Although the Pharisee we first read about today may have wanted to appear as if he was a hospitable person, you can be sure he wasn’t being motivated by kindness when he invited Jesus to share a meal at his house. Rather, he was hoping to find fault with Jesus in order to report it to his fellow Pharisees. And it didn’t take him long. He was amazed to see that Jesus “sat down to eat without first performing the ceremonial washing required by Jewish custom” (Luke 11:38).

Knowing the Pharisee’s thoughts, Jesus used the occasion to illustrate the basic flaw of all the Pharisees. They were primarily concerned with outward cleanliness at the neglect of inward cleanliness, making themselves hypocrites. Jesus said that God made both inside and outside, so both were important, but the Pharisees’ insides were full of greed and wickedness. The only way for them to become inwardly clean was to repent, and Jesus said that the way to repent of greed was to give to the needy what the Pharisees greedily possessed.

Also, for the sake of outward appearance, the Pharisees majored in minors. That is, they emphasized the least important things and neglected what was most important. For example, when they picked some of their garden herbs, they would be careful to take a tenth of them and give them to the priests, because the Law of Moses required the Israelites to tithe on their increase. Jesus endorsed their tithing, but criticized them for neglecting other much more important things, like teaching people about and sharing God’s love, or defending those who were treated unjustly.

The final proof of the outward show of the Pharisees’ religion was their love of the seats of honor at the synagogue and the respectful greetings they received from people in the marketplace. They were not the kind of people who gave secretly to the poor or who prayed behind closed doors. Everything they did was a show so that people would see how holy they supposedly were. They loved it when they were honored by others for putting on their act!

In the same category were the religious teachers who considered themselves experts in the Law of Moses. They taught the common people their own strict interpretations of what God required, putting burdens on them that God never intended for them to carry. They made it next to impossible for people to please God. Jesus said they were no different than the evil religious leaders of the Old Testament who persecuted and killed the prophets whom God sent. In fact, Jesus predicted that they would persecute and kill future prophets and apostles whom God would send, one of them, of course, being Himself. Both Pharisees and religious teachers were very religious people who, unless they repented and believed in Jesus, would spend eternity in hell.

Q. Why do you suppose Jesus said that the generation of His day would be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world, from Abel to Zechariah? Is that fair? Will He not hold responsible the actual murderers?

A. Jesus knew that His generation would be responsible for His own death, and certainly, as God’s only Son, Jesus was much more valuable than all the former prophets combined. They were men created in God’s image and sent by God, but Jesus was God! So perhaps He meant that His generation would lay up more guilt by killing Him than if they had been responsible for the death of every prophet God had sent since the creation of the world.

Application: All of us, and especially Christian leaders, can become guilty of being Pharisaical. Here are some healthy questions that we need to ask ourselves from time to time: Does my religion consist mainly of outward conformity to a few aspects of the Christian faith, such as going to church once a week and paying my tithes? Am I living for Christ every hour of every day, spreading God’s love, giving to the needy and defending those who are treated unjustly? Do I act more holy when I’m in church than I do at home? Do I do any good deeds privately, proving that my Christianity is not just an act to gain the praise of others?

When an unmarried person dies, all his possessions usually become the property of other people, based on the instructions in the deceased person’s will. If the deceased person has children, his possessions are usually divided equally among them. When possessions are not divided among the children equally, problems occur, because if one child gets less than another, he feels cheated. This must have been what happened to the man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide their father’s estate.

Although God knows everything, and Jesus is God, Jesus voluntarily stripped Himself of that ability to know everything when He became a man. Therefore, because He didn’t know all the facts, He wasn’t able to make an instant judgment in the matter, as God the Father could have. We don’t know, and neither did Jesus, if the man had really been cheated by his brother. It seems unlikely that he had received absolutely nothing while his brother had received everything. More likely, he’d received close to half of what his father owned, but felt his brother got the “bigger” half. The situation required a judge who would carefully examine the facts, appraise the value of the estate, and then determine if it had been divided fairly. Jesus, being perfectly fair, refused to make a judgment without knowing all those important facts.

However, Jesus did detect that the man was in danger of allowing himself to be gripped by greed. This man was so dominated by the desire for his fair share that he interrupted Jesus’ sermon to make his request, foolishly hoping that Jesus would make a judgment so he could hastily possess what he thought belonged to him. Jesus seized the opportunity to warn us all against the sin of greed, a sin that manifests itself in many ways in people’s lives.

Using an illustration of a rich man who became richer, Jesus explained that greed is basically a selfish attitude toward material things. The rich man’s land was very productive, and his barns couldn’t store all his crops. Rather than realizing that his abundance came from God, obligating him to share it, he built bigger barns to store it all so he could retire early and live a life of ease. He didn’t think of those who had no food, and said nothing about giving a tithe to the Lord. He was rich in material things, but did not have, as Jesus said, a “rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:21). Otherwise, he would have acted differently.

Jesus said the man was a fool. The reason is clear: Although he was prepared for retirement, he was unprepared for eternity. He died the very same day that he made his selfish decision, making that decision his final decision.

No one knows the day he or she will die, but one thing is certain: everyone will die one day. And everyone will have to stand before God to give an account of his life. Our actions on earth will be what God uses to determine our eternal destiny, because our actions reveal what is really in our hearts. The most important thing in life is to have a rich relationship with God. If we do, we’ll let God direct us in what we do with the material things He gives us. A little later, in this same sermon, Jesus instructed His followers, “Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe—no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be” (Luke 12:33-34).

Q. Was Jesus telling us that it is wrong for us to own any material things?

A. No, He Himself promised in this same sermon to provide for our material needs (see Luke 12:31). He wouldn’t give us something that was sinful for us to have. He was warning us against a selfish attitude toward what we own, and of placing a higher priority on material things than our relationship with God. The best way to guard against greed is to give away a portion of what God gives you regularly.

Q. What do you think Jesus would say about the kid who brings his parents a toy catalog and tells them, “I want everything on pages twelve through forty-one!”

A. He would probably say that material things were much too high of a priority for that child.

Q. What do you think Jesus would say to a child who told his mother, “Please take part of what you’d spend on me for Christmas presents this year and give it to a native missionary”?

A. He would probably say that He is pleased with that child’s unselfishness.

Application: Are you guarding against greed from gripping you? How are you doing it?

When two people are engaged, that means they’ve promised to marry each other but are not yet actually married until their wedding. In our day, engaged people sometimes get “disengaged,” and when they do, it’s usually because one of them has discovered something about the other person that wasn’t known previously. (That’s why it’s a good idea to get to know a person as much as you can before promising to marry him or her.)

That was the situation for Mary and Joseph. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, he figured that she had fallen in love with someone else. That greatly alarmed him for several reasons. First, Mary undoubtedly told Joseph that she would marry him because she loved him. But the baby in her belly indicated that she loved another man, and so she had lied to him. No one wants to marry a liar.

Second, in order for Mary to become pregnant, she must have had a sexual relationship with that other man. That meant she had broken one of the Ten Commandments, and so she was also an adulteress (or more technically, a fornicator). No one wants to marry an adulteress.

Third, in her defense, Mary surely explained to Joseph that the baby in her belly was conceived by the Holy Spirit. If she did, Joseph obviously didn’t believe her. He must have thought she was going crazy, claiming to have seen an angel who told her she would give birth to God’s Son! No wonder Joseph decided to break their engagement! He was a wise man.

Joseph was also a very good man. Even though he was surely very hurt by what he discovered, he knew that everyone would think badly about Mary if they also knew what he did. So he decided to break his engagement quietly, so as not to embarrass her. The Bible says that when we love someone, we won’t want to advertise his or her sins, but keep quiet about them.

God, who knows everything, knew what Joseph was planning to do, so He had an angel appear to Joseph in a dream. The angel explained the truth about Mary’s baby, and instructed him to name the child Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.” Jesus would save us from our sins, and that was the main reason He came into the world. Joseph was greatly relieved to learn the truth, and he did what the angel told him.

Q. There were probably many people who passed judgment on Joseph and Mary when they saw that Mary was pregnant but not yet married to Joseph. It must have really hurt them. Have you ever had someone believe something bad about you that wasn’t true? What should you do when that happens?

A. You should try to explain the truth to those who have passed judgment on you, hoping that they’ll realize their error. But, even if they don’t, you can be thankful that God knows the truth and trust that He will eventually clear you, just as He did Mary.

Q. Have you ever believed something bad about someone else that you later discovered wasn’t true? Why did you believe it at first? What did you learn from that experience?

Q. Do you think you will ever get married? How long do you think you should be friends with a person before agreeing to get married? What are the most important traits you should look for in a person to marry?

A. Obedience to God and unselfishness.

Application: We should always believe the best about people until we know differently, and when we do, if we love them, we will hide their sins, not tell everyone about them.

In today’s short reading, Jesus helps us to understand salvation. By using a metaphor, He explains what He’s offering us and what we need to do to receive it. What is a metaphor? A metaphor is a comparison of things that are basically not the same, but which have some striking similarities. For example, I might say, “That man is like an oak tree.” What is similar between the man and an oak tree? I probably mean that he is very big and strong. I don’t mean that leaves grow on him or acorns fall from him each September!

Jesus used metaphors that the people He was teaching could easily understand. He first spoke of carrying heavy burdens and being weary. All of Jesus’ listeners could understand what He was talking about because they didn’t have cars and trucks in their day to help them carry things. People carried most things on their backs if they didn’t have a donkey or a cart. Can you imagine having to carry your groceries all the way from the supermarket to your home on your back? You’d be pretty worn out by the time you got home!

The burden Jesus was talking about was the burden of sin and guilt that unsaved people carry with them all the time. Some people do a good job of ignoring the weight of that load, but their weariness is evident from the looks on their faces. Jesus wants to remove that load of guilt, giving them rest from it. He wasn’t talking about a physical weariness and rest, because He promised rest for their souls (see Matthew 11:29). Once a person has received forgiveness, a great load is removed from his mind and his conscience.

Jesus made it very clear that, in order to be saved, people first must recognize and admit that they are burdened and weary. Second, they have to want to be unburdened. Then they must come to Jesus, which means they must recognize that He is the One who can help them.

Jesus also said that He had a yoke He would place on those who came to Him. A yoke is a big piece of wood that is placed around the neck of an ox, attached by ropes to a plow or wagon. When a man places a yoke on an ox, it means he has work for that ox to do, and it means that he is the owner and master of the ox. This tells us something very important about salvation that many people unfortunately don’t understand. When we come to Jesus, we are making Him our owner and master; we are ready to go to work for Him. Being saved means being submitted to His will. It means listening to and learning from Him, being His disciple.

Many people have supposedly “accepted Jesus” as their Savior, but never have submitted themselves to obey Him. They still want to control their own lives, and they demonstrate no evidence of any submission to Jesus. Even though they may think they are saved, they really aren’t.

Although Jesus wants to be our owner and master, He assures us that He will not be a harsh one. He won’t whip us or drive us mercilessly! Rather, He said that He is a master who is humble and gentle. He loves us dearly, a million times more than any man ever loved his ox! The yoke that He puts on us “fits perfectly” (Matthew 11:30). That is, it’s custom-made by His loving hands so that it won’t scratch our backs or hurt us in any way. And the burden He gives us to pull is not heavy. We won’t strain under His load. When people say that they don’t want to become followers of Jesus because it would be too hard, we should remind them of what Jesus said here. His burden is light.

Like most teachers, Jesus sometimes repeated to one group what He’d already taught another group. Some of what we read today Jesus taught during His sermon on the mountainside (see Matthew 6-7), so we’ll only consider what is new to us.

Teaching about prayer, Jesus used an illustration about a man who was visited late at night by a friend. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any food to feed his guest, so he walked to another friend’s house to ask if he could borrow three loaves of bread. The problem was that it was midnight, and the friend and his family were already in bed. Naturally, it was a bother for him to get up and give the man three loaves of bread, and he even said so.

If you’ve been reading from the New Living Translation, the translators have, I believe, taken a little too much liberty at this point in the story. They make it sound as if the man who needed the bread ignored his friend’s excuse and continued to knock on his door until he finally got up and gave him what he wanted. But the original Greek actually says that his friend got out of bed and gave him bread because of his shamelessness. That is, he was very bold to make such a request, expecting a favor so late at night. It took a lot of nerve to do what he did, and it showed that he had great faith in the kindness of his friend. His friend felt obligated to live up to what was obviously expected of him, and so he got up and gave the man what he wanted. Even the New Living Translation says that the friend gave the man what he wanted so his reputation wouldn’t be damaged. That is, he wanted the man to continue to think that he was a true friend and a kind person.

Jesus’ point is not that we should continually repeat our prayer requests to God so that He’ll eventually give us what we want. In fact, Jesus taught during His sermon on the mountainside that we shouldn’t continually repeat the same words in prayer, because God knows what we need before we ask (see Matthew 6:7-8). Rather, Jesus was encouraging us to have boldness when we make our requests. People who have faith ask boldly, just like the man in Jesus’ story. In everyday life, people who get what they want are people who expect to get what they want. People who expect little get little, and they don’t ask, seek or knock. The same thing is true in prayer. People who expect little of God get little from God. But people who expect much of God boldly ask Him for what they want and get it. They have an “I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer” type of attitude, and persist in faith.

To further encourage us in prayer, Jesus used an illustration about children making requests of their fathers. Kids are world-famous for boldly asking their parents for many things. Jesus said that if fathers grant their children what they ask for, how much more will God give His children the Holy Spirit when they ask Him. This indicates that one of the things God expects us to request boldly from Him is the Holy Spirit. And it teaches us that we should shamelessly make our requests to our heavenly Father just as we do with our earthly fathers.

Q. Do born-again Christians who already have the Holy Spirit living inside them have any business asking God for the Holy Spirit?

A. Yes, they do. Jesus’ promise that God would give the Holy Spirit was given to people who can call God their heavenly Father. They could only be people who are already born again, otherwise God is not their Father. And people who are born again already have the Holy Spirit living in them because they’re born of the Spirit. So, Jesus’ promise definitely applies to those who are already born again. The New Testament tells us that God wants to baptize His children in the Holy Spirit in order to empower them for service and witnessing, but they must boldly ask Him.

Q. If you are born again, have you shamelessly asked your heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit?

Application: Are you, like so many people, waiting for opportunity to knock on your door? Or are you, as Jesus encouraged us, boldly knocking on opportunity’s door? Are you expecting much from God? Does it show by your bold requests and acts of faith?

Today we read about Jesus sending out seventy-two of His disciples to preach in towns He planned to visit. His instructions to them were very similar to those He gave His twelve disciples when He sent them out to preach. The seventy-two were also sent out in pairs, so they must have ministered in at least thirty-six towns. Jesus knew that some of the preaching pairs would be unwelcome where He was sending them. However, He sent them anyway, so that no one in those towns could accuse God before His judgment seat, saying, “You never sent anyone to tell me how I could be saved.” The seventy-two were fully authorized as Jesus’ messengers, just as much as Jesus was God the Father’s authorized messenger. He told them, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God who sent me” (Luke 10:16).

When the seventy-two returned from their missions, they were thrilled to report to Jesus that they had not only been able to heal sick people as He had promised them, but they had also been able to cast out demons in His name. They were amazed that demons, whose power had previously awed them, so quickly obeyed, as if they were powerless.

Jesus, however, wasn’t surprised at all. He knew that Satan and his demons were no match for God’s power, and told the seventy-two about something He’d witnessed ages ago. Before the world was created, Satan tried to exalt himself, but was cast out of heaven by God. When he was, he could put up no resistance, because God is infinitely more powerful. Satan fell from heaven like lightning. One second he was in heaven, and BOOM!, the next second he was on the earth! God the Father had given Jesus authority over everything (see Matthew 10:22), including the devil and demons, and Jesus in turn had given the seventy-two disciples authority “over all the power of the enemy” (Matthew 10:19). Demons are no match for God and for those who have God-given authority over them.

As happy as the seventy-two were about their authority over demons, there was something else Jesus said they should be even happier about—that their names were registered in heaven. Just thinking about how God had revealed the truth to those who were childlike, like the seventy-two who had just returned from their missions, moved Jesus to begin thanking His Father. As He later remarked, His disciples were so privileged to witness His ministry, something that Old Testament prophets and kings longed to see. How privileged we are to be able to read about Jesus’ life and ministry. How blessed we are to know Him and His Father! And how thankful we should be that our names are also recorded in heaven in “the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27)!

Q. From whom does God hide the truth?

A. From those who think they are wise and clever (see Luke 10:21). Those are people who are proud. That’s why it’s a good idea regularly to admit that you need God to enlighten you, because there’s a lot you don’t understand. Proverbs says, “With humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

Q. Jesus told the seventy-two that He had given them authority over all the power of the enemy and that they could “walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them” (Luke 10:19). Did He literally mean that they could crush snakes and scorpions?

A. That is unlikely, and we certainly don’t have a biblical example of any of Jesus’ disciples doing such a thing. More probable is that Jesus was referring to demons when He spoke of snakes and scorpions. Most people are afraid of those two creatures, and they’re also afraid of evil spirits. But those who follow Jesus have authority over them and have no good reason to be afraid. According to what Jesus said in Mark 16:17, all believers in Him have authority to cast out demons.

Application: Just as Jesus sent out the seventy-two, so we have been sent out by Him to be His representatives. The New Testament says that we are “Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:20). And just like the seventy-two, we are fully authorized by Jesus. He said in John 13:20, “Truly, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.” Are you acting like Jesus’ representative, doing what He would want you to do in every situation?

Jesus wants His followers to love one another as devoted friends. But sometimes, through thoughtlessness or misunderstanding, two followers of Christ are divided. What should you do if that happens to you? In most cases, you should simply overlook other people’s thoughtlessness, knowing that if they knew better, they’d do better. But when a fellow believer sins against you so that your relationship with him is severely damaged, you should follow Jesus’ instructions about how to work out your problem.

First, you should privately confront the believer who has offended you. It should be done gently and lovingly for several reasons. One, because you yourself are imperfect, and your imperfection gives you less of a right to be critical of others. Two, because upon confrontation, you may discover that you are the one to blame for the problem once you hear the other person’s side of the story. Often people discover that their disagreement was nothing more than a misunderstanding.

If the other believer did actually sin against you, the large majority of the time he will ask for your forgiveness when he’s confronted. Occasionally he won’t, and there can only be two possible reasons. Either he is stubborn and unrepentant, or he really hasn’t sinned against you as you think. So at that point, you need the help of a few other believers. Jesus said you should take one or two of them with you to confront the offender again. Of course, you’ll have to convince those you want to take with you that you are right and the other person is wrong. They may, at that point, help you to see that the fault actually does lie with you, and if they do, then you should be the one asking for forgiveness and seeking reconciliation.

But let’s say that your one or two helpers agree that you’ve been wronged, and with you, confront the offender for the second time. Either one of two things will happen. Either the offender will acknowledge his guilt or maintain his innocence. Most times, under the influence of several others who agree with you, the person will admit his guilt and ask your forgiveness. You, of course, are obligated to forgive him according to what we read today in Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant. And thus your relationship will be restored.

If the offender still refuses to admit guilt and ask for forgiveness, then the matter should be taken before the whole church. (Keep in mind that for the first three hundred years of Christianity, most churches met in homes and consisted of no more than twenty-five people.) This is the final way of making certain that you have truly been sinned against, as the church considers your story and the evidence. If they decide you are right, they should confront the offender one last time. When he realizes that the whole church agrees with you, he should be persuaded of his sin and ask your forgiveness, thus restoring your relationship as you in turn forgive him. However, if he still refuses to repent, then he should be put out of the church and treated like an unbeliever, because he is obviously not a true follower of Christ. Jesus said that the church has heaven-given authority to do such a thing (see Matthew 18:17).

Jesus’ instructions provoked Peter to wonder how many times he was obligated to forgive a fellow believer, suggesting that seven times was a good limit. Jesus, however, said that there was no limit, and then He told a story that explained why God expects His children to be so merciful. We’ve been shown so much mercy from God that it would be wrong for us to refuse to give mercy to others. In fact, if we refuse to forgive a fellow Christian who asks for forgiveness, God will reinstate our formerly forgiven sins. That is serious!

We must keep in mind that God offers forgiveness only to those who admit their guilt. Those who don’t admit their guilt aren’t forgiven, although God mercifully and patiently waits for their confession because He wants to be reconciled to all who have sinned against Him. We should follow His example. God expects us to forgive anyone and everyone who asks for our forgiveness, and He expects us to be merciful to those who don’t ask for our forgiveness. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, notice that the first man asked for forgiveness, and his fellow servant also asked for his forgiveness, but he refused to give what he had received. That is what made the king so angry. In a sense, forgiveness can’t be given until it’s first requested. Jesus once said, “If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3, emphasis added). Notice in what we read today that there is no forgiveness offered to the unrepentant man who was found guilty by the whole church.

Q. If a fellow Christian doesn’t say hello to you in church, do you think you should begin the process Jesus outlined in Matthew 18:15-17?

A. No. You should work on becoming more like Christ yourself and less like a little baby who is offended so easily. Mature Christians overlook many things that offend others.

Q. How many times do you think God will forgive us when we ask for His forgiveness?

A. He will forgive us an unlimited amount of times, because that is what He expects of us. He certainly wouldn’t expect more from us than He does from Himself!

Application: Is there any fellow Christian with whom your relationship is not right? In light of what we’ve read today, what can you do to begin to work toward reconciliation?

When we read the story of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well, we learned that Jews and Samaritans generally hated each other. Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles, considered impure by other Jews. Jesus, of course, was a Jew, but He loved everyone because He was also God. And, unlike most Jews who traveled from Galilee to Judea by taking a long route that bypassed Samaria altogether, once again we read of Jesus journeying right through the heart of that region.

On His way, an entire Samaritan village refused to accommodate Him and His disciples only because they were Jews on the way to Jerusalem. This infuriated the two brothers, James and John, who consequently asked Jesus if they should call fire down from heaven on that Samaritan village, just as Elijah had once done upon a band of enemy soldiers. They felt the Samaritans should die for their offense.

Jesus rebuked both brothers for their attitude, saying (according to some manuscripts), “You don’t realize what your hearts are like. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Like James and John, we sometimes think that God should immediately kill sinful people, and wonder why He doesn’t. The reason is because He is so merciful and longsuffering. God is so merciful that He wants to give them plenty of time to repent. He knows that their fate is permanently sealed at death, and that hell awaits the unrepentant. Certainly Jesus wasn’t pleased by the hatred of the people in that village, but He knew that they were acting just like most Jews acted toward Samaritans. In fact, His own disciples were no different than the unaccommodating Samaritans. If the Samaritan villagers deserved to be burned with fire for their prejudice, so did James and John!

In the second portion of today’s reading we learn that, just like today, there were many people in Jesus’ time who wanted to follow Him on their own terms. And, like today, those people disqualified themselves from being Jesus’ true followers. Luke related three examples of such people.

The first man claimed he would follow Jesus no matter where He went. Jesus warned the man that he was making a vow that might be difficult for him to keep, because He had no place of His own to sleep each night. He and His disciples slept out in the open or relied on the hospitality of sympathetic friends. Of course, followers of Jesus today don’t need to literally follow Him from place to place, but they, too, should first count the cost before becoming His disciples. Too many people want to follow Jesus as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them. Consequently, they may think they’ve become His disciples, but they really haven’t.

The second man agreed to be Jesus’ disciple, but requested that he first return home to bury his father. It seems unlikely that his father had just died and that he just wanted to attend the funeral. More probable is that his father was elderly and could die at any time. So he wanted to delay his decision to follow the Lord. But the decision to delay following Jesus is a decision not to follow Jesus, because Jesus is calling everyone to follow Him now.

The third man also agreed to follow Jesus, but requested that he first say good-bye to his family. There is, of course, nothing wrong with saying good-bye to your family, but it seems Jesus knew this particular man was actually hesitating to follow through on his decision to become a follower and wanted to think about it for a while with the help of his family. The man had “put his hand to the plow” in the field, about to begin plowing, but was looking back toward his home, asking himself if he really wouldn’t prefer to head back there and rest. Jesus expects that people who pledge allegiance to Him will follow through with their commitment.

Q. Jesus obviously expects us to be more devoted to Him than to anyone else, even our family members. What does this tell us about Him?

A. It tells us that Jesus is God, because only God has a right to expect us to be more devoted to Him than to our own families! It also tells us that we had better be more devoted to Him than to anyone else.

Application: All three men we read about today verbalized a commitment to follow Jesus. But the real mark of a follower of Jesus is not what he says, but what he does. Those who aren’t willing to make any sacrifice for Christ’s cause, or who indicate that they will follow Him in the future, or who hesitate in following through with their promise are fooling themselves.

The first part of today’s reading is a continuation of what we read yesterday, when Jesus was teaching about the value of little children who believe in Him. Today we again learn that it’s wrong to despise little believers because God places such a high value upon them. He cares about them so much that He has specially-assigned angels that watch over them. That tells us how God values them. People on earth hire guards to watch and protect only what is valuable to them, and God is the same. Also, those specially-assigned angels are not second-string angels who have nothing else to do, and thus God makes them watch children just to keep them busy. They are not angels who are low-on-the-totem pole angels, who live in the most remote places in heaven, far from the action. No, the angels who watch over God’s little children are angels who are very close to God, constantly in His presence.

Some children believe in Jesus, but are led astray, just like a sheep might wander away from its flock. Jesus said that is was not the will of His Father that a believing child would ever go astray and ultimately perish, and He will go to great lengths to seek and rescue that child. So we should have the same attitude towards younger believers. Did you realize how special and important you are to God?

This is why your parents are taking time each day to teach you God’s Word. You’re very important to God, and no matter what other important things your parents have to do, the most important thing they can do is what they’re doing right now.

Unfortunately, just one chapter later, we find that as parents were bringing their children to Jesus for Him to lay hands on them and pray for them, the disciples were telling the parents not to bother Him. Why? Simply because they didn’t think that such children were worthy of Jesus’ time. But Jesus corrected them sternly. Jesus treated kids like most people only treat politicians, company presidents and movie stars!

Q. So you’re a kid and now you know how much God values you. Should you now strut around like a proud peacock, expecting people to treat you like a president or movie star?

A. No, God wants you to be a servant, considering others as being more important than yourself. He loves you a great deal, but not more than anyone else.

Application: It’s wonderful to know that God loves all His children very much, young and old. That is why we should love each other, and not overlook anyone who believes in Jesus.

The Temple tax was one that all Jews were supposed to pay once a year for the upkeep and maintenance of the Temple in Jerusalem. It wasn’t a large tax, but it wasn’t a small one either, equivalent to about two days’ wages for a working man. Because the Temple tax, like most taxes, was unpopular, special tax collectors were assigned to certain areas, and were responsible to see that as many people as possible paid. Perhaps knowing how influential Jesus had become in Galilee, several tax collectors approached Peter to find out if Jesus endorsed and personally paid the tax. Confident that Jesus was a very upright person (to say the least), Peter assured his questioners that Jesus did pay the tax, but then went to talk to Jesus about it. He was perhaps fearful that he had misrepresented Jesus, or he may have been planning on asking Jesus for the money to pay the tax while the tax collectors waited outside.

In a small way, Peter had misrepresented Jesus, and this becomes clear as we read Jesus’ and Peter’s conversation. As Peter entered the house where Jesus was, before he could ask Him about the Temple tax, Jesus asked Peter a question about who kings normally tax. Unfortunately, if you’ve been reading the New Living Translation as I suggested, you missed something significant that Jesus said. In the New American Standard Bible, Jesus’ question to Peter is recorded as, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter responded, “From strangers,” to which Jesus replied, “Consequently the sons are exempt” (Matthew 17:25-26). Jesus did not, as the New Living Translation says, contrast citizens of a kingdom and foreigners, but as kings’s sons and his subjects.

What difference does this make? A lot. Jesus was not implying that He, being a citizen rather than a foreigner, was exempt from paying the Temple tax. Rather, He was implying that He, the Son of the King of all creation, was exempt from paying a tax on a house that belonged to that King! He was, once again, claiming to be God’s Son!

Although He really didn’t have a responsibility to pay the Temple tax, Jesus didn’t want to offend the tax collectors, indicating that they probably were waiting outside for His money. So He gave Peter instructions for getting enough money to pay the tax for both of them. All Peter had to do was walk to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, throw in a line, and the first fish he caught would have a coin in its mouth that would exactly pay their tax!

Let’s use our imaginations to picture what happened next. Peter walks out of the house and says to the waiting tax collectors, “I’ll have the money for Jesus’ and my tax in just a minute—I just need to go pick it up. Please follow me.” Together they walk to the shore where Peter picks up his fishing rod and casts a line into the water. In a second or two, he has a fish on his line and reels it in. He takes the fish off the hook, opens its mouth, reaches in to pull out a coin, and hands it to the astonished tax collectors! I wonder if they had any more questions for Peter after that! I wonder if they became followers of Jesus themselves!

Q. What is it that made this story so miraculous?

A. God may have created a coin for a fish to pick up, but I think that’s unlikely because it would make Him a counterfeiter. Therefore, He must have directed a fish to a coin that had accidentally fallen into the water from someone’s purse, hand or pocket. So God had to know the exact whereabouts of a lost coin under the water, direct a fish to put it in its mouth, and have that same fish bite Peter’s bait at a precise time! On top of all this, God had to let Jesus know in advance what was going to happen so He, in turn, could instruct Peter about getting their tax money!

Application: Although God rarely supplies our needs through coins in the mouths of fish, He often surprises us by using unexpected sources. That way, we are more likely to realize that He is the supplier. He cares about His children, and He loves to provide for them as they trust and obey.