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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/29): Matthew 13:44-52.

Oct29

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Have you understood all these things?” Matthew 13:51

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REVIEW – Jesus told the parable of the weeds sown in a good farmer’s field, then later explained to His disciples that it pictured the end of the age, when the true and false inhabitants of the kingdom would be sorted out. The parable confused the crowds, for how could evil exist in the Messiah’s Kingdom?

In the two parables of growth, the mustard seed and the leaven, Jesus pictured His kingdom beginning small but growing to include the other nations of the world. The disciples “kind of” got the stories, but the crowds were clueless. Jesus said this was because they had closed their minds to the things of God.

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Matthew 13:44-52.

Jesus now tells three short parables to His disciples.

First: The Kingdom of heaven is like TREASURE hidden in a field. A man comes by, discovers the treasure, hurriedly re-buries it, and then buys the field with all the money he can get together… to possess the TREASURE.

Second: The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls who, when he finds a rare PEARL of great value, sells everything he has to buy that one magnificent PEARL.

Third: The kingdom of heaven is like a NET in this parable, thrown into the sea and then gathered back in. It is full of all kinds of fish and stuff. The fishermen sort the good fish from the trash, throwing the latter into the furnace to be burned up… much like how the unbeliever spends eternity.

So, “Do you understand all these things?” Jesus asks His disciples and us.

“Yes,” they answer.

Um, no, I answer.

But I “think” I get the first two. The treasure and pearl picture salvation as something hidden from most people, but so valuable that people who have it revealed to them are willing to give up ALL THEY HAVE to possess it.

Hebrews 2:3 – “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”.

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The third short parable seems to point to the visible kingdom of heaven, with true believers and those who only claim to be believers. At the end time, at the judgment, God’s ministering angels will separate these two: the righteous to their reward, and the charlatans to the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Then Jesus tells His disciples that if they truly understand what He’s teaching them, they will be like trained scribes who bring out what is new and what is old from their treasure. They are not to forsake the OLD (Law and Testament), but to understand the NEW teachings by laying them alongside the Old and gaining wisdom.

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This concludes this time of teaching through parables. I bet the disciples wiped their brows and muttered, “whew!” as they headed to Nazareth.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/28): Matthew 13:24-43.

Oct28

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“.” Matthew

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REVIEW – Jesus began a season of speaking parables to the crowds instead of straight kingdom preaching. His reason? Israel did not WANT to hear, believe, and receive the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was offering. They wanted His physical healings, but weren’t interested in spiritual wholeness. They saw His miracles, but didn’t accept Him as their Messiah.

So, like the seed falling on hard-packed ground in the first parable, eaten by the birds before it could take root, Jesus’ clear preaching was taken away and replaced with parables to “tickle” their ears. Jesus told His disciples this was prophesied in Isaiah 6:9-10 as a judgment on Israel.

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The scary thing is that the Holy Spirit will only strive with people for so long; then a person’s heart will be TOO hardened to turn. (Genesis 6:3) God’s Spirit patiently convicts, warns, and pulls people toward repentance, but God does not let people persist in rebellion forever without consequence.

If you feel a heavy conviction or fear that God has stopped working in your life, the fact that you still care, feel a tug on your heart, or desire truth often shows the Spirit is still active and inviting you to turn to Him. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)

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(In 13:16, Jesus tells His disciples that THEIR eyes “see” and their ears “hear,” so THEY are blessed! “Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what YOU see and did not see it, and to hear what YOU hear and did not hear it.” I would say that YOU and I are among those blessed like the disciples.)

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Matthew 13:24-30.

Then Jesus speaks another parable to the crowd, which He later explains to His disciples.

“The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While his men were sleeping (normal rest, not negligence), the farmer’s enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat (then went away).

All the plants came up and began to form heads of grain. (Wheat heads stand tall pointing towards the sky, while the “darnel” (weed) heads angle downward.)

The workers immediately saw the problem and went to the farmer. “Didn’t you sow good seeds? How then does the field also have weeds?”

“AN ENEMY HAS DONE THIS!”

“Should we go through and pull out the weeds and burn them?”

“No,” said the farmer, “for then the wheat will be rooted up too. Allow both to grow until harvest. Then go through, pull up the weeds first, and burn them. Then gather the wheat into my barn.”

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This parable also made no sense to the crowd, many of whom were farmers. They couldn’t believe that “the enemy” was “in” the kingdom of heaven. No, the Messiah would rule supreme. There would be no enemy in the true Messiah’s kingdom. (This Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about…)

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Matthew 13:31-35.

Then Jesus told two quick parables, again about things familiar to the people, but deceptively hard for them to understand.

First, His kingdom was like a tiny mustard seed. (Mustard seeds in the Middle East are black and about the size of grains of salt, not like the ones we see in our pickle jars.) When these seeds are planted in a garden, they grow very big, seeming like a tree compared to the garden herbs around it. The tree-plant is so large that “birds of the air” come and make nests in its branches.

Okay, the people “kind of” nodded. They’d seen how big the tiny mustard grows, and they’d probably seen how birds come and nest in it. (After all, mustard seed was often mixed with other grains and fed to pigeons!) But how does this “picture” the Messiah’s kingdom?

(Jesus is prophesying that His kingdom will grow from a small beginning and spread far, so Gentiles will be part of it. The term “birds of the air” often spoke of other nations around Israel. They would come into the kingdom and find security and sustenance too.

Nope, these Jews did NOT picture that!

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Second (and similar) is the parable about a portion of leaven that a woman worked into flour.

They’d all seen the result of that in their own kitchens. That bit of leaven caused the whole batch of dough to rise into many loaves of delicious bread.

So, duh, what’s the rest of the story? They are bewildered. And they disperse, scratching their heads. “What does He mean?”

Jesus did NOT mean for the leaven in this parable to represent sin, as it often does in the Bible. Like the other parables, it represents the kingdom of heaven and shows how it will start small and (eventually) spread from … Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria … to the uttermost parts of the world.

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Matthew 13:36-43.

Later, after Jesus left the crowds, He and the disciples went into the house where they were staying.

“Explain to us the parable of the seeds of the field,” they asked. And Jesus did.

“Once again, the farmer (sower) is Jesus, and the field is the world.

But this time, the good seed is “the sons of the kingdom,” while the weeds are “the sons of the evil one.” The enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil.

The harvest is the close of the age; the reapers are angels.

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather all who cause sin and all lawbreakers out of His kingdom and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.”

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“He who has ears, let him hear.”

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/27): Matthew 13:1-23.

Oct27

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Why do You speak to them in parables?” Matthew 13:10

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REVIEW – Jesus confronted His adversaries with harsh teaching. The Pharisees’ hearts had hardened like stone, and now they only wanted to declare Him a fraud, even attributing His miracles to Beelzebul’s power. Jesus exposed the evil in their hearts, and they immediately demanded a sign of His authority. After all, they were the “Israel’s Teachers of the Law!

Jesus gave them the signs they should have known as teachers of the O.T.: the signs of Jonah, Nineveh, and the Queen of Sheba.

Then Jesus told the parable of a person freed of an unclean spirit, only to have seven worse spirits return to occupy him… because, after cleaning out the old, he had failed to fill it with “good.” Idolatry had been cleaned out of Israel in the exile, but now, the temple & worship of the LORD had been twisted by these self-righteous keepers of the law, who put weights of rules on the people that God never intended.

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Matthew 13:1-3.

Later that same day, after confronting the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, Jesus went to the Sea and sat down. (Can’t you almost see him take a deep breath of the cool sea breeze and enjoy a few minutes with his disciples around Him, with only the regular sounds of boatyard business.)

But soon the crowds came again, and pressed in to hear Him or touch Him, so that He had to commandeer one of the boats to put some space between them. Then Jesus sat in the boat (perhaps with an anchor holding it a short way from the shore), while the great crowd stood along the beach. Imagine Jesus’ compassionate heart as he looked at all those expectant faces, each wanting something from Him.

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Matthew 13:4-9.

Jesus then began to tell them the first of many parables of the kingdom of heaven. The parable of the Sower is perhaps the best known. Maybe Jesus was inspired by the hillside behind the standing crowd, light green with new shoots of barley or wheat. Lots of promise, but what would the harvest be?

“A sower went out to sow.

As he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil, and they sprang up immediately because they had no depth to push through, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ”

Then Jesus concluded this parable with, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

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Skipping down to Matthew 12:18-23.

Here Jesus tells the meaning of that first parable of His kingdom, which the disciples didn’t even understand.

(The “sower” is the Lord Jesus, see 13:37, and the “seed” is the good Word of God, see Mark 4:14. The soil represents the hearts of those who hear the Word.)

The first hard-packed “path” soil represents those who hear the word of the kingdom but do not understand it (or do not want to). The devil comes along and snatches away even that little bit they heard.

The thin layer of soil atop rocks represents those who hear the “sweet” parts of the message and accept it with joy. But when tribulation or persecution comes (the hot sun, dry wind), they fall away because they have no “root” in the truth.

The thorny, weedy soil represents those who hear the message of the kingdom, but whose lives are so full of the ‘cares of the world’ and the ‘deceitfulness of riches’ that they pay no attention to the things of God. “I’ll look into that another day,” they think, but never do.

The good, fertile soil represents hearts open to the message and ready to receive it. They nurture, feed, and grow good grain, ready for abundant harvests.

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Matthew 13:10-17.

“Yeah, okay, we knew that!” (cough, cough) said the disciples after Jesus explained the parable of the sower and the soil. (NOW they did!)

But they were curious. Jesus had taught the crowds plainly up until then. And He had taught them even more so, privately. So why was He talking in “riddles” now?

Turns out, the parables – those sweet stories we love to tell and illustrate in children’s books – were a JUDGMENT on the people. People, like the first soils who listened to Jesus because it was pleasant and because He healed them, weren’t interested in changed, fruitful lives.

The people “heard” Jesus speak but didn’t want to “hear” His message. These people “saw” His miracles, but didn’t “recognize” Him as their Messiah. And so, even Jesus’ clear preaching would be “taken away” and replaced with parables.

Then Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10,

“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and TURN,

and I would heal them.”

Then Jesus turns to His own disciples (and to us who are reading this with love for Him in our hearts) and says,

“Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

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How blessed we are!!

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/9): Matthew 7:24-29.

Oct9

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and DOES them will be like a….” Matthew 7:24.

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REVIEW – Jesus warned about false prophets: sheep in wolves’ clothing, thornbushes and thistles, and diseased trees. All examples from agriculture and farming, which His listeners knew well. Jesus said all of these would end up “in the fire.”

To make it clear whom He was talking about, Jesus described people who, although very pious, dynamic, charismatic, and talented religious leaders, lacked one thing. They did NOT do the Father’s will, which was to believe in Him. In their last terrifying moment of trusting in these “pious works,” they will hear Jesus say, “I never knew you. Depart from Me.” Faith in the Son, and not good works, is the key to Christ’s kingdom.

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Matthew 7:24-27.

Jesus gives one more illustration about two house builders.

One man was wise, perhaps experienced in all that could go wrong in home building, and now knew the best way. He dug deep until he hit bedrock.

Then he laid the foundation for his home. The walls, floors, and roof now sat steady and strong on that base.

Another man, perhaps new at the trade, or maybe one who had not learned from previous fails, began construction right away.. He smoothed and leveled a base for his house on the packed dirt.

Then he built a beautiful, multi-storied home that made many around him envious.

Then the builders moved their families into the houses they built and began living the good life.

Then it began to rain.

Perhaps not a Noah-like rain, but a steady downpour. Rain poured from the two homes’ roofs and ran in rivulets down the driveways. The water ran clean from the first house. Dirty water, then mud growing thicker and thicker, flowed from the second home.

Foundations were revealed.

At one house, solid blocks reached far below the surface, while at the other, the dirt beneath the blocks was quickly eroding away. The second house began to tip and sink.

Then, hurricane-like winds began beating on the houses, causing windows to shudder in one and the tipping to increase in the other.

Finally, with one great gust, the beautiful house built on the “sand” leaned all the way over and, with a horrendous roar, fell, crushing walls, windows, and the furniture inside. The debris twisted, broke apart, and the floodwater carried it away.

When the wind receded, the rain stopped, and a bright rainbow appeared in the clear blue sky … the house on the rock stood still.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock.”

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.Matthew 7:28-29.

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for He was teaching them as One who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

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Think back over the last 14 studies on the “Sermon on the Mount.”

Remember all that Jesus taught this crowd of “followers” about His kingdom, which was “at hand,” there and NOW.

This was certainly not the “kingdom of the Messiah” they had expected (freedom from Rome and a utopia on earth). His kingdom seemed difficult to enter and exist in. Who could do it? And yet, He taught with such authority and knowledge of the Scriptures…

Some stayed to follow and hear more from Jesus. Others faded away. “It’s too hard.”

Which will we be? Standing steady, or falling away?

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Challenge: Go back today or this weekend and reread Chapters 5-7 of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. What stood out to you? What “convicted” you? What made you love Jesus more?

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/25) Luke 21:20-37

May25

A 5-day per week study

Read and Believe in Jesus

“But stay awake at all times, praying….” Luke 21:36

The Gospel according to Luke.

REVIEW – Jesus commended the offering of a poor widow while condemning the ruthlessness of the scribes for “devouring widows’ houses.” Then Jesus told about the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., which also mingle with events of the great tribulation.

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Vss. 21:21:24.

Jesus foretells the dark future of Jerusalem, both in 70 A.D. and when the final “abomination of desolation” comes in the end times. It will be a horrible time for the Jews. Titus introduced the “times of the Gentiles” with his destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away of millions of Jewish slaves. It begins a time when Israel is temporarily set aside. It is also a time of grace for Gentiles who believe and trust in Jesus. They will be “grafted into the stock of Israel. These “times” will end when Jesus returns with power and establishes the promised Millennial Kingdom on earth.

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Vss. 21:25-28.

Signs in the sun, moon, and stars, as well as distress and perplexity on earth, are signs of Jesus’ second coming. People will faint with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world.

(Sounds like these days we are living in, right?)

But Jesus tells the faithful that when they begin to see these things take place… “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.)

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Vss. 21:29-36.

Jesus then gives an example of the fig tree. (Actually, all trees). When they see trees begin to leaf out, they KNOW that summer is near. So also, when they see the signs Jesus spoke about, they will KNOW that His coming is about to happen.

Indeed, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, THIS generation (the one who sees these signs) will not pass away until all has taken place.

(Could this be OUR generation?)

Did His listeners look at Him (and the great stones of the temple) and feel skeptical? Jesus responds. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will NOT pass away.”

Jesus then gives a stern warning to them … and to us …

“Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. (For it WILL come upon ALL who dwell on the face of the WHOLE earth!) “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have STRENGTH to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”

How did the people who heard Him react to these words? Probably like people today, when we tell them that Jesus is coming soon, and to prepare! Come to Jesus and be saved!

Did they shrug and think, “Oh, that can’t happen in my lifetime. That’s way far off. I have things to do … places to go… people to see… I’ll think of this another time.”

Oh, LORD, save us!

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Vss. 21:37-38.

“Every day, He was teaching in the temple. (Jesus will remind the Jewish leaders of this when they arrest Him.)

“But at night, He went out and lodged on the Mount of Olives.

Then every morning, early, Jesus went to the temple. And all the people came to hear Him teach.

(And the ruthless Jewish leaders’ hands were tied. But the “people” didn’t stop their murderous intentions, as they supposed. It was God, the Father, who was perfectly orchestrating everything. Jesus, the Lamb of God, would die at Passover. And His blood applied to all who believed and obeyed would save them (and us) from death. Eternal death.

Thank You, Jesus.

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(I use the 2010 MacArthur Study Bible, English Standard Version, for my studies.)

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/20) Luke 20:1-20.

May20

A 5-day per week study.

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Tell us, by what authority do you do these things… who gave you this authority?”  Luke 20:2

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Jesus rode triumphant into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the cheers of the crowds and wild expectations of His disciples … and the terror of the religious leaders. He cleansed the Temple and then taught there, and the temple authorities could do NOTHING against Him….yet.

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Vss. 20:1-8.

Smarting at having lost all their income from the marketplace in the Temple courtyard, these three groups of religious leaders accosted Jesus while He was teaching and preaching the gospel … in that very Temple courtyard.

“WHAT authority do you have to do this? WHO gave you this authority? They said, fists on hips, evil in their eyes.

“I’ll ask YOU a question,” said Jesus calmly. “Was the baptism of John from heaven (God) or from man?

The accusers muttered among themselves, seeing that Jesus had them over a barrel. No matter which way they answered His question, they were in trouble. So … “We do not know where it came from,” they finally spat out.

Jesus knew their dilemma. If they said John’s ministry was God-given, then the question was, why didn’t they heed it? If they said it was by John’s own doing, the people would attempt to stone them because they believed (rightly) that John was a prophet of God.

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Vss, 20 9-15.

Jesus then tells a parable to those religious leaders (about themselves – would they understand?) The people around Jesus also listened intently.

“A man planted a vineyard…”

Right away, the song in Isaiah 5:1-7 must have come to mind, at least to these teachers of the Law. It is the story of Israel portrayed as a vineyard. The men (and maybe the general people) would know what this story was going to be about.

A vineyard = Israel. But who are the characters? Jesus would make that plain.

In Jesus’s parable, He tells of the landowner (representing God) going to a far country for a long while, leaving his vineyard in the care of the tenant farmers.

(Who, but the Jewish leaders, could be represented by the tenants? THEY knew, and so did the people listening to the parable.)

Jesus continues. Harvest time came, and the landowner sent his servant to collect the crop (money earned). But these tenants beat up the servant and sent him away empty-handed.

The landowner sent another servant, perhaps a more forceful one, but the greedy tenants treated him shamefully and sent him packing as well.

The landowner sent a third servant to collect his due. The now-confident tenants wounded him and threw him out without the landowners’ wages.

These servants the landowner sent represented the prophets God sent to Israel, hoping to turn them from their wicked ways and give Him the worship due to Him. Often, the religious leaders in Israel’s history disregarded and often tortured and killed God’s prophets.

Was the crowd around Jesus “getting the picture?”

Jesus continued, “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” WHO but Jesus Himself was Jesus portraying?

But the murderous tenants threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him, believing that now the vineyard would be THEIRS.

Did Jesus gaze at those religious leaders standing around? Of course, He knew their murderous hearts, plotting HOW they might catch Him and kill Him.

Jesus asks a question to the people and those religious leaders, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? His answer shocked them.

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Vss. 20:16-20.

Jesus said forcefully, “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others!”

Whoa, did that ever cause a reaction!

“SURELY NOT!” Exclaimed the crowd. Yes, they understood very well what Jesus was saying. Israel without their priests and teachers!

But Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:13-15. HE was the “stone” that the builders rejected. But HE would become the Cornerstone of the new order.

“The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces.” And, “When this stone falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Whether a vase falls on a rock or a rock falls on a vase, the result is the same. Both those who are not interested in Christ and those who hate Him… the result is the same. They will be crushed.

Okay, the scribes and chief priests knew that Jesus told this parable against them.

They sought to lay hands on Jesus that very hour, but … they feared the people. So they watched Him. And they sent spies who pretended to be sincere to “catch Him” in something He said. They wanted to deliver Jesus up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor (Pilate).

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In tomorrow’s reading, we will see some of these attempts by quasi-sincere questioners. Jesus knows. He always gets the better of them.

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(I use the 2010 MacArthur Study Bible, English Standard Version, for my studies.)

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/19) Luke 19:28-48.

May19

A 5-day per week study.

Read and believe in Jesus.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Jesus told a parable about a nobleman, his servants, and his citizens, that, if the disciples and religious leaders were truly listening, would have explained just how and when Jesus would set up His Kingdom on earth. It would be in the future, not during the coming Passover in Jerusalem, which the disciples eagerly anticipated and the religious leaders desperately wanted to prevent.

Today’s lesson would ramp up the disciples’ hopes and terrorize the religious leaders.

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Vss. 28-35.

After telling the parable, Jesus left Jericho and traveled up the road towards Jerusalem. When He came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Eastern brow of the Mount of Olives, He sent two of the disciples on a mission.

“Go into the village in front of you, where, upon entering, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.'”

The two disciples went into the village, found the colt, and answered the questioning owner just as Jesus told them. They brought the young donkey to Jesus, threw their cloaks on its back, and set Jesus on it.

(Now this was a miracle in itself. If you have ever been around horses or donkeys, you know that an unbroken animal would not stand still as a person perched on its back, but would shy away and even buck. AND, besides that, flapping cloaks thrown over its back would have totally spooked it. — BUT, this was Jesus. This young donkey was as chosen for this task as the disciples were for the ministry He had for them. Like the wind and sea, the colt knew its Creator. Perhaps it even knew its destiny to carry the King of the Jews into the Holy City, NOT for coronation, but for execution.)

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Vss. 36-40.

As Jesus rode along the descending Mount of Olives, over the Kidron Brook, and then into the City of God, the growing crowd spread their cloaks on the road. The other Gospels tell of them cutting palm branches and waving them before Jesus, calling “Hosannah.”

Luke tells us Jesus’ disciples really got “into” the rejoicing too. YES!! THIS WAS IT! JESUS WOULD NOW DECLARE HIMSELF KING!

They and the crowds began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

And Jesus allowed it. He WAS their King, but His time to set up the kingdom was not now. He had to “go away” for a time, just as the nobleman did in yesterday’s parable. But the day would come when He would return to set up His kingdom.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd, in a panic, called to Jesus. “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” This was a strong claim to deity, and perhaps reflected Habakkuk 2:11.

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Vss. 41-44.

Luke is the only one who recorded Jesus weeping over Jerusalem at this point. They had been calling out, “peace and glory,” but Jesus longed for them to know what/who could truly bring them peace. “But now, the things are hidden from your eyes.”

Then (and WERE THEY LISTENING??) Jesus foretold of the time in less than 40 years, when “enemies would set up a barricade around the city and tear down its walls to the ground, not leaving one stone upon another.” Why would this happen? Because Jerusalem and her people did NOT recognize their Messiah. Not a king to ruin Rome, but a Messiah to rule their hearts in righteousness. No wonder Jesus wept.

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Vss. 45-48.

Later, with the donkey returned, Jesus is drawn to the Temple, His Father’s House, the place where Israel was “supposed” to meet with their God. Instead, the courtyard is again filled with noise, filth, and buying and selling, with no sense of holiness or worship. Yes, it is Passover, and lambs needed to be purchased. The temple tax was due, and coins of other lands needed to be exchanged for shekels. BUT, in the House of the Living God???

Jesus began to drive out those who sold, crying, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!“

Then, with it cleansed, Jesus came there daily to teach. And the people were all hanging on His words.

But the chief priests (Sadducees, rulers of the temple), scribes (Pharisees, experts in the law and traditions), and the principal men of the people (prominent Jewish laymen with influence in temple affairs) were seeking to destroy Him. And although Jesus was now in the very heart of the opposition … they did not find anything they could do.

(I use the 2010 MacArthur Study Bible, English Standard Version, for my studies.)

Reading the Gospels in 2026: (5/18) Luke 19:11-27.

May18

A 5-day per week study.

Read and believe in Jesus.

“.”  Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Last time was the wonderful story of the “short” Tax Collector, Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus.  But Jesus saw him first and desired to fellowship with him.  Zacchaeus joyfully welcomed Jesus into his home and heart.  The evidence of his true conversion was the abundance of giving back and restitution. (Unlike the rich, young ruler, Jesus meant much more to Zacchaeus than all he possessed, even though he was also very rich.  (Oh, for such a hungry heart!)

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Vs. 11.

  1. Because of who Zacchaeus was and what he had done with all his MONEY after meeting Jesus, and …
  2. Because Jesus was getting close to Jerusalem, and his followers “supposed” He would now take the Kingdom NOW, overthrow Rome, and rule (and they would be by His side) …
  3. And because the Jews were “circling” Jesus, like beasts of prey …
  4. Because of these things … Jesus told this parable about a Nobleman who went away to a FAR country to receive his kingdom, and then returned to settle his affairs.

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Vss. 12-15.

There are three main characters in this parable: the Nobleman, His servants, and His citizens. See if you can guess who each represents.

The nobleman, of course, illustrates Jesus, who would soon depart to receive His kingdom … and ONE DAY return to rule.

  • (Kings in Roman provinces like Galilee actually went to Rome to receive their kingdoms from the Emperor. This was true of the Herodian dynasty. The listening audience would know about this.)

Before the Nobleman left, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas.  (A mina was worth about 100 days of salary.)  He told His servants to “Engage in business until I come.”  (The KJV says, “occupy until I come.”)

These are those who are left to represent Jesus on earth – true and false followers.

Then Jesus introduced another group of characters in the parable.  The “citizens” of his land HATED the nobleman and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

  • (Actually, this happened in the case of Herod. The Jews sent a delegation to Rome saying they did NOT want him to reign over them.  But they were denied, and he returned as king for a while.)

These “citizens” represented the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day, who rejected Him as their Messiah, and were plotting even then to kill Him.

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Eventually, the Nobleman returned, having gained His Kingdom, and He called His servants to account, rewarding them in His Kingdom.

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Vss. 16-26.

In this accounting, the nobleman addresses only THREE servants, but let’s consider them representatives of the others.

The first came and presented ten minas for the one he was given. “Well done, good servant!  Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.”

The second came and presented five minas for the one he was given.  “And you are to be over fivc cities.”

Then another came with  “such an excuse!!”  “Here is your one mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man.  You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” 

Ah-oh!

  • (Could this servant represent those who profess to be followers of Jesus, but who are afraid to witness, and never mention His name or share the good news with someone? The “least” this servant could have done was to support those who DID spread the Gospel)

The nobleman answered, “You wicked servant!  I will condemn you with your own words.  If you knew I was that kind of man … why did you not put my money in the bank, and I would (at least) get it back with interest?”

And the nobleman gave this servant’s mina to the servant who had earned ten.

THEN, the nobleman dealt with his citizens (enemies), who hated him and didn’t want him to reign over them.   “Bring them here and slaughter them before me.”

WHOA!!

This is the end for those who reject Jesus.

 

 

 

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: (5/6) Luke 16:1-15

May6

A 5-day per week study.

May 6 – Reading Luke 16:1-15

Read and believe in Jesus.

“No servant can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and money.” Luke

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The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – Jesus told the parable of the Prodigal (wasteful) Son and the hardworking son, and a loving father who welcomes wanderers and disgruntled children alike, but who seeks repentance.

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Vss.  16:1-2

Jesus told this parable to the disciples (not the religious leaders), though it links to the one before. The prodigal son wasted his father’s inheritance, and the manager wasted his master’s possessions.

THIS story is about dishonesty, deception, retaliation, bribery, greed, and shrewdness.  And Jesus seems to condone them all, right?  Yeah, NO! This is the perfect, sinless Son of God.  So let’s try to dig out what He meant with this unusual parable.

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‘There was a rich man who had a crooked manager, and charges were brought against him…”

The rich man called the manager and told him to turn in the books, for he was fired.

So far, so good.

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Vss. 16:3-7.

At first, the manager was in panic mode.  Yikes! “I’m not strong enough to dig!  And I’m ashamed to beg!

Being a day-laborer was out – he’d spend his days with his feet up on a desk, scrolling on his phone, drinking iced sweet tea, and not paying attention to his boss’s assets.

And sitting in the local market, with an alms cup held out to strangers, also did not appeal to him.  Now what?

(He basically didn’t WANT to work.  He liked the ease. Then he got an idea!)

“I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into the houses.”

(Notice his reason, beginning with “so that…”  This was bribery. ‘I do this for you; you will reciprocate this to me.’  No thought for his employer.)

So, that’s what he did.  He went around to all his employer’s debtors and lowered the amounts they owed.  Notice that BOTH parties are complicit. None of the debtors said, ‘Well, that wouldn’t be fair to your employer.’  Nope, they all agreed.

And we presume, if this were a TRUE story, these debtors would have made life easy for that manager.  BUT this is a parable, a story with a lesson to be learned.  And this is the hard part.

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Vss. 16:8a.

Notice the master’s reaction. Totally shocking,

“The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”

This shows, first, that the master was also a crook.  One crook to another, he admired his manager’s criminal genius. Perhaps he would have considered re-hiring him if this were a true story.  

It’s clear now that ALL the characters in this story are corrupt/dishonest: the master, the manager, and the debtors.   

Huh!

What does Jesus want His disciples to ‘see’ in this crazy parable?

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Vss. 16:8b-9

First, Jesus says, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”

Sons of this world – unbelievers.

Sons of light – believers.

(Most unbelievers are wiser in the ways of the [financial] world than some believers are toward the things of God.

Even the most wicked are shrewd enough to provide for themselves against coming evil.  Believers ought to be more ‘shrewd’, because they are concerned with matters of eternity.)

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Jesus continues with true advice to His disciples about what to do NOW to ensure a more fruitful, glorious eternity.  

He says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

“Unrighteous wealth” = money in this world.

“Make friends” = share the gospel, pray for unbelievers, support missions and ministries for evangelism.

“The failing world and its economy” = At the (or your) end, when Jesus comes, or you die.

“THEY may receive you” = all those you had a part in bringing to Jesus will welcome you into glory.

“The eternal dwellings.” = Heaven, for all eternity.

Invest yourself in promoting the kingdom of God, with what earthly money and work you can. You will have a living “treasure” in Heaven to meet you when you die or when Jesus comes.

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Vss. 16:10-13.

Jesus sums it up, looking at the negative side. 

“If then you have NOT been faithful in unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you true riches.  And if you have NOT been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

“No servant can serve two masters, for 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 money.”

Serve the Lord! Use the world’s money to further the Kingdom. Put the Lord first in your life, love Him, serve Him.

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Vss. 16:14-15.

Oh, it seems that the richly clad Pharisees WERE still there, around the peripheral, probably.  These “lovers of money” ridiculed Jesus when they heard these things.

Jesus answered them harshly, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Whoa!

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 Oh, Lord, please let my heart be towards You and not the things of the world. Help me to be wise in how I handle the money You give me.