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Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/8) Luke 17:1-19

May8

A 5-day per week study.

May 8 – Reading Luke 17:1-19

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Lord, increase our faith!” “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed…”  Luke 17:5-6a

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review: Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, who both died and had very different fates.  The rich man wanted to warn his brothers about that horrid place, but Father Abraham told him, EVEN IF someone would return from the grave, they would not listen.”  We have such hard hearts!

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Vss. 17:1-5.

“Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.”

Jesus states a fact: we will all face many temptations every day. Some will come from within ourselves, from our sinful desires, and should be resisted. But many subtle or even gross temptations to sin will come via the ungodly people around us. It’s a given.

However, what Jesus adamantly forbids here is for a believer to tempt someone to sin.  He’d be better off dead!

We say, “I’d never do that!” But think about it. What about those “innocent” fun activities that escalate into sinful indulgence or gross misconduct?

Jesus then turns the picture around from temptations to your reactions.  “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.  If he sins against you seven times a day, and turns to you in repentance, YOU MUST forgive him.”

And what was the disciples’ reaction?  “Lord, increase our faith!” They weren’t sure they could do what Jesus said.

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Vss. 17:6-7.

Jesus reacted by telling them they didn’t need MORE faith. They need to USE their faith, not desire MORE.  What they had already possessed would move trees and mountains elsewhere. No, the faith they had at that moment was sufficient.

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Vss. 17:8-10.

Next comes a curious example that falls crookedly on our modern-day sensibilities. We have people who work for us, but most of us do not own servants and/or slaves.  We pay our workers for their jobs, and don’t really expect them to go over and beyond what they’ve been hired to do (without negotiating).

So, put your imagination back to Jesus’ day, and see what you can learn about “unworthy servants.”  (Meaning US????  Whoa!!!)

“Will any of you (speaking to a broader audience now)  say to your servant who has been plowing or keeping sheep and has come into the house, ‘Come at once and recline at the table?’”

Can’t you almost hear them laughing at such a notion?

“No, you will rather say, ‘Prepare supper for me. Dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink.  After THAT, YOU will eat and drink.’ Does he then thank the servant for doing what was commanded?”

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Wow.  Doesn’t this go against our natural inclinations, especially in the U.S.?  Your hardworking man slaves all day in the heat, and THEN he’s supposed to come in, cook your meal, and serve you BEFORE he can take a bite???  Yes.  And he doesn’t even expect a ‘thank you.’

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So, what was Jesus saying?

The point is that a slave/servant should not expect special reward for doing what his duty in the first place was.

Now recall the standards Jesus set for believers in verses 1-4.

  1. Believers had better not tempt others to sin.
  2. Believers must forgive a repentant brother AS MANY TIMES as he sincerely repents.
  3. Believers should USE the faith they already have rather than ask for more.

The above “duties” are the minimal things that believers are expected to do. No special merit for obedience should be expected.

Whoa.

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Vss. 17:11-19.

(This incident happened sometime later, maybe after He’d raised Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus from the dead, and He had retreated into the country to avoid the Jerusalem authorities who wanted to kill Him right then.  Luke 19 tells of Jesus’s triumphal entry at Jerusalem and His subsequent death, at His OWN timing.)

Anyway, when Jesus and His disciples entered a village, they were met by TEN LEPERS who stood at a distance calling.

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

These men believed Jesus could heal them if only He would.  Jesus saw their faith.

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.” He called to them.

Huh?

A strict law was established for dealing with “healed” lepers.  They had to go to the priest, show them their now clear skin, and do some tests. In a certain time, they’d return, and if they were still healed, the priest would take them through the ceremonial cleansing ritual and then give them a clean bill of health.

These men knew the routine and left, believing Jesus had healed them.

Then, one of the men looked down at his hands and feet and SAW the miracle. Gratitude and worship filled his soul. He turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.

He, among the ten, was a Samaritan.

Jesus was amazed that the Samaritan, among the Jews, had returned to thank and praise God.  A foreigner, and one hated by Jews at that.  HE had been “converted,” I am sure.  Not only a “clean body,” he now had a “clean soul” as well.

Jesus looked at him and said, “Rise and go your way, your FAITH has made you well (“saved you” like the woman with the issue of blood. See Mark 5:34).

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(What a glorious story! “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast.? Ephesians 2:8-9.  Others look down on this man with disdain.  A Samaritan, pooh!  But this man received Jesus AND healing: a double miracle.  And he praised and worshiped God.

Wow.  When is the last time I fell to my knees and proclaimed my worship and praise for my Savior and God loudly?)

 

 

 

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/7) Luke 16:16-31

May7

A 5-day per week study.

May 7 – Reading Luke 16:16-31

Read and believe in Jesus.

“…if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!”  “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if SOMEONE should rise from the dead.”  Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Jesus told and explained the Parable of the Dishonest Manager and declared that loving both God and money is impossible.

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Vss. 16:16-17.

The “Law and the Prophets” VS the “Good News of the Kingdom of God.”

Old and New Testaments.  Old and new wine.

Which is better, more relevant for today?

Jesus says both are needed. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”

(Read, study, and meditate on the WHOLE Bible. It is all God’s Word, and it is all profitable for us.)

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Vss. 16:18.

(For an expanded view on divorce and remarriage, see Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:31-31 and 19:3-9.)

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Vss. 16:19-22.

Jesus next tells the Parable (or was it?) of the Rich Man and Lazarus (not Mary and Martha’s brother).

  • “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day.”

Purple and fine linen = rare and very costly.

He not only FEASTED every day, but the meals were extravagantly SUMPTUOUS. (Like eating a King Charles’ state dinner every night.

  • “At his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.”

Lazarus was so starved and weak that others had to lay him at the rich man’s gate, in hopes of getting the few table scraps swept up and thrown out for the dogs.  The street-savvy dogs got the scraps, but they did lick Lazarus’ sores. (To help them heal? Or for a taste of raw meat?)

The Pharisees, to whom this story was told, would have seen poor Lazarus as “odious, unclean, and despised by God.”

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Vss. 16:22-23.

Jesus continued.

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.

“The rich man also died and was buried, ending up in Hades and in torment.”

“Abraham’s side pictures heaven, with Lazarus being in a “high” position, next to Abraham at the banquet table.

“Hades” (or Sheol) is not exactly hell.  It is the place where the wicked dead are kept until the final judgment.  There is a huge chasm between these two places, although it seems one side can see the other.

This is where the selfish, stingy, uber-wealthy man ended up.

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Vss. 16:24-31.

Jesus tells of a “revealing” conversation between the former rich man and Abraham.

“Father Abraham, send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.”

Yes, the rich man is still ordering the “low life” around, thinking only of his own misery.  (How often Lazarus would have loved a compassionate touch from HIM when both of these men were alive.)

“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now, he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.  And besides, this great chasm between us is permanent. Those who would pass from here to you MAY NOT do it, and none can cross from there to us.’”

(I can imagine a huge howl of despair from the rich man here.)

“Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house. I have five brothers. Send him to warn THEM, lest they also come into this place of torment.”

Still, he wants to order Lazarus around, even if it’s for his siblings!

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear THEM.”

But the rich man said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they WILL repent.”

Abraham responded with truth that the listening Pharisees might later understand… or not. “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if …. SOMEONE should rise from the dead.”

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(Ah, LORD, open our hearts and minds to Your Word. Help us to cherish and always apply it in our lives. And, while there is time, may we find the courage and self-sacrifice to share the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus with our family and friends!)

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/5) Luke 15:11-32

May5

A 5-day per week study.

May 5 – Reading Luke 15:11-32

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Let us eat and celebrate. For this, my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Luke15:24

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Jesus told two “lost and found” parables: a lost sheep and a lost coin, emphasizing the importance of the missing one and the need to restore it.

Today is the third such parable, about a son who was lost and then found, and the great rejoicing that followed.

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Vss. 15:11-12. 

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is very well known and loved.  It’s the longest of Jesus’ parables, and it has several applications.  I always thought “prodigal” meant a wayward son, but the word actually means “recklessly wasteful, extravagant spending of resources without caution.”

It would be like winning the lottery and spending it all on the pleasures you’ve dreamed about without a thought of future responsibility.

In this parable, a man had two sons. The younger demanded to have his inheritance immediately. This would be like a wish that his father were already dead.  It was unheard of and shocking.

But the father did it. He converted 1/3 of his wealth into cash and gave it to the boy. (As the oldest, the other son had the birthright inheritance of two portions (or 2/3 of his father’s wealth. Now, it was ALL his.)

(The religious leaders who so hated the tax collectors that Jesus was associating with were shocked at the younger son’s behavior and saw immediately that he must represent those sinners. THEY, of course, were represented by the faithful, hard-working older son.)

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Vss. 15:13-16.

Jesus continues the story about the fall of the younger son, causing the religious leaders to feel smug and proud that THEY would never do that.

The wandering son journeyed far away (out of his father’s influence) and squandered his inheritance in reckless living. He was living the “good life,” with lots of “fair-weather” friends.  But when the money ran out, he found himself alone and in need.  To top it off, a famine came to that country, and he became hungry.

Desperate, he hired himself out to one of the citizens there, who sent him into the fields to feed … pigs. (super detestable to Jews) Things got so bad that he longed to be fed EVEN THE PIGS’ SLOP, but no one gave him anything.

(Can’t you imagine the pious Pharisees nodding and giving Jesus thumbs-up signs.  This is JUST what that boy deserved.  The tax collectors standing off to the side probably recognized themselves in this parable. So far from God, sinners, unworthy … but with hope.)

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Vss. 15:17-20a.

In that distant land, during a famine, standing in the mud with pigs, this wasteful, selfish younger son “came to himself.”

“How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. 

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’”

THIS is a clear picture of repentance.

It’s recognizing the helpless, horrible state that you are in, and that in no way can you help yourself. It’s realizing that you are completely unworthy to be God’s child. Your sin has separated you from Him. But, because you know what kind of God He is – just, but merciful – you have hope.  You will humble yourself and return to Him, and lay your life into His hands, trusting Him.

This part of Jesus’ story probably made the religious leaders a bit uncomfortable.  They might have soothed their thoughts by assuming the father would probably punish the son and put him in the lowest servant position he had. He would have to labor hard and eat little.  THAT would teach him a lesson!

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Vss. 15:20-24.

The skinny, dirty and in rags, son stumbles homeward.  When he is still afar off, barely able to make out the buildings of his father’s property, he sees an image that must surely be a mirage!

His father, with his robes girded up so his legs are free, is running towards him!  And he’s weeping with joy, calling, “My son!  My son!”

How can this be?

Reaching him, the father embraces his son in a hug so genuine, so loving, and soon they both are weeping.

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son……”

But the father immediately calls for his servants. “Bring the best robe quickly, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate!

Or THIS, my son, was dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found.”

And they began to celebrate.

(Okay, you know for sure that the Pharisees and scribes did NOT like this ending.  That kid should have been punished severely, not only for stealing his father’s property and wishing him dead, but for his gall in accepting all the prizes and the restored position.  THIS UNFAITHFUL SON DID NOT DESERVE THIS HONOR!

Yes, of course, the sinners and tax collectors who had hopped in Jesus rejoiced at this ending.)

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Vss. 15:25-32.

The religious leaders cooled down when Jesus began with “the rest of the story,” about the faithful oldest son.  HE was the one that deserved praise!

”Now, the older son was in the field, and as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the servants and asked him what it meant.

The servant said, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’

As you can imagine, this infuriated the older brother, jealousy raising its ugly head in his heart.  He refused to join the celebration, but remained outside, no doubt pouting.

The father came out and begged him to join in the celebration.  But he would not.

“Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when THIS SON OF YOURS came – who has devoured your property with prostitutes – you killed the fattened calf for him!!!”

(I can imagine the religious leaders, hearing this with their arms crossed on their chests and looking down their noses, totally agreeing with this son.  HE was the faithful one. (Like them.)  It was totally NOT FAIR for the son who wasted all to be honored so. (Like those tax collectors and sinners and gentiles.)

Jesus’ words were gentle as He finished the parable.

“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this YOUR BROTHER was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”

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Lost and found things.  Yes, the 99 sheep, the 9 other coins, and the older son were important and valued. But the lost ones… they (he) needed to be brought back, and then celebrated.  This is the love and mercy of God for lost sinners.

Oh, thank You, LORD!

 

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/17) Luke 11:1-13

Apr17

A 5-day per week study.

April 17 – Reading Luke 11:1-13

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Lord, teach us to pray…”  Luke 11:1

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The Gospel according to Luke

Review – Last time, Jesus visited two sisters in Bethany. Martha is anxious because there is “so much to do.” She commands Jesus to tell Mary to help her! Jesus, kindly but firmly, says no. Mary’s choice to sit and listen to his teaching was a good one. Rebuked … what did Martha do?

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Vss. 11:1-4.

We don’t know where this happened, but somewhere, the disciples quietly watched Jesus as He prayed. After He finished, they asked Him to teach them to pray.  And Jesus did.

This is a shorter version of the “Lord’s Prayer” that Jesus taught the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount. At that time, He’d instructed them…

  1. NOT to stand up to pray in the synagogues or on street corners to be seen by others, but to go into their room, shut the door, and pray to God in secret. God will hear that prayer.
  2. NOT to “heap up empty words” when they prayed as the pagans did. God knew what they needed even before they asked.

Here, Jesus gave them a simplified version.

  • Whom to pray to: the Father,
  • Worship/adoration: hallowed (holy) is Your name.
  • Humble submission to His will: (may) Your kingdom come.
  • Looking to Him for our needs: give us each day our daily bread,
  • Confession: forgive us our sins
  • Repentance: as we forgive everyone indebted to us.
  • Dependence on Him for holy living: lead us not into temptation.

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Vss. 11:5-7.

Jesus encourages His disciples not just to recite a prayer, but to be serious and urgent in their praying. We aren’t to kneel for a 5-minute morning prayer and a few “table graces” and think that is all we need.

Jesus then tells the disciples a parable to illustrate the persistence they should have in prayer.

The scenario Jesus paints is that of a man surprised by a friend who arrives very late at night from a long journey. The man wants to feed this tired and hungry traveler, but there is nothing in the “fridge.”

Even though it is late, he goes to his neighbor, who is also a friend. And, although this neighbor and his entire family have long since blown out the lamps and gone to bed, our guy pounds on the door.

“Please lend me three small loaves for a surprise visitor!”

“What? Are you serious? We are all in bed! I can’t get up to give you any bread!”

Knock, knock, knock. “Please! Just a few loaves!”

“Go away!”

Knock, knock, knock. “Please, I have nothing to give him at all!”

Silence.

Knock, knock, knock. “Please, neighbor! I am desperate. I have nothing!”

Silence.

Then a click and a creak as the door is opened.  A basket of bread is shoved out. Our man takes it and begins to thank his neighbor profusely, but the door closes.

Nevertheless, he joyfully returns home. He has something to feed his exhausted and hungry long-distance visitor.

(No, this is not teaching us to simply “bother God” with constantly repeating requests. Or that God is begrudging with His answers.  But with another’s need in mind, and with a selfless, dependent attitude, we are to be persistent before the throne of grace.)

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Vss. 11:8-10.

So, Jesus encourages His disciples in TWO WAYS to –

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

“For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.”

That almost seems like ‘carte blanche’. But note the examples of requests that Jesus gives in the next section.

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Vss. 11:11-13.

“If a son asks for a FISH (to eat), will the father give him a snake instead?

If a son asks for an EGG, will the father give him a scorpion?

If you then, who are 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?”

 

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/15) Luke 10:25-37

Apr15

A 5-day per week study.

April 15 – Reading Luke 10:25-37

Read and believe in Jesus.

“And who is my neighbor?”  Luke 10:29

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The Gospel according to Luke 10:25-37

Review – Jesus sent out 72 disciples to towns on His way to Jerusalem, to prepare them for His coming. The 72 return, with joy. Woe to the cities in Galilee that He ministered in for 3 years, and who remained indifferent. REJOICE THAT YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN!

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Vss. 10:25-29.

Perhaps this next section takes place in a synagogue on the Sabbath.  We see a “lawyer” (a Scribe, expert in The Law) STAND UP to speak.  It’s as if Jesus has been teaching, and he stands up to argue.

To TEST Jesus, this knowledgeable man asks, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He had no interest in eternal life, only to catch Jesus in His words.

Jesus turns it back on him.  After all, he IS an educated man. “What is written in the Law?  How do YOU read it?”

The man answers quickly, proving that indeed he DOES know the law of Moses. “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.”  (Deuteronomy 6:24-25.)

The scribe must have preened when Jesus said, “You have answered correctly.”

Then to answer the man’s original question, which HE had probably forgotten all about, Jesus continued, “Do this and you shall live.”

This pompous scribe just could not let Jesus have the last word.  Maybe standing a little straighter, the lawyer looked around at the listeners and said with a smirk. “And WHO is my neighbor?”

(Jesus will answer the lawyer’s query in true debater’s form, with another question, forcing him to a begrudging answer. Then Jesus will speak AGAIN to this lawyer’s initial question.)

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Vss. 10:30-37

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…” Jesus began.

As soon as the people realized Jesus was going to tell a story, they settled back to listen. Probably even the contentious lawyer sat down.  All of them were familiar with that dangerous road through the Judean wilderness.

“… and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.”

Several nodded, clicking their tongues. Yep.

“Now by chance,” Jesus continued, “…a priest was going down that road.

You could feel the listeners’ tension rise. A priest? That poor man was … bloody! The priest couldn’t touch him without becoming ceremonially ‘unclean!’

“When the priest saw him, he passed by on the other side of the road.”

They nodded.  It was tragic, but it was the way of things.

Jesus continued. “So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”

The listeners were uncomfortable, but, well, a Levite had to also stay ceremonially clean to minister in the Temple. It was a sad situation. They looked at their hands in their laps.

“But a Samaritan…”

Heads flew up.  What?  How dare Jesus speak of a despised half-breed Samaritan!

“…as the Samaritan journeyed, he came to where the man was, and when he saw him … he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

“And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back’.”

Grumbling began among Jesus’ listeners; outrage mingled perhaps with a touch of guilt?  No one spoke.

Jesus looked to the pretentious lawyer and said, “Which of these three, do YOU think, proved to be a ‘neighbor’ to the man who fell among the robbers?”

Hardly able to get the words out, the learned man said, “The one who showed mercy.”

Jesus leaned back, softly answering the man’s FIRST question about what he should do to have eternal life.  “You go and do likewise.”

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Wow.

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/14) Luke 10:1-24

Apr14

A 5-day per week study.

April 14 – Reading Luke 10:1-24

Read and believe in Jesus.

“”  Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 10:1-24

Review –

In the last lesson, the disciples didn’t seem all that “spiritual.”  They argued about WHO was the greatest among them.  They tried to stop a person who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name JUST BECAUSE he wasn’t a part of “the Twelve.”  And James and John wanted to call down FIRE FROM HEAVEN on a Samaritan town because they wouldn’t let them stay there overnight.

Then, three men that Jesus called to follow Him turned back because it conflicted with their lifestyles.  What disappointments for Jesus as He steadily walked towards Jerusalem and all that would happen there.

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Vss. 10:1-12.

Jesus appointed 72 others of those who were following Him to go on ahead.  Their mission?  They were to prepare the people of the towns on the way to Jerusalem for Jesus’ visit.  Not for accommodations, but their hearts.

Jesus told them that the harvest in these towns was huge.  People’s hearts were ready to hear “good news.” He also told these missionaries to pray to God for even MORE workers.

Like when Jesus sent out the Twelve, He gave these workers instructions.

  1. They were to go out in pairs. (Two are stronger than a lone witness in any situation.)
  2. They were to carry no extra supplies (be self-sufficient), but to go in faith that God would use the townspeople to feed and house them.
  3. They were to announce their purpose right away. “Peace be to this house.” (They were not promoting a Messiah of insurrection.)
  4. Like their Master, they were to heal and preach that the kingdom of God had come.
  5. And … if the town did NOT receive them (like that Samaritan town in the previous lesson), they were to shake the dust off their feet as they left, as a sign that the kingdom of God had come near them, and they’d refused it.

A town’s refusal to accept His message was not about “them.”  It was a collective refusal of the mercy and grace of God, who had not spared His Only Son but sent Him, as a sacrificial Lamb, to take on the sin of the world and experience the death that was the “earned wages.”

“I tell you it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”

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Vss. 10:13-16.

Jesus then names three towns in Galilee that had, for the most part, rejected His message. (Yes, they had gladly received His miracles!)

Chorazin (inland), Bethsaida, and Capernaum were all at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.  And even though Capernaum had been the headquarters of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and had never forced Jesus out or tried to kill Him, their hearts had remained indifferent.

It’s kind of a shock that Jesus said, “If the mighty works done in these cities had been done in Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, THEY would have repented in sackcloth and ashes.” And the people of these cities – because they had had the very Saviour of the world ministering in them for three years … would be held MORE accountable on the day of judgment.

Whoa.  A warning to my country, America, so privileged, with the Gospel, Bibles, churches, and ministries available on every hand. And still the cares and pleasures of this world seem more important.

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Vss. 10:17-20.

The 72 returned to Jesus WITH JOY. They were so amazed that “even the demons were subject to us in Your name!”

Jesus reminded them that HE had seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven (after his rebellion). Jesus was eminently more powerful than Satan, a mere fallen angel. He gave his followers authority over all the enemy’s power.  Nothing could harm them, apart from God’s will.

“Nevertheless, so not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

YES!  THAT is the important part. That our names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life. The greatest wonder of all is the reality of salvation – the whole point of the Gospel. (Philippians 4:3, Hebrews 12:23, Revelation 21:27).

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Vss. 10:21-24.

Then Jesus turns to His Father in prayer, rejoicing that “The Lord of heaven and earth had hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and had revealed them to ‘little children,’ for this was His gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son … and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Yes, Jesus, we are so privileged. We thank You!

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/10) Luke 9:21-45

Apr10

A 5-day per week study.

April 10 – Reading Luke 9:21-45

Read and believe in Jesus.

“There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”  Luke 9:27b

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The Gospel according to Luke 9:21-45

Review – In the last study, we saw the Twelve sent out on a short-term mission trip and returned “pumped.”  Meanwhile, Herod is fearful of all that Jesus is doing and wants to see Him.  Jesus feeds the 5000, then asks His disciples who they say that He is.  “The Christ of God!”

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Vss. 20-22.

When Peter answers Jesus’ question about who THEY think He is, Jesus charges them to give NO ONE ELSE this information … at least not right then.  Many important things must happen to Him first, before they will understand, and the world can receive it.

The disciples have now confessed their “faith” in Him as the Messiah.  Jesus begins to prepare them for His death, the whole reason He has come.   This is the first of three times He tells them….

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

It goes right over their heads.

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Vss. 23-27.

Then Jesus tells these men something even more cryptic.

  • “If ANYONE would come after me, let him DENY himself, TAKE UP HIS CROSS daily, and FOLLOW Me.
  • “Whoever would SAVE his life, will LOSE it, but whoever LOSES his life for My sake will SAVE it.
  • “What does it PROFIT a man if he gains the whole world and FORFEITS himself?
  • “Whoever is ASHAMED of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man BE ASHAMED when He comes in glory.”

“The cross” was a horrific, shameful instrument of execution for the vilest of criminals.  It meant guilt, condemnation, judgment, and excruciating suffering. WHY would Jesus tell His followers that they must submit to this self-denial … daily … in order to be His disciples?

Loss = salvation; forfeit and shame = profit.

This also goes right over the disciples’ heads.

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..And then Jesus says, “I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not TASTE DEATH until they SEE the kingdom of God.”

  • Some standing there (Peter, John, and James)
  • Not taste death (it will happen soon, and they will not die when it happens).
  • See the kingdom of God (the transfiguration of Jesus, a glimpse of His former and ultimate glory).

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Vss. 28-36.

This is another experience that the disciples kept silent about until after Jesus was resurrected. (See 2 Peter 1:16-18)

As Jesus was praying, He was endued with glistening, brilliant white light (think a constant strobe spreading out from Him) – His face, form, and clothing.

It was as though He pulled aside the veil of His humanity so these three could glimpse “the glory that He had with the Father before the world existed.” (See John 17:5)

With Him, they saw Moses and Elijah, representing “the Law” and “the Prophets,” which Jesus totally fulfilled.  Curiously, they were discussing His upcoming death (departure or exodus).

The three disciples fell into a deep (coma) of sleep. When they were awakened, Peter burst forth with “the greatest idea he’d ever had!”   “Let’s make three tents here; one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!!!” 

Have you ever done something like that?  Blurted out something entirely stupid and inappropriate?  He probably would have babbled on if not the cloud of God’s glory hadn’t overshadowed the scene, and the voice of God hadn’t interrupted him.

“This is my Chosen One; LISTEN TO HIM!”

And then it was over, and they were walking silently down from Mt. Tabor’s peak.

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Vss. 37-43.

In the crowd that met Jesus was a desperate man with a totally demon-possessed little boy.

(NOTE: this was his ONLY child.  Alone in the Gospels, Dr. Luke mentions that, and previously that the Nain widow’s dead son was her only child, and that Jairus had only his one daughter.  Doesn’t it remind you of the sacrifice of God, who gave His ONLY Son, Jesus, to be sin for us?)

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For some reason, the disciples were unable to cast out this vicious demon  (though they had done exorcisms many times on their evangelistic tours).

Jesus, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?

Who was Jesus talking to/about?

His own disciples, who vacillated between great faith and “O, ye of little faith.”

The desperate man describes the horrible things that the demon does to his little son. “It seizes him so that he cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth. It shatters him and will hardly leave him alone.”

(NOTE: Although this may seem like a bad case of epilepsy to modern ears, Dr. Luke clearly identifies it as demon possession.)

As Jesus approached the boy, the demon made one last attempt to kill this only son.  But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and, like the resurrected son Jesus “gave back” to the widow of Nain, Jesus gave this little boy back to his father.

And all were astonished at the MAJESTY of GOD.

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Vss. 43b-45.

As the crowd was all marveling at everything Jesus was doing, He took his disciples aside and said, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

(Were the disciples thinking – with the crowds – that Jesus was about to come into his glory, and be crowned the King and save the nation?? Jesus had to bring reality to their thinking.)

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The sad thing is, “they did not understand. It was concealed from them, so they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask about it.”

WHY?

Because it was God’s sovereign design that they would NOT UNDERSTAND until after Jesus’ resurrection. His death for sinful mankind would then be understandable to them.

 Luke 24:45-48 – “Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses to these things.’” 

 

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/8) Luke 8:40-56

Apr8

A 5-day per week study.

April 8 – Reading Luke 8:40-56

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Do not fear, only believe.”  Luke 8:50

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The Gospel according to Luke 8:40-56

Review –

Jesus reacted to family (natural & spiritual). Jesus slept during a storm but awoke and calmed the wind and sea. Across the Lake, Jesus calms a different kind of whirlwind and raging sea, that of the demon-possessed man. Pigs are involved, and a former demoniac becomes an evangelist in his hometown.

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We’ve already studied these next two side-by-side incidents in Mark.  Let’s see how Dr. Luke tells them.

It’s interesting how he writes the stories in pairs.  First, the Centurion’s servant and the widow’s only son were cured/resurrected. Then the raging wind and sea calmed, mirroring the raging madness and deliverance of the demon-possessed man.  Now two “daughters” are cured and restored to “life” at twelve years.

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Vss. 40-42.

Jairus’ VERY sick daughter.

As soon as Jesus crosses back over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, a prominent, important leader of the synagogue falls at His feet, begging him to come heal his daughter of 12 years, who is at the brink of death.

“I will,” says Jesus, and goes with Jairus.

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Vss. 43-48.

A VERY unclean “daughter” of Israel.

But He is stopped by an unnamed woman who has been ceremonially unclean with an “issue of blood” for as long as Jairus’ daughter has been alive.  She cannot worship in the synagogue, be among “clean” women, or be touched by anyone without infecting them with her “uncleanness.”  And she is now destitute because she’s spent ALL her money on doctors to cure her, but NONE were able to help her.

(I bet that made Dr. Luke feel bad!)

In the crowd following Jesus, this “outcast” woman sneaks up and touches the fringe of Jesus’ prayer garment – one of the four corner tassels with blue threads woven through it. IMMEDIATELY, healing power flows into her, and she is HEALED!

Healed, yes.  But NOT RESTORED (cleansed) in the eyes of Israel.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asks.

“Are you serious, Jesus. All these people are crowding around you. EVERYONE is touching you!” says Peter.

“Someone touched me for healing, for I perceive that POWER has gone out from  me.”

Then Jesus SAW the woman.

She saw she could not hide and came trembling to Jesus. And IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL THAT CROWD, she declared WHY she had touched Jesus, AND that she’d been cured.

(Even today, those who are redeemed by the grace of God should not remain silent, but testify to all how Jesus saved them!)

Not in a rush, not stressed by the anxious Jairus pacing nearby, Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Daughter. No longer an outcast. She now has the same standing as Jairus’s own innocent little girl.

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Vss. 49-56.

A VERY dead little girl.

Jairus is torn apart with anxiety and dread while Jesus ministers to the woman.

After all, HIS DAUGHTER is more worthy of Jesus’ attention; she’s an innocent little girl.  And HE, the leader of the synagogue, is surely more important than that woman. His daughter deserves Jesus’ attention more than she does.  HIS situation is more dire. That woman has waited twelve years; let her wait a few more minutes!!!

“I’m sorry, Sir,” whispers one of his servants. “Your daughter has died.  Bother the Master no longer.”

And like that, this important man’s world has ended. He falls to his knees with a deep wail of sorrow and “if only…”

Did he now feel the hopelessness and loss of all joy that the woman had felt for twelve years?

“Do not fear, only believe, and she will be well,” came Jesus’s words through his bitter anguish. He looks up through tears.

Numb, he stumbles along beside Jesus and approaches his house – so very close! (if only…)

Already, the paid mourners are weeping and wailing out front.

“Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping,” Jesus said.

And taking Peter, John, and James along with the girl’s parents, Jesus goes into the house, where the body of the little girl lies. He takes her by the hand.

“Child, arise,”  Jesus says, and the little girl’s spirit RETUNS to her. (Yes, she WAS dead.)  She sits up at once, and Jesus directs that some food be brought to her.

(If she’s been sick a while, she NEEDS food.  But also, at least with Jesus and the disciples after HIS resurrection, eating food is proof positive that indeed the dead one has been brought back to life.)

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And so, there was joy in two households that day. Two daughters had been restored to life. One goes back to a normal way of living, loving, enjoying fellowship, and the other goes back to literal breathing and eating.

JESUS IS the Resurrection and the LIFE.  PRAISE HIM!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (4/7) Luke 8:16-39

Apr7

A 5-day per week study.

April 7 – Reading Luke 8:16-39

Read and believe in Jesus.

“”  Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 8:16-39

Review – In the last study, women follow Jesus and use their resources to support the group. Jesus’ teaching is now in parables as both a judgment and a mercy. The parable of the Sower/Soils puzzles the disciples, but Jesus explains it to them.

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Vss. 19-21.

Jesus is surrounded by crowds, no matter which town or village he goes to.  He is healing and teaching, although now more in veiled parables.

  1. He ended the Parable of the Sower/Soils by describing the “good” soil as “Those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, AND bear fruit with patience.”

While He is teaching, Jesus’ mother (Mary) and his brothers come to him. But they cannot get TO Him because of the crowd. We know from other accounts that Mary is concerned about Him because he doesn’t even take time to eat. (Sounds like a mom, right?)  Perhaps she brought his half-siblings along to maybe physically take him aside to eat.

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Yes, Jesus had brothers and sisters.  These are those who were born AFTER Jesus’ virgin birth.  They had Mary as their mom, but Joseph was their birth father, unlike Jesus.

(NOTE: Both Matthew 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3 give the names of the brothers: James (who became the leader of the Jerusalem church and wrote a book by that name), Joseph, Simon, and Judas (or Jude), who also wrote a book in the New Testament – that shortie right before The Revelation.  Matthew mentions “all” of Jesus’ sisters, so He had at least three, although they are not named.)

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Jesus loved and respected His mother, but since his ministry, and eventually the way to the cross, began, His family had to take a secondary position.  He was now “Messiah,” “Savior,” and “Redeemer.”  Faith, not family, was primary.

  1. Jesus said to those who were telling Him His family was summoning Him, “My mother and my brothers are those who HEAR the word of God and DO it.”
  2. This was the point he made with that Parable. It was also something His brother, James, remembered.  In James’ letter (1:22), the church leader wrote, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

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Vss. 22-25.

After this, and to get some rest and alone time with His disciples, Jesus suggested, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”

As soon as they set out, Jesus fell asleep on the bench at the back of the boat.

  • The disciples took turns rowing.
  • The wind freshened, then started to blow in earnest. It whipped up the waves, and they began to wash over the sides of the boat.
  • The disciples bucketed out the water, but they couldn’t do it fast enough, and the water level rose. The boat sank deeper into the Sea.
  • They were in serious danger!
  • One sloshed to the back of the boat, shaking Jesus. “MASTER, MASTER, we are perishing!”
  • Jesus sat up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves.
  • Both ceased, and there was a calm.
  • Silence and awe.
  • Jesus, “Where is your faith?”
  • They whispered among themselves, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and water and they obey Him?”

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The disciples were about to meet ANOTHER crazy whirlwind and dangerous, angry storm as soon as they reached the other side of the Lake.  A wild, dangerous demoniac. Jesus’ words would once again bring calm and peace.

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Vss. 26-39.

AS SOON AS they stepped out of the boat, the crazy, naked, menacing, demon-possessed man met them. (Talk about stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire!)

This poor man had been uncontrollable, both by himself and by the men of the town.  They had restrained him, but he broke the shackles and ran around naked in the graveyard, screaming and cutting himself.

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(This is a picture of Satan and what he would love to do to us all.  Praise God that Jesus defeated him, not only in the wilderness temptations, but would do once and for all on the cross.)

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  • The demons in the man slammed him down to the ground before Jesus. (They had no choice.)
  • Jesus commanded the demon(s) to come out.
  • “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!”
  • “What is your name?” Jesus demanded.
  • “Legion, for we are many,” they said and begged Jesus not to send them into the Abyss.”

(NOTE: The Abyss was the pit, the underworld, the prison of bound demons who disobeyed. 2 Peter 2:4 adds about fallen angels, “God committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.”)

  • Jesus instead commanded that this “legion” of demons be sent into a large herd of pigs nearby. The swine promptly ran over the cliff and perished in the lake.
  • This, of course, upset the swineherds and the townspeople, and they asked Jesus to “depart from them.” This, even though the former demon-possessed man was now sitting at the feet of Jesus, fully clothed, “in his right mind.”

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(We haven’t heard a peep out of the disciples. Were they standing around, first in fear, then in awe, then in amazement?  Did they ask themselves again, “Who then is this that a legion of demons obey Him?”)

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The released, whole, and sane former slave to Satan begged Jesus that he might go with Him.  But Jesus told the “new disciple” to return to his home and “declare how much God has done for you.”  

Saved, freed, and now a witness and preacher in his own hometown. “And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”

Again, one who heard, believed, and became a “doer of the Word.”

 

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (3/25) Luke 5:12-26

Mar25

A 5-day per week study.

March 25 – Reading Luke 5:12-26

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Lord, if You will, you can make me clean.” “I will. Be clean.”  Luke 5:13

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The Gospel according to Luke 5:12-26

Review – In the last study, we saw Jesus in an empty, cleaned fishing boat.  He taught the crowd, then told Simon Peter to “catch some fish.”  But they’d fished all night with not a sardine! Nevertheless, Peter pushed out into deep water and threw the freshly washed nets over the side.

And fish!!! So much so that, even with the help of other boats, they couldn’t hold them all. A picture of evangelism in Jesus’ Kingdom, when obedience is before human wisdom.  You will be “fishers of men,” Jesus told them.

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Vss. 12-16.

Jesus is now teaching in another town. A leper approaches Him, saying,“If You will … You can make me clean.”

Those with leprosy in that day had to stay far away from healthy people.  They had to cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” whenever people passed by as a warning of their contagion.  Dr. Luke describes this man as being “full of leprosy,” so this was an advanced case. 

The man had been suffering for a long time. He was desperate.  He’d heard one of the “reports” about Jesus, how He was healing ALL diseases and casting out demonic spirits.  A glimmer of hope had sprung up.  And then He SAW Jesus.

He didn’t run to Him; perhaps his feet were so diseased that he couldn’t.

He simply fell … on his (mutilated) face … and begged.

“Lord! IF YOU WILL, You can make me clean.”  There was no doubt of Jesus’ ability. Leprosy was no match for this Healer.  But WOULD He? Would He have mercy? 

And then came the TOUCH.  Jesus TOUCHED the fully leprous man.

“I will,” Jesus said.“Be clean.”

Four words, and the leprosy was gone.  Such power in the WORDS of Jesus.

Leprosy (a picture of sin in the world) did not infect Jesus. His cleanness “infected” the man.

Oh, what grace! Oh, what deliverance! Oh, what joy!

(This is such a vivid picture of a sinner coming to Jesus. He’s heard that He CAN save sinners, that He DOES save sinners, but WILL He save this one?  Will He save me?  [See Romans 10:9-13, John 3:16-19, Acts 16:30-31)

Jesus instructed the man to do what the Law of Moses demanded when a person was healed/cleansed of leprosy. They were to go to a priest, show their “clean” skin, wait a period, and be examined again. And if the priest declared it so, they would offer a sacrifice. (Leviticus 13:1-46)

Luke doesn’t say that the man didn’t tell everyone he knew that he was healed.  But they could SEE. The formerly leprous man had clean, whole skin. He again had fingers and toes, ears and nose.  Amazement abounded.

And the “report” of Jesus’ teaching, healing, and casting out demons expanded to include the cleansing of leprosy.  Great crowds of needy, hurting people gathered to hear Him and be healed.

And Jesus withdrew to desolate places to pray.

(Wow. If the perfect, powerful, sinless Son of God found the time, place, and opportunity (and the NEED) to quietly pray to His father … how much more should this be true of us.)

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Vs. 17.

On another occasion, as Jesus was teaching … Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there.  They’d come from every village of Galilee, Judea, and even Jerusalem to “check Him out.” The reports of Jesus were spreading. These “hawks” were watching Him critically.

We don’t know exactly where Jesus was, but He was inside a building, maybe someone’s house, large enough to hold such a “convocation” of Jewish hierarchy.

“And the power of the Lord was with Him to heal.”

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Vss. 18-20.

And still, the needy crowds flocked to Jesus.  A group of men, friends of a paralyzed man, heard where Jesus was and loaded up their friend on a stretcher-like mat.  The house was crowded, and people massed outside, listening to Jesus teach.  How would they reach Him with their friend?

  • Four sets of eyes raised to the roof, and the stairs leading to the “outdoor” room behind the parapet.
  • They carried their helpless friend up, laid him down, and began dismantling the roof.
  • Tiles were pried up and carefully laid aside, exposing the wood rafters.
  • Eventually, dust and pieces of “grout” filtered down inside the house.
  • All inside looked up, and the men lowered their friend’s mat, JUST IN FRONT OF JESUS.

Jesus looked UP and saw THEIR faith, and said to THE MAN, “Your sins are forgiven.”

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Vss. 21-26.

Of course, the hyper-religious Pharisees jumped on these words. In their hearts, they were condemning Jesus of blasphemy. WHO can forgive sins but God?  Is this man saying He is … GOD??

“Why do you question in your hearts?” Jesus knew their thoughts.

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ Or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?

But so that you may KNOW that the Son of Man HAS authority on earth to forgive sins…”  Jesus turns to the man who was paralyzed and says, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

Immediately, the formerly paralyzed man rose up, picked up what he’d been lying on, and went through the door and home, glorifying God (with his four friends, I’m sure). 

(Yes, I believe that later, they returned and, when the house was empty, repaired the roof.)

And amazement seized all who witnessed and heard of this miracle, and they glorified God, and were filled with awe, saying, ”We have seen extraordinary things today.”

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(Did the religious leaders also glorify God?  Or did they feel outrage at Jesus’ words and actions? Was the darkness of murder already filling their hearts and minds? This was only the beginning of clashes between Jesus and those who were supposed to lead Israel in holiness.)