1

¹ Dedicatory Given that many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those things that really did take place among us,

² just as those who became eyewitnesses, from the beginning, and ministers of the Word delivered them to us, Luke insists that his information comes from responsible eyewitnesses, who were there all the time.

³ it seemed good to me also, most excellent Theophilus, ‘Theophilus’ means ‘God-lover’; although Luke is evidently addressing a specific person, I would like to think that the account is also addressed to all lovers of God. having taken careful note of everything from Above, The normal meaning of the Greek word here, ανωθεν , is precisely ‘from above’, and I see no reason to reject that meaning. I take it that Luke is claiming divine inspiration, up front. to write to you with precision and in sequence, In fact, with a few exceptions Luke’s narrative is in chronological sequence, and as a physician he doubtless valued precision.

⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things in which you were instructed. Given Luke’s stated purpose in writing, his account needs to be historically accurate.

⁵ The birth of John the Baptizer foretold In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶ They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and they both were well advanced in years.

⁸ The setting Now it happened, as he was officiating as priest before God in the order of his division,

⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, that his lot was to burn incense, upon entering the sanctuary of the Lord;

¹⁰ and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense;

¹² and upon seeing him Zacharias was shaken, and a fear fell upon him.

¹³ Gabriel delivers But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your prayer was heard, Given his expression of doubt this evidently was not a recent prayer. Zacharias had given up hope, and may well have been unhappy with God for not having answered. He wasn’t even impressed with the tremendous things the angel said, but continued to doubt. and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

¹⁴ And you will have joy and exultation, and many will rejoice over his birth.

¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must not drink either wine or strong drink; indeed, he will be filled with Holy Spirit already from his mother’s womb.

¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God;

¹⁷ in fact he himself will go before Him The antecedent of “Him” is “the Lord their God”; in effect Gabriel is affirming that the Messiah, Jesus, is God—since he was speaking Hebrew, he may well have said ‘Jehovah their God’. in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of fathers to children’ See Malachi 4:5-6. and the disobedient to the mind-set of the righteous, The righteous have one mind-set; the disobedient have a different one. To change someone’s conduct you need to change his mind-set. to prepare a people made ready for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zacharias doubts But Zacharias said to the angel: “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” Does it occur to you to wonder why God would choose such an old couple for a job like this? Perhaps because they would no longer be sidetracked by personal ambitions and would dedicate their energies to preparing John.

¹⁹ So in answer the angel said to him: “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; Gabriel is no ordinary angel; he is probably not far below Michael in rank. He imposes his authority on the priest. I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.

²⁰ Now look, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day in which these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

²¹ Zacharias punished Now the people were waiting for Zacharias and wondering at his delay in the sanctuary.

²² But when he came out he was unable to speak to them, and they understood that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary—he kept gesturing to them while remaining mute.

²³ And so, when the days of his service were fulfilled, he took off for home. We know the time frame when it was the division of Abijah’s turn to serve. Assuming that Elizabeth became pregnant as soon as Zacharias got home, we may deduce that Jesus was born in September/October.

²⁴ Well after those days his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and stayed in seclusion five months. Her menopause was ancient history, so what was happening was ‘impossible’; besides, even if she was pregnant the likelihood of a miscarriage would be high; so she kept quiet. But after five months she would begin to ‘show’, and the prospect of success was good. She kept saying,

²⁵ “So that’s what the Lord has done for me in the days A pregnancy involves a fair number of days, and divine intervention was necessary all the time to enable her to carry the baby to term. when He concerned Himself to take away my reproach among the people!” At that time people looked down on a married woman who had no children.

²⁶ The birth of Jesus foretold—5 BC Now in the sixth month Of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee named Natsareth, For an explanation of this spelling, and its importance, please see the note at Matthew 2:23.

²⁷ to a virgin betrothed This involved a signed legal document, so much so that the couple were then called husband and wife, so ‘engaged’ (at least in contemporary society) is not an adequate rendering. to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house See 2:4. of David; the virgin’s name was Mary.

²⁸ So upon entering where she was the angel said, “Rejoice, recipient of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘blessed are you among women’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

²⁹ But upon seeing him she was perplexed at his word and was trying to figure out what sort of greeting it might be. In Zacharias the angel inspired fear, but Mary sensed immediately that the angel did not represent a menace or threat and concentrated on his astounding words. In typical female fashion, she was trying to figure out the hidden agenda.

³⁰ Gabriel delivers The angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, He’s not telling her not to be afraid of himself, because she wasn’t; I take it that he’s telling her not to fear the future and the implications of his message. Mary, because you have found favor with God.

³¹ Now then, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS . Although the angel presumably addressed Mary in Hebrew, when it came to pronouncing the name, he may well have used the Greek name as we know it.

³² He will be great, and will be called ‘Son of the Most High’; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, Through Mary Jesus received some of David’s genes; David was literally His ancestor.

³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob The ‘house of Jacob’ is not the Church, but the unending Kingdom will include much more than just that ‘house’. into the ages; indeed, of His kingdom there will be no end!” This world will come to an end, but not Christ’s Kingdom. What the angel said to Mary was even more tremendous than what he said to Zacharias.

³⁴ Mary agrees So Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I do not know a man?” Zacharias expressed doubt, but Mary simply requests some necessary information. She has understood that God wants her to be the Messiah’s mother—she was doubtless highly intelligent and perceptive. (In the Bible the verb ‘to know’ is used to refer to sexual intercourse.).

³⁵ In answer the angel said to her: “Holy Spirit The Text doesn’t have a definite article with ‘Holy Spirit’; I gather that the phrase is used as a proper noun. will come upon you and the power of the Most High will hover over you; precisely for this reason the holy One who is to be born will be called ‘Son of God’! Literally so—the Holy Spirit supplied the genes that normally are supplied by a human father.

³⁶ Furthermore, your relative Elizabeth, she has actually conceived a son in her old age and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren;

³⁷ because any word spoken by God will be possible.”

³⁸ So Mary said: “Yes, I am the Lord’s slave! Let it happen to me according to your word.” Mary had to understand the proposal and be in full agreement, or she would not have been a good mother. And the angel departed from her.

³⁹ Mary visits Elizabeth Then Mary quickly got ready and went into the hill country in those days, to a town of Judah,

⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. I take it that Mary understood that the angel’s reference to Elizabeth was relevant to her.

⁴¹ Well it happened that as Elizabeth heard Mary’s salutation the babe bounced up and down in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit.

⁴² Elizabeth prophesies And she cried out with a great voice To cry or call out suggests unusual volume by itself, so why add ‘with a great/loud voice’? Since she spoke under the Holy Spirit’s control, there was probably an unusual quality to the voice, and the neighbors heard it. and said: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb!

⁴³ Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord What Elizabeth is saying, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is that the Messiah is already in Mary’s womb, as witnessed by baby John’s reaction. There was no human way that Elizabeth could know of the angel’s conversation with Mary. Her prophecy served as a tremendous confirmation and encouragement to Mary—I imagine that the Holy Spirit fertilized her as soon as she said, “Yes”. should come to me?

⁴⁴ Yes indeed, because as the sound of your salutation came into my ears the babe bounced up and down in my womb for joy. The clear implication is that baby John was aware, was already a person in the womb.

⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, because there will be a fulfillment of the things that have been spoken to her from the Lord.” She is stating that Mary had heard from God through the angel, although she had no human way of knowing anything about it.

⁴⁶ Mary worships So Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

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

⁴⁸ in that He paid attention to the humble station of His slave (f). Yes indeed, because from now on all generations will declare me to be highly favored, So it has been for 2000 years; in every generation there have been those who called her ‘blessed’.

⁴⁹ in that the Mighty One did sublime things for me, and Holy is His name.

⁵⁰ His mercy is for generations of generations to those fearing Him.

⁵¹ He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has dispersed the arrogant in the reasoning of their hearts.

⁵² He has dethroned rulers and exalted the lowly.

⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. This sounds like social justice.

⁵⁴ He has taken the part of His servant Israel, in remembrance of mercy,

⁵⁵ just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed while there is an age.” I follow the best line of transmission, as I believe, albeit representing only 35% of the Greek manuscripts, in this case. I take the point to be that the things mentioned are pertinent to this world, not the next.

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

⁵⁷ The birth of John Now the time for Elizabeth to give birth was completed and she bore a son.

⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had used His great mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ John is named So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child, ‘The eighth day’—two different blood clotting agents, vitamin K and prothrombin, are at their highest level (110% of normal) on the eighth day of a person’s life, so it’s the best of all days for minor surgery. Who but the Creator knew that 4000 years ago, when He told Abraham to do it? and they started calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias.

⁶⁰ His mother reacted and said, “Absolutely not; he shall be called John!”

⁶¹ So they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name”.

⁶² So they started motioning to his father, as to what he would have him called.

⁶³ Asking for a writing tablet he wrote this: “His name is John!” They all marveled.

⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed and he started to speak, blessing God.

⁶⁵ (Well a fear came on all who lived around them; and all these sayings kept being talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

⁶⁶ All who heard kept them in their hearts saying, “What then will this child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.) The material within parentheses is an historical aside, after the fact. Presumably Zacharias started right in with his prophecy.

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

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the LORD , They spoke Hebrew in Judea, and Zacharias probably said “Jehovah”. the God of Israel, because He has visited and provided redemption for His people;

⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of His servant David

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

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

⁷² to use mercy with our fathers, even to remember His Holy covenant,

⁷³ the oath that He swore to our father Abraham;

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

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

⁷⁶ “And you, child, will be called Prophet of the Most High, because you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,

⁷⁷ to give a knowledge of salvation to His people by the forgiveness of their sins, In this paragraph Zacharias emphasizes the spiritual benefits of Messiah’s coming.

⁷⁸ through the merciful compassions of our God, with which the divine Dawn has contemplated us, Without doubt, the coming of the Messiah, with all that involved, represented the dawning of a new Day for this world.

⁷⁹ to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

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

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¹ The birth of Jesus—4 BC Now it happened in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole inhabited world should be enrolled. Of course the Roman Empire did not control the whole world, but the decree was doubtless worded in grandiose terms.

² This first census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. Quirinius served two terms: the best known was in A.D. 6-10, but there is good evidence for a prior term in 4-1 B.C.

³ So everyone was traveling, each to his own town, to enroll himself.

⁴ At night, in Bethlehem, the Savior is born So Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of Natsareth town, into Judea to the city of David, that is called Bethlehem, because he was of David’s ‘house’, that is, line of descent,

⁵ to enroll himself with Mary, the woman who had been betrothed to him, That’s what the Text says. We know from Matthew 1:24-25 that Joseph had already received her as his wife, but still had not had sexual relations with her—obviously an atypical situation. He had taken responsibility for her as his wife, but as far as sex was concerned she was still ‘pledged’—thus Luke’s unusual turn of phrase. who was pregnant.

⁶ So it happened that when they got there the days for her to give birth were completed;

⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn Luke’s use of the term ‘firstborn’, writing after Mary had passed the age that she could bear children, clearly implies that she had other children after the first; otherwise Luke would have used ‘only’ rather than ‘first’. Son, wrapped Him in pieces of cloth and laid Him in the manger, Some 95% of the Greek manuscripts have the definite article with ‘manger’, so there was only one in the place, which implies that it was a stable. Since Bethlehem stands on a limestone ridge, there were probably natural caves that would make excellent stables. Actually, mother and baby were probably better off there than in the crowded lodging. because there was no room for them in the lodging place.

⁸ Angels and shepherds Now there were shepherds in that same area, staying out in the field and keeping the nightly watches They would take turns standing watch. over their flock.

⁹ When wow , an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰ The angel said to them: “Do not be afraid because listen, I am announcing the most joyful news to you, which will be to all the people!

¹¹ You see, today, The shepherds were Jews, and their ‘day’ began at 6 p.m. The angel’s use of ‘today’ indicates that Jesus was born at night, since the angel delivered his message at night. in David’s city, a Savior was born to you, who is Lord Christ!

¹² And this is the sign to you: you will find a Baby wrapped in pieces of cloth, lying in a manger.” This may not seem like much of a ‘sign’ to us, but doubtless there was only one newborn baby in the whole area that met those conditions.

¹³ Suddenly a multitude of the heavenly army was with the angel praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward mankind!” “Good will toward mankind” reflects some 1700 Greek manuscripts; only six known Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “among those with whom He is pleased” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.; the New Living Translation favors us with a footnote: “Some manuscripts read . . . , goodwill among people”—by ‘some’ they mean ± 1700 against six! [how could the editors be so perverse?]).

¹⁵ Shepherds go and report So when the angels went away from them into the sky the men, the shepherds, said to one another, “Hey, let’s go to Bethlehem and see this event that has taken place, that the Lord made known to us!”

¹⁶ So they went in a hurry and located both Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger.

¹⁷ And having seen they spread an exact account of the saying that had been spoken to them concerning this Child.

¹⁸ All who heard marveled at the things told them by the shepherds.

¹⁹ As for Mary, she treasured all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.

²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God over all that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

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

²² Jesus is presented to God And when the days of their The Text has ‘their’, not ‘her’; since a woman was not to have intercourse for forty days after giving birth to a boy (80 for a girl), Leviticus 12:2-5, her purification obviously affected her husband as well. purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

²³ (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens a womb shall be called holy to the LORD ” See Exodus 13:2, 12-15. ),

²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what was specified in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”. See Leviticus 12:8. The prescribed sacrifice was a lamb; only if the couple was too poor to bring a lamb could they substitute the birds (since they could be caught in the wild, the poorest of the poor could meet this requirement). Evidently Joseph and Mary could not afford a lamb, which indicates that they had not yet received the gifts from the magi.

²⁵ Simeon Well now, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, expectantly waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and Holy Spirit was upon him.

²⁶ (It had been revealed to him repeatedly by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Messiah. The Greek Text has ‘Christ’, but the Holy Spirit presumably used Hebrew to communicate with Simeon. The man evidently lived in communion with God, and thus the Holy Spirit could guide him at any time—here He sends him into the temple at just the right moment. )

²⁷ So by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought the Child Jesus in, to do concerning Him according to the custom of the law,

²⁸ Simeon took Him into his arms and blessed God and said:

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

³⁰ because my eyes have seen Your salvation,

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

³² a light for revelation to Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

³³ And Joseph Instead of ‘Joseph’, about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘his father’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). and His mother were marveling at the things being spoken concerning Him.

³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: “Listen, this One is appointed to bring about the fall and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that is spoken against,

³⁵ so that the reasonings of many hearts may be revealed (furthermore, a sword will pass through your own soul also).” Watching her Son suffer, Mary would also suffer. Jesus obliged the people, especially the leaders, to take sides, and so the reasonings of their hearts were exposed.

³⁶ Anna Also there was a prophetess Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher—she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity

³⁷ and having been a widow for about eighty-four years If she married at 15 she would have been about 105 at the time. —who did not depart from the temple, serving God with fastings and petitions night and day.

³⁸ Well she, having come up at that very moment, started praising the Lord, Instead of ‘the Lord’, less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘God’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). and kept on speaking of Him to all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption.

³⁹ Back to Natsareth When they had completed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they went back to Galilee, to their own town, Natsareth.

⁴⁰ And the Child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit, Less than half a percent of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘in spirit’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). being filled Both ‘strengthened’ and ‘filled’ are in the passive voice; like John, only more so, Jesus had outside help. with wisdom; yes, the grace of God was upon Him.

⁴¹ A twelve-year-old Boy Now every year His parents would go to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover;

⁴² so when He was twelve years old they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

⁴³ When they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but Joseph and His mother Instead of ‘Joseph and His mother’, perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts, have ‘his parents’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). didn’t know it.

⁴⁴ Supposing Him to be in the caravan, they went a day’s journey and then started looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

⁴⁵ Not finding Him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him.

⁴⁶ So it happened that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷ (All who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.) Really and truly—how many of us could discuss theology intelligently for one hour, let alone three days!

⁴⁸ So upon seeing Him they were amazed, and His mother said to Him: “Son, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in distress.” They evidently thought that Jesus had met with foul play; they were afraid for His life. In contrast, Jesus never worried about suffering harm (see next note).

⁴⁹ So He said to them: “Why were you seeking me? Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s concerns ?” At twelve Jesus knew precisely who He was—“my father” cannot refer to Joseph because Jesus wasn’t discussing carpentry with the doctors of the Law—He was consciously about God’s business. Notice that Jesus doesn’t even come close to apologizing; in fact He rebukes them for worrying—after all, they also knew just who He was. (Jesus was no doubt unusually mature for His age, and may have just had His bar mitzvah.) The only time Jesus feared for His life was in Gethsemane—Mt. 26:38, Mk. 14:34, Lk. 22:44, Heb. 5:7-8 (compare by contrast Lk. 4:28-30, Mk. 4:35-41, Jn. 8:59, 10:39, 18:6).

⁵⁰ But they did not understand the statement that He made to them. Perhaps they should have, knowing who He really was, but by now they probably had at least four children and each day was filled with very ordinary concerns—do the concerns of life not cause us also to forget spiritual realities?

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

⁵² And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

3

¹ Enter John the Baptizer—26 AD Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, while his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

² during the high priesthood of Annas (also Caiaphas), Annas was the real high priest, which office was for life. But in an effort to diminish the political influence of the high priest (presumably) the Roman government obliged the Jews to name a different high priest each year, and the governor dealt with him—so that particular year it was Caiaphas. Notice how Luke emphasizes historicity. the word of God came upon That’s what the Text says, ‘upon’ not ‘to’; I take it that that Word compelled him to action. John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

³ So he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins;

⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “A voice calling out: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make His paths straight. The Hebrew text of Isa. 40:3 has “in the desert” here, making it overtly parallel to “in the wilderness”, so both are part of what the ‘voice’ is saying.

⁵ Every ravine will be filled up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; That is, where the highway passes, not all over the place; just like modern super-highways. the crooked parts of the roads will be straightened out, and the rough parts will be smoothed out;

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

⁷ “Brood of vipers!” Then he said to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him: “You sons of poisonous snakes! We don’t know the precise type of snake, except that it was presumably poisonous. The Text has ‘offsprings’, plural, which doesn’t make very good English, so I put ‘sons’. Who tipped you off to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸ Well then, produce fruits befitting repentance, and don’t even begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father’, because I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! To be born into a Christian family is certainly an advantage, but does not guarantee your eternal destiny. God has no ‘grandchildren’; you must believe into the Lord Jesus Christ to become God’s child.

⁹ But even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees; The Messiah was about to be introduced and to begin His public ministry; among other things He would condemn the Pharisees and other ‘snakes’—‘thrown into the fire’ refers to their eternal destiny. so then, every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ “What shall we do?” So the people The Text has ‘crowds’. started asking him, “What then must we do?”

¹¹ In answer he said to them, “He who has two coats, Literally, ‘tunics’. let him share with him who has none; and he who has food should do likewise”. The verb ‘share’ is an aorist imperative, implying a one time event—you give the extra coat, but get to keep one. The verb ‘do’ is a present imperative, implying a continuing action—food is to be shared all the time.

¹² Well even tax collectors came to be baptized by him and said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

¹³ So He said to them, “Don’t charge more than what was determined to you”. Right on. The tax collectors were hated, among other things, because they usually added a percentage for themselves.

¹⁴ So the soldiers started asking him too: “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Don’t extort or harass anyone, and be content with your wages”. Right on again. Soldiers would frequently try to ‘supplement’ their wages.

¹⁵ “A greater One is coming” Now as the people were expectant and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether he just might be the Messiah,

¹⁶ John anticipated them all saying: “I indeed am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire;

¹⁷ whose winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” “Unquenchable fire” is a clear reference to the Lake; recall that there is always more chaff than grain, but the chaff is also part of the wheat plant. I suspect that most churches have more chaff than grain.

¹⁸ John is imprisoned—an historical aside (Indeed, with many other exhortations as well he kept on preaching to the people;

¹⁹ but Herod the tetrarch—being reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother’s wife, as also about all the wicked things that Herod perpetrated A coward John was not! —

²⁰ added this also to them all: he actually locked John up in his prison.)

²¹ Jesus is baptized Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus, having been baptized also, was praying, when the heaven was opened

²² and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove and rested upon Him, and a Voice came out of heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am always well pleased.”

²³ Mary’s genealogy The genealogy interrupts the chronological sequence of the narrative, which resumes at 4:1. (Beginning His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph, Jesus Himself There are several unusual grammatical features in the Greek text of this verse, which has been badly translated by every version I have seen; resulting in contradictions and errors of fact. Here is the Greek, for those who can read it: Και αυτος ἦν ὁ Ιησους, ὡσει ετων τριακοντα αρχομενος, ων ὡς ενομιζετο υἱος Ιωσηφ, του Ηλει, του Ματθαν, του Λευι, του Μελχι, . . . There are four words here that invite special attention: και, αυτος, ἦν and ὡς . Since verse 22 ends with a statement from the Father at Jesus’ baptism, it is clear that verse 23 begins another section. But the conjunction that signals the transition is και and not δε , as one would expect—this means that ‘Jesus’ continues as the topic. But in that event, how does one explain the personal pronoun αυτος , the more so in such an emphatic position? If the author’s purpose was simply to register Jesus as a son of Joseph, as many suppose, why didn’t he just write και ὁ Ιησους ἦν υἱος Ιωσηφ , etc.?But then, why write ὡς ενομιζετο ? It seems to me that the normal meaning of “as was supposed” is to affirm that Jesus was in fact Joseph’s son; but that is precisely what Jesus was not. Luke has already made clear that Jesus’ real Father was the Holy Spirit— 1:34-35, 43, 45; 2:49. So what Luke is really saying is that although the people supposed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, He actually had a different lineage—we should translate “so it was supposed”. (Recall that a faithful and loyal translation seeks to transmit correctly the meaning intended by the author.)The verb ἦν is the only independent one in the whole paragraph, verses 23-38. Is it working with the participle αρχομενος in a periphrastic construction? That appears to be the tendency of the eclectic text that places the participle right after Jesus (following about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality), which makes Jesus out to be in fact Joseph’s son. It seems to me to be far more natural to take the participial clauses as being circumstantial: “beginning at about thirty years of age” and “being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph”. Setting those two clauses aside, the independent clause that remains is ἦν ὁ Ιησους του Ηλει , “Jesus was of Eli”.The participle ‘beginning’ requires an object, that the Text leaves implicit; from the context it seems clear that we may supply ‘His ministry’, or some such thing, which is why most versions do so. I suggest the following rendering: “Beginning His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (so it was supposed) a son of Joseph, Jesus was actually of Eli, of Mathan, of Levi, . . .” I take it that the emphatic pronoun αυτος heightens the contrast between what the people imagined and the reality. Jesus was a grandson of Eli, Mary’s father—Luke gives the genealogy of Jesus through His mother, while Matthew gives it through His stepfather.The eclectic text gives our verse a different wording: και αυτος ἦν Ιησους αρχομενος ὡσει ετων τριακοντα, ων υἱος, ὡς ενομιζετο, Ιωσηφ του Ηλι του Μαθθατ του Λευι του Μελχι, . . . The RSV translates it like this: “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, . . .” Is not the normal meaning of this rendering that Jesus was in fact the son of Joseph? However, every version that I recall seeing has “Joseph, the son of Heli”, which directly contradicts Matthew, “Jacob begot Joseph”. The word ‘son’ (without the article) occurs only with Joseph, although most versions supply it on down the genealogy. But Luke is precisely correct in not using it, because it would not hold for the first and last names in the list—Eli did not beget Jesus (nor Joseph) and God did not beget Adam.So then, properly understood Luke does not contradict Matthew (with reference to Joseph’s father), nor does he affirm an error of fact (with reference to Jesus’ father). was of Eli, All published Bibles that I have seen add ‘son’ or ‘the son’ to each prepositional phrase in the genealogy, but Luke didn’t write that—from ‘Eli’ to ‘God’ there is no ‘son’. Why not? I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but with both Eli and God the word would have a different meaning than with the rest of the names in the list. Adam could be called a ‘son’ of God by creation, but not procreation. I take it that Eli was Mary’s father, and thus the maternal grandfather of Jesus, so here also ‘son’ would have a different meaning. For all that, through Mary and Eli Jesus received some of David’s genes, so He was literally a descendent of David.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4

¹ Jesus tested by Satan Then Jesus, full of Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

² where He was tested for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, so after they were completed He was hungry . This episode was ordained by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had to confront Satan when He was physically the weakest He would ever be (40 days without food!). When Satan failed to defeat this weakened Jesus, he was probably filled with despair—he now knew that he could never defeat Him (but he would still try to kill Him). Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16 give at least part of the reason why Jesus had to undergo this experience.

³ So the devil said to Him, “Since you are Son of God, There are several kinds of conditional clause in Greek, among them ‘of doubt’, ‘of fact’ and ‘contrary to fact’—Satan was not so crude as to express doubt about Christ’s identity, ‘if’, he was more subtle; he granted the fact, ‘since’, and appealed to His pride. tell this stone to become bread!”

⁴ Jesus answered him saying, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’.” See Deuteronomy 8:3. Less than half a percent of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “but by every word of God” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

⁵ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, Just three known Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality (against over 1,700), omit “the devil up on a high mountain” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc., except that some keep ‘the devil’, but not the rest). showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. This is obviously supernatural. Even from a satellite you can’t see the whole world at once because it is a sphere.

⁶ The devil said to Him: “To you I will give all this authority, and their glory, because it has been handed over to me , and I give it to whomever I want to.

⁷ So you, if you would worship before me, all will be yours.” This was a master-stroke. Jehovah the Son entered this world as the second/last Adam precisely to recover what the first Adam had lost, and Satan was evidently well aware of what was going on. So he offers it to Jesus on a ‘silver platter’, with just one small condition . . . . Note that Jesus does not deny Satan’s right to make the offer.

⁸ In answer Jesus said to him: “Get behind me, Satan! Some 3.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit “Get behind me, Satan” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). It is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve!’” See Deuteronomy 6:13.

⁹ He also took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, Matthew’s report has the temple before the mountain; since he employs adverbs of time (sequence) while Luke does not, I take it that Matthew gives the correct sequence. Luke handles the temple event almost as an afterthought. and said to Him: “Since you are Son of God, throw yourself down from here;

¹⁰ because it is written, ‘He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you’,

¹¹ and, ‘They will carry you along on their hands, so you do not stub your foot on a stone’.” See Psalm 91:11-12.

¹² In answer Jesus said to him: “The statement stands, ‘You shall not test the LORD your God’!” See Deuteronomy 6:16. To do something irresponsible to try to oblige God to perform a miracle to save you from the consequences is forbidden. It would be a kind of ‘blackmail’.

¹³ Having finished every test, Jesus was tested in the three areas: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). the devil departed from Him until an opportune time. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), but he is in the business of returning and renewing the attack—constant vigilance is required.

¹⁴ Jesus begins His public ministry, in Galilee A number of months elapsed between verses 13 and 14; John 1:15-4:42 records some of what transpired during that interval. Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about Him spread throughout the whole surrounding area;

¹⁵ yes, He started teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

¹⁶ His hometown rejects Him So He came to Natsareth, where He had been brought up; as was His custom He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

¹⁷ The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, so unrolling the scroll He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to evangelize poor people. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “to heal the brokenhearted” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to blind people, to send those who are oppressed out in freedom,

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

²⁰ “Today this Scripture is fulfilled” Then, having rolled up the scroll and returned it to the attendant, He sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him,

²¹ and He began by saying to them, “Today, this Scripture in your ears has been fulfilled”.

²² (All were bearing witness to Him and were marveling at the gracious words that were coming out of His mouth; He doubtless spoke for a reasonable length of time and was producing a favorable impression, but at the end He got offensive; verses 23-27 presumably contain the conclusion of His discourse. and they started saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”)

²³ He said to them: “Doubtless you will quote this parable to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’—do here in your hometown the things we have heard were done in Capernaum.”

²⁴ Jesus treads on their toes Then He said: “Assuredly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

²⁵ Further, I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months and a severe famine came over all the land;

²⁶ yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow woman in Sarepta, near Sidon.

²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet not one of them was cleansed—just Naaman the Syrian.” It appears that Jesus antagonized them on purpose. Why? I see two possible answers: to remove any claim to special privilege that they might harbor because of being His home town; to be personally free from possible pressure arising from such a claim. In fact He moved out, choosing Capernaum as His base of operations.

²⁸ Typical mob action Well, upon hearing these things everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury, The violent reaction was out of all proportion to the ‘provocation’. Presumably Satan took this opportunity to try to kill Him.

²⁹ and rising up they drove Him out of the town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him off the cliff.

³⁰ But He, passing through the middle of them, went on His way. “Passing through the middle of them, He went on His way”—now how did that happen? To throw Him down, someone would have to be holding Him, probably a man on each arm, and they had gotten Him there by force. Obviously the Lord made use of supernatural power to free Himself from that situation—He had come to this world to die, all right, but not then and not in that way.

³¹ Capernaum becomes His base of operations—27 AD Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee; He started teaching them on the Sabbaths.

³² They kept on being amazed at His teaching, because His word was with authority.

³³ A demonized man Now in the synagogue was a man having a spirit of an unclean demon; he cried out with a loud voice

³⁴ saying: “Ugh! What do you want with us, Jesus of Natsareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” Evidently the Lord’s mere presence was enough to make the demons feel threatened. Based on John 14:12, I wonder if the same thing shouldn’t be true of us.

³⁵ So Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be muzzled, and get out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the midst, it came out of him without harming him.

³⁶ Everyone was taken with amazement and they started conversing together, saying: “What is this word! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

³⁷ And the news about Him started going out to every place of the surrounding region.

³⁸ Peter’s mother-in-law Then He left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering with a high fever, and they requested Him on her behalf.

³⁹ So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. Normally a high fever leaves one weak, so the Lord reversed the consequences of the fever as well.

⁴⁰ Healings at sunset Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on each one of them and healed them.

⁴¹ Moreover, demons came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “the Christ” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). the Son of God!” But rebuking them He would not allow them to continue speaking, because they knew that He was the Messiah. I find this to be curious: the demons kept telling the truth about Jesus, but He evidently didn’t want testimony from that quarter. But it seems that the demons felt compelled to identify Him—I wonder why.

⁴² Now at daybreak He departed and went to a deserted place; so the crowds started looking for Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

⁴³ But He said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because for this purpose I have been sent”.

⁴⁴ So He went preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. Around 4% of the Greek manuscripts read Judea rather than Galilee, possibly influenced by Lectionaries. There is confusion among the 4% such that the prepositional phrase as given in UBS is read by less than 1%. However, Jesus was in Galilee (and continued there), not in Judea, as the context makes clear. In the parallel passage, Mark 1:35-39, all texts agree that Jesus was in Galilee. Thus UBS3 contradicts itself by reading Judea in Luke 4:44. Bruce Metzger makes clear that the UBS editors did this on purpose when he explains that their reading “is obviously the more difficult, and copyists have corrected it . . . in accord with the parallels in Mt 4.23 and Mk 1.39.” Thus the UBS editors introduce a contradiction into their text which is also an error of fact. This error in the eclectic text is reproduced by LB, NIV, NASB, NEB, RSV, etc. NRSV adds insult to injury: “So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.”

5

¹ By the sea Now it happened, as He had come along the Lake of Genesaret, that the multitude crowded Him to hear the Word of God;

² He saw two boats standing by the lake (the fishermen were out of them, washing their nets).

³ So He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Peter had already spent time with Jesus, so this was natural. Sitting down He began to teach the crowds from the boat.

⁴ A miraculous catch When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”.

⁵ And in answer Simon said to Him, “Master, we have worked hard the whole night and caught nothing, but based on your word I will let down the net”. Peter was the professional here, and figured he knew better than Jesus, but he does obey. However, Jesus had said to let down ‘nets’ (pl), but Peter let down only one. (Actually, Jesus put ‘let down’ in the plural, so there was at least one other in the boat, unless it was really His intention that both boats should go out.)

⁶ When they had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their net began to tear.

⁷ So they signaled to their partners who were in the other boat to come help them; they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸ Upon experiencing this Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, Jesus was still sitting in the boat, only now surrounded by fish, probably up to His knees. saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Do you find Peter’s reaction to be curious? No doubt he felt pretty ‘small’ at that point.

⁹ Because astonishment gripped him and all who were with him at the haul of fish which they had caught;

¹⁰ yes, this included James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching people”.

¹¹ Pulling the boats up on the shore, they left it all The hired men took care of the fish, etc. No doubt most of the crowd had stayed to watch, so getting rid of the fish probably was not a problem. and followed Him.

¹² The hinge: proof, evaluation, rejection A leper—the proof Now it happened, while He was in one of the towns—a man full of leprosy! Upon seeing Jesus he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can cleanse me!”

¹³ So He extended His hand and touched him, saying, “I want to; be cleansed!” “I want to”—beautiful! To actually touch a leper was unheard of, but of course Jesus had no fear of contamination. Immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴ Then He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as a testimony to them.” As a testimony about what? This would be the first time in the life of the priest that anyone had done this, because lepers didn’t get better. Who but the Messiah could heal leprosy? That they got the point is indicated by the examining council that is described in verse 17.

¹⁵ However the news about Him spread all the more, and large crowds kept gathering to hear and to be healed by Him of their sicknesses.

¹⁶ So He Himself would withdraw into deserted places and pray. He made sure that He kept in touch with the Father.

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

¹⁸ “Your sins are forgiven” And then, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a cot, and tried to take him in and place him before Him.

¹⁹ When they could not find how to do it, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with the cot through the tiling into the center, in front of Jesus.

²⁰ Seeing their faith He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you!” Those men were really determined, but they wanted healing, not forgiveness of sins; however, Jesus had His own agenda.

²¹ A ‘discussion’ ensues So the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Their theology wasn’t all that bad; they just didn’t recognize Jesus as God.

²² But Jesus perceived their reasonings and reacted by saying to them: “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

²³ Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk!’? “Your sins are forgiven” is easier to say, because no one can see if it happened or not. If you say, “Get up and walk!” and he doesn’t, it makes you look stupid.

²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man: “I say to you , get up! Take your cot and go to your house.”

²⁵ God is glorified Immediately he stood up in front of them, took up what he had been lying on, and set out to his own house glorifying God.

²⁶ Amazement gripped them all and they kept glorifying God; they were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!” Their initial reaction was favorable, but then Jesus went and ate with tax collectors, and that was too much for them.

²⁷ Enter Levi (Matthew) After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, “Follow me!”

²⁸ So leaving everything he got up and followed Him.

²⁹ Then Levi made a great banquet for Him at his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.

³⁰ The Pharisees have a problem Well the scribes and Pharisees complained about them to His disciples, saying, “How can you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?!”

³¹ So Jesus reacted and said to them: “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, just those who are sick.

³² I have not come to call righteous people to repentance, just sinners.”

³³ Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours keep eating and drinking?”

³⁴ So He said to them: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

³⁵ But days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then , in those days, they will fast.”

³⁶ New wine X old wineskins Then He also told them a parable: “No one puts a patch from a new garment on an old one; otherwise, both the new makes a tear and that from the new does not match the old.

³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst those skins and will itself be spilled and the skins wasted.

³⁸ Rather, new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. I take it that the Lord is saying that a church that has become an ‘old wineskin’ cannot be renewed—any attempt to introduce ‘new wine’ will only result in division and bitterness. Bearers of ‘new wine’ should just start a new congregation. The truth stated in verse 39 is one of the factors. Less than 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and both are preserved” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

³⁹ Further, no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better’.”

6

¹ Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath Now it happened on a second-first That’s what the Text says. No doubt everyone at that time knew just what was intended, but in the meantime we have lost the necessary cultural information. Sabbath that He was passing through the grain fields, and His disciples began to pick and eat the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

² But some of the Pharisees said to them, By now the Pharisees had ‘spies’ following Jesus wherever He went. “Why are you doing that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

³ So in answer to them Jesus said: “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and even gave it to those with him—that which only the priests are allowed to eat?”

⁵ Then He said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath!” Now that was something that they were not prepared to assimilate. They used the Sabbath as an instrument to dominate the people, and Jesus was threatening to deprive them of that instrument. Mark 2:27 preserves an added comment: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”. Man needs one day of rest in seven, but it is not intended as a ‘straitjacket’.

⁶ He heals on the Sabbath Now it happened on a different Sabbath that He entered the synagogue and began to teach. Well there was a man there whose right hand was shriveled;

⁷ so the scribes and the Pharisees started watching, to see if He would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against Him.

⁸ But He knew their thoughts and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in the center”. So he got up and stood.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them: “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

¹⁰ And when He had looked around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” So he did that, and his hand was restored, as sound as the other. Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “as sound as the other” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

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

¹² Choosing the Twelve Now it happened in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God. Presumably He was making sure that He made the correct selection of twelve, taken from a larger group of followers. He certainly knew why He was including the Iscariot.

¹³ When it was day He called His disciples, and from them He chose twelve, whom He also named apostles:

¹⁴ Simon (whom He also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Phillip and Bartholomew,

¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus) and Simon (the one called ‘Zealot’),

¹⁶ Judas of James and Judas Iscariot (who also became ‘traitor’).

¹⁷ A sermon on a level place Although similar to the ‘sermon on the mount’ recorded by Matthew, this is clearly a different time and place. During His ministry the Lord doubtless repeated His basic concepts over and over. Then He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, also from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases,

¹⁸ as well as those who were being harassed by unclean spirits—and they were being healed!

¹⁹ So the whole crowd kept trying to touch Him, because power was going out from Him and was healing all. The crowd would be constantly shifting, because those who were healed would back off to make room for others.

²⁰ Blessings Then He raised His eyes toward His disciples and said: “Blessed are you poor, because the Kingdom of God is yours.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh.

²² Blessed are you whenever men hate you, and whenever they exclude you and heap insults on you and trash your name as ‘malignant’, for the Son of Man’s sake.

²³ Rejoice in that day and skip about! Because your reward really is great in Heaven; for that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

²⁴ Woes “But woe to you who are rich! because you have already received your comfort.

²⁵ Woe to you who are full! because you will go hungry. Woe to you who are presently laughing! because you will mourn and weep.

²⁶ Woe, when all men speak well of you; for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets!

²⁷ Instructions “Further, to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you;

²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. People who do these things are being used by Satan; they need to be delivered, and this is done in the spiritual realm.

²⁹ To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; Do not use physical violence to respond to physical violence—but we can use our spiritual authority. Animals must resort to force, but Adam was given dominion over the animals, which presumably was not exercised with physical force—we should not lower ourselves to the animal level; but Satan tries to trick us into doing so. If someone lashes out in anger, turning the other cheek should shame him. and from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold the tunic as well.

³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you; Presumably this does not refer to professional beggars (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but to someone overtaken by adversity who needs temporary help, someone you know who is part of the community. and from him who takes away your things, do not demand them back.

³¹ Yes, like you want people to treat you, that is just how you must treat them. This is the so-called ‘golden rule’—if everyone did this the world would be a better place.

³² Also, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.

³³ And if you do good to those doing good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do the same.

³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect to get it back, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, to receive an equal value back.

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

³⁶ So be compassionate, even as your Father is compassionate. Only if you have the Holy Spirit can you even come close to following the Father’s example.

³⁷ We get what we give “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

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

³⁹ Then He told them a parable: “Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a ditch?

⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. This is an important point; it takes time to become ‘fully trained’. No one becomes like Jesus in a hurry.

⁴¹ Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye? Even a speck in the eye is very uncomfortable, making it hard to use that eye. An eye with a ‘plank’ would be useless, totally blind, so in effect Jesus is repeating the question, “Can a blind man guide?” On the other hand, a ‘plank’ is so large that one can grab it and remove it without sight.

⁴² Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye’, when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

⁴³ A tree is known by its fruit “Now no good tree produces rotten fruit, not does a rotten tree produce good fruit

⁴⁴ —each tree is known by its own fruit: people do not gather figs from thorn bushes, nor do they pick a bunch of grapes from a bramble.

⁴⁵ The good man produces the good out of the good treasure in his heart, and the malignant man produces the malignant out of the malignant treasure in his heart; because his mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. This whole paragraph is really about people, not plants, thus the term ‘rotten’.

⁴⁶ Two foundations “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I say? This is presumably one of the questions that will be on the Final Test.

⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them—I will show you who he is like:

⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the bedrock. When a flood occurred, the torrent burst upon that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on the bedrock. Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “because it was built well”, instead of “because it was founded on the bedrock” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). If the bedrock refers to the Lord Jesus and His teaching, then this alteration is bad.

⁴⁹ But he who heard and did nothing Notice the change in tense: ‘hears and does’ changes to ‘heard and did nothing’. The second person heard the Truth, but rejected it, and so is without excuse. is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

7

¹ The faith of a centurion Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum.

² Well a certain centurion’s slave, who was valuable to him, was sick and about to die.

³ So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and rescue his slave.

⁴ And when they came to Jesus they started pleading earnestly with Him, saying that the one for whom He would do this was worthy,

⁵ “because he loves our nation, and he himself built our synagogue”.

⁶ So Jesus went with them. But when He was no longer far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.

⁷ In fact I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. Just say a word and my servant will be healed;

⁸ because I also am a man placed under authority, He was part of a chain of command, with people both above and beneath him. Whereas he had military authority, he understood that Jesus had spiritual authority—all He had to do was speak. So how about us? having soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does.”

⁹ Well upon hearing these things Jesus marveled at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith!” If Jesus were here today, He could say the same thing about almost all churches.

¹⁰ When those who were sent returned to the house they found that the slave who had been sick was well.

¹¹ A widow’s son raised Now it happened on the next day that He went to a town called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him, also a large crowd.

¹² But as He approached the town gate, mercy, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; a large crowd from the town was with her.

¹³ When the Lord saw her He had compassion on her She needed compassion; her situation was desperate. and said to her, “Don’t cry!”

¹⁴ And advancing He took hold of the bier and the bearers stood still. Then He said, “Young man, to you I say, get up!” Jesus was always specific when He brought someone back from the dead, so as not to empty the graveyard.

¹⁵ So the dead man sat up and began to talk! Yes, He gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ Fear took hold of all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

¹⁷ And this report about Him went throughout Judea, as well as all the surrounding region. Nain is in Galilee, but besides the surrounding region the report of this particular miracle made it to Judea as well.

¹⁸ Messengers from John Then the disciples of John informed him about all these things.

¹⁹ And summoning a certain two of his disciples, John sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?” John was puzzled and disillusioned. If Jesus was the Messiah, why was he, John, in prison? Why didn’t Jesus set up His Kingdom and deliver John? Everyone was looking for the Messianic Kingdom to be set up forthwith (see 19:11).

²⁰ When the men had come to Him, they said: “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?’”

²¹ Well in that very hour He healed many from diseases and torments and malignant spirits, and to many blind He granted sight.

²² So in answer Jesus said to them: “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind regain sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, dead are raised, the poor are evangelized. “The poor are evangelized”—what the poor (and everyone else) need most is salvation and a new life, not a free distribution of wealth.

²³ And , blessed is he who does not take offense at me!” Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations, and the same thing happens to us, from time to time, but we had better keep the proper perspective.

²⁴ Jesus praises John Now when John’s messengers had departed, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to observe, a reed being shaken by the wind?

²⁵ But what did you go out to see, a man clothed in soft garments? Really, those with gorgeous apparel and living in luxury are in palaces.

²⁶ But what did you go out to see, a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet.

²⁷ This is he about whom it is written: ‘Take note, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’. See Malachi 3:1.

²⁸ Further, I tell you that among those born of women there is no greater prophet than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” I find this statement to be puzzling; is John not part of the Kingdom? If John is not, then none of the O.T. saints is either.

²⁹ (When all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.

³⁰ But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.) John’s baptism was based on repentance, but self-righteous people would consider that they didn’t need it.

³¹ Inconsistency of the Pharisees “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and to what are they similar?

³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not cry’.

³³ Because John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Just look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

³⁵ Still, by all her children wisdom is justified.” In other words, the Pharisees were not children of ‘wisdom’.

³⁶ A lesson in forgiveness Then one of the Pharisees invited Him to eat with Him, This was not a friendly invitation. so He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined.

³⁷ But then, a woman in the town who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster flask of perfume,

³⁸ and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, He was reclining on a ‘couch’ with His head in toward the table, so His feet were ‘available’. she began to wet His feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head; and she kept kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. This is a moving picture. She was ashamed and distressed, because of what she was, but she desperately wanted to change, and she saw in Jesus the way out.

³⁹ Now as the Pharisee who had invited Him observed this, he was saying to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him, including what sort of woman she is—because she is a sinner!” Evidently the woman was well known to the locals.

⁴⁰ So Jesus reacted by saying to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you”. And he said, “Teacher, say on”.

⁴¹ “A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

⁴² And when they had no way to repay, he freely forgave them both. Now tell me, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ So Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one to whom he forgave more”. And He said to him, “You have judged correctly”.

⁴⁴ Then He turned toward the woman and said to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since the time I came in.

⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.

⁴⁷ For this reason, I say to you, her many sins have been forgiven, because she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven”.

⁴⁹ The other recliners began to say within themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go into peace.” That’s what the Text says, ‘into’ not ‘in’—from then on her life would be different, one characterized by peace. She got what she so desperately wanted.

8

¹ Jesus takes the offensive Women provide for Jesus Now it happened after this that He started going around town by town, village by village, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him;

² also certain women who had been healed of malignant spirits and infirmities: Mary (the one called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had gone out;

³ and Joanna the wife of Chuza, an official of Herod; and Susanna, and many others—these were providing for Him The Greek manuscripts are divided between ‘him’ and ‘them’, which in practice would amount to the same thing—since He would not eat alone, any providing would have to include the twelve. from their substance.

⁴ Parable of the soils Now when a large crowd had gathered, with people coming to Him from town after town, He spoke by a parable:

⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed some fell along the road and it got trampled, and the birds of the air devoured it.

⁶ And some fell on the rock ledge, and upon sprouting it withered, because it had no moisture.

⁷ And some fell among thorns, and springing up together the thorns choked it.

⁸ The rest fell into the good ground, and growing up it produced fruit a hundredfold.” Upon saying these things He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

⁹ The purpose of parables Then His disciples asked Him saying, “What does this parable mean?”

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

¹¹ The parable of the soils explained “Now here is the parable: The seed is the Word of God.

¹² Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, in order that they not be saved, having believed. The Lord here states a terrible truth: Satan has access to the human mind. See also 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.

¹³ Those on the rock ledge are the ones who, whenever they hear, receive the word with joy; yet these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of testing fall away. Note that with the exception of those along the road all the seeds germinate—there is life.

¹⁴ Now that which fell into the thorns: these are the ones who heard, yet as they go they are choked by cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

¹⁵ But that on the good ground: these are the ones who having heard the word with a noble and good heart, hold on to it and produce fruit with perseverance.”

¹⁶ All will be exposed Upon saying these things He called out: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Most (if not all) versions omit “Upon saying these things He called out: He who has ears to hear let him hear!” following 45% of the Greek manuscripts. I follow the best line of transmission, which is part of the 55% here. Jesus was calling attention to what He was about to say. No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but he sets it on a lamp stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

¹⁷ Further, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything concealed that will not be made known and come into the open.

¹⁸ So be careful how you hear: Spiritual growth is like going up an incline on a bicycle with no brakes; if you stop pedaling, you start going backwards. Either we grow, or we start losing what we have. There is no standing still. So be careful how you hear! Because whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

¹⁹ Relationships redefined Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and they could not get near Him because of the crowd.

²⁰ And it was told Him by some saying, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you”.

²¹ But in answer He said to them, “My mother and my brothers are these, the ones who hear the word of God and do it!” Our primary commitment should be to Christ and His Kingdom, not to our physical family. There are times when the Kingdom ‘trumps’ family.

²² Jesus stills a storm Now it happened on one of those days that He got into a boat with His disciples; and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake”. So they launched out.

²³ But as they sailed He fell asleep. A windstorm descended on the lake, and they were being swamped and were in jeopardy.

²⁴ So they came and awakened Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves of water—and they stopped, and there was a calm! Agitated water does not calm down immediately, even if the cause stops, so there was a double miracle here—Jesus undid the consequences of the wind.

²⁵ So He said to them, “Where is your faith?” In other words, He is telling them that they could, and should, have done something about it themselves. But being terrified they marveled, saying to each other: “Who can this be? This puzzles me; after all the miracles they had seen, they still wonder who Jesus is! Well, maybe controlling nature is in a ‘higher league’ than controlling sickness and demons. Because He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him!”

²⁶ Jesus handles demon infestation Then they sailed to the district of the Gadarenes, The eclectic text currently in vogue, following just 4 Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, reads ‘Gerasenes’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, etc.). which is opposite Galilee.

²⁷ Well when He stepped out on the land, a certain man of that town met Him, who had had a demon for a long time—he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but among the tombs.

²⁸ When he saw Jesus he gave a yell, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice he said: “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? The disciples may not have known who Jesus was, but the demons did! I beg you, don’t torment me!”

²⁹ Because He had commanded the unclean spirit to get out of the man (it had seized him many times—he would be bound with chains and shackles, being kept under guard; then bursting the bonds he would be driven by the demon into deserted places).

³⁰ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” I assume that Jesus knew the demon’s name without asking, so why did He ask? I would say that He wanted it to be part of the Record, to teach us that demon infestation can and does occur. And he said, “Legion” (because many demons had gone into him).

³¹ And he The boss demon does most of the talking, representing his cohort. kept imploring Him that He would not order them to go away into the Abyss. The Text has ‘the Abyss’, presumably the same one mentioned in Revelation 20:3. The demons knew something that most of us don’t.

³² Now a herd of many pigs was feeding there on the hillside; and they started begging Him that He would allow them to go into those; so He gave them permission.

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

³⁴ Well when the herders saw what had happened they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside.

³⁵ So they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus; they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. With good reason; a supernatural power was at work, obviously.

³⁶ Also, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demonized man was healed.

³⁷ Then the whole multitude from the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, because they were overcome by fear. The loss of all those pigs was a severe economic blow. So He got into the boat and returned. And He never went back; they had their chance.

³⁸ Now the man from whom the demons had gone out had started begging Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,

³⁹ “Return to your house and recount how much God has done for you”. So he went his way and proclaimed all over town how much Jesus had done for him. ‘How much God’ becomes ‘how much Jesus’, which amounts to the same thing. The man witnessed to such good effect that many in that area believed.

⁴⁰ A desperate father Now it happened, when Jesus returned, that the crowd welcomed Him, because they were all waiting for Him. If you go around doing what Jesus did, you become public property.

⁴¹ And then, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue; he fell down at Jesus’ feet and started begging Him to come to his house,

⁴² because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. A desperate woman Now as He was going, the crowds were pressing against Him.

⁴³ And a woman—suffering with a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent her whole livelihood on physicians, but could not be healed by any—

⁴⁴ approaching from behind touched the border of His garment; and immediately the flow of her blood stopped!

⁴⁵ So Jesus said, “Who touched me?” He was referring to a purposeful touch. When all denied it, Peter and those with him said: “Master, the people are pressing against you and crowding in, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, because I noticed power going out from me”.

⁴⁷ Now when the woman saw that she could not hide, she came trembling, and falling down before Him she told Him in the presence of all the people That wasn’t easy. the reason why she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately.

⁴⁸ So He said: “Courage, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go into peace.” Again, ‘into’ not ‘in’. Her life was now going to be different.

⁴⁹ Jesus raises a dead girl While He was still speaking, here came someone from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying to him: “Your daughter has died. Don’t bother the teacher.”

⁵⁰ But upon hearing it Jesus reacted by saying to him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe and she will be healed”.

⁵¹ When He arrived at the house, He allowed no one to go in except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother.

⁵² Now all were weeping and mourning for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping”.

⁵³ They started ridiculing Him, knowing that she had died.

⁵⁴ So He put them all outside, and Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “put them all outside, and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). grasping her hand He called, saying, “Child, arise!”

⁵⁵ Then her spirit returned, and she got right up! And He directed that she be given something to eat. Nothing like being practical!

⁵⁶ Her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened. Of course that would be difficult, because all the people who knew the girl had died would see her going about normally, and would want an explanation.

9

¹ Jesus sends out the Twelve Then He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, “over all the demons”—evidently, during their tour no demon resisted them, which contrasts with 9:40. and to cure diseases;

² and He sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

³ And He said to them: “Take nothing for the journey—neither staffs Perhaps 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘staffs’ as singular, to be followed by most modern versions. In Matthew 10:10 it is 5%. But to put the singular here and in Matthew contradicts Mark 6:8, where all texts have “only a staff”. In Luke and Matthew the vast majority of the Greek manuscripts read “neither staffs”, which does not contradict Mark—the case of the staffs is analogous to that of the tunics; they were to take only one, not several. nor knapsack nor bread nor money, neither have two tunics apiece.

⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there, and depart from there.

⁵ But as many as do not receive you, when you depart from that town, shake off even the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

⁶ So they set out and went around, village by village, evangelizing and healing everywhere.

⁷ Herod is troubled Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all the things being done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

⁸ and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

⁹ But Herod said, “John I beheaded; so who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he started trying to see Him. But apparently he never succeeded until the very end, and even then only thanks to Pilate (23:6-12).

¹⁰ Jesus feeds about 5,000 men When the Apostles returned they reported to Him all that they had done. Then He took them and withdrew privately to a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida. Instead of “a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida”, 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have “a town called Bethsaida” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Problem: the eclectic text currently in vogue, along with the modern versions that follow it, has Jesus and company going into the town of Bethsaida, but in verse 12 the disciples say they are in a deserted area; thus a contradiction is introduced. The eclectic text here is also at variance with itself in the parallel passages. In Matthew 14:13 all texts have Jesus going to a deserted place, and in verse 15 the disciples say, “the place is deserted . . . send the crowd away to the towns.” In Mark 6:31-32 all texts have Him going to a deserted place, and in verse 35 the disciples say it is a deserted place, etc. So the eclectic text not only makes Luke contradict himself, but sets him against Matthew and Mark—and this on the basis of only half a percent of the manuscripts!But there is more to the story. From the parallel accounts it appears that He embarked at Capernaum. From John 6:23 we learn that the destination was near Tiberias. Capernaum and Tiberias are both on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, but there is a large bay between them; so they went over several miles of water. The crowd was not about to let Jesus get away. Mark makes clear that they ran along the shore—the faster runners stayed even with the boat and were waiting on the shore when the boat put in. The others were spread out behind for several miles (like in a marathon) and kept arriving. Any late starters would see the stragglers and could easily follow the action. Apparently He immediately started to heal the sick and went on to teach (Matthew14:14, Mark 6:34). But just where was it? John says it was near Tiberias, but Luke 9:10 says it was “a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida”. I assume that the place was indeed near Tiberias but did indeed belong to Bethsaida—either it had been deeded to the town somehow or the family that owned it was based in Bethsaida. Any near neighbors couldn’t use it, so it was basically untouched—a great place for a picnic. After the feeding, Mark 6:45 says that “He made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida”. So why did Jesus send the disciples to Bethsaida? Perhaps it was to give an accounting to the owner of the place where the multitude was fed—15,000 people can make quite a mess. (I suspect that Jesus had permission to use the place when He wanted to get away, but no one had foreseen such a crowd as that.) From Matthew and Mark I gather that from Bethsaida Jesus went directly to Genesaret, spending the minimum time necessary in Bethsaida.

¹¹ But the crowds, being aware, followed Him. So He received them and started speaking to them about the Kingdom of God, and He cured those who needed healing.

¹² Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve approached and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go to the surrounding villages and their farms, lodge and find food; because we are in a deserted place here”.

¹³ But He said to them, “You feed them!” Please, with what?! The only way the disciples could have obeyed this command would be by a miracle similar to what Jesus proceeded to perform. But they weren’t up to it. Are we? So they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd”

¹⁴ (there were about five thousand men ). But He said to His disciples, “Make them recline in groups of fifty!”

¹⁵ They did so, making them all recline.

¹⁶ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

¹⁷ So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the pieces they left were taken up. The collecting was probably done by others, and in any case that leftover bread was used by others.

¹⁸ Jesus ministers on the basis of His impending death “You are the Christ!” Now it happened, as He was alone praying, that the disciples joined Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

¹⁹ In answer they said, “John the Baptizer, but others say ‘Elijah’, while others that one of the ancient prophets has arisen”.

²⁰ Then He said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” In answer Peter said, “The Christ Since they were speaking Hebrew, he said ‘Messiah’. of God!”

²¹ But He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,

²² saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

²³ To gain is to lose, to lose is to gain Then He said to everyone: “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, Some 13% of the Greek manuscripts add ‘daily’, as in most versions. and follow me.

²⁴ Because whoever desires to ‘save’ his life will lose it, but whoever ‘loses’ his life for my sake, he will save it. What the Lord is talking about is the potential one’s life represents. The only way not to throw away or waste your life is to live for the Kingdom.

²⁵ Further, what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, yet wastes or forfeits his very self?

²⁶ Yes, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of Him, whenever He comes in the glory—His, and the Father’s, and of the holy angels.

²⁷ However, I tell you truly: there are some standing here who will certainly not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God!”

²⁸ Peter, John and James see the ‘Kingdom’ Now about eight days after these words, it happened that He took along Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

²⁹ And as He prayed, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing dazzling white.

³⁰ And then, two men started talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah;

³¹ they appeared in glory and were explaining His ‘departure’, that He was about to bring to fruition in Jerusalem.

³² Now Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; but becoming fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men who stood with Him.

³³ Then it happened: as they were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus: “Master, it is good for us to be here” and “Should we make three shelters: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah?” So how did Peter know who they were? —not knowing what he was saying.

³⁴ But as he was saying this a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they became afraid as they entered the cloud.

³⁵ And a Voice Peter never forgot that VOICE (2 Peter 1:16). came out of the cloud, saying: “This is my beloved Instead of ‘beloved’, perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘chosen’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Son. Listen to Him!”

³⁶ When the Voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. (They kept quiet and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.) Jesus commanded them not to mention anything until after the resurrection (Mark 9:9).

³⁷ A violent demon Now it happened on the next day, when they came down from the mountain, They spent a night up there. that a large crowd met Him.

³⁸ And then, a man from the crowd called out, saying: “Teacher, I beg you, look upon my son, for he is my only begotten.

³⁹ And oh, a spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams, and it convulses him with foaming, and it hardly departs from him, destroying him!

⁴⁰ And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”

⁴¹ Then in answer Jesus said: “O unbelieving and perverse Why “perverse”? To reject the truth and the evidence is to be perverse. This word was presumably directed to the disciples, who should have known better by now. So how about us—are we living on the basis of the truth and the evidence? Really? generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you (pl)? Bring your (sg) son here!”

⁴² But while he was still coming the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

⁴³ Everyone was amazed at the majesty Why ‘the majesty’? I don’t know. of God. Jesus foretells His death, again But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples,

⁴⁴ “Let these words sink into your ears, because the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men”. Moses and Elijah had delivered the game plan, and Jesus immediately starts warning the disciples.

⁴⁵ But they did not understand this saying; indeed it was concealed from them, Concealed by whom? Presumably not by God, as attested by the immediately following argument. in order that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

⁴⁶ He who is least will be great Then an argument started among them as to which of them would be the greatest.

⁴⁷ So Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their heart, took a little child and had him stand beside Him,

⁴⁸ and said to them: “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me. Further, he who is least among all of you, he will be great.”

⁴⁹ John changes the subject Then John reacted by saying, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us”.

⁵⁰ So Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid, because he who is not against us is for us.” Instead of ‘us is for us’, perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘you is for you’.

⁵¹ A Samaritan village Now it happened, as the days for His Ascension approached, that He set His face to go to Jerusalem,

⁵² and He sent messengers ahead of Him. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for Him.

⁵³ But they did not receive Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem.

⁵⁴ Well, when His disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and consume them, just like Elijah did?” About 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “just like Elijah did” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them saying: “You do not know of what sort of spirit you are.

⁵⁶ Further, the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save.” Some 27% of the Greek manuscripts omit “saying: ‘You do not know of what sort of spirit you are. Further, the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save’”, to be followed by most modern versions. The 73% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. And they went to another village.

⁵⁷ The cost of discipleship Now as they journeyed on the road, it happened that someone said to Him, “Lord, Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Lord” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). I will follow you wherever you go”.

⁵⁸ So Jesus said to him, “The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head”. Jesus does not offer comfort and a ‘good time’.

⁵⁹ Then He said to another, “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father”.

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God”. Dear me, how unfeeling! Those who are not committed to Christ and His Kingdom are as good as dead, and a true disciple of Jesus must not allow himself to be held back by such. Of course such an attitude will not be understood by the ‘dead’, but the disciple needs to side with the Kingdom.

⁶¹ And another also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first allow me to bid farewell to those who are at my house”. If you go back to say goodbye, they will cry and carry on and do all they can to make you change your mind.

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to ‘the plow’ and looks back is suitable for the Kingdom of God”. Again, the Lord is calling for total commitment.

10

¹ Jesus sends out the Seventy Now after these things, the Lord appointed seventy Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, add “two” (as in NIV, LB, TEV, etc.), (also in verse 17). others also, and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He Himself was about to go.

² Then He said to them: “The harvest is indeed great, but the workers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send out workers into His harvest.

³ “Go! Yes, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

⁴ Do not carry a purse, nor a knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.

⁵ Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house’.

⁶ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; if not, it will return to you.

⁷ Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they offer, because the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸ “And into whatever town you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.

⁹ Heal the sick therein and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you’.

¹⁰ But into whatever town you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say:

¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to us we wipe off against you. Nonetheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near to you.’

¹² I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³ Jesus gives the example “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Because if the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴ Nevertheless it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgment than for you.

¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, who are ‘exalted to heaven’, will be brought down to Hades.

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

¹⁷ The Seventy return and report Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

¹⁸ So He said to them: “I watched Satan fall like lightning out of heaven. A most interesting comment! Clearly Jesus is referring to a time before His incarnation—He knew He was Jehovah the Son.

¹⁹ Take note, I am giving Instead of ‘am giving’, perhaps 2.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘have given’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.)—a serious error. Jesus said this perhaps five months before His death and resurrection, addressing the seventy (not just the twelve). The Lord is talking about the future, not the past; a future that includes us! you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, The Lord gives us the authority to “trample snakes and scorpions”. Well now, to smash the literal insect, a scorpion, you don’t need power from on High, just a slipper (if you’re fast you can do it barefoot). To trample a snake I prefer a boot, but we can kill literal snakes without supernatural help. It becomes obvious that Jesus was referring to something other than reptiles and insects. I understand Mark 16:18 to be referring to the same reality—Jesus declares that certain signs will accompany the believers (the turn of phrase virtually has the effect of commands): they will expel demons, they will speak strange languages, they will remove ‘snakes’, they will place hands on the sick. (“If they drink . . .” is not a command; it refers to an eventuality.) But what did the Lord Jesus mean by ‘snakes’?In a list of distinct activities Jesus has already referred to demons, so the ‘snakes’ must be something else. In Matthew 12:34 Jesus called the Pharisees a ‘brood of vipers’, and in 23:33, ‘snakes, brood of vipers’. In John 8:44, after they claimed God as their father, Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil”. And 1 John 3:10 makes clear that Satan has many other ‘sons’. In Revelation 20:2 we read: “He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is a slanderer, even Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years.” If Satan is a snake, then his children are also snakes. So then, I take it that our ‘snakes’ are human beings who chose to serve Satan, who sold themselves to evil. I conclude that the ‘snakes’ in Luke 10:19 are the same as those in Mark 16:18, but what of the ‘scorpions’? Since they also are of the enemy, they may be demons, in which case the term may well include their offspring, the humanoids [see my paper, “In the Days of Noah”]. I am still working on the question of just how the removal is done. and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all may harm you.

²⁰ However, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Yes indeed, nothing compares to having your name written in heaven!

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

²² And turning to the disciples He said: Some 10% of the Greek manuscripts omit “And turning to the disciples He said” (as in most versions), which confuses the quote. Jesus changes from addressing His Father to addressing the disciples. “All things have been entrusted to me by my Father; also, no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and to whomever the Son may choose to reveal Him.”

²³ Then turning to His disciples privately He said: “Blessed are the eyes that are seeing the things that you see;

²⁴ for I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you are seeing but did not, and to hear what you are hearing but did not.”

²⁵ How to inherit eternal life And then, a certain lawyer stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ So He said to him: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

²⁷ In answer he said: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and, your neighbor as yourself.” See Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18—to include the ‘neighbor’ he had to quote from a different book.

²⁸ So He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live!”

²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ The good Samaritan By way of reply Jesus said: “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and as it chanced he ran into robbers, who after having stripped and wounded him, departed, leaving him half dead.

³¹ Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

³² So too, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, The priest maintained his distance, but the Levite at least went close to the man for a better look, but then did nothing about it. and passed by on the other side.

³³ But a certain Samaritan, The Lord’s choice of a ‘Samaritan’ was doubtless deliberate, since the Jews looked down on them. as he traveled, came by there, and upon seeing him was moved with compassion;

³⁴ and going to him he bound up his wounds, applying oil and wine. Then he placed him on his own mount, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

³⁵ On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and should you spend more, I will repay you when I return’.

³⁶ So which of these three would you say was ‘neighbor’ to him who ran into the robbers?”

³⁷ He said, “The one who showed mercy on him”. So Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise!” Anyone who has been hit with a calamity is a candidate for ‘neighbor’. What with floods, tornados, earthquakes, etc. there are plenty of candidates.

³⁸ Martha and Mary Now it happened as they traveled that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who actually sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His words.

⁴⁰ Well Martha was distracted with much serving; so coming up she said: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Do please tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ But in answer Jesus said to her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and agitated about many things,

⁴² but only one is needed. Apparently Martha was preparing a major meal, and the Lord told her that something simple would be fine. Although we may sympathize with Martha, Jesus defended Mary. However, Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

11

¹ A model prayer Then it happened, when He finished praying in a certain place, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples”.

² So He said to them: “Whenever you pray, say: Our Father who is in the heavens, your name must be reverenced. Your Kingdom must come. Your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven.

³ Give us day by day our daily bread.

⁴ Also, forgive us our sins, because we also forgive everyone indebted to us. And , do not lead us into testing, but deliver us from the evil one.” Most modern versions, following a mere 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, seriously truncate this prayer by omitting: “Our . . . who is in the heavens . . . . Your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven . . . . but deliver us from the evil one.” Some versions, like NIV and NASB, have a footnote saying that “some manuscripts” add this material. How can any honest person use ‘some’ to refer to 99% (1,600 X 16)? ‘The evil one’ refers to Satan.

⁵ A request at midnight Then He said to them: “Who among you will have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,

⁶ because a friend has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

⁷ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Don’t bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give to you’?

⁸ I say to you, even if he will not get up and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰ Because everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. I take it that the Lord is speaking generically here; He is not promising a 100% success rate.

¹¹ And which father among you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if Just four known Greek manuscripts (0.2%) omit “bread will give him a stone? Or if” (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Does this apply to true believers who have the indwelling Holy Spirit? Did this ‘rule’ change at Pentecost? If not, how does it apply to us today?

¹⁴ A divided house Then He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. As a result, when the demon had gone out the mute spoke! And the crowds marveled.

¹⁵ But some of them said, “It’s by Beelzebul, The familiar spelling ‘Beelzebub’ was presumably brought over from the Latin, since all the Greek manuscripts have ‘Beelzebul’ (with variations). the ruler of the demons, that he casts out demons”.

¹⁶ While others kept asking Him for a sign from heaven, testing.

¹⁷ But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸ So if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?—since you say I cast out demons by Beelzebul!

¹⁹ Further, if I am casting out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁰ But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹ “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his possessions are safe.

²² But when someone stronger than he attacks, he overcomes him, takes away all his armor in which he trusted, and distributes his spoils.

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

²⁴ An empty house “Whenever an unclean spirit goes out from a man, The Lord does not say why the spirit left. If it had been expelled by someone who knew how to send it to the Abyss, it could not comeback. it passes through waterless places seeking rest; and not finding any it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out’.

²⁵ And coming it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶ Then it goes and picks up seven other spirits, more malignant than itself, and they go in and live there; so the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” Although we certainly have the authority to expel demons from people, if the person we help does not then commit himself to Jesus, he remains an empty house, vulnerable to something worse.

²⁷ True blessedness And then, as He was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!”

²⁸ But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” Since the Text declares the Virgin Mary to be blessed, Jesus was not denying that blessedness. To hear and obey God’s Word is even more blessed.

²⁹ Jonah is a sign Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say: “This is a malignant generation. It keeps wanting a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

³⁰ Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the South will be raised up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Notice that Jesus declares Himself to be greater than Solomon and Jonah (a king and a prophet).

³³ Light inside the body “No one, having lit a lamp, puts it in hiding or under a basket, but on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴ The lamp of the body is the eye. Of course we have two eyes, but the Text has “eye” in the singular. I take it that the reference is to the way we interpret what we see (which is our real ‘eye’)—two people, one pure and one vile, observing the same scene will give very different interpretations to it. ‘malignant’ means aggressively evil. Someone with a malignant mind will give an evil interpretation to everything he sees, and in consequence his being will be filled with unrelenting darkness. Cf. Titus 1:15. Therefore, whenever your ‘eye’ is good, your whole body is illuminated. But when it is malignant, your body also is darkened.

³⁵ So see to it that the ‘light’ in you not be darkness.

³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, not having any part dark, the whole will be illuminated, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

³⁷ Jesus derides scribes and Pharisees Now as He spoke, a certain Pharisee invited Him to eat with him. So He went in and reclined.

³⁸ But the Pharisee, noticing that He did not first wash before the meal, was critical. The leaders had already rejected Jesus and were planning to kill Him, so He knew this was not a friendly invitation. He accepted the invitation with the clear purpose to provoke a confrontation.

³⁹ So the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of greed and malignancy.

⁴⁰ Fools! Did not He who made the outside also make the inside?

⁴¹ Nevertheless, give what is possible as alms; then indeed all things are clean to you. At first glance this statement seems difficult, but because they were filled with greed, for them to give away as much as possible would represent a major change in their values.

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you ignore justice and the love of God. These it was necessary to do, without leaving those undone.

⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seat in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.) You are like unperceived graves, that people walk on without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ Jesus derides lawyers Then one of the lawyers reacted and said to him, “Teacher, by saying these things you insult us also!”

⁴⁶ So He said: “Woe to you lawyers also! You load men down with burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, it being your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸ Thereby you witness to and approve of the deeds of your fathers; because they indeed killed them, while you build their tombs.

⁴⁹ Also, because of this ‘the wisdom of God’ In 1 Corinthians 1:24 Paul refers to Christ as ‘the wisdom of God’. In Matthew 23:34 Jesus said, “I send you prophets”, so here Jesus may be referring to Himself as ‘the wisdom of God’. said: ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute’,

⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation!

⁵² Woe to you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge; Hosea 4:6 reads, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge . . . . Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Notice the awful price paid by the children! Are today’s ‘doctors of the law’ not guilty of the same thing? you yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering!” They were really perverse. If they didn’t want to go in themselves, that was their choice; but to try to stop others was really perverse!

⁵³ Well when He had said these things to them, Instead of “Well when He had said these things to them”, perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “and when He left there” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.) the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge Him on vehemently and to cross-examine Him about many things,

⁵⁴ lying in wait for Him, trying to catch Him in something He might say, so that they might accuse Him. Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “so that they might accuse Him” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.)

12

¹ Beware of hypocrisy Meanwhile, when a crowd of thousands That’s what the Text says, ‘thousands’. had converged, so that they were stepping on each other, He began to speak first to His disciples: “Guard yourselves from the ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

² There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

³ Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

⁴ Don’t fear assassins “Further, I say to you, my friends: do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵ Rather, I will advise you whom you should fear—fear Him who after He kills has authority to cast into Gehenna; ‘Gehenna’ was a euphemism for Hell, or the Lake of Fire. One’s eternal destiny is far more important than a premature physical death. yes indeed, fear Him!

⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? The Greek term here is assaria. Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

⁷ Even the hairs of your head are all numbered! So do not be afraid; you are far more valuable than sparrows!

⁸ You confess Christ, He’ll confess you “Also I say to you, whoever claims me before men, the Son of Man will also claim him before the angels of God.

⁹ But whoever disclaims me before men will be disclaimed before the angels of God. Revelation 21:8 includes the ‘cowardly’ among those destined for the Lake of Fire. When persecution comes for being a Christian, the cowardly will cave in and disclaim the Lord.

¹⁰ Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it can be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven.

¹¹ Now whenever they bring you before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what you will answer, or what you should say.

¹² Because the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you need to say.”

¹³ Beware of materialism Then someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me”.

¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter over you?”

¹⁵ Then He said to all, “Keep alert and guard against covetousness, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Christians who live in materialistic societies tend to forget this important truth.

¹⁶ Parable of a rich fool Then He told them a parable, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man produced well.

¹⁷ And he reasoned within himself saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no place to store my crops?’

¹⁸ Then he said: ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my produce and my goods.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and enjoy yourself!’

²⁰ But God said to him: ‘Stupid! This very night your life is being taken back from you; ‘taken back’—we have our life on loan, like a trust, and an accounting will be required. then who will get the things you have prepared?’

²¹ Just like that “Just like that” = “Stupid!” is he who accumulates treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²² The mentality of the Kingdom Then He said to His disciples: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will wear.

²³ Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storeroom nor barn, and God feeds them. You are far more valuable than the birds!

²⁵ And who among you can add one cubit to his height by worrying?

²⁶ So if you cannot do even such a little thing, why worry about the rest?

²⁷ “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; I say to you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of these.

²⁸ So if God so clothes the grass that today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into an oven, how much more you, O little-faiths!

²⁹ Do not concentrate on what you may eat or what you may drink; do not be anxious.

³⁰ All these things really occupy the nations of the world, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹ Rather, concentrate on the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be provided for you. Note that what is promised is just the basics—food, drink, covering. Everything we invest in the Kingdom will be on deposit in heaven.

³² “Do not fear, little flock, because it pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom.

³³ Sell your possessions and give to charity. Make for yourselves ‘purses’ that will not wear out, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where a thief cannot approach, nor a moth destroy.

³⁴ Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. There is the crucial question: Where is your treasure?

³⁵ Watchfulness enjoined “Let your waists be belted and your lamps burning,

³⁶ and you yourselves like men waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding celebration, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find watching when he comes. Assuredly I say to you that he will gird himself and have them recline, and will come and serve them. He is doubtless in a very good mood, and for his servants to have stayed awake for hours when they wanted to be in bed, just so they could receive him when he came—he probably figures they need some refreshment.

³⁸ And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰ Therefore you also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Everyone who has predicted a date so far has had to eat humble pie. But being ready all the time is a different matter. The trouble is, it’s hard to stay ‘ready’ all the time.

⁴¹ Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, are you directing this parable to us, or to everyone?” The Lord’s answer is indirect, but it includes everyone.

⁴² So the Lord said: “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward whom his master will place over his household to give them the food allowance at the right time?

⁴³ Blessed is that slave whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

⁴⁴ I tell you truly that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. He was director of food services; if he proved faithful and competent there, he would be made general director.

⁴⁵ But if that servant should say in his heart, ‘My master won’t come for a while’, and should begin to hit the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers. What is involved here is two deaths: physical (cut in two) and spiritual—the ‘portion’ of unbelievers is the Lake of Fire.

⁴⁷ “That servant who knew his master’s will, but neither got ready nor did according to that will, will be beaten with many blows.

⁴⁸ But he who did not know, yet did things worthy of blows, will be beaten with few. Note that even sins done in ignorance are punished. However, the more one knows, the more severe the punishment. Everyone to whom much has been given, from him much will be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him much more will be asked.

⁴⁹ Christ causes division “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!

⁵¹ Do you imagine that I came to provide peace on the earth? Not at all, I tell you, but rather division.

⁵² Because from now on there will be five in one house divided: three against two and two against three.

⁵³ Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” This is precisely true.

⁵⁴ Discern the time Then He also said to the crowds: “Whenever you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A rainstorm is coming’, and so it does.

⁵⁵ And whenever a south wind blows, you say, ‘It will be hot’, and it happens.

⁵⁶ Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky and of the earth, so how can you not discern this time?

⁵⁷ Also why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? Good question!

⁵⁸ Pay your debts on time “When you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, The point seems to be that the ‘adversary’ has exhausted all other means of getting his money back; which would indicate a serious flaw in the character of the ‘debtor’. lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison.

⁵⁹ I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny.”

13

¹ Repent or perish Now at that time there were some present who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Herod had mixed with their sacrifices.

² So in answer Jesus said to them: “Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?

³ Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish!

⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them; do you suppose they were worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem?

⁵ Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish!” We never know when a tornado or earthquake may come our way; the best thing is to walk with God, and thus not have to fear a sudden exit.

⁶ Parable of a barren fig tree Then He told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷ So he said to the gardener: ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down; just why must it waste the soil?’

⁸ But in answer he said to him, ‘Sir, let it be this year also, until I dig around it and apply fertilizer,

⁹ in case it produces fruit—but if not, then cut it down’.” The Lord’s use of ‘three years’ is doubtless deliberate; He may well have been referring to His own ministry in Israel. In that event the owner would be the Father, and He Himself would be the gardener. The three years of public ministry He had already spent had not produced the desired fruit.

¹⁰ Jesus heals a woman bound by Satan Now as Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,

¹¹ He saw a woman there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years—she was bent over and could not straighten up.

¹² So He called her over In a synagogue the women were separated from the men, so He called her over to the men’s side. and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!”

¹³ He placed His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and started glorifying God.

¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue reacted with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, “There are six days in which one should work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath”. Of course the woman had not come to be healed; she came to worship God. It was the Lord’s initiative.

¹⁵ So the Lord answered him and said: “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water?

¹⁶ So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan By using the enemy’s proper name, Jesus is declaring that it was actually Satan who was behind the problem. kept bound during eighteen long years, be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷ When He said these things all His adversaries were put to shame, while all the crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

¹⁸ Two parables Then He said: “What is the Kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden; and it grew and became a sizable tree, and the birds of the air perched on its branches.”

²⁰ Again He said: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?

²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

²² Jesus ministers (mainly) in Perea He was traveling through various towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

²³ The narrow gate Then someone said to Him, “Lord, are the ones being saved few?” So He said to them:

²⁴ “Exert yourselves to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will try to enter and not manage it.

²⁵ When once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ and in answer he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you; where are you from?’

²⁶ then you will begin by saying, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets’.

²⁷ But he will say: ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ The Lord is stating plainly that there are many who think they are in the Kingdom, but actually are not.

²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out.

²⁹ They will even come from the east, the west, the north and the south, and recline in the Kingdom of God.

³⁰ Yes indeed, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

³¹ A word for Herod On that same day some Pharisees approached saying to Him, “Get out of here and go away, because Herod wants to kill you”. Those Pharisees may just have been trying to scare Jesus. The metaphor ‘fox’ was doubtless understood by His hearers, but we have since lost the relevant cultural information.

³² He said to them: “Go tell that ‘fox’, ‘Take note, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third I will be perfected’.

³³ Nevertheless I must keep going today and tomorrow and the day following, because it is not credible that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem!

³⁴ Jesus laments over Jerusalem “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, she who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

³⁵ So then, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you that you will definitely not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” See Psalm 118:26. John 10:22-39 probably happened between verses 33 and 34 here. That ‘Feast of Dedication’ would have fallen on a Monday, December 17, 29. Here Jesus leaves Jerusalem, to return only at the ‘triumphal entry’.

14

¹ Jesus heals a man with dropsy Then it happened, when He entered the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they were watching Him closely.

² And then, there in front of Him was a man who had dropsy! It seems scarcely credible that such a person could have gotten in there by accident. The Pharisees were desperately looking for some way to accuse Him.

³ And Jesus reacted by saying to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

⁴ But they kept silent. So He took hold of him, healed him, and let him go.

⁵ Then He addressed them saying, “Which of you, if a son Instead of ‘son’, some 26% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘donkey’ (as in TR, AV, NKJV). The 74% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. or an ox falls into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

⁶ And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

⁷ A lesson about humility Then He told a parable to those who were invited, having observed how they kept trying for the best places, saying to them:

⁸ “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not recline in the place of honor, in case someone more honorable than you has been invited by him;

⁹ then he who invited you both will come and say, ‘You, give this man place!’ and then, with shame, you start to take the lowest place. Of course; everyone else has been trying for the best place he can get, so by that time the only one left is the lowest!

¹⁰ Rather, whenever you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’. Then you will have honor in the presence of your fellow guests.

¹¹ Because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This truth is repeated several times in Scripture.

¹² Then He said directly to His host: “Whenever you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.

¹³ But whenever you make a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;

¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you—you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

¹⁵ An unusual banquet Well when one of the fellow-recliners heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who will eat dinner Instead of ‘dinner’, perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘bread’. in the Kingdom of God!” Now there you have a nice, safe, pious-sounding statement! I suppose he was trying to change the subject.

¹⁶ So He said to him: “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many.

¹⁷ And at meal time he sent his slave to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready’.

¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him: ‘I bought a field, and I need to go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’

¹⁹ Another said: ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’

²⁰ Yet another said, ‘I have married a wife, and so I can’t come’.

²¹ So that slave came and reported these things to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame’.

²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room’.

²³ Then the master said to the slave: ‘Go out to the roads and hedges Hedges were used to delimit fields, and there would often be a path along the outside of the hedge. First the slave was sent into the city, then out to the countryside. and make people come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴ For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet!’” Perhaps 45% of the Greek manuscripts add, “for many are called, but few chosen”.

²⁵ Jesus defines discipleship Now large crowds were traveling with Him, and turning He said to them:

²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷ And whoever does not carry his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “Further, which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

²⁹ This so he does not lay a foundation without being able to finish, and all who see it begin to ridicule him,

³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish!’

³¹ “Or what king, going to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

³² And if not, while the other is still far away he sends a delegation and asks for terms for peace.

³³ “So likewise, any of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple. Notice that three times Sovereign Jesus says, “cannot be my disciple”, and the ‘cannot’ is a strong negative. Jesus demands first place in our lives and hearts—above family, material things, our very selves.

³⁴ Salt is good; but should the salt become insipid, with what can it be seasoned?

³⁵ It is fit for neither soil nor fertilizer; it is thrown out. We followers of Christ are supposed to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in this world. To abdicate these functions is to become useless, and to be thrown out. ‘Neutrality’ is not a valid option. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

15

¹ Parable of a lost sheep Then all the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were getting close to Him to hear Him.

² Well the Pharisees and the scribes started complaining, saying, “This man welcomes ‘sinners’ and eats with them”.

³ So He told them this parable, saying:

⁴ “What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not abandon the ninety-nine in the wild Notice that the 99 are left in the wild, not a sheepfold. So what happens if a wolf comes upon the 99 while the shepherd is off looking for the stray? I confess that I never liked this parable, for that reason. and go after the lost one until he finds it?

⁵ And upon finding it he joyfully puts it on his shoulders.

⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’

⁷ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance. If God prefers sinners, what’s the point of being righteous? I suppose the point to be that no one is so righteous that they need no repentance. Since we are all sinners, we all need to repent—and when we do so, God is happy.

⁸ Parable of a lost coin “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹ And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost!’

¹⁰ Just so, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” God rejoices in the presence of the angels.

¹¹ Parable of a lost son Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

¹² And the younger one said to the father, ‘Father, give me the appropriate share of the estate’. So he divided the property between them.

¹³ Not many days later the younger son, having converted it all, journeyed to a distant country; and there he squandered his wealth living dissolutely.

¹⁴ But when he had spent it all, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵ Then he went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶ He would gladly have filled his stomach with the carob pods I suppose those pods were not edible for a human being, or he could doubtless have managed a few. that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Besides the economic crisis, he was a foreigner, and a stupid one at that. Why throw good money after bad?

¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have an abundance of bread, while I am dying of hunger!

¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,

¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants.’

²⁰ “So he got up and went to his own father. But while he was still a good ways off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion—he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him!

²¹ Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son’.

²² But the father said to his slaves: ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

²³ And bring in and kill the fatted calf, and let us eat and celebrate;

²⁴ because this son of mine was dead and came to life; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field; and as he came approaching the house he heard music and dancing.

²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

²⁷ He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him back safe and sound’.

²⁸ So he became angry and refused to go in. Then his father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁹ But in answer he said to the father: ‘Just look at how many years I have been serving you without ever transgressing your commandment; yet you never gave me even a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

³⁰ But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ The older brother’s attitude really wasn’t all that unreasonable. Why should the younger son be rewarded for his irresponsible conduct? The father was celebrating the recovery, not the irresponsibility. The fatted calf was for a special occasion, and the older son’s faithful service was routine. However, he probably did get a young goat, after that.

³¹ So he said to him: ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

³² But it was right that we celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and came to life; he was lost and is found.’”

16

¹ Parable of a stupid steward Then He said further to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager, who was accused to him of wasting his goods.

² So he called him in and said to him: ‘What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be manager.’

³ Then the manager said within himself: ‘What shall I do? My master is taking the management away from me. I don’t have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg

⁴ —I know what I’ll do, so that whenever I am removed from the management they may receive me into their houses.’

⁵ Summoning each one of his master’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred baths of olive oil’. So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty’.

⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat’. So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eighty’.

⁸ The master even ‘commended’ the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. The sons of this age are shrewder in their own generation than the sons of the Light. According to the value system of the world it is ‘smart’ to take advantage of other people, but those who follow the Light must be different. Of course the master’s ‘commendation’ was sarcastic, since the dishonest manager still lost his job.

⁹ A bit of irony “I even say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that whenever you fail, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings! The use of sarcasm is not rare in the Bible, and here the Lord is clearly being sarcastic: getting into the eternal dwellings does not depend on ‘buying’ friends down here; it depends on pleasing the Owner up there. Notice the reaction of the Pharisees in verse 14.

¹⁰ He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.

¹¹ If therefore you have not been faithful with the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the genuine? Monetary value is the ‘very little’, and spiritual value is the ‘much’, the ‘genuine’.

¹² And if you have not been faithful in what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

¹³ No servant can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” Verse 13 declares a terribly important truth. To embrace the world’s value system (humanism, relativism, materialism) is to reject God. Materialistic ‘Christians’ are really serving mammon.

¹⁴ The Law will not fail Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were also listening to all these things, and they were ridiculing Him.

¹⁵ So He said to them: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. That which is exalted among men is an abomination before God. There won’t be any abomination in heaven—‘abomination’ is a strong term; do pause and ponder!

¹⁶ The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the Kingdom of God is being proclaimed, and every one is trying to force his way into it. No one gets into the Kingdom on his own terms.

¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fail.

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

¹⁹ A rich man and beggar Lazarus The Text does not state that this is a parable, so most probably it is not. “Now there was a certain rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

²⁰ And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who had been placed at his gate,

²¹ just wanting to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table—why even the dogs would come and lick his sores! In fact the dogs were doing him a favor, since canine saliva is good for sores.

²² In due time the beggar died and was carried away to Abraham’s bosom by the angels. “The rich man also died and was buried. Note the contrast. Of course the beggar’s body had been buried, but the person was taken to Paradise. Here we have an explicit statement of angelic activity, which, however, is absent from the rich man.

²³ And in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance, and Lazarus very close to him. And being in torment,

²⁴ he called out, saying, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; because I am tormented by this flame!’

²⁵ But Abraham said: ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus had bad things; but now he The best line of transmission (30% of the Greek manuscripts here) has the emphatic pronoun ‘he’, rather than ‘here’. is being comforted, and you tormented.

²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone from there cross over to us.’ Several things in this account invite comment. Hades (Greek), or Sheol (Hebrew), is the ‘halfway house’ where departed spirits await the final judgment, but the results of that judgment are already known, since the saved are already separated from the lost. There is a chasm separating the two sides that cannot be crossed, but evidently one side can see and hear the other (the ‘dead’ are conscious and have feeling). People in prison who are waiting for their trial are already suffering. Strangely, the rich man still thinks he is more important than the beggar, since he wants the beggar to serve him—he still holds to the values that condemned him.

²⁷ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,

²⁸ because I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment’. I find it interesting that he was concerned for his brothers; we can’t say, “Better late than never”, since it made no difference.

²⁹ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them’.

³⁰ So he said to him, ‘Oh no, father Abraham—if someone from the dead should go to them, they will repent!’

³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead’.” Abraham states a disquieting reality: people who reject God’s written revelation are self-condemned.

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¹ Don’t offend, forgive Then He said to the disciples: “Things that cause people to fall are bound to come, but woe to him through whom they do come!

² It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to fall. What is worse than a horrible, premature physical death? Spiritual death. Whoever destroys the faith of a ‘little one’ is self-condemned.

³ Watch out for yourselves: if your brother sins against you, Perhaps 4.5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “against you” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which changes the meaning of the verse. rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

⁴ Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in that day returns, saying, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him.” Dear me, that could get ‘old’! But the Lord is emphatic; we must forgive!

⁵ Faith like a mustard seed has The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”.

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

⁷ The thanks a slave gets “And which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline to eat’?

⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and gird yourself and serve me until I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

⁹ Does he thank that slave because he did the things commanded? I guess not! About 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “I guess not!” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

¹⁰ So likewise you, whenever you have done everything you were told to do, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves, because we have only done what we were supposed to’.” If we were really committed to the master’s project, we would do more.

¹¹ Jesus cleanses ten lepers Now as He was traveling toward Jerusalem, He went along between Samaria and Galilee.

¹² And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him—being lepers they stood at a distance.

¹³ They called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴ And paying attention He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests”. It happened that as they went they were cleansed!

¹⁵ Well one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice;

¹⁶ then he fell on his face at His feet, thanking Him—and he was a Samaritan!

¹⁷ So Jesus reacted by saying: “Were not all ten cleansed? So where are the nine?

¹⁸ None were found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner!”

¹⁹ Then He said to him, “Get up and go; your faith has made you well.” In all probability the priests would not have wanted to deal with a Samaritan, in any case, so the Lord just sends him on his way, relieving him of that duty.

²⁰ The coming of the Kingdom Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said: “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation;

²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ because indeed the Kingdom of God is within you.” They were probably thinking of the Messianic Kingdom, that will indeed have a concrete starting point, but the Lord does not give them that information. He does go on to say to the disciples that the onset will be sudden.

²² Then He said to the disciples: “Days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. I suppose He is referring to His physical presence among them.

²³ And they will say to you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Do not go along or follow.

²⁴ Because just like the lightning that lights the whole sky when it flashes, so also will the Son of Man be in His day.

²⁵ But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶ Also, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man.

²⁷ They were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building—

²⁹ but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹ “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to get them; and likewise he who is in the field, let him not turn back.

³² Remember Lot’s wife!

³³ Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever ‘wastes’ it will preserve it.

³⁴ I tell you: on that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.

³⁵ Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁶ - - - Perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts have verse 36: “Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left”. I would say that this paragraph deals with the Rapture. In that event, Jesus is addressing those who are left behind, but who had expected to go. I believe that immediately after the Rapture the forces of evil will be unleashed to take complete control. Anyone who is going to refuse the ‘mark’ had better head for the hills.

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

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¹ Parable of a persistent widow And then He told them a parable, the point being that one needs to always pray and not lose heart,

² saying: “There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God nor regard man.

³ But there was a widow in that town, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary’.

⁴ And for a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God nor regard man,

⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will defend her, so that her endless coming doesn’t wear me out!’”

⁶ Then the Lord said: “Hear what the unjust judge said.

⁷ And will not God get justice for His elect who are crying out to Him day and night, indeed being patient with them?

⁸ I tell you that He will get justice for them quickly. God’s ‘quickly’ doesn’t always seem that ‘quick’ to us. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He actually find the faith on the earth?” The Text clearly has ‘the faith’, referring to the sum of Truth that makes up the biblical Faith. The Lord’s question is precisely to the point. Aside from the generalized apostasy that characterizes ‘Christian’ churches today, how many ‘conservative’ pastors are genuinely committed to the objective authority of the biblical Text?

⁹ Parable of a Pharisee and a publican Then He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest:

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood and started praying to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like all the rest—robbers, unjust, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

¹² I fast twice a week; I tithe all that I get.’

¹³ The tax collector, staying a good ways off, did not even venture to look up to heaven, but started beating on his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

¹⁴ I say to you that this one went back home justified rather than that one; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵ You enter the Kingdom like a child does Then they even started bringing their babies to Him, that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuke them.

¹⁶ But Jesus summoned them and said: “Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them; because the Kingdom of God is of such.

¹⁷ I tell you assuredly, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God the way a little child does To render ‘as a little child’ misses the point; obviously an adult can be saved. A little child believes literally and completely. will by no means enter it.”

¹⁸ An upright, rich ruler A certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹ So Jesus said to him: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. Jesus is not denying that He is good, but the man is not addressing Him as God. Had the man done so, there would have been no objection.

²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother’.”

²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth”.

²² Well upon hearing these things From the parallel account in Matthew 19:16-22 we learn that the man actually said more than is recorded here. Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing: sell all you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

²³ But when he heard this he became very sad, because he was extremely rich.

²⁴ Riches tend to keep people out of the Kingdom When Jesus saw that he became sad, He said: “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!

²⁵ It is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Jesus refers to a literal camel and a literal needle, which of course is “impossible with men”, as He goes on to say in verse 27. than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!”

²⁶ So the hearers said, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ And He said, “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.”

²⁸ Then Peter said, “Notice that we have left all and followed you!”

²⁹ So He said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,

³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹ Jesus declares His coming death and resurrection—third time Then He took the Twelve aside and said to them: “Take note, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be fulfilled:

³² He will be betrayed to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon,

³³ and they will scourge and kill Him. And on the third day Referring to the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection, Luke (and Matthew and Mark) has ‘(on) the third day’; but Mark also has ‘after three days’, while Matthew also has ‘three days and three nights’; John has ‘in three days’. Due to these seeming differences, there are those who insist that Jesus died on Thursday, not Friday, or even on Wednesday. There is general agreement that the resurrection happened on Sunday. Both ‘(on) the third day’ and ‘in three days’ allow for a Friday crucifixion, as the Church has generally understood. In John 20:26 we read, “after eight days” Jesus appeared to the disciples again, with Thomas present; this was the next Sunday, so only seven days had elapsed—Jews (and Brazilians) include the day at both ends. So ‘after three days’ also allows for a Friday crucifixion. I take it that ‘three days and three nights’ was an idiomatic expression synonymous with ‘after three days’. So Jesus died on a Friday. He will rise again.”

³⁴ But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know what was being said.

³⁵ A blind man near Jericho Then it happened, as He approached Jericho, Luke has Jesus approaching Jericho, while Matthew and Mark have Him leaving it. In Jesus’ day there were two Jerichos, the old one that had been rebuilt, and a new one, about a kilometer away. What better place to beg than between the two towns? Jesus had left the old Jericho and was going toward the new one. that a certain blind man was sitting alongside the road begging.

³⁶ Hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it was.

³⁷ So they told him that Jesus the Natsorean That’s right, ‘Natsorean’, not Nazarene. The reference is to Isaiah 11:1—Jesus was the ‘Branch-man’, the Messiah, as the blind man clearly understood, since he addressed Him as ‘Son of David’. was passing by.

³⁸ Well he shouted, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹ Those who led the way started reproving him, to shut him up; but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰ So Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to Him. When he got close He asked him, saying,

⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” So he said, “Lord, that I may see again!”

⁴² Then Jesus said to him: “See again! Your faith has made you well.”

⁴³ And immediately he did! and he followed Him, glorifying God. And all who witnessed it gave praise to God.

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¹ Zacchaeus He entered and started passing through Jericho. This would be the new Jericho.

² A man named Zacchaeus was there—he was a chief tax collector, and he was wealthy!

³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, because he was short.

⁴ And running on ahead he climbed up into a sycamore tree, in order to see Him, since He was about to pass by there.

⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because today I must stay at your house”. Jesus called him by name. How did He know that? Might that have contributed to the man’s conversion?

⁶ So he came down quickly, and received Him joyfully.

⁷ But when they saw it, they all started complaining, saying, “He has entered to lodge with a sinful man!”

⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Indeed, Lord, I herewith give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I restore fourfold”. The man knew his Bible; see Exodus 22:1.

⁹ So Jesus said about him, “Today salvation has happened in this house, Yes indeed, that was a complete change of direction! in that he also is a son of Abraham;

¹⁰ because the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

¹¹ Parable of a despised king Now as they heard these things, He continued with a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they were supposing that the Kingdom of God was on the verge of being revealed. This seems to have been a fixation in their minds that kept them from understanding the Lord’s repeated warnings that He was about to be killed.

¹² So He said: “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and return.

¹³ He called ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Conduct business until I come’.

¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us’.

¹⁵ It happened that he did receive the kingdom, and upon returning he ordered that those slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him, to know who had gained what by trading.

¹⁶ So the first one came and said, ‘Master, your mina earned ten minas!’

¹⁷ He said to him: ‘Super, you good slave! Because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities!’

¹⁸ And the second one came and said, ‘Master, your mina made five minas’.

¹⁹ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities’.

²⁰ Then a different one came, saying: ‘Master, here is your mina, that I kept laid away in a piece of cloth

²¹ —I feared you because you are a hard man, removing what you did not place, and reaping what you did not sow.’

²² So he said to him: ‘I will judge you out of your own mouth, you wicked slave! You knew that I am a hard man, removing what I didn’t place, and reaping what I didn’t sow.

²³ Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, and upon coming I would have collected it with interest?’

²⁴ And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the mina from him and give it to him who has the ten minas’.

²⁵ (They even said to him, ‘Master, he already has ten minas!’)

²⁶ ‘Indeed I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given; There is a sense in which blessing is earned; the more you do, the more you get. but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

²⁷ But as for those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’” The man had accepted the description given by the third slave, and here he demonstrates that he really is a ‘hard’ man, but don’t forget that he rewarded the faithful slaves. And don’t forget Revelation 19:15!

²⁸ The last week The ‘Triumphal Entry’ Having said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹ When He drew near to Bethsphage Some 44% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Bethphage’ (as in most versions), but the 56% includes the best line of transmission, which I follow. and Bethany, at the mountain called ‘of Olives’, it happened like this: He sent two of His disciples,

³⁰ saying: “Go to the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no man ever yet sat. Untie and bring it.

³¹ And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this to him: ‘The Lord needs it’.”

³² A steed for the King So those who were sent went and found it just like He told them.

³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ So they said, “The Lord needs it”.

³⁵ Then they brought it to Jesus; and throwing their own clothes on the colt, they placed Jesus on it.

³⁶ And as He went along people were spreading their clothes on the road.

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

³⁸ saying: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! See Psalm 118:26. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ A sour note Some of the Pharisees said to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ In answer He said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the very stones would cry out!”

⁴¹ Jesus weeps over Jerusalem Now as He approached, observing the city He wept over it,

⁴² saying: “If you, yes you, especially in this your day, had known the things pertaining to your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴³ Yes, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you; indeed they will surround you and hem you in on every side.

⁴⁴ And they will raze you, and your children within you, to the ground—they will not leave in you one stone upon another—all because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

⁴⁵ Jesus cleanses the temple And upon entering the temple He began to drive out those who were selling and buying in it, Comparing the parallel accounts, this happened the next day. Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and buying in it” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written: ‘My house is a house of prayer’, See Isaiah 56:7. but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!” See Jeremiah 7:11.

⁴⁷ And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes, as also the leaders of the people, were trying to destroy Him,

⁴⁸ but could not figure out how to do it, because all the people were hanging on His words.

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¹ Jesus’ authority questioned Now it happened on one of those days, as He was teaching and evangelizing the people in the temple, that the priests Some 16% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘high priests’ (as in most versions). and scribes came to Him with the elders

² and addressed Him, saying, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things; or who is he who gave you this authority?”

³ But in answer He said to them: “I also will ask you one thing; yes, tell me:

⁴ the baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”

⁵ So they reasoned among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven’, he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

⁶ But if we say, ‘From men’, all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it was from.

⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Well, of course, they knew that both John and Jesus were of God—they just didn’t want to repent and change their way of life.

⁹ Parable of some perverse tenants Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to farmers, and went away on a long journey.

¹⁰ At the proper time he sent a slave to the farmers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers flogged him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ Again he sent a different slave; so they flogged him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹² And again he sent a third; but they wounded him also and threw him out.

¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said: ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; hopefully they will respect him when they see him.’ Presumably this would never occur in real life, but the Lord was aiming this directly at them, knowing what they would do to Him and what the Owner would do to them.

¹⁴ But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying: ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, so that the inheritance may become ours.’

¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶ He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” Having heard it they said, “May it never be!”

¹⁷ Then He looked directly at them and said: “What then is this that is written: ‘A stone that the builders rejected, the same became the cornerstone’? See Psalm 118:22.

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

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

²⁰ To Caesar, Caesar’s; to God, God’s Keeping a close watch on Him, they sent spies, who pretended to be innocent, so that they might latch on to some thing He said, so as to hand Him over to the power and the authority of the governor.

²¹ So they questioned Him, saying: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and you do not show favoritism but teach the way of God in truth. They were really almost too obvious.

²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³ But He perceived their craftiness and said to them: “Why are you testing me? Perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Why are you testing me?” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

²⁴ Show me a denarius—whose image and inscription does it have?” In answer they said, “Caesar’s”.

²⁵ So He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”.

²⁶ They were unable to latch on to His word in front of the people; and marveling at His answer they kept silent.

²⁷ Sadducees deny resurrection Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, approached and questioned Him,

²⁸ saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s married brother dies childless, then his brother should take the widow and produce offspring for his brother.

²⁹ Now there were seven brothers: the first took a wife and died childless;

³⁰ then the second took the widow and he died childless; Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “the widow and he died childless” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.).

³¹ then the third took her, in fact all seven in sequence—they all died childless.

³² Finally, last of all, the woman died also.

³³ Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had her?” Whenever someone comes up with a hypothetical situation, be careful; there is probably a hidden agenda.

³⁴ So in answer Jesus said to them: “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage;

³⁵ but those who are considered worthy “Those who are considered worthy”—an interesting concept! to attain to that age, to the resurrection from among the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶ Because they cannot die anymore, If no one dies, there is no need to produce new generations. being like angels—they are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

³⁷ But that the dead are raised, Moses indeed revealed about the Bush when he recorded: ‘The LORD , the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’. See Exodus 3:6.

³⁸ So He is not the God of the dead, but of the living—to Him all are alive.”

³⁹ Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, you spoke well”.

⁴⁰ And they no longer dared to question Him further.

⁴¹ Is the Christ David’s Son? Then He said to them: “How is it that they say that the Messiah The Greek Text has ‘Christ’, but since they were speaking Hebrew, the Lord certainly said ‘Messiah’. is David’s Son?

⁴² Why David himself affirms in the book of Psalms, ‘The LORD said to my Lord: sit at my right hand

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

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

⁴⁵ Jesus denounces the scribes Then, in the hearing of the people, He said to His disciples:

⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;

⁴⁷ who ‘devour’ widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers. These will receive more severe judgment.”

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¹ A lesson in giving Looking up He saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasure chest.

² But He also saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites.

³ So He said: “I tell you truly that this poor widow put in more than all of them;

⁴ because all these others put in gifts for God out of their abundance, but she, out of her destitution, put in all she had to live on.” It is a fact of life; people who are poor are often more generous, more willing to share, than those who are rich. But in this case the widow was probably calling out to God for help.

⁵ Jerusalem will be destroyed Then, as some were admiring the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said,

⁶ “These things that you see—the days will come in which not one stone will be left upon another that will not be thrown down.” This was fulfilled in 70 A.D.

⁷ The Olivet Discourse So they asked Him, saying: “Teacher, so when will these things be?” and “What will be the sign when these things are about to happen?”

⁸ So He said: “Be careful, so as not to be deceived, because many will come in my name saying: ‘I am’ and ‘The time is at hand’. Therefore do not go after them.

⁹ But whenever you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; because these things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

¹⁰ Things will get bad, really bad Then He said to them: “Nation will be raised up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

¹¹ And there will be severe earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful events and great signs from heaven.

¹² But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of my name.

¹³ But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.

¹⁴ So settle it in your hearts not to practice giving a defense beforehand;

¹⁵ because I will give you a mouth and wisdom such that all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or withstand. This was true of Stephen; they couldn’t answer him, so they killed him.

¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and relatives, friends and ‘brothers’; and they will put some of you to death.

¹⁷ And you will be hated by all because of my name. This is already happening around the world. Those who defend biblical values are hated.

¹⁸ (Not even one hair of your head will be wasted I have to take this by faith. We have to work and war by faith, since we are often not allowed to see the results. I take it that the Lord is assuring us that nothing we do for Him will be wasted. But we must ‘hang in there’.

¹⁹ —you must secure your souls by your endurance.)

²⁰ Jerusalem will be destroyed “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation is at hand.

²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let those who are in the city get out, and let those who are in the country not enter her.

²² Because these are days of vengeance, that all the written things may be fulfilled.

²³ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those nursing babies in those days! There will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.

²⁴ Yes, they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. and was ‘trampled by Gentiles’ until 1967, when it returned to the control of Israel. So now the things mentioned in verse 25 and following can happen at any time.

²⁵ Christ will return to the earth “There will be signs in sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, at the roaring and tossing of the sea; ‘the sea’ is sometimes used as a metaphor for the human population.

²⁶ men fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the inhabited earth—because the powers of the heavens will be shaken. See Revelation 12:7-12.

²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹ Parable of the fig tree Then He told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.

³⁰ Whenever they are already budding, you see and know by yourselves that summer is now near.

³¹ So you also, whenever you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.

³² I tell you assuredly, this generation ‘this generation’ has received various interpretations. Personally I suppose it refers to the generation that was alive in 1967 (by now everyone in that ‘generation’ is at least 45 years old). will certainly not pass away until all has happened.

³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. Sovereign Jesus declares that His words have eternal validity, and are therefore on a par with God’s written revelation.

³⁴ Watch and pray “But keep a watch on yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of life, and that Day come upon you suddenly.

³⁵ Because it will come like a trap upon all those who dwell on the surface of the whole earth.

³⁶ So be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy Instead of ‘counted worthy’, less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘be able’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). to escape all these things If ‘to escape all these things’ refers to the Rapture, then only those who are ‘counted worthy’ will go up. that are about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷ His daily routine In the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called ‘of Olives’.

³⁸ Then early in the morning all the people would come to Him in the temple to hear Him.

22

¹ Judas joins the plot against Jesus Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called ‘Passover’, drew near.

² And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to kill Him, because they feared the people. The trouble was that the people were being so impressed by Jesus that they felt threatened.

³ Then Satan entered Judas Note that Judas acted under satanic inspiration. (the one surnamed Iscariot), who was numbered among the Twelve.

⁴ So he went off and conferred with the chief priests and officers about how he might betray Him to them.

⁵ They were glad, and agreed to give him silver coins.

⁶ So he promised, and started looking for an opportunity to betray Him to them, without a crowd.

⁷ The last night Preparation for the last Passover Then came the day of unleavened bread, in which it was necessary to kill the Passover lamb.

⁸ And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat”.

⁹ So they said to Him, “Where do you want us to prepare?”

¹⁰ He said to them: “Note, upon entering the city a man carrying a jar of water This would presumably be rather unusual, since fetching water was normally done by women. will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters.

¹¹ Then you must say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you: Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

¹² He himself will show you a large upper room, Obviously this had all been arranged ahead of time. The owner was doubtless a believer, and the large upper room was presumably chosen with a view to the use that would be made of it later, as well. all furnished; make preparations there.”

¹³ So off they went and found things just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴ They eat the Passover When the hour had come, He reclined, and the twelve A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “twelve” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). apostles with Him.

¹⁵ Then He said to them: “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

¹⁶ I tell you further that I will not eat of it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ And taking a cup He gave thanks and said: “Take this and share it among yourselves. This ‘cup’ was not part of the ‘Lord’s Supper’; I don’t know what the purpose may have been.

¹⁸ I tell you further that I will not drink again To suck a swallow or two from a sponge would not qualify as ‘drinking’. of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper Then, after the meal, He took bread, gave thanks, broke and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me”.

²⁰ He also took the cup, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.

²¹ The betrayer is present “But alas, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table!

²² To be sure, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” Judas had crossed the line of no return.

²³ (They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who was about to do this.)

²⁴ Wanting to be ‘the greatest’ is not a valid option Now there had actually been a discussion among them as to which of them seemed to be greater.

²⁵ So He said to them: “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors’.

²⁶ But not so with you—rather let the greater among you become as the younger, and he who leads as he who serves.

²⁷ Who is greater, the one reclining or the one serving? Is it not the one reclining? Yet I am among you as the one who serves.

²⁸ However, you are those who have continued with me in my trials. The gentle reproof is tempered with a word of appreciation.

²⁹ And I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me,

³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom; also you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel!” Then the twelve tribes must still exist! God knows who and where they are. I wonder who will take the Iscariot’s place.

³¹ Peter will deny Him Then the Lord said: A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Then the Lord said” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). “Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you (pl) so as to sift you like wheat.

³² But I have prayed for you (sg) so that your faith not fail completely; The Lord prayed for Peter, but evidently not for the Iscariot. so you, when you have recovered, strengthen your brothers.”

³³ But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”

³⁴ So He said, “I say to you, Peter, no rooster can crow today before you deny three times that you know me!” This was the second warning; the first is recorded in John 13:37-38.

³⁵ “Buy a sword” Then He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” And they said, “Nothing”.

³⁶ So He said to them: “But now , he who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword must sell his garment and buy one. If you are obviously armed, this tends to slow down those who would otherwise attack you or take advantage of you.

³⁷ Because I say to you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was classed with the lawless’; See Isaiah 53:12. and because the things concerning me have an end.”

³⁸ So they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords”. And He said to them, “It is enough”.

³⁹ Gethsemane Then going out He went to the Mount of Olives, as His custom was, and His disciples followed Him.

⁴⁰ When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray, so as not to enter into temptation”.

⁴¹ Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down and prayed,

⁴² saying, “Father, if you would just remove this cup from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done!”

⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

⁴⁴ And being in anguish He prayed with total concentration; I believe that Hebrews 5:7 refers to this moment. To transpire blood is normally fatal, so Jesus came close to dying there in the garden. But He had to get to the cross, so the Father sent an angel to strengthen Him. then His sweat became like clots of blood, falling to the ground. The eclectic Greek text currently in vogue places verses 43-44 within double brackets (based on 1.3% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality), thereby denying that Luke wrote them. These verses contain important information that should not be questioned on such a feeble basis.

⁴⁵ When He rose up from prayer and came to the disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.

⁴⁶ He said to them: “Why do you sleep? Get up and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.”

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

⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss ?”

⁴⁹ When those who were around Him saw what was about to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

⁵⁰ And a certain one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear!

⁵¹ But Jesus reacted by saying, “Allow at least this!” and touching his ear He healed him. We know it was Peter (John 18:10), and if the Lord hadn’t healed that ear, things would probably have been nastier for Peter in the ‘courtyard’.

⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests, officers of the temple, and elders who had come against Him: “Have you come out with swords and clubs as against a bandit?

⁵³ When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour; even the authority of the darkness!” This was Satan’s hour, being part of the Father’s Plan.

⁵⁴ Peter denies Jesus Then they seized, took and brought Him to the house of the High priest, with Peter following at a distance.

⁵⁵ Now when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.

⁵⁶ Then a certain servant girl, seeing him sitting by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man also was with him”.

⁵⁷ But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know him!”

⁵⁸ After a little while another saw him and said, “You also are one of them”. But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”

⁵⁹ Then after about an hour had passed, another started insisting, “Surely this fellow also was with him, because he is a Galilean”.

⁶⁰ But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster Instead of ‘a’ rooster, perhaps 3% of the manuscripts have ‘the’ rooster (as in TR, AV, NKJV). crowed.

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

⁶² And going outside he wept bitterly.

⁶³ Guards mistreat Jesus The men who were guarding Jesus started mocking and beating Him.

⁶⁴ And having blindfolded Him they would hit His face and Perhaps 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “they would hit His face and” (as in NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.). ask Him, saying: “Prophesy! Who was it who struck you?”

⁶⁵ And they kept saying many other insulting things to Him.

⁶⁶ Crucifixion day Jesus judged by the Council As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, came together and brought Him before their council, saying,

⁶⁷ “If you are the Messiah, tell us”. But He said to them: “If I tell you, you simply will not believe.

⁶⁸ But if I also question you, you will neither answer nor release me.

⁶⁹ Hereafter the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

⁷⁰ Then they all said, “Are you then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You say it because I AM!”

⁷¹ Then they said: “What further testimony do we need? We ourselves have heard it from his mouth!” They were condemning Him for blasphemy, but to do that they had to reject the obvious truth that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

23

¹ Jesus taken to Pontius Pilate Then the whole crowd of them rose up and led Him to Pilate.

² And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, This was a plain lie. declaring himself to be Christ, a king”.

³ So Pilate questioned Him, saying, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In reply He said to him, “You said it!”

⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man”. It is necessary to read the parallel passages to get a fuller picture of what happened.

⁵ But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to here.”

⁶ Jesus taken to Herod When Pilate heard ‘Galilee’, Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Galilee” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). he asked if the man was a Galilean.

⁷ Upon learning that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸ Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was really pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him, having heard so many things about Him; and he was hoping to see some miracle performed by Him.

⁹ He questioned Him with many words, but He gave him no answer. Herod was irrelevant; it was Pilate who had the authority to crucify.

¹⁰ On their part, the high priests and scribes stood by, vehemently accusing Him.

¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers, after ridiculing and mocking Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

¹² (That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other—previously having been at odds with each other.) An interesting ‘fringe benefit’.

¹³ Pilate sentences Jesus Then Pilate, having called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

¹⁴ said to them: “You have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people, and yet, having examined him in your presence, I have found no guilt in this man as to those things of which you accuse him.

¹⁵ Further, neither did Herod (for I sent you on to him); Instead of “for I sent you on to him”, some 12% of the manuscripts have ‘for he sent him back to us’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). indeed, nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

¹⁶ I will therefore flog and release him.”

¹⁷ (It was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast.) About 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit verse 17 entirely (as in NIV, NASB, LB, [TEV], etc.).

¹⁸ But they all cried out together, saying: “Away with this one! Release to us Barabbas!”—

¹⁹ who had been thrown into prison for a certain insurrection in the city, and for murder.

²⁰ Then Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, Comparing the accounts it is very clear that Pilate wanted no part of killing Jesus, but when they said “you are not Caesar’s friend” he was beaten. addressed them again.

²¹ But they just kept shouting: “Crucify! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he said to them: “But what evil has this man done? I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore flog and release him.”

²³ But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified! And their voices, especially of the chief priests, A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “especially of the chief priests” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). prevailed.

²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

²⁵ He released the one who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

²⁶ Jesus is crucified Now as they led Him away, they conscripted a certain Simon of Cyrene (coming in from a field), and put the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus. Whether or not Simon was already a disciple at this moment (he may have been prepared), he evidently became one. It appears that Jesus was having trouble carrying His cross.

²⁷ A considerable crowd of people followed Him, including women who were also mourning and lamenting Him.

²⁸ So Jesus turned to them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; rather weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹ Because indeed, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, even the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ For Jews to say this, things would have to get really bad.

³⁰ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ See Hosea 10:8.

³¹ For if they do these things in the ‘green tree’, what will happen in the ‘dry’?

³² There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.

³³ When they arrived at the place called ‘The Skull’, they crucified Him there; also the criminals, one on His right, the other on His left.

³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”; The eclectic text currently in vogue (following less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality) places within double brackets the first half of verse 34: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’”. In this way they deny that Luke wrote it, surely a perverse proceeding. while they were dividing up His clothes by casting a lot.

³⁵ Meanwhile the people stood looking on. And especially the rulers among them were sneering, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if such is the Christ, the chosen of God!”

³⁶ Yes, even the soldiers mocked Him, approaching and offering Him sour wine,

³⁷ and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸ In fact, above Him there was a written notice, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters: A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “written in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. The soldiers were just going along with the ‘game’; after all, His stated crime was that He was ‘the king of the Jews’.

³⁹ Then one of the hanged criminals started berating Him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other reacted and rebuked him, saying: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are under the same condemnation?

⁴¹ And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong.”

⁴² Then he said to Jesus, “Please remember me, Lord, Instead of “to Jesus, ‘Please remember me, Lord’”, perhaps 3% of the manuscripts have ‘Jesus, remember me’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which seriously weakens the man’s statement. when you come in your kingdom”. I find this statement to be impressive: the man is declaring that Jesus is the Messiah and will indeed inaugurate His Kingdom. Evidently the man knew the Bible; and his request was honored!

⁴³ Jesus said to him, “I tell you assuredly, today you will be with me in Paradise.” For Jesus to say ‘today’, He knew the man would die before sundown, so He knew the man’s legs would be broken—otherwise he would most likely have lasted well into the night, which would have been ‘tomorrow’.

⁴⁴ Jesus dismisses His spirit Now it was about the sixth hour, and darkness came upon the whole land until the ninth hour.

⁴⁵ Yes, the sun was darkened; also, the veil of the temple was torn in two.

⁴⁶ Then, after giving a loud shout, Jesus said, “Father, it is into your hands that I will commit my spirit”. And having said this, He breathed His last. Both Matthew and John state overtly that Jesus dismissed His spirit. In John 10:17-18 He had declared that no one could kill Him, He would lay down His own life. The cross did not kill Jesus, as the centurion recognized (see the next note).

⁴⁷ Various reactions Well upon seeing what had happened, the centurion glorified God, saying, “Certainly this man was righteous!” Any centurion would be a hardened soldier, who had seen no end of crucifixions. He knew that a cross killed by asphyxiation. Hanging from the hands, with the arms stretched out, pushes the diaphragm against the lungs so you can’t breathe. Nailing the feet was a sadistic procedure to prolong the agony—even though painful, the victim would push up so he could get a breath, until finally too worn out to do so. Breaking the legs would put an end to that expedient, and the person died within a few minutes, asphyxiated. Someone who is dying asphyxiated does not shout. Since Jesus gave a loud shout, but then immediately died, the centurion knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the cross had not killed Jesus (later, when Joseph asks for the body, Pilate is surprised that Jesus could already be dead). But who can just tell his spirit to leave? Putting two and two together, the centurion concluded that Jesus was a supernatural being. Just so!

⁴⁸ And the whole crowd that had gathered for the spectacle, when they saw what actually happened, went away beating their breasts. This was a cultural expression of sorrow and distress.

⁴⁹ But all His acquaintances, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰ Jesus’ body is buried Now then, there was a man named Joseph, a good and righteous man, a Council member

⁵¹ (but he had not agreed with their counsel and action), from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was waiting for the Kingdom of God:

⁵² this man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock, where no one had ever been laid. Obviously the tomb had been prepared beforehand, and was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9, “He made His grave . . . with the rich at His deaths [plural]”. Nicodemus was already there with a hundred pounds of spices (John 19:39).

⁵⁴ It was a Preparation day; the Sabbath was drawing near.

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed along, and they saw the tomb and how His body was placed there. That is, they saw where the body was taken, but did not see inside, and obviously didn’t know about the 100 pounds of spices.

⁵⁶ Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

24

¹ Resurrection Day “He is not here, but is risen!” Then on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared, along with some others. A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “along with some others” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

³ but upon entering they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴ And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that wow, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.

⁵ Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them: “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

⁶ He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He told you while still in Galilee,

⁷ saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’.”

⁸ And they remembered His words. These were the women who had been providing for Jesus for some time, and they doubtless heard much of His teaching, including this statement.

⁹ The women report Then they returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the Eleven, and to all the rest.

¹⁰ They were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them, who told these things to the apostles.

¹¹ But their words seemed to them like nonsense, and they disbelieved them. They had already been ‘burned’, their hopes dashed, and were not in a hurry to be ‘taken in’ again.

¹² (But Peter had gotten up and run to the tomb, and stooping down he saw the linen strips lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.) According to John’s account, this had already happened earlier, so Luke gives it out of sequence.

¹³ The ‘Emmaus’ incident And then that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles Literally, ‘sixty stadia’. from Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And they were conversing with each other about all that had happened.

¹⁵ And then, as they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself came up and started going with them.

¹⁶ But their eyes were restrained, in order that they not recognize Him.

¹⁷ So He said to them, “What words are these that you are exchanging with one another as you walk, and are gloomy?” Instead of “. . . walk, and are gloomy?” a mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have “. . . walk? And they stood gloomy.” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

¹⁸ Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him: “The things concerning Jesus the Natsorean, how the man was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

²⁰ and how the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.

²¹ And we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel! Further, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

²² Moreover certain women of our group astonished us—arriving early at the tomb,

²³ and not finding his body, they came saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.

²⁴ And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but him they ‘they’—they knew that John had gone with Peter. didn’t see.”

²⁵ Then He said to them: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the Prophets have spoken!

²⁶ Was it really not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?”

²⁷ And beginning from Moses, and then all the Prophets, He explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. He declares Himself to be the Messiah. I do wish that explanation had been recorded!

²⁸ Then they approached the village where they were going, and He made as though He would keep going. And He would have, if they hadn’t restrained Him.

²⁹ But they constrained Him, saying, “Stay with us, because it is toward evening, and the day is far spent”. So He went in to stay with them.

³⁰ And then, as He was reclining with them, He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

³¹ Then their eyes were opened They had been supernaturally hindered from recognizing Him, up to that point. and they recognized Him; and He became invisible to them.

³² They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked to us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³ The two report So they got up forthwith and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven gathered together; also those with them,

³⁴ who said, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” There were others in the room besides the Eleven, some near the door. So when the two burst in, all exited with their news, the others ‘prick their balloon’—“Oh, we already know about that”. Has human nature changed?

³⁵ Then they described what happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

³⁶ Jesus appears to the Eleven As they were saying these things, indeed, Jesus A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Jesus” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Himself stood in their midst, and He said to them, “Peace to you”.

³⁷ But they, terrified, supposed they were seeing a ghost, and were becoming fearful.

³⁸ And He said to them: “Why are you troubled?” and “Why do doubts arise in your hearts?

³⁹ Look at my hands and feet; it is I myself! Feel me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰ And saying this He showed them His hands and His feet.

⁴¹ But as they were still disbelieving and marveling, because of the joy, He said to them, “Do you have any food here?”

⁴² So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb. Less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and some honeycomb” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

⁴³ And taking it He ate in their presence. It is easy to criticize them for being so slow to believe, but would we have done any better? Note that Christ’s glorified body, that could just pass through a wall, was palpable—it had flesh and bones (but perhaps not blood). The food that He ate presumably did not go through a normal process of digestion.

⁴⁴ Then He said to them, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything that is written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” The Lord recognizes the three divisions of the Old Testament.

⁴⁵ Then He opened their understanding so as to comprehend the Scriptures.

⁴⁶ And He said to them: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and thus it was necessary” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, The Gospel is for all nations. beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹ Take note, I am sending the Promise of my Father upon you; but you must stay in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰ Jesus ascends to Heaven He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them.

⁵¹ And it happened, as He was blessing them, that He left them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵² Worshipping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy;

⁵³ and they were continually in the temple, praising and A mere handful (0.4%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “praising and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). blessing God. Amen. Some 50% of the Greek manuscripts have a colophon that says, “published fifteen years after the ascension of Christ”. For 50% of the MSS to have this information probably means that the tradition is ancient. If this information is correct, then Luke was ‘published’ in 45/46 AD. The same sources have Matthew published seven years earlier (38/39) and Mark five years earlier (40/41), while John was ‘published’ thirty-two years after the ascension, or 61/62 AD. Not only were the authors eyewitnesses of the events, but many others were still alive when the Gospels appeared. They could attest to the veracity of the accounts, but could also be the source of textual variants, adding tidbits here and there, or ‘correcting’ something that they remembered differently.