi, of Addi, of Cosam, of Elmodam, of Er,

²⁹of Jose, of Eliezer, of Jorim, of Matthat, of Levi,

³⁰of Simeon, of Judah, of Joseph, of Jonam, of Eliakim,

³¹of Melea, of Menan, of Mattatha, of Nathan, of David,

³²of Jesse, of Obed, of Boaz, of Salmon, of Nahshon,

³³of Amminadab, of Aram,Rather than “of Aram”, a variety of modern versions have “the son of Admin, the son of Arni”, and they do so following the eclectic text that has been in vogue for several generations (UBS/N-A). As is their habit, the editors of that text follow the so-called ‘Alexandrian’ witnesses, but at this point those witnesses are scattered all over the back side of the desert—almost no two agree. One would have thought that this would give the UBS editors pause, but not at all. They were so intent on doing despite to Christ’s genealogy that they actually concocted a ‘patchwork quilt’ and intruded the fictitious Admin and Arni into that genealogy. UBS has presented the evidence in their apparatus in such a way as to obscure the fact that no Greek MS has the precise text they have printed (the same holds for N-A). In Bruce Metzger’s presentation of the UBS Committee’s reasoning in this case he wrote, “the Committee adopted what seems to be the least unsatisfactory form of text”. Is this not a good candidate for ‘chutzpah’ of the year? The UBS editors concoct their own reading and proclaim it “the least unsatisfactory”! And just what might be “unsatisfactory” about the reading of 95% of the Greek manuscripts except that it does not introduce any difficulties? There is complete confusion in the Egyptian camp. That confusion may have commenced in the second century, resulting from several easy transcriptional errors, simple copying mistakes. The total confusion in Egypt does not surprise us, but how shall we account for the text and apparatus of UBS3/N-A26 in this instance? And whatever possessed the editors of NASB, NRSV, TEV, LB, Berkeley, etc. to embrace such an egregious error? ‘Admin’ and ‘Arni’ have no more place in Christ’s genealogy than does Idi Amin, although he at least is not a fiction. of Joram,‘Joram’—Luke 3:33 X Matthew 1:3, Ruth 4:19, 1 Chronicles 2:9. I follow 80% of the Greek manuscripts, including the best line of transmission, in placing Joram between Aram and Hezron. However, since both the Textus Receptus and the eclectic text currently in vogue follow the 20%, mine is the first version that I have seen that includes Joram. The obvious difficulty with this proceeding is that it goes against Matthew 1:3, Ruth 4:19 and 1 Chronicles 2:9, that have no ‘Joram’. The apparent disagreement with Matthew, Ruth and Chronicles would be an obvious inducement to omit ‘Joram’. But what possible motivation would there be to invent and insert an unknown name? And if someone did, how could it come to dominate the stream of transmission, to the tune of 80%? But wherever could Luke have come up with ‘Joram’? I understand that Luke obtained the information about Joram from records existing in his day, and being correct information was led by the Holy Spirit to include it in his Gospel. Just like Jude, who quoted Enoch—Enoch’s prophecy must have been in existence in Jude’s day, but we have no copy in Hebrew today (though Jews are reported to have used one so recently as the 13th century ad); similarly we have no copy of Luke’s source. Recall Luke’s stated purpose in writing: “It seemed good to me also, most excellent Theophilus, having taken careful note of everything from Above, to write to you with precision and in sequence, so that you may know the certainty of the things in which you were instructed” (Luke 1:3-4). Given his stated purpose in writing, Luke’s account needs to be historically accurate (cf. 2:2 and 3:1). So then, I take it that the Holy Spirit guided Luke to include Joram. So then, Aram (Ram) was actually a grandson of Hezron; Hezron fathered Joram, who fathered Aram. While I am on this tack, my solution to the ‘Jeremiah’ problem in Matthew 27:9-10 is similar. Daniel (9:2) refers to “the books” (plural) in connection with Jeremiah the prophet. So I assume that Matthew had access to other writings of Jeremiah, of which no copy survives. of Hezron, of Perez, of Judah,

³⁴of Jacob, of Isaac, of Abraham, of Terah,The Greek form is actually ‘Tharra’. of Nahor,

³⁵of Serug, of Reu,The Greek form is actually ‘Ragav’. of Peleg, of Eber, of Shela,

³⁶of Cainan,Cainan2—Luke 3:36 X Genesis 11:12. There are several spelling variations that together are attested by almost 1% of the Greek manuscripts; 99% have Καιναν. Apparently only two omit, 𝕻75v and D, but no printed text follows their lead. So there is no reasonable doubt that Luke in fact wrote that Shelah was fathered by Cainan, not Arphaxad. This Cainan has been widely used to justify treating the genealogies in Genesis like accordions—if one name was demonstrably left out in the Genesis account, then who knows how many others were also left out. This Cainan is also used to deny the validity of constructing a strict chronology based on the time spans given in the genealogies. But where did Luke get this information? The LXX contains Cainan in Genesis 11:12, but is so different from the Massoretic text here that it looks like fiction. Recall that the LXX we know is based on codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus, produced centuries after Luke. It is more likely that our LXX is based on Luke than vice versa. Where then did Luke get it? I understand that Luke obtained the information about this Cainan from records existing in his day, and being correct information was led by the Holy Spirit to include it in his Gospel (see my discussion of ‘Joram’ above). This brief note was inspired by the discussion of the subject given by Dr. Floyd N. Jones in Chronology of the Old Testament (which book comes close to solving all the alleged numerical discrepancies in the OT, at least as I see it). However, the explanation that follows is original with me (if anyone else has proposed it, I am unaware). Consider the exact wording of Genesis 11:12-13. “Arphaxad lived thirty-five years and begot Salah; after he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.” The verb ‘begot’ requires that Salah be a blood descendant of Arphaxad, not adopted. He could be a grandson, the son of a son of Arphaxad, or even a great-grandson, etc., except that in this case the time frame only has room for one intervening generation. The plain meaning of the formula in the Text, ‘W lived X years and begot Y; after W begot Y he lived Z years,’ is that W was X years old when Y was born, is it not (and Y was Z years old when W died)? It follows that this formula destroys the ‘accordion’ gambit. There were precisely 130 years between Adam and Seth, 105 between Seth and Enosh, 90 between Enosh and Cainan1, etc., etc. (To argue that the years were based on lunar months will not save the gambit.) I take the clear meaning of the Hebrew Text to be that Arphaxad was 35 years old when Salah was born, whatever we may decide to do about ‘Cainan’. Let us try to imagine the situation in the years immediately following the Flood. After the Flood the ‘name of the game’ was to replenish the earth. Indeed, the divine command was: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 9:1). So, whom could Noah’s grandsons marry? Obviously their cousins, Noah’s granddaughters. There would be an urgency to reproduce—thus, the girls would be married off at puberty, and the boys would not be wasting around either. The women would be giving birth as often as they possibly could. Really, the absolute top priority would be to increase the number of people. Arphaxad was born two years after the flood, but his wife could have been born a year or two earlier. (The Sacred Text is clear to the effect that only eight souls entered the ark, but some of the women could have conceived during the Flood, since they were in the ark for a full year.) Thus, Arphaxad could have fathered “Cainan” when he was 17/18. Similarly, Cainan could have fathered Salah when he was 17/18. In this way Arphaxad could be said to have “begotten” Salah when he was 35. Cainan could have died early or been passed over in Genesis because the time span did not constitute a ‘generation’, or both. Or, as things got back to normal, culturally speaking, the haste with which Arphaxad and Cainan procreated might have been viewed as unseemly. The expedient of omitting Cainan would make the account more ‘normal’ while preserving precision as to the elapsed time. But Luke would be correct in saying that Salah was “of” Cainan who was “of” Arphaxad. Salah was Arphaxad’s grandson. In any case, the Messianic line was passed on by Salah. Without Luke’s record I, for one, would never have stopped to consider what must have happened immediately following the Flood—the absolute priority must have been to increase the number of people. of Arphaxad, of Shem, of Noah, of Lamech,

³⁷of Methuselah, of Enoch, of Jared, of Mahalaleel, of Cainan,

³⁸of Enosh, of Seth, of Adam, of God.)

Jesus tested by Satan

¹Then Jesus, full of Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ²where He was tested for forty days by the devil.We are not told just how Satan did this. He ate nothing at all during those days, so after they were completed He was hungry.This episode was ordained by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had to confront Satan when He was physically the weakest He would ever be (40 days without food!). When Satan failed to defeat this weakened Jesus, he was probably filled with despair—he now knew that he could never defeat Him (but he would still try to kill Him). Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16 give at least part of the reason why Jesus had to undergo this experience.³So the devil said to Him, “Since you are Son of God,There are several kinds of conditional clause in Greek, among them ‘of doubt’, ‘of fact’ and ‘contrary to fact’—Satan was not so crude as to express doubt about Christ’s identity, ‘if’, he was more subtle; he granted the fact, ‘since’, and appealed to His pride. tell this stone to become bread!”Matthew 4:3 has “these stones”, instead of “this stone”. I gather that Satan said both: he started with ‘these stones’ and then picked out a specific one.⁴Jesus answered him saying, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”See Deuteronomy 8:3. Less than half a percent of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “but by every word of God” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). If we are to live by ‘every’ word, then every word must be kept available.

⁵And taking Him up on a high mountain,Just three known Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality (against over 1,700), omit “up on a high mountain the devil” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc., except that some keep ‘the devil’, but not the rest). the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.This is obviously supernatural. Even from a satellite you cannot see the whole world at once, because it is a sphere.⁶The devil said to Him: “To you I will give all this authority, and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want to. ⁷So you, if you would worship before me, all will be yours.”This was a master stroke. Jehovah the Son entered this world as the second/last Adam precisely to recover what the first Adam had lost, and Satan was evidently well aware of what was going on. So he offers it to Jesus on a ‘silver platter’, with just one small condition… Note that Jesus does not deny Satan’s right to make the offer.⁸In answer Jesus said to him: “Get behind me, Satan!Some 3.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit “Get behind me, Satan” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve!’ ”See Deuteronomy 6:13.

⁹He also took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,Matthew’s report has the temple before the mountain; since he employs adverbs of time (sequence) while Luke does not, I take it that Matthew gives the correct sequence (which is also the logical progression). Luke handles the temple event almost as an afterthought. and said to Him: “Since you are Son of God, throw yourself down from here; ¹⁰because it is written, ‘He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you,’ ¹¹and, ‘They will carry you along on their hands, so you do not stub your foot on a stone.’ ”See Psalm 91:11-12.¹²In answer Jesus said to him: “The statement stands, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God!’ ”See Deuteronomy 6:16. To do something irresponsible to try to oblige God to perform a miracle to save you from the consequences is forbidden. It would be a kind of ‘blackmail’.

¹³Having finished every test,Jesus was tested in the three areas: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16 give at least part of the reason why Jesus had to go through this experience. the devil departed from Him until an opportune time.“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), but he is in the business of returning and renewing the attack—constant vigilance is required.

Jesus begins His public ministry, in GalileeA number of months elapsed between verses 13 and 14; John 1:15-4:42 records some of what transpired during that interval.

¹⁴Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about Him spread throughout the whole surrounding area; ¹⁵yes, He started teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

His hometown rejects Him

¹⁶So He came to Natsareth, where He had been brought up; as was His custom He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, so unrolling the scroll He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because He has anointed me to evangelize poor people.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “to heal the brokenhearted” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

to proclaim release to captives

and recovery of sight to blind people,

to send those who are oppressed out in freedom,

¹⁹to proclaim the Lord’s favorable year.”Jesus interrupted the reading of Isaiah 61:2 at a coma—‘the great parenthesis’. The part that He read pertained to His first coming, but “the day of vengeance of our God” pertains to His second coming—the ‘parenthesis’ is closing in on 2,000 years.

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled”

²⁰Then, having rolled up the scroll and returned it to the attendant, He sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, ²¹and He began by saying to them, “Today, this Scripture in your ears has been fulfilled.” ²²(All were bearing witness to Him and were marveling at the gracious words that were coming out of His mouth;He doubtless spoke for a reasonable length of time and was producing a favorable impression, but at the end He got offensive; verses 23-27 presumably contain the conclusion of His discourse. and they started saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”) ²³He said to them: “Doubtless you will quote this parable to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’—do here in your hometown the things we have heard were done in Capernaum.”

Jesus treads on their toes

²⁴Then He said: “Assuredly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵Further, I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months and a severe famine came over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow woman in Sarepta, near Sidon. ²⁷And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet not one of them was cleansed—just Naaman the Syrian.”It appears that Jesus antagonized them on purpose. Why? I see two possible answers: to remove any claim to special privilege that they might harbor because of being His home town; to be personally free from possible pressure arising from such a claim. In fact He moved out, choosing Capernaum as His base of operations.

²⁸Well, upon hearing these things everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury,The violent reaction was out of all proportion to the ‘provocation’. Presumably Satan took this opportunity to try to kill Him.²⁹and rising up they 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. ³⁰But He, passing through the middle of them, went on His way.“Passing through the middle of them, He went on His way”—now how did that happen? To throw Him down, someone would have to be holding Him, probably a man on each arm, and they had gotten Him there by force, and He was surrounded. Obviously the Lord made use of supernatural power to free Himself from that situation—He had come to this world to die, all right, but not then and not in that way.

Capernaum becomes His base of operations—27 AD

³¹Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee; He started teaching them on the Sabbaths. ³²They kept on being amazed at His teaching, because His word was with authority.

A demonized man

³³Now in the synagogue was a man having a spirit of an unclean demon; he cried out with a loud voice ³⁴saying: “Ugh! What do you want with us, Jesus of Natsareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God!”Evidently the Lord’s mere presence was enough to make the demons feel threatened. Based on John 14:12, I wonder if the same thing should not be true of us.³⁵So Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be muzzled, and get out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the midst, it came out of him without harming him. ³⁶Everyone was taken with amazement and they started conversing together, saying: “What is this word! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷And the news about Him started going out to every place of the surrounding region.

Peter’s mother-in-law

³⁸Then He left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering with a high fever, and they requested Him on her behalf. ³⁹So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.Normally a high fever leaves one weak, so the Lord reversed the consequences of the fever as well. I take it that Matthew 8:14-15 records a different occasion. Just because God heals you once does not mean you will not get sick again.

Healings at sunset

⁴⁰Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on each one of them and healed them.On this occasion Jesus placed a hand on each one, but that would not always be the case. It would appear that He deliberately used a variety of procedures to heal.⁴¹Moreover, demons came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ,Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “the Christ” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). the Son of God!” But rebuking them He would not allow them to continue speaking, because they knew that He was the Messiah.I find this to be curious: the demons kept telling the truth about Jesus, but He evidently did not want testimony from that quarter. But it seems that the demons felt compelled to identify Him—I wonder why.

⁴²Now at daybreak He departed and went to a deserted place; so the crowds started looking for Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them. ⁴³But He said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” ⁴⁴So He went preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.Around 4% of the Greek manuscripts read Judea rather than Galilee, possibly influenced by Lectionaries. There is confusion among the 4% such that the prepositional phrase as given in UBS is read by less than 1%. However, Jesus was in Galilee (and continued there), not in Judea, as the context makes clear. In the parallel passage, Mark 1:35-39, all texts agree that Jesus was in Galilee. Thus UBS3 contradicts itself by reading Judea in Luke 4:44. Bruce Metzger makes clear that the UBS editors did this on purpose when he explains that their reading “is obviously the more difficult, and copyists have corrected it…in accord with the parallels in Matthew 4:23 and Mark 1:39.” Thus the UBS editors introduce a contradiction into their text which is also an error of fact. This error in the eclectic text is reproduced by LB, NIV, NASB, NEB, RSV, etc. NRSV adds insult to injury: “So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.”

By the sea

¹Now it happened, as He had come along the Lake of Genesaret, that the multitude crowded Him to hear the Word of God; ²He saw two boats standing by the lake (the fishermen were out of them, washing their nets). ³So He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land.Peter had already spent time with Jesus, so this was natural. Sitting down He began to teach the crowds from the boat.

A miraculous catch

⁴When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵And in answer Simon said to Him, “Master, we have worked hard the whole night and caught nothing, but based on your word I will let down the net.”Peter was the professional here, and figured he knew better than Jesus, but he does obey. However, Jesus had said to let down ‘nets’ (pl), but Peter let down only one. 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read ‘nets’, to be followed by most modern versions. (Actually, Jesus put ‘let down’ in the plural, so there was at least one other in the boat, unless it was really His intention that both boats should go out.)⁶When they had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their net began to tear. ⁷So they signaled to their partners who were in the other boat to come help them; they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸Upon experiencing this Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees,Jesus was still sitting in the boat, only now surrounded by fish, probably up to His knees. saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”Do you find Peter’s reaction to be curious? No doubt he felt pretty ‘small’ at that point.⁹Because astonishment gripped him and all who were with him at the haul of fish which they had caught; ¹⁰yes, this included James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹Pulling the boats up on the shore, they left it allThe hired men took care of the fish, etc. No doubt most of the crowd had stayed to watch, so getting rid of the fish probably was not a problem. and followed Him.

The hinge: proof, evaluation, rejection

A leper—the proof

¹²Now it happened, while He was in one of the towns—a man full of leprosy! Upon seeing Jesus he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can cleanse me!” ¹³So He extended His hand and touched him, saying, “I want to; be cleansed!”“I want to”—beautiful! To actually touch a leper was unheard of, but of course Jesus had no fear of contamination. Immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴Then He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as a testimony to them.”As a testimony about what? This would be the first time in the life of the priest that anyone had done this, because lepers did not get better. Who but the Messiah could heal leprosy? That they got the point is indicated by the examining council that is described in verse 17 below.

¹⁵However the news about Him spread all the more, and large crowds kept gathering to hear and to be healed by Him of their sicknesses. ¹⁶So He Himself would withdraw into deserted places and pray.He made sure that He kept in touch with the Father.

An examining council—the evaluation

¹⁷Now it happened on a certain day that He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem, sitting there—and the power of the Lord was there to heal them.The eclectic text currently in vogue makes a mess of this statement by changing ‘them’ to ‘him’, following about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality. ‘Him’ is in the accusative case, as is ‘them’, and is thus the direct object of the verb ‘to heal’. The modern versions that follow the 1% render ‘present with Him to heal’, or some such thing, which the text does not say.

“Your sins are forgiven”

¹⁸And then, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a cot, and tried to take him in and place him before Him. ¹⁹When they could not find how to do it, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with the cot through the tiling into the center, in front of Jesus. ²⁰Seeing their faith He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you!”Those men were really determined, but they wanted healing, not forgiveness of sins; however, Jesus had His own agenda.

A ‘discussion’ ensues

²¹So the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”Their theology was not all that bad; they just did not recognize Jesus as God.²²But Jesus perceived their reasonings and reacted by saying to them: “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk!’?“Your sins are forgiven” is easier to say, because no one can see if it happened or not. If you say, “Get up and walk!” and he does not, it makes you look stupid.²⁴But that you may know that the Son of the ManThat is what the Text says, “the Son of the Man”, which appears to be a phrase coined by the Lord Jesus to refer to Himself; the phrase does not make very good sense in English, at first glance, but if “the man” refers to pristine Adam and “the son” to an only pristine descendant, it makes great sense. It seems to indicate a perfect human prototype, like Adam was before the fall—the human side of the God-man. has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man: “I say to you, get up! Take your cot and go to your house.”

God is glorified

²⁵Immediately he stood up in front of them, took up what he had been lying on, and set out to his own house glorifying God. ²⁶Amazement gripped them all and they kept glorifying God; they were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”Their initial reaction was favorable, but then Jesus went and ate with tax collectors, and that was too much for them.

Enter Levi (Matthew)

²⁷After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, “Follow me!” ²⁸So leaving everything he got up and followed Him.Wow! Evidently he really did, turning his responsibilities over to his colleagues. Because tax collectors were ostracized by the people, they probably wanted to join the crowds following Jesus, but felt excluded. So a direct invitation to Matthew was all he wanted.²⁹Then Levi made a great banquet for Him at his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.

The Pharisees have a problem

³⁰Well the scribes and Pharisees complained about them to His disciples, saying, “How can you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?!” ³¹So Jesus reacted and said to them: “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, just those who are sick. ³²I have not come to call righteous people to repentance, just sinners.”

³³Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours keep eating and drinking?” ³⁴So He said to them: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵But days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then, in those days, they will fast.”

New wine X old wineskins

³⁶Then He also told them a parable: “No one puts a patch from a new garment on an old one; otherwise, both the new makes a tear and that from the new does not match the old. ³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst those skins and will itself be spilled and the skins wasted. ³⁸Rather, new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.I take it that the Lord is saying that a church that has become an ‘old wineskin’ cannot be renewed—any attempt to introduce ‘new wine’ will only result in division and bitterness. Bearers of ‘new wine’ should just start a new congregation. The truth stated in verse 39 is one of the factors. Less than 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and both are preserved” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).³⁹Further, no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

¹Now it happened on a second-firstThat is what the Text says. No doubt everyone at that time knew just what was intended, but in the meantime we have lost the necessary cultural information. Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “second-first”, to be followed by most modern versions. Sabbath that He was passing through the grain fields, and His disciples began to pick and eat the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. ²But some of the Pharisees said to them,By now the Pharisees had ‘spies’ following Jesus wherever He went. “Why are you doing that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” ³So in answer to them Jesus said: “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and even gave it to those with him—that which only the priests are allowed to eat?” ⁵Then He said to them, “The Son of the Man is Lord even of the Sabbath!”Now that was something that they were not prepared to assimilate. They used the Sabbath as an instrument to dominate the people, and Jesus was threatening to deprive them of that instrument. Mark 2:27 preserves an added comment: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”. Man needs one day of rest in seven, but it is not intended as a ‘straitjacket’.

He heals on the Sabbath

⁶Now it happened on a different Sabbath that He entered the synagogue and began to teach. Well there was a man there whose right hand was shriveled; ⁷so the scribes and the Pharisees started watching, to see if He would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against Him. ⁸But He knew their thoughts and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in the center.” So he got up and stood. ⁹Then Jesus said to them: “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”Instead of “to kill”, perhaps 10% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘to destroy’, as in almost all versions, since both the TR and the eclectic text follow the 10%.¹⁰And when He had looked around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” So he did that, and his hand was restored, as sound as the other.Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “as sound as the other” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

The rejection

¹¹But they were filled with rage,Filled by whom, or what? Only someone controlled by Satan could become furious over a good deed like that. and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Choosing the Twelve

¹²Now it happened in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God.Presumably He was making sure that He made the correct selection of twelve, taken from a larger group of followers. He certainly knew why He was including the Iscariot.¹³When it was day He called His disciples, and from them He chose twelve, whom He also named apostles:The basic meaning of the term was ‘messenger’, or ‘envoy’.¹⁴Simon (whom He also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Phillip and Bartholomew, ¹⁵Matthew and Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus) and Simon (the one called ‘Zealot’), ¹⁶Judas of James and Judas Iscariot (who also became ‘traitor’).Note the ‘became’—Judas was doubtless just as sincere as the others when he joined up, and won everyone’s confidence to the extent that he was made treasurer. It was only toward the end that he ‘became’ a traitor.

A sermon on a level placeAlthough similar to the ‘sermon on the mount’ recorded by Matthew, this is clearly a different time and place. During His ministry the Lord doubtless repeated His basic concepts over and over.

¹⁷Then He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, also from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, ¹⁸as well as those who were being harassed by unclean spirits—and they were being healed! ¹⁹So the whole crowd kept trying to touch Him, because power was going out from Him and was healing all.The crowd would be constantly shifting, because those who were healed would back off to make room for others.

Blessings

²⁰Then He raised His eyes toward His disciples and said:

“Blessed are you poor,

because the Kingdom of God is yours.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,

because you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now,

because you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you whenever men hate you,

and whenever they exclude you and heap insults on you

and trash your name as ‘malignant’,As someone has said, ‘A man is known by his enemies’. for the Son of the Man’s sake.

²³Rejoice in that day and skip about!Well, you know, I can almost manage to ‘rejoice’ in theory, but to ‘skip about’ is physical—that is harder to pretend. Because your reward really is great in Heaven; for that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

Woes

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich!

because you have already received your comfort.

²⁵Woe to you who are full!

because you will go hungry.

Woe to you who are presently laughing!

because you will mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe, when all men speak well of you;

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets!

Instructions

²⁷“Further, to you who are listeningAre you ‘listening’? Really? I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.People who do these things are being used by Satan; they need to be delivered, and this is done in the spiritual realm.²⁹To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other;Do not use physical violence to respond to physical violence—but we can use our spiritual authority. Animals must resort to force, but Adam was given dominion over the animals, which presumably was not exercised with physical force—we should not lower ourselves to the animal level; but Satan tries to trick us into doing so. If someone lashes out in anger, turning the other cheek should shame him. and from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold the tunic as well. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks of you;Presumably this does not refer to professional beggars (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but to someone overtaken by adversity who needs temporary help, someone you know who is part of the community. and from him who takes away your things, do not demand them back. ³¹Yes, like you want people to treat you, that is just how you must treat them.This is the so-called ‘golden rule’—if everyone did this the world would be a better place.³²Also, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. ³³And if you do good to those doing good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do the same. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect to get it back, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, to receive an equal value back.

Be compassionate

³⁵“So, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High;I take the point to be that the behavior described indicates that the person already is a ‘son’ of the Most High. As it says in Ephesians 2:8-10, we do good works because we are saved, not in order to become so. because He is kind toward the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶So be compassionate, even as your Father is compassionate.Only if you have the Holy Spirit can you even come close to following the Father’s example.

We get what we give

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give and it will be given to you: a good measure—pressed down and shaken together and running over—will they deposit in your lap.‘They’ refers to human beings, not to God. Because with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you.”

³⁹Then He told them a parable: “Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.This is an important point; it takes time to become ‘fully trained’. No one becomes like Jesus in a hurry.⁴¹Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye?Even a speck in the eye is very uncomfortable, making it hard to use that eye. An eye with a ‘plank’ would be useless, totally blind, so in effect Jesus is repeating the question, “Can a blind man guide?” On the other hand, a ‘plank’ is so large that one can grab it and remove it without sight. Unfortunately there are a lot of ‘blind’ teachers who don’t think they are, and they do untold damage to their students.⁴²Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

A tree is known by its fruit

⁴³“Now no good tree produces rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree produce good fruit ⁴⁴—each tree is known by its own fruit: people do not gather figs from thorn bushes, nor do they pick a bunch of grapes from a bramble. ⁴⁵The good man produces the good out of the good treasure in his heart, and the malignant man produces the malignant out of the malignant treasure in his heart; because his mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart.This whole paragraph is really about people, not plants, thus the term ‘rotten’.

Two foundations

⁴⁶“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I say?This is presumably one of the questions that will be on the Final Test.⁴⁷Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them—I will show you who he is like: ⁴⁸he is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the bedrock. When a flood occurred, the torrent burst upon that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on the bedrock.Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “because it was built well”, instead of “because it was founded on the bedrock” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). If the bedrock refers to the Lord Jesus and His teaching, then this alteration is bad.⁴⁹But he who heard and did nothingNotice the change in tense: ‘hears and does’ changes to ‘heard and did nothing’. The second person heard the Truth, but rejected it, and so is without excuse. is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

The faith of a centurion

¹Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. ²Well a certain centurion’s slave, who was valuable to him, was sick and about to die. ³So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and rescue his slave. ⁴And when they came to Jesus they started pleading earnestly with Him, saying that the one for whom He would do this was worthy, ⁵“Because he loves our nation, and he himself built our synagogue.” ⁶So Jesus went with them.

But when He was no longer far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. ⁷In fact I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.This event is not the same as that recorded in Matthew 8:5-13. For a discussion please see the Appendix: “Did the centurion leave his house?”. Just say a word and my servant will be healed; ⁸because I also am a man placed under authority,He was part of a chain of command, with people both above and beneath him. Whereas he had military authority, he understood that Jesus had spiritual authority—all He had to do was speak. So how about us? having soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does.”

⁹Well upon hearing these things Jesus marveled at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith!”If Jesus were here today, He could say the same thing about almost all churches.¹⁰When those who were sent returned to the house they found that the slave who had been sick was well.

A widow’s son raised

¹¹Now it happened on the next day that He went to a town called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him, also a large crowd. ¹²But as He approached the town gate, mercy, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her He had compassion on herShe needed compassion; her situation was desperate, with no means of support. and said to her, “Don’t cry!” ¹⁴And advancing He took hold of the bier and the bearers stood still. Then He said, “Young man, to you I say, get up!”Jesus was always specific when He brought someone back from the dead, so as not to empty the graveyard.¹⁵So the dead man sat up and began to talk! Yes, He gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶Fear took hold of all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” ¹⁷And this report about Him went throughout Judea, as well as all the surrounding region.Nain is in Galilee, but besides the surrounding region the report of this particular miracle made it to Judea as well.

Messengers from John

¹⁸Then the disciples of John informed him about all these things. ¹⁹And summoning a certain two of his disciples, John sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?”John was puzzled and disillusioned. If Jesus was the Messiah, why was he, John, in prison? Why didn’t Jesus set up His Kingdom and deliver John? Everyone was looking for the Messianic Kingdom to be set up forthwith (see 19:11).²⁰When the men had come to Him, they said: “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?’ ” ²¹Well in that very hour He healed many from diseases and torments and malignant spirits, and to many blind He granted sight. ²²So in answer Jesus said to them: “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind regain sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, dead are raised, the poor are evangelized.“The poor are evangelized”—what the poor (and everyone else) need most is salvation and a new life, not a free distribution of wealth.²³And, blessed is he who does not take offense at me!”Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations, and the same thing happens to us, from time to time, but we had better keep the proper perspective.

Jesus praises John

²⁴Now when John’s messengers had departed, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to observe, a reed being shaken by the wind? ²⁵But what did you go out to see, a man clothed in soft garments? Really, those with gorgeous apparel and living in luxury are in palaces. ²⁶But what did you go out to see, a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet. ²⁷This is he about whom it is written:

‘Take note, I am sending my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.’See Malachi 3:1.

²⁸Further, I tell you that among those born of women there is no greater prophetPerhaps 14% of the Greek manuscripts omit “prophet”, to be followed by most modern versions, but the difference in meaning is significant. Jesus did not say, ‘no greater person’. than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”I find this statement to be puzzling; is John not part of the Kingdom? If John is not, then none of the OT saints is either.

²⁹(When all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)John’s baptism was based on repentance, but self-righteous people would consider that they did not need it.

Inconsistency of the Pharisees

³¹“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and to what are they similar? ³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we mourned to you, and you did not cry.’

³³Because John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴The Son of the Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Just look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵Still, by all her children wisdom is justified.”In other words, the Pharisees were not children of ‘wisdom’.

A lesson in forgiveness

³⁶Then one of the Pharisees invited Him to eat with Him,This was not a friendly invitation. so He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined. ³⁷But then, a woman in the town who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster flask of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping,He was reclining on a ‘couch’ with His head in toward the table, so His feet were ‘available’. she began to wet His feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head; and she kept kissing His feetTo do all of this she would have to be kneeling. She started by standing, and probably waited a minute to see if anyone would object. and anointing them with the perfume.This is a moving picture. She was ashamed and distressed, because of what she was, but she desperately wanted to change, and she saw in Jesus the way out.

³⁹Now as the Pharisee who had invited Him observed this, he was saying to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him, including what sort of woman she is—because she is a sinner!”Evidently the woman was well known to the locals.⁴⁰So Jesus reacted by saying to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Teacher, say on.” ⁴¹“A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²And when they had no way to repay, he freely forgave them both. Now tell me, which of them will love him more?” ⁴³So Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one to whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

⁴⁴Then He turned toward the woman and said to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since the time I came in. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. ⁴⁷For this reason, I say to you, her many sins have been forgiven, because she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

⁴⁸Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹The other recliners began to say within themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go into peace.”That is what the Text says, ‘into’ not ‘in’—from then on her life would be different, one characterized by peace. She got what she so desperately wanted.

Jesus takes the offensive

Women provide for Jesus

¹Now it happened after this that He started going around town by town, village by village, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him; ²also certain women who had been healed of malignant spirits and infirmities: Mary (the one called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had gone out; ³and Joanna the wife of Chuza, an official of Herod; and Susanna, and many others—these were providing for HimThe Greek manuscripts are divided between ‘him’ and ‘them’ (I follow the best line of transmission), which in practice would amount to the same thing—since He would not eat alone, any providing would have to include the twelve. from their substance.

Parable of the soils

⁴Now when a large crowd had gathered, with people coming to Him from town after town, He spoke by a parable: ⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed some fell along the road, and it got trampled, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶And some fell on the rock ledge, and upon sprouting it withered, because it had no moisture. ⁷And some fell among thorns, and springing up together the thorns choked it. ⁸The rest fell into the good ground, and growing up it produced fruit a hundredfold.” Upon saying these things He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The purpose of parables

⁹Then His disciples asked Him saying, “What does this parable mean?” ¹⁰So He said: “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest only in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’See Isaiah 6:9. The Lord plainly states that He used parables so that people would not understand. It follows that doctrine should never be based on a parable—however, if the parable is explained, the explanation may be used.

The parable of the soils explained

¹¹“Now here is the parable: The seed is the Word of God. ¹²Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, in order that they not be saved, having believed.The Lord here states a terrible truth: Satan has access to the human mind. See also 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.¹³Those on the rock ledge are the ones who, whenever they hear, receive the word with joy; yet these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of testing fall away.Note that with the exception of those along the road all the seeds germinate—there is life.¹⁴Now that which fell into the thorns: these are the ones who heard, yet as they go they are choked by cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵But that on the good ground: these are the ones who having heard the word with a noble and good heart, hold on to it and produce fruit with perseverance.”

All will be exposed

¹⁶Upon saying these things He called out: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!Most (if not all) versions omit “Upon saying these things He called out: He who has ears to hear let him hear!” following 45% of the Greek manuscripts. I follow the best line of transmission, which is part of the 55% here. Jesus was calling attention to what He was about to say. No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but he sets it on a lamp stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ¹⁷Further, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything concealed that will not be made known and come into the open. ¹⁸So be careful how you hear:Spiritual growth is like going up an incline on a bicycle with no brakes; if you stop pedaling, you start going backwards. Either we grow, or we start losing what we have. There is no standing still. So be careful how you hear! Because whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

Relationships redefined

¹⁹Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and they could not get near Him because of the crowd. ²⁰And it was told Him by some saying, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” ²¹But in answer He said to them, “My mother and my brothers are these, the ones who hear the word of God and do it!”Our primary commitment should be to Christ and His Kingdom, not to our physical family. There are times when the Kingdom ‘trumps’ family.

Jesus stills a storm

²²Now it happened on one of those days that He got into a boat with His disciples; and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. ²³But as they sailed He fell asleep. A windstorm descended on the lake, and they were being swamped and were in jeopardy. ²⁴So they came and awakened Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves of water—and they stopped, and there was a calm!Agitated water does not calm down immediately, even if the cause stops, so there was a double miracle here—Jesus undid the consequences of the wind.²⁵So He said to them, “Where is your faith?”In other words, He is telling them that they could, and should, have done something about it themselves. Had we been there, would we have done any better? But being terrified they marveled, saying to each other: “Who can this be?This puzzles me; after all the miracles they had seen, they still wonder who Jesus is! Well, maybe controlling nature is in a ‘higher league’ than controlling sickness and demons. Still, what were the options: human, angel (good or bad), or God. Because He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him!”

Jesus handles demon infestation

²⁶Then they sailed to the district of the Gadarenes,The eclectic text currently in vogue, following just 4 Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, against 1,700, reads ‘Gerasenes’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, etc.). For a full discussion of this question please see the Appendix: “The ‘Legion’ and the pigs; where was it?” which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷Well when He stepped out on the land, a certain man of that town met Him, who had had demons for a long time—he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but among the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus he gave a yell, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice he said: “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?The disciples may not have known who Jesus was, but the demons did! I beg you, don’t torment me!” ²⁹because He had commanded the unclean spirit to get out of the man (it had seized him many times—he would be bound with chains and shackles, being kept under guard; then bursting the bonds he would be driven by the demon into deserted places). ³⁰Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”I assume that Jesus knew the demon’s name without asking, so why did He ask? I would say that He wanted it to be part of the Record, to teach us that demon infestation can and does occur. And he said, “Legion” (because many demons had gone into him). ³¹And heThe boss demon does most of the talking, representing his cohort. kept imploring Him that He would not order them to go away into the Abyss.The Text has ‘the Abyss’, presumably the same one mentioned in Revelation 20:3. The demons knew something that most of us do not.

³²Now a herd of many pigs was feeding there on the hillside; and they started begging Him that He would allow them to go into those; so He gave them permission. ³³Then the demons exited the man and entered the pigs—and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned!I very much doubt that the demons engineered that reaction; it would have been counterproductive, leaving them without a ‘home’. Animals often show more good sense than do humans, and they may have preferred death to demons. (And I suppose it is possible that Jesus Himself commanded the action, since pork was proscribed for God’s people.)

³⁴Well when the herders saw what had happened they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. ³⁵So they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus; they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.With good reason; a supernatural power was at work, obviously.³⁶Also, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demonized man was healed. ³⁷Then the whole multitude from the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, because they were overcome by fear.The loss of all those pigs was a severe economic blow. So He got into the boat and returned.And apparently He never went back; they had had their chance.

³⁸Now the man from whom the demons had gone out had started begging Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹“Return to your house and recount how much God has done for you.” So he went his way and proclaimed all over town how much Jesus had done for him.‘How much God’ becomes ‘how much Jesus’, which amounts to the same thing. The man witnessed to such good effect that many in that area believed.

A desperate father

⁴⁰Now it happened, when Jesus returned, that the crowd welcomed Him, because they were all waiting for Him.If you go around doing what Jesus did, you become public property.⁴¹And then, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue; he fell down at Jesus’ feet and started begging Him to come to his house, ⁴²because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying.

A desperate woman

Now as He was going, the crowds were pressing against Him. ⁴³And a woman—suffering with a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent her whole livelihood on physicians, but could not be healed by any— ⁴⁴approaching from behind touched the border of His garment; and immediately the flow of her blood stopped! ⁴⁵So Jesus said, “Who touched me?”He was referring to a purposeful touch. When all denied it, Peter and those with him said: “Master, the people are pressing against you and crowding in, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, because I noticed power going out from me.” ⁴⁷Now when the woman saw that she could not hide, she came trembling, and falling down before Him she told Him in the presence of all the peopleThat was not easy, but she was desperate. the reason why she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately. ⁴⁸So He said: “Courage, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go into peace.”Again, ‘into’ not ‘in’. Her life was now going to be different. Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “courage” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

Jesus raises a dead girl

⁴⁹While He was still speaking, here came someone from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying to him: “Your daughter has died. Don’t bother the teacher.” ⁵⁰But upon hearing it Jesus reacted by saying to him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe and she will be healed.” ⁵¹When He arrived at the house, He allowed no one to go in except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother. ⁵²Now all were weeping and mourning for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” ⁵³They started ridiculing Him, knowing that she had died. ⁵⁴So He put them all outside, andPerhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “put them all outside, and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). grasping her hand He called, saying, “Child, arise!” ⁵⁵Then her spirit returned, and she got right up! And He directed that she be given something to eat.Nothing like being practical!⁵⁶Her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.Of course that would be difficult, because all the people who knew the girl had died would see her going about normally, and would want an explanation.

Jesus sends out the Twelve

¹Then He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons,“Over all the demons”—evidently, during their tour no demon resisted them, which contrasts with Luke 9:40. and to cure diseases; ²and He sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³And He said to them: “Take nothing for the journey—neither staffsPerhaps 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘staffs’ as singular, to be followed by most modern versions. In Matthew 10:10 it is 5%. But to put the singular here and in Matthew contradicts Mark 6:8, where all texts have “only a staff”. In Luke and Matthew the vast majority of the Greek manuscripts read “neither staffs”, which does not contradict Mark—the case of the staffs is analogous to that of the tunics; they were to take only one, not several. nor knapsack nor bread nor money, neither have two tunics apiece. ⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there, and depart from there. ⁵But as many as do not receive you, when you depart from that town, shake off even the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶So they set out and went around, village by village, evangelizing and healing everywhere.

Herod is troubled

⁷Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all the things being done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, ⁸and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. ⁹But Herod said, “John I beheaded; so who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he started trying to see Him.But apparently he never succeeded until the very end, and even then only thanks to Pilate (Luke 23:6-12).

Jesus feeds about 5,000 men

¹⁰When the Apostles returned they reported to Him all that they had done. Then He took them and withdrew privately to a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida.Instead of “a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida”, 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have “a town called Bethsaida” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Problem: the eclectic text currently in vogue, along with the modern versions that follow it, has Jesus and company going into the town of Bethsaida, but in verse 12 the disciples say they are in a deserted area; thus a contradiction is introduced. The eclectic text here is also at variance with itself in the parallel passages. In Matthew 14:13 all texts have Jesus going to a deserted place, and in verse 15 the disciples say, “the place is deserted… send the crowd away to the towns.” In Mark 6:31-32 all texts have Him going to a deserted place, and in verse 35 the disciples say it is a deserted place, etc. So the eclectic text not only makes Luke contradict himself, but sets him against Matthew and Mark—and this on the basis of only half a percent of the manuscripts! But there is more to the story. From the parallel accounts it appears that He embarked at Capernaum. From John 6:23 we learn that the destination was near Tiberias. Capernaum and Tiberias are both on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, but there is a large bay between them; so they went over several miles of water. The crowd was not about to let Jesus get away. Mark makes clear that they ran along the shore—the faster runners stayed even with the boat and were waiting on the shore when the boat put in. The others were spread out behind for several miles (like in a marathon) and kept arriving. Any late starters would see the stragglers and could easily follow the action. Apparently He immediately started to heal the sick and went on to teach (Matthew 14:14, Mark 6:34). But just where was it? John says it was near Tiberias, but Luke 9:10 says it was “a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida”. I assume that the place was indeed near Tiberias but did indeed belong to Bethsaida—either it had been deeded to the town somehow or the family that owned it was based in Bethsaida. Any near neighbors could not use it, so it was basically untouched—a great place for a picnic. After the feeding, Mark 6:45 says that “He made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida”. So why did Jesus send the disciples to Bethsaida? Perhaps it was to give an accounting to the owner of the place where the multitude was fed—15,000 people can make quite a mess. (I suspect that Jesus had permission to use the place when He wanted to get away, but no one had foreseen such a crowd as that.) From Matthew and Mark I gather that from Bethsaida Jesus went directly to Genesaret, spending the minimum time necessary in Bethsaida.¹¹But the crowds, being aware, followed Him. So He received them and started speaking to them about the Kingdom of God, and He cured those who needed healing.

¹²Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve approached and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go to the surrounding villages and their farms, lodge and find food; because we are in a deserted place here.” ¹³But He said to them, “You feed them!”Please, with what?! The only way the disciples could have obeyed this command would be by a miracle similar to what Jesus proceeded to perform. But they were not up to it. Are we? So they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd” ¹⁴(there were about five thousand men). But He said to His disciples, “Make them recline in groups of fifty!” ¹⁵They did so, making them all recline. ¹⁶Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. ¹⁷So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the pieces they left were taken up.The collecting was probably done by others, and in any case that leftover bread was used by others.

Jesus ministers on the basis of His impending death

“You are the Christ!”

¹⁸Now it happened, as He was alone praying, that the disciples joined Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the crowds say I am?” ¹⁹In answer they said, “John the Baptizer, but others say ‘Elijah,’ while others that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” ²⁰Then He said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” In answer Peter said, “The ChristSince they were speaking Hebrew, he said ‘Messiah’. of God!” ²¹But He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, ²²saying, “The Son of the Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

To gain is to lose, to lose is to gain

²³Then He said to everyone: “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross,Some 13% of the Greek manuscripts add ‘daily’, as in most versions. and follow me. ²⁴Because whoever desires to ‘save’ his life will waste it, but whoever ‘wastes’ his life for my sake, he will save it.What the Lord is talking about is the potential one’s life represents. The only way not to throw away or waste your life is to live for the Kingdom.²⁵Further, what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, yet wastes or forfeits his very self? ²⁶Yes, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of the Man will be ashamed of Him, whenever He comes in the glory—His, and the Father’s, and of the holy angels.Revelation 21:8 says that a coward does not enter the Kingdom. In Matthew 10:33 Jesus said that He will deny before the Father whoever denies Him before men. To cave in under pressure is definitely not to be recommended.²⁷However, I tell you truly: there are some standing here who will certainly not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God!”

Peter, John and James see the ‘Kingdom’

²⁸Now about eight days after these words, it happened that He took along Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And as He prayed, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing dazzling white. ³⁰And then, two men started talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah; ³¹they appeared in glory and were explaining His ‘departure’, that He was about to bring to fruition in Jerusalem.Evidently they communicated the details of the game plan.

³²Now Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; but becoming fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men who stood with Him. ³³Then it happened: as they were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus: “Master, it is good for us to be here” and “Should we make three shelters: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah?”So how did Peter know who they were?—not knowing what he was saying. ³⁴But as he was saying this a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they became afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵And a VoicePeter never forgot that VOICE (2 Peter 1:16). In effect, the Father was rebuking Peter for speaking out of turn. The Voice was not happy! came out of the cloud, saying: “This is my belovedInstead of ‘beloved’, perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘chosen’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Son. Listen to Him!” ³⁶When the Voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. (They kept quiet and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.)Jesus commanded them not to mention anything until after the resurrection (Mark 9:9).

A violent demon

³⁷Now it happened on the next day, when they came down from the mountain,They spent a night up there. that a large crowd met Him. ³⁸And then, a man from the crowd called out, saying: “Teacher, I beg you, look upon my son, for he is my only begotten. ³⁹And oh, a spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams, and it convulses him with foaming, and it hardly departs from him, destroying him! ⁴⁰And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” ⁴¹Then in answer Jesus said: “O unbelieving and perverseWhy “perverse”? To reject the truth and the evidence is to be perverse. This word was presumably directed to the disciples, who should have known better by now. So how about us—are we living on the basis of the truth and the evidence? Really? generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you (pl)? Bring your (sg) son here!” ⁴²But while he was still coming the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. ⁴³Everyone was amazed at the majestyWhy ‘the majesty’? I don’t know. of God.

Jesus foretells His death, again

But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁴“Let these words sink into your ears, because the Son of the Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.”Moses and Elijah had delivered the game plan, and Jesus immediately starts warning the disciples.⁴⁵But they did not understand this saying; indeed it was concealed from them,Concealed by whom? Presumably not by God, as attested by the immediately following argument. in order that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

He who is least will be great

⁴⁶Then an argument started among them as to which of them would be the greatest. ⁴⁷So Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their heart, took a little child and had him stand beside Him, ⁴⁸and said to them: “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me. Further, he who is least among all of you, he will be great.”

John changes the subject

⁴⁹Then John reacted by saying, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” ⁵⁰So Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid, because he who is not against us is for us.”Instead of ‘us is for us’, perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘you is for you’.

A Samaritan village

⁵¹Now it happened, as the days for His Ascension approached,Why did Luke put “ascension” rather than ‘death’ or ‘resurrection’? I don’t know, but I find it interesting. Hebrews 12:2 says that He endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. that He set His face to go to Jerusalem, ⁵²and He sent messengers ahead of Him. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for Him. ⁵³But they did not receive Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴Well, when His disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and consume them, just like Elijah did?”About 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “just like Elijah did” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). No wonder Jesus called them ‘sons of thunder’ (Mark 3:17).⁵⁵But He turned and rebuked them saying: “You do not know of what sort of spirit you are. ⁵⁶Further, the Son of the Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save.”Some 27% of the Greek manuscripts omit “saying: ‘You do not know of what sort of spirit you are. Further, the Son of the Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save’ ”, to be followed by most modern versions. The 73% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. And they went to another village.

The cost of discipleship

⁵⁷Now as they journeyed on the road, it happened that someone said to Him, “Lord,Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Lord” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸So Jesus said to him, “The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of the Man has no place to lay His head.”Jesus does not offer comfort and a ‘good time’.

⁵⁹Then He said to another, “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”Dear me, how unfeeling! Those who are not committed to Christ and His Kingdom are as good as dead, and a true disciple of Jesus must not allow himself to be held back by such. Of course such an attitude will not be understood by the ‘dead’, but the disciple needs to side with the Kingdom. What if that father had lived for another ten years? If you put off doing God’s will for things like that, you may wind up never doing it.

⁶¹And another also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first allow me to bid farewell to those who are at my house.”If you go back to say goodbye, they will cry and carry on and do all they can to make you change your mind.⁶²But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to ‘the plow’ and looks back is suitable for the Kingdom of God.”Again, the Lord is calling for total commitment.

Jesus sends out the SeventyWhereas the Twelve had been sent two by two to Galilee, the Seventy were sent to Judea.

¹Now after these things, the Lord appointed seventyPerhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, add “two” (as in NIV, LB, TEV, etc.), (also in verse 17). others also, and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He Himself was about to go. ²Then He said to them: “The harvest is indeed great, but the workers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send out workers into His harvest.

³“Go! Yes, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Do not carry a purse, nor a knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.I assume that the Lord assigned a specific town to each pair, and they were instructed to get there as fast as they could.⁵Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they offer, because the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house.Now why would anyone think of moving around? Presumably they would be thinking of better food or more comfort. Such an attitude would certainly detract from the Message.

⁸“And into whatever town you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. ⁹Heal the sick therein and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰But into whatever town you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say: ¹¹‘Even the dust of your town that clings to us we wipe off against you. Nonetheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹²I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that town.

Jesus gives the example

¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Because if the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴Nevertheless it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgment than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, who are ‘exalted to heaven’, will be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶“He who listens to you listens to me, and he who rejects you rejects me;To represent Christ is a great privilege, but also a great responsibility. but he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me!”

The Seventy return and report

¹⁷Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸So He said to them: “I watched Satan fall like lightning out of heaven.A most interesting comment! Clearly Jesus is referring to a time before His incarnation—He knew He was Jehovah the Son.¹⁹Take note, I am givingInstead of ‘am giving’, perhaps 2.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘have given’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.)—a serious error. Jesus said this perhaps five months before His death and resurrection, addressing the seventy (not just the twelve). The Lord is talking about the future, not the past; a future that includes us! you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions,The Lord gives us the authority to “trample snakes and scorpions”. Well now, to smash the literal insect, a scorpion, you don’t need power from on High, just a slipper (if you’re fast you can do it barefoot). To trample a snake I prefer a boot, but we can kill literal snakes without supernatural help. It becomes obvious that Jesus was referring to something other than reptiles and insects. I understand Mark 16:18 to be referring to the same reality—Jesus declares that certain signs will accompany the believers (the turn of phrase virtually has the effect of commands): they will expel demons, they will speak strange languages, they will remove ‘snakes’, they will place hands on the sick. (“If they drink…” is not a command; it refers to an eventuality.) But what did the Lord Jesus mean by ‘snakes’? In a list of distinct activities Jesus has already referred to demons, so the ‘snakes’ must be something else. In Matthew 12:34 Jesus called the Pharisees a ‘brood of vipers’, and in 23:33, ‘snakes, brood of vipers’. In John 8:44, after they claimed God as their father, Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil”. And 1 John 3:10 makes clear that Satan has many other ‘sons’. In Revelation 20:2 we read: “He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is a slanderer, even Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years.” If Satan is a snake, then his children are also snakes. So then, I take it that our ‘snakes’ are human beings who chose to serve Satan, who sold themselves to evil. I conclude that the ‘snakes’ in Luke 10:19 are the same as those in Mark 16:18, but what of the ‘scorpions’? Since they also are of the enemy, they may be demons, in which case the term may well include their offspring, the humanoids [see my paper, “In the Days of Noah”, available from www.prunch.org]. I am still working on the question of just how the removal is done. and over all the power of the enemy,In Matthew 28:18 Sovereign Jesus affirms that He holds “all authority in heaven and on earth”, so He is clearly competent to delegate some of that authority to us. Now then, just how does “authority over all the power of the enemy” work, in practice? Authority controls power, but since we have access to God’s limitless power (Ephesians 3:20), we should not give Satan the satisfaction of our using his (and he could easily deceive us into doing things we shouldn’t). We should use our authority to forbid the use of Satan’s power, with reference to specific situations—in my experience, we must be specific. (I have tried binding Satan once for all until the end of the world, but it does not work; presumably because God’s plan calls for the enemy’s continued activity in this world. We can limit what the enemy does, but not put him completely out of business, or so I deem.) But just how should we go about it? In the armor described in Ephesians 6 we find “the sword of the Spirit” (verse 17). A sword is a weapon for offense, although it is also used for defense. The Text tells us that this sword is “the ρημα of God”—ρημα, not λογος. It is God’s Word spoken, or applied. Really, what good is a sword left in its sheath? However marvelous our Sword may be (Hebrews 4:12), to produce effect it must come out of the scabbard. The Word needs to be spoken, or written—applied in a specific way. In the Bible we have many examples where people brought the power of God into action by speaking. Our world began with a creative word from God—spoken (Genesis, 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; and see Hebrews 11:3). Moses did a lot of speaking. Elijah spoke (1 Kings 17:1, 18:36, 2 Kings 1:10). Elisha spoke (2 Kings 2:14, 21, 24; 4:16, 43; 6:19). Jesus did a great deal of speaking. Ananias spoke (Acts 9:17). Peter spoke (Acts 9:34, 40). Paul spoke (Acts 13:11; 14:3, 10; 16:18; 20:10; 28:8). In short, we need to speak! and nothing at all may harm you. ²⁰However, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”Yes indeed, nothing compares to having your name written in heaven!

Jesus worships His Father

²¹In that same hour Jesus exulted in His spiritMost versions capitalize ‘Spirit’ and just over 3% of the Greek manuscripts state overtly, ‘the Holy Spirit’, but I take it that Jesus exulted in His own spirit. and said: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to ‘infants’. Yes, Father, because it pleased you to do so.”

²²And turning to the disciples He said:Some 10% of the Greek manuscripts omit “And turning to the disciples He said” (as in most versions), which confuses the quote. Jesus changes from addressing His Father to addressing the disciples. The clause is repeated at the beginning of verse 23, but ‘privately’ is added. “All things have been entrusted to me by my Father; also, no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and to whomever the Son may choose to reveal Him.” ²³Then turning to His disciplesShould we understand this as referring to the Twelve, or does it include the Seventy? I don’t know, but there were probably others as well who were following along. privately He said: “Blessed are the eyes that are seeing the things that you see; ²⁴for I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you are seeing but did not, and to hear what you are hearing but did not.”Yes indeed, the Twelve had a privilege not shared by anyone before or since, although ‘disciples’ may include more than the twelve.

How to inherit eternal life

²⁵And then, a certain lawyer stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶So He said to him: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷In answer he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and, your neighbor as yourself.”See Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18—to include the ‘neighbor’ he had to quote from a different book. Notice that Jesus agreed with him.²⁸So He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live!” ²⁹But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”Notice that the man skipped the most important part of his answer, about loving the Lord.

The good Samaritan

³⁰By way of reply Jesus said: “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and as it chanced he ran into robbers, who after having stripped and wounded him, departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked,The priest maintained his distance, but the Levite at least went close to the man for a better look, but then did nothing about it. and passed by on the other side. ³³But a certain Samaritan,The Lord’s choice of a ‘Samaritan’ was doubtless deliberate, since the Jews looked down on them. as he traveled, came by there, and upon seeing him was moved with compassion; ³⁴and going to him he bound up his wounds, applying oil and wine. Then he placed him on his own mount, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and should you spend more, I will repay you when I return.’ ³⁶So which of these three, would you say, was ‘neighbor’ to him who ran into the robbers?” ³⁷He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise!”Anyone who has been hit with a calamity is a candidate for needing a ‘neighbor’. What with floods, tornados, earthquakes, etc. there are plenty of candidates.

Martha and Mary

³⁸Now it happened as they traveled that He entered a certain village;Bethany. and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.Martha was presumably older than Mary.³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who actually sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His words. ⁴⁰Well Martha was distracted with much serving; so coming up she said: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Do please tell her to help me!” ⁴¹But in answer Jesus said to her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and agitated about many things, ⁴²but only one is needed.Apparently Martha was preparing a major meal, and the Lord told her that something simple would be fine. Although we may sympathize with Martha, Jesus defended Mary. However, Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

A model prayer

¹Then it happened, when He finished praying in a certain place, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” ²So He said to them: “Whenever you pray, say:

Our Father who is in the heavens,

your name must be reverenced.The verbs are Imperative, not Subjunctive, which is why I render ‘must’ rather than ‘may’.

Your Kingdom must come.

Your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven.Why ‘must’? I take the point to be that we are not trying to overcome any reluctance on God’s part; we are declaring our personal commitment to these things. When I declare that God’s Kingdom must come, I am agreeing to whatever part I am supposed to have in bringing it about.

³Give us day by day our daily bread.

⁴Also, forgive us our sins,

because we also forgive everyone indebted to us.

And, do not lead us into testing,

but deliver us from the malignant one.”Most modern versions, following a mere 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, seriously truncate this prayer by omitting: “Our … who is in the heavens … Your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven … but deliver us from the malignant one.” Some versions, like NIV and NASB, have a footnote saying that “some manuscripts” add this material. How can any honest person use ‘some’ to refer to 99% (1,600 X 16)? ‘The malignant one’ refers to Satan.

A request at midnight

⁵Then He said to them: “Who among you will have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶because a friend has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷and he will answer from within and say, ‘Don’t bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give to you?’ ⁸I say to you, even if he will not get up and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

⁹“So I say to you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰Because everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.I take it that the Lord is speaking generically here; He is not promising a 100% success rate.¹¹And which father among you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or ifJust four known Greek manuscripts (0.2%), of objectively inferior quality, demonstrably so, omit “bread will give him a stone? Or if” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? ¹³If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”Does this apply to true believers who have the indwelling Holy Spirit? Did this ‘rule’ change at Pentecost? If not, how does it apply to us today? Since ‘ask’ is in the present tense, perhaps it was occasion by occasion.

A divided house

¹⁴Then He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. As a result, when the demon had gone out the mute spoke! And the crowds marveled. ¹⁵But some of them said, “It’s by Beelzebul,The familiar spelling ‘Beelzebub’ was presumably brought over from the Latin, since all the Greek manuscripts have ‘Beelzebul’ (with variations). the ruler of the demons, that he casts out demons.” ¹⁶While others kept asking Him for a sign from heaven, testing.

¹⁷But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸So if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?—since you say I cast out demons by Beelzebul! ¹⁹Further, if I am casting out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?I find this question to be intriguing. Jesus is evidently saying that their sons do indeed cast out demons, so why don’t they also censure their sons? Or is the implication that Satan’s servants can appear to be casting out demons? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his possessions are safe. ²²But when someone stronger than he attacks, he overcomes him, takes away all his armor in which he trusted, and distributes his spoils.

²³“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.Notice that the Lord does not allow for neutrality; either you are for Him, or against Him. Even what we do is not neutral; if we are not gathering, we are scattering.

An empty house

²⁴“Whenever an unclean spirit goes out from a man,The Lord does not say why the spirit left. If it had been expelled by someone who knew how to send it to the Abyss, it could not come back. it passes through waterless places seeking rest; and not finding any it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ ²⁵And coming it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and picks up seven other spirits, more malignant than itself, and they go in and live there; so the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”Although we certainly have the authority to expel demons from people, if the person we help does not then commit himself to Jesus, he remains an empty house, vulnerable to something worse. We need to deal fairly with people, explaining what is involved.

True blessedness

²⁷And then, as He was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” ²⁸But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”Since the Text declares the Virgin Mary to be blessed, Jesus was not denying that blessedness. To hear and obey God’s Word is even more blessed. The basic meaning of the verb I translated ‘obey’ is to guard or protect. I wonder if there is a special blessing for those who defend God’s Word.

Jonah is a sign

²⁹Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say: “This is a malignant generation. It keeps wanting a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ³⁰Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of the Man be to this generation. ³¹The queen of the South will be raised up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. ³²The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.Notice that Jesus declares Himself to be greater than Solomon and Jonah (a king and a prophet). Notice also that He declares the historicity of the book of Jonah.

Light inside the body

³³“No one, having lit a lamp, puts it in hiding or under a basket, but on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ³⁴The lamp of the body is the eye.Of course we have two eyes, but the Text has “eye” in the singular. I take it that the reference is to the way we interpret what we see (which is our real ‘eye’)—two people, one pure and one vile, observing the same scene will give very different interpretations to it. ‘Malignant’ means aggressively evil. Someone with a malignant mind will give an evil interpretation to everything he sees, and in consequence his being will be filled with unrelenting darkness. See Titus 1:15. Therefore, whenever your ‘eye’ is good, your whole body is illuminated. But when it is malignant, your body also is darkened. ³⁵So see to it that the ‘light’ in you not be darkness. ³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, not having any part dark, the whole will be illuminated, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

Jesus derides scribes and Pharisees

³⁷Now as He spoke, a certain Pharisee invited Him to eat with him. So He went in and reclined. ³⁸But the Pharisee, noticing that He did not first wash before the meal, was critical.The leaders had already rejected Jesus and were planning to kill Him, so He knew this was not a friendly invitation. He accepted the invitation with the clear purpose to provoke a confrontation.³⁹So the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of greed and malignancy. ⁴⁰Fools! Did not He who made the outside also make the inside? ⁴¹Nevertheless, give what is possible as alms; then indeed all things are clean to you.At first glance this statement seems difficult, but because they were filled with greed, for them to give away as much as possible would represent a major change in their values. Zacchaeus offers a case in point: the Lord Himself declared that he was saved (Luke 19:8-9).

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you ignore justice and the love of God. These it was necessary to do, without leaving those undone. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seat in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.) You are like unperceived graves, that people walk on without knowing it.”

Jesus derides lawyers

⁴⁵Then one of the lawyers reacted and said to him, “Teacher, by saying these things you insult us also!” ⁴⁶So He said: “Woe to you lawyers also!Notice that Jesus makes no effort to conciliate them. You load men down with burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ⁴⁷Woe to you! You restore the tombs of the prophets, it being your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸Thereby you witness to and approve of the deeds of your fathers; because they indeed killed them, while you restore their tombs.The context suggests ‘restore’ rather than ‘build’, since those prophets had been dead for centuries; if a grave had not been adequately marked, there would be no way of knowing where to build.⁴⁹Also, because of this ‘the wisdom of God’In 1 Corinthians 1:24 Paul refers to Christ as ‘the wisdom of God’. In Matthew 23:34 Jesus said, “I send you prophets,” so here Jesus may be referring to Himself as ‘the wisdom of God’. said: ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah,If the reference is to Zechariah the prophet, his death is not recorded in Scripture, but the temple was rebuilt in his day, so he could have died there. who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation!Guilt accumulates. Often a subsequent generation pays.⁵²Woe to you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge;Hosea 4:6 reads, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge … Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Notice the awful price paid by the children! Are today’s ‘doctors of the law’ not guilty of the same thing? you yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering!”They were really perverse. If they did not want to go in themselves, that was their choice; but to try to stop others was really perverse!

⁵³Well when He had said these things to them,Instead of “Well when He had said these things to them”, perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “and when He left there” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.) the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge Him on vehemently and to cross-examine Him about many things, ⁵⁴lying in wait for Him, trying to catch Him in something He might say, so that they might accuse Him.Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “so that they might accuse Him” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.)

Beware of hypocrisy

¹Meanwhile, when a crowd of thousandsThat is what the Text says, ‘thousands’. had converged, so that they were stepping on each other, He began to speak first to His disciples: “Guard yourselves from the ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ²There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ³Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.When you think about that does it make you feel uncomfortable?

Don’t fear assassins

⁴“Further, I say to you, my friends: do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵Rather, I will advise you whom you should fear—fear Him who after He kills has authority to cast into Gehenna;‘Gehenna’ was a euphemism for Hell, or the Lake of Fire. One’s eternal destiny is far more important than a ‘premature’ physical death. yes indeed, fear Him! ⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?The Greek term here is assaria. Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷Even the hairs of your head are all numbered! So do not be afraid; you are far more valuable than sparrows!Maybe that is why “the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). [How many ‘lions’ do you know?]

You confess Christ, He’ll confess you

⁸“Also I say to you, whoever claims me before men, the Son of the Man will also claim him before the angels of God. ⁹But whoever disclaims me before men will be disclaimed before the angels of God.Revelation 21:8 includes the ‘cowardly’ among those destined for the Lake of Fire. When persecution comes for being a Christian, the cowardly will cave in and disclaim the Lord.¹⁰Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of the Man, it can be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven. ¹¹Now whenever they bring you before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what you will answer, or what you should say. ¹²Because the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you need to say.”This advice is presumably for martyrs, not preachers, but don’t you wish that more preachers would listen to the Holy Spirit?

Beware of materialism

¹³Then someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But He said to him, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter over you?” ¹⁵Then He said to them, “Keep alert and guard against covetousness, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”Christians who live in materialistic societies tend to forget this important truth.

Parable of a rich fool

¹⁶Then He told them a parable, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man produced well. ¹⁷And he reasoned within himself saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸Then he said: ‘This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my produce and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and enjoy yourself!’ ²⁰But God said to him: ‘Stupid! This very night your life is being taken back from you;‘Taken back’—we have our life on loan, like a trust, and an accounting will be required. then who will get the things you have prepared?’ ²¹Just like that“Just like that” = “Stupid!” To be rich toward God is to invest in His Kingdom. is he who accumulates treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

The mentality of the Kingdom

²²Then He said to His disciples: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will wear. ²³Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storeroom nor barn, and God feeds them. You are far more valuable than the birds! ²⁵And who among you can add one cubit to his height by worrying? ²⁶So if you cannot do even such a little thing, why worry about the rest?

²⁷“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; I say to you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of these. ²⁸So if God so clothes the grass that today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into an oven, how much more you, O little-faiths! ²⁹Do not concentrate on what you may eat or what you may drink; do not be anxious. ³⁰All these things really occupy the nations of the world, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Rather, concentrate on the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be provided for you.Note that what is promised is just the basics—food, drink, covering. Everything we invest in the Kingdom will be on deposit in heaven.

³²“Do not fear, little flock, because it pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions and give to charity. Make for yourselves ‘purses’ that will not wear out, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where a thief cannot approach, nor a moth destroy. ³⁴Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.There is the crucial question: Where is your treasure?

Watchfulness enjoined

³⁵“Let your waists be belted and your lamps burning, ³⁶and you yourselves like men waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding celebration, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find watching when he comes. Assuredly I say to you that he will gird himself and have them recline, and will come and serve them.He is doubtless in a very good mood, and for his servants to have stayed awake for hours when they wanted to be in bed, just so they could receive him when he came—he probably figures they need some refreshment.³⁸And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those slaves. ³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰Therefore you also be ready, because the Son of the Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”Everyone who has predicted a date so far has had to eat humble pie. But being ready all the time is a different matter. The trouble is, it’s hard to stay ‘ready’ all the time.

⁴¹Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, are you directing this parable to us, or to everyone?”The Lord’s answer is indirect, but it includes everyone.⁴²So the Lord said: “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward whom his master will place over his household to give them the food allowance at the right time? ⁴³Blessed is that slave whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴I tell you truly that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.He was director of food services; if he proved faithful and competent there, he would be made general director.⁴⁵But if that servant should say in his heart, ‘My master won’t come for a while,’ and should begin to hit the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.What is involved here is two deaths: physical (cut in two) and spiritual—the ‘portion’ of unbelievers is the Lake of Fire.

⁴⁷“That servant who knew his master’s will, but neither got ready nor did according to that will, will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸But he who did not know, yet did things worthy of blows, will be beaten with few.Note that even sins done in ignorance are punished. However, the more one knows, the more severe the punishment. Everyone to whom much has been given, from him much will be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him much more will be asked.

Christ causes division

⁴⁹“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you imagine that I came to provide peace on the earth? Not at all, I tell you, but rather division.So why is He called the ‘Prince of Peace’? On several occasions, after healing someone, He said, “Go into peace” (not ‘in peace’). Jesus offers peace with God, but you must believe into Him in order to receive it.⁵²Because from now on there will be five in one house divided: three against two and two against three. ⁵³Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”This is precisely true.

Discern the time

⁵⁴Then He also said to the crowds: “Whenever you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and so it does. ⁵⁵And whenever a south wind blows, you say, ‘It will be hot,’ and it happens. ⁵⁶Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky and of the earth, so how can you not discern this time?To be able to discern what God is doing requires intimate relationship with Him.⁵⁷Also why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?Good question!

Pay your debts on time

⁵⁸“When you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him,The point seems to be that the ‘adversary’ has exhausted all other means of getting his money back; which would indicate a serious flaw in the character of the ‘debtor’. lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison. ⁵⁹I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny.”

Repent or perish

¹Now at that time there were some present who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Herod had mixed with their sacrifices. ²So in answer Jesus said to them: “Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? ³Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish! ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them; do you suppose they were worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem? ⁵Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish!”We never know when a tornado or earthquake may come our way; the best thing is to walk with God, and thus not have to fear a sudden exit.

Parable of a barren fig tree

⁶Then He told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷So he said to the gardener: ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and have not found any. Cut it down; just why must it waste the soil?’ ⁸But in answer he said to him, ‘Sir, let it be this year also, until I dig around it and apply fertilizer, ⁹in case it produces fruit—but if not, then cut it down.’ ”The Lord’s use of ‘three years’ is doubtless deliberate; He may well have been referring to His own ministry in Israel. In that event the owner would be the Father, and He Himself would be the gardener. The three years of public ministry He had already spent had not produced the desired fruit.

Jesus heals a woman bound by Satan

¹⁰Now as Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, ¹¹He saw a woman there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years—she was bent over and could not straighten up. ¹²So He called her overIn a synagogue the women were separated from the men, so He called her over to the men’s side. and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!” ¹³He placed His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and started glorifying God.

¹⁴But the ruler of the synagogue reacted with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, “There are six days in which one should work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath.”Of course the woman had not come to be healed; she came to worship God. It was the Lord’s initiative, so the ruler’s complaint was really directed at Him.¹⁵So the Lord answered him and said: “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water? ¹⁶So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom SatanBy using the enemy’s proper name, Jesus is declaring that it was actually Satan who was behind the problem. kept bound during eighteen long years, be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷When He said these things all His adversaries were put to shame, while all the crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

Two parables

¹⁸Then He said: “What is the Kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden; and it grew and became a sizable tree, and the birds of the air perched on its branches.”

²⁰Again He said: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? ²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

The narrow gate

²²He was traveling through various towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³Then someone said to Him, “Lord, are the ones being saved few?” So He said to them: ²⁴“Exert yourselves to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will try to enter and not manage it. ²⁵When once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ and in answer he will say to you, ‘I do not know you; where are you from?’ ²⁶then you will begin by saying, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷But he will say: ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’The Lord is stating plainly that there are many who think they are in the Kingdom, but actually are not.

²⁸“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out. ²⁹They will even come from the east, the west, the north and the south, and recline in the Kingdom of God. ³⁰Yes indeed, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

A word for Herod

³¹On that same day some Pharisees approached saying to Him, “Get out of here and go away, because Herod wants to kill you.”Those Pharisees may just have been trying to scare Jesus. The metaphor ‘fox’ was doubtless understood by His hearers, but we have since lost the relevant cultural information.³²He said to them: “Go tell that ‘fox’, ‘Take note, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third I will be perfected.’ ³³Nevertheless I must keep going today and tomorrow and the day following, because it is not credible that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem!

Jesus laments over Jerusalem

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, she who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵So then, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you that you will definitely not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”See Psalm 118:26. John 10:22-39 probably happened between verses 33 and 34 here. That ‘Feast of Dedication’ would have fallen on a Monday, December 17, 29. Here Jesus leaves Jerusalem, to return only at the ‘triumphal entry’.

Jesus heals a man with dropsy

¹Then it happened, when He entered the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they were watching Him closely. ²And then, there in front of Him was a man who had dropsy!It seems scarcely credible that such a person could have gotten in there by accident. The Pharisees were desperately looking for some way to accuse Him.³And Jesus reacted by saying to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ⁴But they kept silent. So He took hold of him, healed him, and let him go. ⁵Then He addressed them saying, “Which of you, if a sonInstead of ‘son’, some 26% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘donkey’ (as in TR, AV, NKJV). The 74% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. or an ox falls into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ⁶And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

A lesson about humility

⁷Then He told a parable to those who were invited, having observed how they kept trying for the best places, saying to them: ⁸“Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not recline in the place of honor, in case someone more honorable than you has been invited by him; ⁹then he who invited you both will come and say, ‘You, give this man place!’ and then, with shame, you start to take the lowest place.Of course; everyone else has been trying for the best place he can get, so by that time the only one left is the lowest!¹⁰Rather, whenever you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will have honor in the presence of your fellow guests. ¹¹Because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”This truth is repeated several times in Scripture.

¹²Then He said directly to His host: “Whenever you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. ¹³But whenever you make a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; ¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you—you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”You cannot take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

An unusual banquet

¹⁵Well when one of the fellow-recliners heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who will eat dinnerInstead of ‘dinner’, perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘bread’ (as in most versions). in the Kingdom of God!”Now there you have a nice, safe, pious-sounding statement! I suppose he was trying to change the subject.¹⁶So He said to him: “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷And at meal time he sent his slave to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him: ‘I bought a field, and I need to go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ ¹⁹Another said: ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ ²⁰Yet another said, ‘I have married a wife, and so I cannot come.’ ²¹So that slave came and reported these things to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²²And the slave said, ‘Master, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³Then the master said to the slave: ‘Go out to the roads and hedgesHedges were used to delimit fields, and there would often be a path along the outside of the hedge. First the slave was sent into the city, then out to the countryside. and make people come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet!’ ”Perhaps 45% of the Greek manuscripts add, “for many are called, but few chosen”.

Jesus ministers (mainly) in Perea

Jesus defines discipleship

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with Him, and turning He said to them: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And whoever does not carry his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Further, which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹This so he does not lay a foundation without being able to finish, and all who see it begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’

³¹“Or what king, going to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²And if not, while the other is still far away he sends a delegation and asks for terms for peace.

³³“So likewise, any of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.Notice that three times Sovereign Jesus says, “cannot be my disciple”, and the ‘cannot’ is a strong negative. Jesus demands first place in our lives and hearts—above family, material things, our very selves.³⁴Salt is good; but should the salt become insipid, with what can it be seasoned? ³⁵It is fit for neither soil nor fertilizer; it is thrown out.We followers of Christ are supposed to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in this world. To abdicate these functions is to become useless, and to be thrown out. ‘Neutrality’ is not a valid option. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Parable of a lost sheep

¹Then all the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were getting close to Him to hear Him. ²Well the Pharisees and the scribes started complaining, saying, “This man welcomes ‘sinners’ and eats with them.” ³So He told them this parable, saying: ⁴“What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not abandon the ninety-nine in the wildNotice that the 99 are left in the wild, not a sheepfold. So what happens if a wolf comes upon the 99 while the shepherd is off looking for the stray? I confess that I never liked this parable, for that reason. and go after the lost one until he finds it? ⁵And upon finding it he joyfully puts it on his shoulders. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’ ⁷I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance.If God prefers sinners, what is the point of being righteous? I suppose the point to be that no one is so righteous that they need no repentance. Since we are all sinners, we all need to repent—and when we do so, God is happy.

Parable of a lost coin

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost!’ ¹⁰Just so, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”God rejoices in the presence of the angels.

Parable of a lost son

¹¹Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹²And the younger one said to the father, ‘Father, give me the appropriate share of the estate.’ So he divided the property between them. ¹³Not many days later the younger son, having converted it all, journeyed to a distant country; and there he squandered his wealth living dissolutely. ¹⁴But when he had spent it all, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵Then he went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.For a Jew, that would be about as low as one could get.¹⁶He would gladly have filled his stomach with the carob podsI suppose those pods were not edible for a human being, or he could doubtless have managed a few. that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.Besides the economic crisis, he was a foreigner, and a stupid one at that. Why throw good money after bad?¹⁷But when he came to himself he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have an abundance of bread, while I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants.’

²⁰“So he got up and went to his own father. But while he was still a good ways off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion—he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him! ²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But the father said to his slaves: ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³And bring in and kill the fatted calf, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴because this son of mine was dead and came to life; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Now his older son was in the field; and as he came approaching the house he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸So he became angry and refused to go in. Then his father came out and began to plead with him.Doubtless the servant had informed the father.²⁹But in answer he said to the father: ‘Just look at how many years I have been serving you without ever transgressing your commandment; yet you never gave me even a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’The older brother’s attitude really wasn’t all that unreasonable. Why should the younger son be rewarded for his irresponsible conduct? The father was celebrating the recovery, not the irresponsibility. The fatted calf was for a special occasion, and the older son’s faithful service was routine. However, he probably did get a young goat, after that.³¹So he said to him: ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³²But it was right that we celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and came to life; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Parable of a stupid steward

¹Then He said further to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager, who was accused to him of wasting his goods. ²So he called him in and said to him: ‘What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be manager.’ ³Then the manager said within himself: ‘What shall I do? My master is taking the management away from me. I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg ⁴—I know what I will do, so that whenever I am removed from the management they may receive me into their houses.’Is this not stupid reasoning? Once he has lost his position, the others will have no reason to pay attention to him.⁵Summoning each one of his master’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶And he said, ‘A hundred baths of olive oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.’ ⁸The master even ‘commended’ the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. The sons of this age are shrewder in their own generation than the sons of the Light.According to the value system of the world it is ‘smart’ to take advantage of other people, but those who follow the Light must be different. Of course the master’s ‘commendation’ was sarcastic, since the dishonest manager still lost his job.

A bit of irony

⁹“I even say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that whenever you fail, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings!The use of sarcasm is not rare in the Bible, and here the Lord is clearly being sarcastic: getting into the eternal dwellings does not depend on ‘buying’ friends down here; it depends on pleasing the Owner up there. And of course, the dishonest friends will not even be there! Notice the reaction of the Pharisees in verse 14—I take it that verses 1-13 were mainly directed at them.¹⁰He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹If therefore you have not been faithful with the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the genuine?Monetary value is the ‘very little’, and spiritual value is the ‘much’, the ‘genuine’.¹²And if you have not been faithful in what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!”Verse 13 declares a terribly important truth. To embrace the world’s value system (humanism, relativism, materialism) is to reject God. Materialistic ‘Christians’ are really serving mammon (‘mammon’ includes more than just money).

The Law will not fail

¹⁴Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were also listening to all these things, and they were ridiculing Him. ¹⁵So He said to them: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. That which is exalted among men is an abomination before God.There will not be any abomination in heaven—‘abomination’ is a strong term; do pause and ponder!¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the Kingdom of God is being proclaimed, and every one is trying to force his way into it.No one gets into the Kingdom on his own terms.¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fail.

¹⁸“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.Now there you have a plain statement!

A rich man and beggar LazarusThe Text does not state that this is a parable, so most probably it is not.

¹⁹“Now there was a certain rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ²⁰And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who had been placed at his gate, ²¹just wanting to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table—why even the dogs would come and lick his sores!In fact the dogs were doing him a favor, since canine saliva is good for sores.²²In due time the beggar died and was carried away to Abraham’s bosom by the angels.

“The rich man also died and was buried.Note the contrast. Of course the beggar’s body had been buried, but the person was taken to Paradise. Here we have an explicit statement of angelic activity, which, however, is absent from the rich man.²³And in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance, and Lazarus very close to him. And being in torment, ²⁴he called out, saying, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; because I am tormented by this flame!’ ²⁵But Abraham said: ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus had bad things; but now heThe best line of transmission (30% of the Greek manuscripts here) has the emphatic pronoun ‘he’, rather than ‘here’. is being comforted, and you tormented. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone from there cross over to us.’Several things in this account invite comment. Hades (Greek), or Sheol (Hebrew), is the ‘halfway house’ where departed spirits await the final judgment, but the results of that judgment are already known, since the saved are already separated from the lost. There is a chasm separating the two sides that cannot be crossed, but evidently one side can see and hear the other (the ‘dead’ are conscious and have feeling). People in prison who are waiting for their trial are already suffering. Strangely, the rich man still thinks he is more important than the beggar, since he wants the beggar to serve him—he still holds to the values that condemned him.²⁷Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, ²⁸because I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’I find it interesting that he was concerned for his brothers; we can’t say, “Better late than never”, since it made no difference.²⁹Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰So he said to him, ‘Oh no, father Abraham—if someone from the dead should go to them, they will repent!’ ³¹He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”Abraham states a disquieting reality: people who reject God’s written revelation are self-condemned. Note also that Abraham did not say it would be impossible to send Lazarus, only that it would do no good. But it is clear that the lost cannot return, or the rich man could have gone himself.

Don’t offend, forgive

¹Then He said to the disciples: “Things that cause people to fall are bound to come, but woe to him through whom they do come! ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to fall.What is worse than a horrible, premature physical death? Spiritual death. Whoever destroys the faith of a ‘little one’ is self-condemned. What about all the professors who make it their business to destroy the faith of their students?³Watch out for yourselves: if your brother sins against you,Perhaps 4.5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “against you” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which changes the meaning of the verse. rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in that day returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”Dear me, that could get ‘old’! But the Lord is emphatic; we must forgive!

Faith like a mustard seed has

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” ⁶So the Lord said: “If you hadThe manuscripts are evenly divided between ‘had’ and ‘have’; I follow the best line of transmission. faith like a mustard seed has,What kind of ‘faith’ might a mustard seed have? Albeit so small, it reacts without question to the climactic circumstances, and grows to remarkable proportions. If we reacted similarly, without question, to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, our spiritual ‘climactic circumstances’, we should indeed move mountains, literally. you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

The thanks a slave gets

⁷“And which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline to eat’? ⁸Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and gird yourself and serve me until I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank that slave because he did the things commanded? I guess not!About 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “I guess not!” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).¹⁰So likewise you, whenever you have done everything you were told to do, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves, because we have only done what we were supposed to.’ ”If we were really committed to the master’s project, we would do more.

Jesus cleanses ten lepers

¹¹Now as He was traveling toward Jerusalem, He went along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him—being lepers they stood at a distance. ¹³They called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴And paying attention He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” It happened that as they went they were cleansed! ¹⁵Well one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice; ¹⁶then he fell on his face at His feet, thanking Him—and he was a Samaritan! ¹⁷So Jesus reacted by saying: “Were not all ten cleansed? So where are the nine? ¹⁸None were found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner!” ¹⁹Then He said to him, “Get up and go; your faith has made you well.”In all probability the priests would not have wanted to deal with a Samaritan, in any case, so the Lord just sends him on his way, relieving him of that duty.

The coming of the Kingdom

²⁰Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said: “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹nor will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ because indeed the Kingdom of God is within you.”They were probably thinking of the Messianic Kingdom, that will indeed have a concrete starting point, but the Lord does not give them that information. He does go on to say to the disciples that the onset will be sudden. In the meantime, the King’s true subjects have the Kingdom in their hearts, which presumably did not include those Pharisees, so ‘within you’ would be a generic statement.

²²Then He said to the disciples: “Days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of the Man, and you will not see it.I suppose He is referring to His physical presence among them.²³And they will say to you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Do not go along or follow. ²⁴Because just like the lightning that lights the whole sky when it flashes, so also will the Son of the Man be in His day. ²⁵But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶Also, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of the Man. ²⁷They were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building— ²⁹but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰Even so will it be in the day when the Son of the Man is revealed.

³¹“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to get them; and likewise he who is in the field, let him not turn back. ³²Remember Lot’s wife!The Lord affirms the historicity of the pillar of salt.³³Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever ‘wastes’ it will preserve it. ³⁴I tell you: on that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.”Perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have verse 36: “Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left”. I would say that this paragraph deals with the Rapture. In that event, Jesus is addressing those who are left behind, but who had expected to go. I believe that immediately after the Rapture the forces of evil will be unleashed to take complete control. Anyone who is going to refuse the ‘mark’ had better head for the hills.

³⁷They reacted by saying to Him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where there is a carcass, there will the vultures also be gathered.”A spiral of vultures in the air can be seen at quite a distance, and indicates a carcass on the ground.

Parable of a persistent widow

¹And then He told them a parable, the point being that one needs to always pray and not lose heart, ²saying: “There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God nor regard man. ³But there was a widow in that town, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ ⁴And for a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God nor regard man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will defend her, so that her endless coming doesn’t wear me out!’ ”

⁶Then the Lord said: “Hear what the unjust judge said. ⁷And will not God get justice for His elect who are crying out to Him day and night, indeed being patient with them? ⁸I tell you that He will get justice for them quickly.God’s ‘quickly’ doesn’t always seem that ‘quick’ to us. However, when the Son of the Man comes, will He actually find the faith on the earth?”The Text clearly has ‘the faith’, referring to the sum of Truth that makes up the biblical Faith. The Lord’s question is precisely to the point. Aside from the generalized apostasy that characterizes ‘Christian’ churches today, how many ‘conservative’ pastors are genuinely committed to the objective authority of the biblical Text?

Parable of a Pharisee and a publican

⁹Then He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and started praying to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like all the rest—robbers, unjust, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I tithe all that I get.’This is the sort of ‘prayer’ that does not get past the ceiling, so he was just talking to himself.¹³The tax collector, staying a good ways off, did not even venture to look up to heaven, but started beating on his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ¹⁴I say to you that this one went back home justified rather than that one; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You enter the Kingdom like a child does

¹⁵Then they even started bringing their babies to Him, that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus summoned them and said: “Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them; because the Kingdom of God is of such. ¹⁷I tell you assuredly, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God the way a little child doesTo render ‘as a little child’ misses the point; obviously an adult can be saved. A little child believes literally and completely. will by no means enter it.”

An upright, rich ruler

¹⁸A certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹So Jesus said to him: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.Jesus is not denying that He is good, but the man is not addressing Him as God. Had the man done so, there would have been no objection.²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother.’ ” ²¹And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” ²²Well upon hearing these thingsFrom the parallel account in Matthew 19:16-22 we learn that the man actually said more than is recorded here. Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing: sell all you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³But when he heard this he became very sad, because he was extremely rich.The Lord had put His finger on the one he was not keeping; he was not loving his neighbor as himself.

Riches tend to keep people out of the Kingdom

²⁴When Jesus saw that he became sad, He said: “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!The parallel passage in Mark (10:24) clarifies that it is those who trust in riches. How many rich people do you know who do not trust in their riches? (That clarification is omitted by less than half a percent of the extant Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, as in the eclectic text currently in vogue.)²⁵It is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needleJesus refers to a literal camel and a literal needle, which of course is “impossible with men”, as He goes on to say in verse 27. than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” ²⁶So the hearers said, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁷And He said, “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.”

²⁸Then Peter said, “Notice that we have left all and followed you!” ²⁹So He said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, ³⁰who will not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus declares His coming death and resurrection—third time

³¹Then He took the Twelve aside and said to them: “Take note, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of the Man will be fulfilled: ³²He will be betrayed to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon, ³³and they will scourge and kill Him. And on the third dayReferring to the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection, Luke (and Matthew and Mark) has ‘(on) the third day’; but Mark also has ‘after three days’, while Matthew also has ‘three days and three nights’; John has ‘in three days’. Due to these seeming differences, there are those who insist that Jesus died on Thursday, not Friday, or even on Wednesday. There is general agreement that the resurrection happened on Sunday. Both ‘(on) the third day’ and ‘in three days’ allow for a Friday crucifixion, as the Church has generally understood. In John 20:26 we read, “after eight days” Jesus appeared to the disciples again, with Thomas present; this was the next Sunday, so only seven days had elapsed—Jews (and Brazilians) include the day at both ends. So ‘after three days’ also allows for a Friday crucifixion. I take it that ‘three days and three nights’ was an idiomatic expression synonymous with ‘after three days’. So Jesus died on a Friday. He will rise again.” ³⁴But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them,‘Hidden’ by whom? and they did not know what was being said.

A blind man near Jericho

³⁵Then it happened, as He approached Jericho,Luke has Jesus approaching Jericho, while Matthew and Mark have Him leaving it. In Jesus’ day there were two Jerichos, the old one that had been rebuilt, and a new one, about a kilometer away. What better place to beg than between the two towns? Jesus had left the old Jericho and was going toward the new one. For further discussion, please see the Appendix: “Entering or leaving Jericho?”. that a certain blind man was sitting alongside the road begging. ³⁶Hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it was. ³⁷So they told him that Jesus the NatsoreanThat is correct, ‘Natsorean’, not Nazarene. The reference is to Isaiah 11:1—Jesus was the ‘Branch-man’, the Messiah, as the blind man clearly understood, since he addressed Him as ‘Son of David’. For further discussion, please see the Appendix: “ ‘Prophets’ in Matthew 2:23”. was passing by. ³⁸Well he shouted, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹Those who led the way started reproving him, to shut him up; but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰So Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to Him. When he got close He asked him, saying, ⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” So he said, “Lord, that I may see again!”The man had not been born blind. Do you find it to be curious that Jesus asked him what he wanted? Was it not obvious? God knows what we need before we ask, but we must ask!⁴²Then Jesus said to him: “See again! Your faith has made you well.” ⁴³And immediately he did! and he followed Him, glorifying God. And all who witnessed it gave praise to God.

Zacchaeus

¹He entered and started passing through Jericho.This would be the new Jericho.²A man named Zacchaeus was there—he was a chief tax collector, and he was wealthy! ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, because he was short. ⁴And running on ahead he climbed up into a sycamore tree, in order to see Him, since He was about to pass by there. ⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because today I must stay at your house.”Jesus called him by name. How did He know that? Might that have contributed to the man’s conversion?⁶So he came down quickly, and received Him joyfully. ⁷But when they saw it, they all started complaining, saying, “He has entered to lodge with a sinful man!”

⁸Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Indeed, Lord, I herewith give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I restore fourfold.”The man knew his Bible; see Exodus 22:1.⁹So Jesus said about him, “Today salvation has happened in this house,Yes indeed, that was a complete change of direction! in that he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰because the Son of the Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Parable of a despised king

¹¹Now as they heard these things, He continued with a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they were supposing that the Kingdom of God was on the verge of being revealed.This seems to have been a fixation in their minds that kept them from understanding the Lord’s repeated warnings that He was about to be killed.¹²So He said: “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and return. ¹³He called ten of his slaves, gave them ten ‘minas’, and said to them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’ ¹⁴But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵It happened that he did receive the kingdom, and upon returning he ordered that those slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him, to know who had gained what by trading. ¹⁶So the first one came and said, ‘Master, your mina earned ten minas!’How long would it take to multiply an investment ten times? Probably quite a while! That the man had to go to a distant country strikes me as unusual, and after he got there he may not have received the kingdom right away. The parable clearly relates to our Lord’s absence and Return. We need to do the best we can with what He has given us.¹⁷He said to him: ‘Super, you good slave! Because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities!’ ¹⁸And the second one came and said, ‘Master, your mina made five minas.’ ¹⁹Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’ ²⁰Then a different one came, saying: ‘Master, here is your mina, that I kept laid away in a piece of cloth ²¹—I feared you because you are a hard man, removing what you did not place, and reaping what you did not sow.’ ²²So he said to him: ‘I will judge you out of your own mouth, you wicked slave! You knew that I am a hard man, removing what I did not place, and reaping what I did not sow. ²³Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, and upon coming I would have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the mina from him and give it to him who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵(They even said to him, ‘Master, he already has ten minas!’) ²⁶‘Indeed I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given;There is a sense in which blessing is earned; the more you do, the more you get. In John 12:26 Sovereign Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.” but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ²⁷But as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’ ”The man had accepted the description given by the third slave, and here he demonstrates that he really is a ‘hard’ man, but don’t forget that he rewarded the faithful slaves. And don’t forget Revelation 19:15!

The last week

The ‘Triumphal Entry’

²⁸Having said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹When He drew near to BethphageSome 44% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Bethphage’ (as in most versions), but the 56% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. In any case, it is a mere matter of spelling. and Bethany, at the mountain called ‘of Olives’, it happened like this: He sent two of His disciples, ³⁰saying: “Go to the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no man ever yet sat. Untie and bring it. ³¹And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this to him: ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”

A steed for the King

³²So those who were sent went and found it just like He told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴So they said, “The Lord needs it.”It seems to me obvious that this had been prearranged.³⁵Then they brought it to Jesus; and throwing their own clothes on the colt, they placed Jesus on it. ³⁶And as He went along people were spreading their clothes on the road.

Rejoicing and praising

³⁷Then, as He was approaching the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, ³⁸saying:

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!See Psalm 118:26.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

A sour note

³⁹Some of the Pharisees said to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰In answer He said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the very stones would cry out!”

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹Now as He approached, observing the city He wept over it, ⁴²saying: “If you, yes you, especially in this your day, had known the things pertaining to your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³Yes, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you; indeed they will surround you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴And they will raze you, and your children within you, to the ground—they will not leave in you one stone upon another—all because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”The implication would appear to be that if they had recognized it, their history would have been different.

Jesus cleanses the temple—second time

⁴⁵And upon entering the temple He began to drive out those who were selling and buying in it,Comparing the parallel accounts, this happened the next day. Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and buying in it” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written: ‘My house is a house of prayer,’See Isaiah 56:7. but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”See Jeremiah 7:11.

⁴⁷And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes, as also the leaders of the people, were trying to destroy Him, ⁴⁸but could not figure out how to do it, because all the people were hanging on His words.

Jesus’ authority questioned

¹Now it happened on one of those days, as He was teaching and evangelizing the people in the temple, that the priestsSome 16% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘high priests’ (as in most versions). and scribes came to Him with the elders ²and addressed Him, saying, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things; or who is he who gave you this authority?” ³But in answer He said to them: “I also will ask you one thing; yes, tell me: ⁴the baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?” ⁵So they reasoned among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” ⁷So they answered that they did not know where it was from. ⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”Well, of course, they knew that both John and Jesus were of God—they just did not want to repent and change their way of life.

Parable of some perverse tenants

⁹Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to farmers, and went away on a long journey. ¹⁰At the proper time he sent a slave to the farmers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers flogged him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹Again he sent a different slave; so they flogged him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²And again he sent a third; but they wounded him also and threw him out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said: ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; hopefully they will respect him when they see him.’Presumably this would never occur in real life, but the Lord was aiming this directly at them, knowing what they would do to Him and what the Owner would do to them.¹⁴But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying: ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, so that the inheritance may become ours.’ ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” Having heard it they said, “May it never be!”

¹⁷Then He looked directly at them and said: “What then is this that is written:

‘A stone that the builders rejected,

the same became the cornerstone’?See Psalm 118:22.

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it should fall—it will crush him!”Those are our two options: fall on Jesus and be broken, or be crushed in judgment.

¹⁹The chief priests and the scribes wanted to lay hands on Him right then, but they were afraidFor ‘they were afraid’, some 35% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘they feared the people’ (as in most versions). —they knew He had spoken this parable against them.

To Caesar, Caesar’s; to God, God’s

²⁰Keeping a close watch on Him, they sent spies, who pretended to be innocent, so that they might latch on to something He said, so as to hand Him over to the power and the authority of the governor. ²¹So they questioned Him, saying: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and you do not show favoritism but teach the way of God in truth.They were really almost too obvious.²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³But He perceived their craftiness and said to them: “Why are you testing me?Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Why are you testing me?” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).²⁴Show me a denarius—whose image and inscription does it have?” In answer they said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵So He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶They were unable to latch on to His word in front of the people; and marveling at His answer they kept silent.

Sadducees deny resurrection

²⁷Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, approached and questioned Him, ²⁸saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s married brother dies childless, then his brother should take the widow and produce offspring for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers: the first took a wife and died childless; ³⁰then the second took the widow and he died childless;Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “the widow and he died childless” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.).³¹then the third took her, in fact all seven in sequence—they all died childless. ³²Finally, last of all, the woman died also. ³³Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had her?”Whenever someone comes up with a hypothetical situation, be careful; there is probably a hidden agenda.

³⁴So in answer Jesus said to them: “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵but those who are considered worthy“Those who are considered worthy”—an interesting concept! to attain to that age, to the resurrection from among the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶Because they cannot die anymore,If no one dies, there is no need to produce new generations. being like angels—they are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷But that the dead are raised, Moses indeed revealed about the Bush when he recorded: ‘The Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’See Exodus 3:6.³⁸So He is not the God of the dead, but of the living—to Him all are alive.” ³⁹Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, you spoke well.” ⁴⁰And they no longer dared to question Him further.

Is the Christ David’s Son?

⁴¹Then He said to them: “How is it that they say that the MessiahThe Greek Text has ‘Christ’, but since they were speaking Hebrew, the Lord certainly said ‘Messiah’. is David’s Son? ⁴²Why David himself affirms in the book of Psalms,

‘The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand

⁴³until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’See Psalm 110:1.

⁴⁴Since David calls Him ‘Lord’, how then is He his Son?”

Jesus denounces the scribes

⁴⁵Then, in the hearing of the people, He said to His disciples: ⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts; ⁴⁷who ‘devour’ widows’ houses,Presumably, when the man died the widow no longer had the means to clear any debt; so they would just take over the house and put the widow out in the street. and for a show make long prayers. These will receive more severe judgment.”

A lesson in giving

¹Looking up He saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasure chest. ²But He also saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites. ³So He said: “I tell you truly that this poor widow put in more than all of them; ⁴because all these others put in gifts for God out of their abundance, but she, out of her destitution, put in all she had to live on.”It is a fact of life; people who are poor are often more generous, more willing to share, than those who are rich. But in this case the widow was probably calling out to God for help. Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “for God” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

Jerusalem will be destroyed

⁵Then, as some were admiring the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, ⁶“These things that you see—the days will come in which not one stone will be left upon another that will not be thrown down.”This was fulfilled in 70 ad

The Olivet Discourse

⁷So they asked Him, saying: “Teacher, so when will these things be?” and “What will be the sign when these things are about to happen?”There are two questions: “When these things?” and “What the sign?” The answer to the first is given in Luke 21:20-24. The answer to the second begins here in verse 8.⁸So He said: “Be careful, so as not to be deceived, because many will come in my name saying: ‘I am’ and ‘The time is at hand.’ Therefore do not go after them. ⁹But whenever you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; because these things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

Things will get bad, really bad

¹⁰Then He said to them: “Nation will be raised up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹And there will be severe earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful events and great signs from heaven. ¹²But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of my name. ¹³But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. ¹⁴So settle it in your hearts not to practice giving a defense beforehand; ¹⁵because I will give youTo do this He has to be alive! a mouth and wisdom such that all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or withstand.This was true of Stephen; they couldn’t answer him, so they killed him.¹⁶You will be betrayed even by parents and relatives, friends and ‘brothers’; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷And you will be hated by all because of my name.This is already happening around the world. Those who defend biblical values are hated.¹⁸(Not even one hair of your head will be wastedI have to take this by faith. We have to work and war by faith, since we are often not allowed to see the results. I take it that the Lord is assuring us that nothing we do for Him will be wasted. But we must ‘hang in there’.¹⁹—you must secure your souls by your endurance.)

Jerusalem will be destroyed

²⁰“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation is at hand. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let those who are in the city get out, and let those who are in the country not enter her. ²²Because these are days of vengeance, that all the written things may be fulfilled. ²³But woe to those who are pregnant and to those nursing babies in those days! There will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people. ²⁴Yes, they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 ad and was ‘trampled by Gentiles’ until 1967, when it returned to the control of Israel. So now the things mentioned in verse 25 and following can happen at any time.

Christ will return to the earth

²⁵“There will be signs in sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, at the roaring and tossing of the sea;‘The sea’ is sometimes used as a metaphor for the human population.²⁶men fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the inhabited earth—because the powers of the heavens will be shaken.See Revelation 12:7-12.²⁷Then they will see the Son of the Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to happen, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Parable of the fig tree

²⁹Then He told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰Whenever they are already budding, you see and know by yourselves that summer is now near. ³¹So you also, whenever you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. ³²I tell you assuredly, this generation‘This generation’ has received various interpretations. Personally I suppose it refers to the generation that was alive in 1967 (by now everyone in that ‘generation’ is at least 48 years old). will certainly not pass away until all has happened. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.Sovereign Jesus declares that His words have eternal validity, and are therefore on a par with God’s written revelation (see Psalm 119:89).

Watch and pray

³⁴“But keep a watch on yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of life, and that Day come upon you suddenly. ³⁵Because it will come like a trap upon all those who dwell on the surface of the whole earth. ³⁶So be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthyInstead of ‘counted worthy’, less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘be able’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). to escape all these thingsIf ‘to escape all these things’ refers to the Rapture, then only those who are ‘counted worthy’ will go up. that are about to happen and to stand before the Son of the Man.”

His daily routine

³⁷In the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called ‘of Olives.’ ³⁸Then early in the morning all the people would come to Him in the temple to hear Him.

Judas joins the plot against Jesus

¹Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called ‘Passover’, drew near. ²And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to kill Him, because they feared the people.The trouble was that the people were being so impressed by Jesus that they felt threatened.³Then Satan entered JudasNote that Judas acted under satanic inspiration. (the one surnamed Iscariot), who was numbered among the Twelve. ⁴So he went off and conferred with the chief priests and officers about how he might betray Him to them. ⁵They were glad, and agreed to give him silver coins. ⁶So he promised, and started looking for an opportunity to betray Him to them, without a crowd.

The last night

Preparation for the last Passover

⁷Then came the day of unleavened bread, in which it was necessary to kill the Passover lamb. ⁸And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” ⁹So they said to Him, “Where do you want us to prepare?” ¹⁰He said to them: “Note, upon entering the city a man carrying a jar of waterThis would presumably be rather unusual, since fetching water was normally done by women. will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters. ¹¹Then you must say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you: Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹²He himself will show you a large upper room,Obviously this had all been arranged ahead of time. The owner was doubtless a believer, and the large upper room was presumably chosen with a view to the use that would be made of it later, as well. all furnished; make preparations there.” ¹³So off they went and found things just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

They eat the Passover

¹⁴When the hour had come, He reclined, and the twelveA mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “twelve” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). apostles with Him. ¹⁵Then He said to them: “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶I tell you further that I will not eat of it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And taking a cup He gave thanks and said: “Take this and share it among yourselves.This ‘cup’ was not part of the ‘Lord’s Supper’; I don’t know what the purpose may have been.¹⁸I tell you further that I will not drink againTo suck a swallow or two from a sponge would not qualify as ‘drinking’. of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper

¹⁹Then, after the meal, He took bread, gave thanks, broke and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰He also took the cup, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

The betrayer is present

²¹“But alas, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table! ²²To be sure, the Son of the Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”Judas had crossed the line of no return.²³(They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who was about to do this.)

Wanting to be ‘the greatest’ is not a valid option

²⁴Now there had actually been a discussion among them as to which of them seemed to be greater. ²⁵So He said to them: “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors’. ²⁶But not so with you—rather let the greater among you become as the younger, and he who leads as he who serves. ²⁷Who is greater, the one reclining or the one serving? Is it not the one reclining? Yet I am among you as the one who serves. ²⁸However, you are those who have continued with me in my trials.The gentle reproof is tempered with a word of appreciation.²⁹And I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me, ³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom; also you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel!”Then the twelve tribes must still exist! God knows who and where they are. I wonder who will take the Iscariot’s place. Note that there will be eating and drinking in the future Kingdom.

Peter will deny Him

³¹Then the Lord said:A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Then the Lord said” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). “Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you (pl) so as to sift you like wheat. ³²But I have prayed for you (sg) so that your faith not fail completely;The Lord prayed for Peter, but evidently not for the Iscariot. so you, when you have recovered,The KJV reads ‘converted’, which is a misleading translation. strengthen your brothers.” ³³But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” ³⁴So He said, “I say to you, Peter, no rooster can crow today before you deny three times that you know me!”This was the second warning; the first is recorded in John 13:37-38. For a complete discussion of Peter’s denials, please see the Appendix: “How many times did Jesus say Peter would deny Him?”.

“Buy a sword”

³⁵Then He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” And they said, “Nothing.” ³⁶So He said to them: “But now, he who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword must sell his garment and buy one.If you are obviously armed, this tends to slow down those who would otherwise attack you or take advantage of you. It is better yet to have spiritual power.³⁷Because I say to you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was classed with the lawless’;See Isaiah 53:12. and because the things concerning me have an end.” ³⁸So they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

Gethsemane

³⁹Then going out He went to the Mount of Olives, as His custom was, and His disciples followed Him. ⁴⁰When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray, so as not to enter into temptation.” ⁴¹Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down and prayed, ⁴²saying, “Father, if you would just remove this cup from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done!” ⁴³Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴And being in anguish He prayed with total concentration;I believe that Hebrews 5:7 refers to this moment. To transpire blood is normally fatal, so Jesus came close to dying there in the garden. But He had to get to the cross, so the Father sent an angel to strengthen Him. The sleeping disciples did not observe this, so Luke received this information ‘from Above’ (Luke 1:3). then His sweat became like clots of blood, falling to the ground.The eclectic Greek text currently in vogue places verses 43-44 within double brackets (based on 1.3% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality), thereby denying that Luke wrote them. These verses contain important information that should not be questioned on such a feeble basis.⁴⁵When He rose up from prayer and came to the disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. ⁴⁶He said to them: “Why do you sleep? Get up and pray, that you may not enter into temptation!”

Betrayal and arrest

⁴⁷But while He was still speaking—wow, a crowd; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them! He approached Jesus to kiss Him (he had given them this sign, “Whomever I kiss, it is he”).Some 45% of the Greek manuscripts, including the best line of transmission (that I follow), have, “he had given them this sign, ‘Whomever I kiss, it is he’ ”. Every other version I have seen follows the 55%.⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of the Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹When those who were around Him saw what was about to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰And a certain one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear!“The servant of the high priest”—presumably this man was leading the expedition. We know from John 18:10 that his name was Malchus.⁵¹But Jesus reacted by saying, “Allow at least this!” and touching his ear He healed him.We know it was Peter (John 18:10), and if the Lord had not healed that ear, things would probably have been nastier for Peter in the ‘courtyard’.

⁵²Then Jesus said to the chief priests, officers of the temple, and elders who had come against Him: “Have you come out with swords and clubs as against a bandit? ⁵³When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour; even the authority of the darkness!”This was Satan’s hour, being part of the Father’s Plan; ‘the darkness’ refers to Satan’s kingdom; ‘your hour’ means that they were part of that kingdom.

Peter denies Jesus

⁵⁴Then they seized, took and brought Him to the house of the high priest, with Peter following at a distance. ⁵⁵Now when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. ⁵⁶Then a certain servant girl, seeing him sitting by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man also was with him.”I wonder how the girl knew that!⁵⁷But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know him!”

⁵⁸After a little while another saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” ⁵⁹Then after about an hour had passed, another started insisting, “Surely this fellow also was with him, because he is a Galilean.” ⁶⁰But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And immediately, while he was still speaking, a roosterInstead of ‘a’ rooster, perhaps 3% of the manuscripts have ‘the’ rooster (as in TR, AV, NKJV). crowed.

⁶¹And the Lord turned and looked directly at Peter;I take it that here the Lord broke the Satanic spell, and Peter could think normally again. then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how He had said to him, “Before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” ⁶²And going outside he wept bitterly.

Guards mistreat Jesus

⁶³The men who were guarding Jesus started mocking and beating Him. ⁶⁴And having blindfolded Him they would hit His face andPerhaps 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “they would hit His face and” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). ask Him, saying: “Prophesy! Who was it who struck you?”Those men were cowardly and perverse, but probably acted under demonic influence.⁶⁵And they kept saying many other insulting things to Him.

Crucifixion day

Jesus judged by the Council

⁶⁶As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, came together and brought Him before their council, saying, ⁶⁷“If you are the Messiah, tell us.” But He said to them: “If I tell you, you simply will not believe. ⁶⁸But if I also question you, you will neither answer nor release me.Jesus tells them that He knows, and they know, that what they are doing is a farce.⁶⁹Hereafter the Son of the Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” ⁷⁰Then they all said, “Are you then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You say it because I AM!” ⁷¹Then they said: “What further testimony do we need? We ourselves have heard it from his mouth!”They were condemning Him for blasphemy, but to do that they had to reject the obvious truth that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

Jesus taken to Pontius Pilate

¹Then the whole crowd of them rose up and led Him to Pilate. ²And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar,This was a plain lie. declaring himself to be Christ, a king.” ³So Pilate questioned Him, saying, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In reply He said to him, “You said it!” ⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”It is necessary to read the parallel passages to get a fuller picture of what happened. It becomes clear that Pilate did not want to crucify Jesus. For a fuller discussion, please see the Appendix: “Poor Pilate—wrong place, wrong time”.⁵But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to here.”

Jesus taken to Herod

⁶When Pilate heard ‘Galilee’,Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Galilee” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). he asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷Upon learning that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days. ⁸Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was really pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him, having heard so many things about Him; and he was hoping to see some miracle performed by Him. ⁹He questioned Him with many words, but He gave him no answer.Herod was irrelevant; it was Pilate who had the authority to crucify.¹⁰On their part, the high priests and scribes stood by, vehemently accusing Him. ¹¹Then Herod and his soldiers, after ridiculing and mocking Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate. ¹²(That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other—previously having been at odds with each other.)An interesting ‘fringe benefit’.

Pilate sentences Jesus

¹³Then Pilate, having called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴said to them: “You have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people, and yet, having examined him in your presence, I have found no guilt in this man as to those things of which you accuse him. ¹⁵Further, neither did Herod (for I sent you on to him);Instead of “for I sent you on to him”, some 12% of the manuscripts have ‘for he sent him back to us’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). indeed, nothing deserving of death has been done by him. ¹⁶I will therefore flog and release him.” ¹⁷(It was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast.)About 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit verse 17 entirely (as in NIV, NASB, LB, [TEV], etc.).

¹⁸But they all cried out together, saying: “Away with this one! Release to us Barabbas!”— ¹⁹who had been thrown into prison for a certain insurrection in the city, and for murder. ²⁰Then Pilate, wanting to release Jesus,Comparing the accounts it is very clear that Pilate wanted no part of killing Jesus, but when they said “you are not Caesar’s friend” he was beaten. addressed them again. ²¹But they just kept shouting: “Crucify! Crucify him!” ²²For the third time he said to them: “But what evil has this man done? I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore flog and release him.” ²³But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified! And their voices, especially of the chief priests,A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “especially of the chief priests” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). prevailed. ²⁴So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵He released the one who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Jesus is crucified

²⁶Now as they led Him away, they conscripted a certain Simon of Cyrene (coming in from a field), and put the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus.Whether or not Simon was already a disciple at this moment (he may have been prepared), he evidently became one. It appears that Jesus was having trouble carrying His cross.²⁷A considerable crowd of people followed Him, including women who were also mourning and lamenting Him. ²⁸So Jesus turned to them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; rather weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹Because indeed, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, even the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’For Jews to say this, things would have to get really bad.³⁰Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’See Hosea 10:8.³¹For if they do these things in the ‘green tree’, what will happen in the ‘dry’?”

³²There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. ³³When they arrived at the place called ‘The Skull’, they crucified Him there; also the criminals, one on His right, the other on His left.

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”;The eclectic text currently in vogue (following less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality) places within double brackets the first half of verse 34: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ ”. In this way they deny that Luke wrote it, surely a perverse proceeding. while they were dividing up His clothes by casting a lot. ³⁵Meanwhile the people stood looking on. And especially the rulers among them were sneering, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if such is the Christ, the chosen of God!” ³⁶Yes, even the soldiers mocked Him, approaching and offering Him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸In fact, above Him there was a written notice, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters:A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “written in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.The soldiers were just going along with the ‘game’; after all, His stated crime was that He was ‘the king of the Jews’.

³⁹Then one of the hanged criminals started berating Him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”According to Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32, both of them started out by reviling Him, but later one of them repented—they were on the cross for about three hours before the supernatural darkness, so there was time to observe Jesus, which caused one of them to change his mind.⁴⁰But the other reacted and rebuked him, saying: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong.” ⁴²Then he said to Jesus, “Please remember me, Lord,Instead of “to Jesus, ‘Please remember me, Lord’ ”, perhaps 3% of the manuscripts have ‘Jesus, remember me’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which seriously weakens the man’s statement. when you come in your kingdom.”I find this statement to be impressive: the man is declaring that Jesus is the Messiah and will indeed inaugurate His Kingdom. Evidently the man knew the Bible; and his request was honored!⁴³Jesus said to him, “I tell you assuredly, today you will be with me in Paradise.”For Jesus to say ‘today’, He knew the man would die before sundown, so He knew the man’s legs would be broken—otherwise he would most likely have lasted well into the night, which would have been ‘tomorrow’. ‘Paradise’ here refers to that half of Hades (Sheol in the OT) reserved for the righteous dead. Hades is the ‘halfway house’ where departed spirits await the final judgment. In Luke 16:22 it is called “Abraham’s bosom”.

Jesus dismisses His spirit

⁴⁴Now it was about the sixth hour,Luke uses Jewish time, so it was about noon. and darkness came upon the whole land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁵Yes, the sun was darkened; also, the veil of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Then, after giving a loud shout, Jesus said, “Father, it is into your hands that I will commit my spirit.” And having said this, He breathed out His spirit.Both Matthew and John state overtly that Jesus dismissed His spirit. In John 10:17-18 He had declared that no one could kill Him, He would lay down His own life. The cross did not kill Jesus, as the centurion recognized (see the next note).

Various reactions

⁴⁷Well upon seeing what had happened, the centurion glorified God, saying, “Certainly this man was righteous!”Any centurion would be a hardened soldier, who had seen no end of crucifixions. He knew that a cross killed by asphyxiation. Hanging from the hands, with the arms stretched out, pushes the diaphragm against the lungs so you cannot breathe. Nailing the feet was a sadistic procedure to prolong the agony—even though painful, the victim would push up so he could get a breath, until finally too worn out to do so. Breaking the legs would put an end to that expedient, and the person died within a few minutes, asphyxiated. Someone who is dying asphyxiated does not shout. Since Jesus gave a loud shout, but then immediately died, the centurion knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the cross had not killed Jesus (later, when Joseph asks for the body, Pilate is surprised that Jesus could already be dead). But who can just tell his spirit to leave? Putting two and two together, the centurion concluded that Jesus was a supernatural being. Just so!⁴⁸And the whole crowd that had gathered for the spectacle, when they saw what actually happened, went away beating their breasts.This was a cultural expression of sorrow and distress.⁴⁹But all His acquaintances, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Jesus’ body is buried

⁵⁰Now then, there was a man named Joseph, a good and righteous man, a Council member ⁵¹(but he had not agreed with their counsel and action), from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was waiting for the Kingdom of God: ⁵²this man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. ⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock, where no one had ever been laid.Obviously the tomb had been prepared beforehand, and was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9, “He made His grave…with the rich at His deaths [plural]”. Nicodemus had already placed a hundred pounds of spices in the tomb, before helping Joseph remove and carry the body (John 19:39).⁵⁴It was a Preparation day; the Sabbath was drawing near. ⁵⁵The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed along, and they saw the tomb and how His body was placed there.That is, they saw where the body was taken, but did not see inside, and obviously did not know about the 100 pounds of spices.⁵⁶Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

Resurrection Day

“He is not here, but is risen!”

¹Then on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared, along with some others.A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “along with some others” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but upon entering they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that wow, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing! ⁵Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them:‘They’ is masculine and ‘them’ is feminine. “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? ⁶He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He told you while still in Galilee, ⁷saying, ‘The Son of the Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” ⁸And they remembered His words.These were the women who had been providing for Jesus for some time, and they doubtless heard much of His teaching, including this statement.

The women report

⁹Then they returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the Eleven, and to all the rest.There were more people in the upper room than just the Eleven.¹⁰They were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them, who told these things to the apostles. ¹¹But their words seemed to them like nonsense, and they disbelieved them.They had already been ‘burned’, their hopes dashed, and were not in a hurry to be ‘taken in’ again.¹²(But Peter had gotten up and run to the tomb, and stooping down he saw the linen strips lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.)According to John’s account, this had already happened earlier, so Luke gives it out of sequence.

The ‘Emmaus’ incident

¹³And then that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven milesLiterally, ‘sixty stadia’. from Jerusalem. ¹⁴And they were conversing with each other about all that had happened. ¹⁵And then, as they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself came up and started going with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were restrained, in order that they not recognize Him. ¹⁷So He said to them, “What words are these that you are exchanging with one another as you walk, and are gloomy?”Instead of “…walk, and are gloomy?” a mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have “…walk? And they stood gloomy.” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

¹⁸Then the one whose name was CleopasThe other person is not identified, but presumably it could have been his wife. answered and said to Him, “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him: “The things concerning Jesus the Natsorean, how the man was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. ²¹And we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel!They were looking for the Messianic Kingdom right then. Further, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. ²²Moreover certain women of our group astonished us—arriving early at the tomb, ²³and not finding his body, they came saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴And certain of those who were with us went to the tombAlthough in verse 12 above Luke mentions only Peter, Cleopas makes clear that more than one went, as is recorded in John 20:2-10. and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.”

²⁵Then He said to them: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the Prophets have spoken! ²⁶Was it really not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?” ²⁷And beginning from Moses, and then all the Prophets, He explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.He declares Himself to be the Messiah. I do wish that explanation had been recorded!

²⁸Then they approached the village where they were going, and He made as though He would keep going.And He would have, if they hadn’t restrained Him.²⁹But they constrained Him, saying, “Stay with us, because it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” So He went in to stay with them. ³⁰And then, as He was reclining with them, He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.He was a guest, but He took charge.³¹Then their eyes were openedThey had been supernaturally hindered from recognizing Him, up to that point. and they recognized Him; and He became invisible to them. ³²They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked to us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”Don’t you know that was so! To this day, if Jesus talks to you, your heart burns.

The two report

³³So they got up forthwith and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven gathered together; also those with them, ³⁴who said, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”There were others in the room besides the Eleven, some near the door. So when the two burst in, all exited with their news, the others ‘prick their balloon’—“Oh, we already know about that”. Has human nature changed?³⁵Then they described what happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus appears to the Eleven

³⁶As they were saying these things, indeed, JesusA mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Jesus” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Himself stood in their midst, and He said to them, “Peace to you.” ³⁷But they, terrified, supposed they were seeing a ghost, and were becoming fearful. ³⁸And He said to them: “Why are you troubled?” and “Why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and feet; it is I myself! Feel me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” ⁴⁰And saying this He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹But as they were still disbelieving and marveling, because of the joy, He said to them, “Do you have any food here?” ⁴²So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb.Less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and some honeycomb” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).⁴³And taking it He ate in their presence.It is easy to criticize them for being so slow to believe, but would we have done any better? Note that Christ’s glorified body, that could just pass through a wall, was palpable—it had flesh and bones (but perhaps not blood). The food that He ate presumably did not go through a normal process of digestion.

⁴⁴Then He said to them, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything that is written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.”The Lord recognizes the three divisions of the Old Testament.⁴⁵Then He opened their understanding so as to comprehend the Scriptures. ⁴⁶And He said to them: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessaryA mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and thus it was necessary” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations,The Gospel is for all nations, and it must include repentance! beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹Take note, I am sending the Promise of my Father upon you; but you must stay in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on High.”“Until you are clothed with power from on High”—what are the implications of this for us today? Without God’s power, what difference can we make in this world?

Jesus ascends to Heaven

⁵⁰He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. ⁵¹And it happened, as He was blessing them, that He left them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²Worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy; ⁵³and they were continually in the temple,Jesus had declared that God had abandoned that temple, so why did they still go there? It was a logical place to evangelize Jews, if that was their object. It was also the largest meeting place in town, presumably. But subsequent events show clearly that they still regarded it as ‘God’s house’, a special place for worshiping. I would say that this became a snare to them. praising andA mere handful (0.4%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “praising and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). blessing God. Amen.Some 50% of the Greek manuscripts have a colophon that says, “published fifteen years after the ascension of Christ”. For 50% of the MSS to have this information probably means that the tradition is ancient. If this information is correct, then Luke was ‘published’ in 45/46 AD. The same sources have Matthew published seven years earlier (38/39) and Mark five years earlier (40/41), while John was ‘published’ thirty-two years after the ascension, or 61/62 AD. Not only were the authors eyewitnesses of the events, but many others were still alive when the Gospels appeared. They could attest to the veracity of the accounts, but could also be the source of textual variants, adding tidbits here and there, or ‘correcting’ something that they remembered differently.