Luke 22:54-71 Commentary

Peter Disowns Jesus
54Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."
57But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.

58A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them."
"Man, I am not!" Peter replied.

59About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."

60Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." 62And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The Guards Mock Jesus
63The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. 64They blindfolded him and demanded, "Prophesy! Who hit you?" 65And they said many other insulting things to him.

Jesus Before Pilate and Herod
66At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67"If you are the Christ,[d]" they said, "tell us."
Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."

70They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?"
He replied, "You are right in saying I am."

71Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips."



Dig Deeper
Last year the movie “Avatar” came out to a great deal of commercial success and a bit of critical success as well. The movie was surely striking in its trailblazing technology and use of computer graphics. But where it was so inventive and and creative in technology it lacked somewhat in an original story or a very deep one. The basic story was that a group of human beings from earth had traveled to a distant planet to mine the extremely valuable and useful natural resources of that planet. A conflict quickly develops, though, with the natives of that planet who are very connected spiritually with their planet and do not want to allow the taking of their resources and the destruction of their environment that comes along with that mining. Because of the conflict of interest between these natives and the alien humans, hostilities break out between the two groups of beings. The point of the movie, however, what is supposed to make it so powerful, is that we are supposed to look at the characters within the movie and in them, see ourselves. It’s not a terribly new technique and it is often a very powerful one. We will leave the debate to others to determine whether that particular technique is effective in this movie or not, but it is generally a powerful technique. That is really one of the most powerful elements of story that there is. To be able to look at another character and see the shame or the glory or whatever emotion may be elicited, and in that character to see yourself, is deeply moving. This is, in fact, the very technique that Nathan used when he wished to confront David with his own sin (2 Sam. 12:1-14). Nathan told David a story about an abusive rich man and then allowed David to see himself in the actions of the rich man. It was easier for David to see the ugly truth in the life of someone else, but then to also see the bitter truth that the actions of the rich man in the story were a window to his own soul.

The events surrounding Jesus’ life and death are certainly more important and more fascinating than a mere movie, and what is more, they are absolutely true. But that doesn’t change the fact that Luke is still a skilled writer that wishes for his audience to be able to connect to what he is writing in the most effective and powerful way. As the stories surrounding Jesus’ last moments before the cross begin to come into focus, we see images of failure, betrayal, cruelty, and selfish ambition. As powerful as these images are on their own, however, they are all the more so because as we gaze into the various images of the people that were involved in Jesus’ death, we begin to see ourselves. We cannot just sit back and shake our heads at those who mistreated the Messiah because we slowly realize that in them, we see our actions and they are no less ugly.

It is easy to get bogged down in the details of this chaotic evening and, at times, it seems difficult to piece together all of the little details of the four gospel accounts and come up with one clear picture that makes sense of every detail. That’s usually the way it is with such highly charged, emotional, and confusing events, though. Different eyewitnesses stressed different details and one Gospel writer might include a detail that another one left out and so it can be confusing. (For instance what if a group of people, in a mass of voices, corporately express a question and one eyewitness chooses to focus on a woman in the crowd and report that she asked a question, while another eyewitness focuses on a man in the crowd and reports him as asking a question? The accounts suddenly look contradictory but they wouldn’t be if we could go back and actually observe the chaos of the scene.) Luke seems largely uninterested, however, in getting bogged down in all of those details, so we will largely stay away from trying to harmonize the four accounts of the evening leading up to Jesus’ death.

Jesus is taken inside to the house of the high priest for what seems to have been a slightly-less-than-perfectly-legal course of proceedings. The religious leaders of Israel had finally gotten their way. They have Jesus away from the prying eyes of the largest portion of the crowds and it is in the middle of the night when many of those who supported Jesus would not learn of what was going on until the next day when it was far too late.

But while Jesus was taken inside, Luke wants us to know what was happening outside at the very same time. Peter, the very man who swore that he was prepared to follow Jesus even into death and who would never deny him, has faded in his resolve in the wee hours of the night. Jesus had warned his people that a time would come in the future when they would be tempted with the stupor, drunkenness, and sleepiness of not holding tightly to being people who rejected the ways of the world and who lived by the values of the age to come, all the while expectantly waiting for the coming judgment of the Son of Man to vindicate his true people. Now, in a microcosm of that, Peter has failed. He grew weary as he got tired and things got more and more potentially dangerous. In three separate scenes, Peter was given the opportunity to show his alertness and his loyalty to the Messiah and all three times he chose instead to deny Jesus. He denied knowing Jesus, his friend whom he had declared to be the Son of God (Matt. 14:33) and the Messiah from God (Lk. 9:20). He denied being one of Jesus’ people, even though he had declared that he had given up everything to be part of Jesus’ family and had nowhere else to go (Mk. 10:28). He had denied everything about his relationship with Jesus.

Before we are too harsh with Peter, though, take a look and see if you don’t see yourself in his actions, even if just a little. How many times do we shrink away, whether in word or deed, from fully associating ourselves with Christ? How often do we act like we don’t really know Jesus? How often are we far more concerned with what others might think or even do than with God? How often can we worry about offending someone else or looking weird in front of them if we fully act like one of Jesus’ people all the while acting quite unconcerned with our relationship with God and his people? We need to ask those questions of ourselves often and then let the piercing stare of a betrayed Jesus sink into our souls as it did into Peter’s. If we enter this scene for a moment it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to think that the worst part of this whole night for Peter was looking up and locking eyes with Jesus. There is a scene in the movie “Braveheart” when William Wallace looks up and his eyes lock momentarily with Robert the Bruce, the man who has just ashamedly betrayed Wallace. The mixture of unbelief, hurt, and tears welling up in Wallace’s eyes is haunting and it deeply impacted Bruce. The look from Jesus must have been so much the more haunting for Peter. Peter wept bitterly as the full implications of his actions hit him. But it is in those tears of realization that Peter will eventually find forgiveness and reconciliation. Just as I can find myself in Peter’s denials, I must also find myself in his genuine sorrow and amazing commitment to be loyal to Jesus even though he failed.

The betrayal of his best friend, though, was just the beginning for Jesus. Men who should have been bowing down to Jesus as the Lord and ruler of the universe (men who one day will do just that), instead gave in to the inhumanity that we can so easily fall when we stop seeing each and every human being as a creation of God that he cares for and wants to be reconciled with, but who he also wants his other creations to treat with dignity and respect. When we mistreat others we not only rob them of their humanity, we rob ourselves of our humanity as well. They mocked Jesus, whom they had no doubt heard was a great prophet. They blindfolded him and proceeded to hit, punch, and strike at the Son of God. Rather than acknowledging him as the king, they mocked him as a pretender. The sad irony drips off of every word. But they didn’t just strike Jesus, they insulted and mocked him in every way possible. Once the dehumanizing behavior starts, it tends to roll down hill. But take a closer look. Peer into the scene. Do you see a stomach-turning reflection of an attitude of heart that you can see in yourself far too often? We judge others. We insult others. We belittle them. We look down on them and make assumptions. We try to manipulate others and play power games and head games with them. We can be just as guilty of dehumanizing behavior as they were. The sad difference, though, is that regardless of what they did, they could never really dehumanize Jesus. He was the full human being, the perfect image of God. But when we dehumanize others, even in small ways, we really can rob them of their humanity. We can injure them in ways that are deeper than we can ever know. In that sense, perhaps our hatred, anger, and dehumanizing treatment of others is even worse than their behavior that incited us to our anger in the first place. It’s certainly something to think about.

I can’t imagine how long that night must have been for Jesus. How much his heart was breaking for the very people that he wanted so deeply to bring under his wings and protect from what they were bringing on themselves (Lk. 13:34). I believe that Jesus was far more hurt by the pain of seeing what these people were doing to themselves than anything they were doing to him. But as daylight began to streak through the dark skies, the dark night was not nearly over for Jesus. This was the hour when darkness would reign (Lk. 22:53).

The chief priests and elders were only concerned with whether Jesus would claim to be the Christ, the Messiah, for one reason. They needed a charge for which they could send him on to the Romans. They did not have the power to put Jesus to death but that’s certainly the end result that they hoped for. In order to get there, however, they needed to be able to definitively claim that Jesus was claiming to be a king. That’s something that would get Rome’s attention. That’s something they would deal with. So was he the Messiah, the king of Israel? Jesus’ answer exposed that they didn’t really care about that. They weren’t truly looking for God’s Messiah. If anything, they wanted their own version of one. Jesus could say outright that he was the Messiah and they would still send him to his death. So, Jesus would not give them an outright statement. If they were going to kill him they were going to have to make it clear that that was the only outcome that they ever desired. They thought they had authority over him, but the reality of the situation would soon be shown. He was the Messianic figure promised in Daniel 7 who would rule over the whole world and who would go directly to the throne room to sit at the right hand of God. They might think they were in control, but in due time, it would all be shown for what it really was. They were about to put to death the Messiah, God’s own Son, and it would be exactly what they had wanted to do all along. God had sent his son and they were about to kill him, thinking that the inheritance would be theirs (Lk. 20:13-15).

The reference to the messianic phrase “Son of Man” led them to directly ask him if he was the Son of God (a phrase that was also connected with the Messiah in Jewish thought but was also a term that Caesar had given to himself and would have definitely been enough to bring the wrath of Rome down on him). The TNIV changes Jesus answer a bit, in that he actually said something more like “you say that I am.” Again, he would not confirm their charge, but nor would he deny it. That would be enough for the religious leaders. They had their charge. They had their authority and they were making sure that they were going to keep it at all costs.

Once again, it is so easy to look down on the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders for their actions. The last two thousand years is full of people who have hated the Jews for the supposed crime of putting Jesus to death. But this is to ignore the obvious. We can be just as guilty of ignoring God’s will in favor of our own. We can be just as quick to abuse power for our advantage and to crush others if need be to get what we want.

As we look deeper at the pictures that Luke has painted of a friend who faltered and betrayed the one to whom he had promised to be loyal to forever, or of those who got caught up in the flow of events and used intimidation and violence to dehumanize another precious human being, or of men who abused their power at the expense of others, we begin to get a very sober feeling. We are not worse than these people. We are certainly not better than these people. We are these people.


Devotional Thought
When you look at these scenes surrounding Jesus’ unjust execution, do you see glimpses of yourself at all? When you do see such things, does it cause you to run away in shame and hide or do you, like Peter, look into the eyes of Jesus and find the motivation you need to find forgiveness and restoration?

Luke 22:39-53 Commentary

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives
39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]

45When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Jesus Arrested
47While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
49When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

51But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."


Dig Deeper
One of the most beloved of all American children’s fairytales is the classic story “The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.” This story has become so popular that there have been endless versions in TV, movies, cartoons, and children’s books. At the heart of the story we have three little pigs who are sent off by their mother to go out and get themselves jobs and their own homes and begin to provide for themselves. Two of the pigs simply don’t take this challenge to heart. Rather than working hard and preparing themselves for life in the real world, they spend their playing and having fun. They don’t use their time well and they don’t put in the necessary work to build proper houses. Instead they build houses that are just good enough in their own eyes. One of the little pigs builds a house that is made of nothing but straw. The story informs us that it wasn’t a very good or strong house but the pig was sure that it was good enough and it took very little time to build so he can now go play. The other little pig puts in just a little more work but not much more. He builds his house out of sticks and runs off to play. Again we are told that his house isn’t very strong or good but it’s good enough for the pig. But the third little pig is determined to put in the necessary preparation and work. He takes the time to build his house out of bricks. This house, we are told, is a good and strong house. He has prepared properly and so he is prepared.

That’s when the story takes a bit of a dark turn. A big, bad wolf arrives on the scene with the intent of eating the little pigs. He goes to the first house where the pig quickly locks himself in, and the wolf demands that the pig open the door or he’ll blow the flimsy house in. The little pig refuses and the wolf does indeed blow the straw house in. The pig escapes to the house of the second brother in the stick house where the scene is repeated, the stick house is blown down, and the two pigs escape to the brick house of their brother. Try as he might, the wolf simply cannot blow down the brick house so he tries to climb down the chimney, but the brothers have prepared by putting a pot of boiling water on the fire. The wolf drops into the boiling pot of water, scatters back up the chimney badly injured and is defeated by the third brother’s hard work and preparation.

For Jesus and his disciples, the big bad wolf is coming. Jesus has already tried to tell his followers that they are living in straw houses that are not prepared for the coming attack. What we have in this scene, more than anything else, is a vivid picture of the reality of Jesus preparing well for what was to come while his disciples still were not properly preparing. And when the time came, the difference between Jesus who prepared well and the disciples who did not would be painfully evident.

Jesus knew well what he was facing. It was deeply beyond the simple fact of going to his own death. That was bad enough but Jesus was about to do more than just suffer a death of crucifixion on a Roman cross. He was about to take on the full brunt of the forces of evil. He was willingly preparing to walk directly into the teeth of all that the darkness of this fallen world could muster and to let it have its way with him. But even more than that was that Jesus was about to take the iniquities of the entire world on to himself. He was going to take up the role of God’s faithful servant in Isaiah 53 who would take up the infirmities and sorrows of all of Israel and the world as a whole and act as a representative for humankind. He would be, as Isaiah prophesied, “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). As terrifying as it would be to take upon himself the sin of the world and the very worst that evil could dish out, it was even more so for Jesus because he knew that he was about to drink of the cup of God’s wrath (see Ps. 11:6; 75:7-8; Isa. 51:17, 19, 22: Jer. 25:15-16; 49:12; 51:57; Zech. 12:12).

But even with all of that swirling about him, Jesus did not cease to care for his disciples, his family. He did not want them to fall into the terrible time of testing that was to come. Surely they would fail and abandon him, but he didn’t want them to completely betray Jesus the way that Judas would and he certainly didn’t want them winding up dead the way followers of the leader of a movement often were in those days.

At the heart of all of this, was the commitment to do God’s will. From the Garden of Eden, humans had fallen into temptation and exalted their own will over that of God’s. That was Adam and Eve’s failing in Eden and it has continued right down to this day. The very act of sin is the simple decision to do our own will rather than God’s. So now Jesus would act as humankind’s representative and turn all that around. He would do God’s will whatever it may be. He prepared himself through fervent prayer. First, though, he would ask the Father if there was another way (see Ex. 32:10-14; 2 Sam. 15:25-26; 2 Ki. 20:1-6). Perhaps this would be a moment similar to Abraham’s experience when he put his only son on the altar and prepared to sacrifice him, only to receive a last-minute reprieve. But what God spared Abraham he would not spare himself. His son would take on the punishment for sin so that the whole world might experience reconciliation with the Father.

This was no easy task, to submit his flesh to God’s will, but we needn’t think that Jesus ever wavered in his loyalty to the Father’s will. Jesus understood the deep anguish of what was ahead but we never are given an indication that there was any thought on his part to do anything other than obey. Jesus’ prayer here was all about finding and committing himself to the Father’s will; the obedience would follow the commitment as it always does. Jesus had repeatedly declared that his new family that would be created around his decisive actions in Jerusalem on the cross would consist of people who were committed to Gods’ will (Lk. 11:28; Mk. 3:31-35; Lk. 8:21). This was the defining act in creating that community that would be those who did God’s will. Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will even to his own death. Just as Jesus defined this family committed to doing God’s will by going to his death, his followers must die to themselves to enter into his life (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 2:20; Jn. 12:24-26).

But while he was preparing himself in prayer, the others were sleeping and giving into the weakness of their flesh. As Jesus returned to find them sleeping again, the moment arrived. One of his own, Judas, had betrayed him with a sign of affection and loyalty (see also Gen. 27:26-27; 2 Sam. 15:5; 20:9; Prov. 7:13; 27:6). He had literally given Jesus a kiss of death. Yet, this was no surprise to Jesus. This was not a case of things getting out of hand. Jesus was as resolute as he had been when he turned his face to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51). Jesus deeply understood that following God’s will meant to calmly and intentionally walk into his own death. All the while that Jesus prepared for this incredible temptation by praying so fervently that he either broke into a sweat that was so intense it looked like blood or he was actually sweating drops of blood (either case is possible based on Luke’s sentence construction and experts do confirm that it is possible to struggle mentally with something to the point of sweating blood), Jesus’ disciples were sleeping. They were simply not prepared when the wolf came. So while Jesus could face this threat with dignity and calmness and a firm resolve to submit to God’s way of peace, Peter (Jn. 18:10) and the others responded to the threat by pulling out the their swords and striking the servant of the high priest. Rather than praying and having the strength to face this ordeal with the resolve to carry out God’s will, they slept and faced the torrent in the stupor of violence and miscomprehension.

The way of violence might have been the instinct of Peter and the others but that was not Jesus’ way. It was certainly not the Father’s will. Luke doesn’t tell us of the response to Jesus’ picking up the ear of this man that John tells us was named Malchus but it was a clear demonstration that he was not going down the road of violence. He had repeatedly denounced any thought of being that kind of Messiah. No, he would not be the kind of Messiah that brought violence to the people of the world. He would be the kind of Messiah that would bring the violence of the world onto himself not vice-versa.

Every day, Jesus pointed out, he was in the Temple. He was teaching and revealing God’s word. He was carrying out the purpose of the Temple and of God’s will. But the religious leaders, on the other hand, showed by their actions that they were not people committed to God’s will. If they were, they would have arrested him right out in the daylight regardless of what the crowds thought. The contrast between Jesus’ actions and theirs could not be more stark. They had heard him teach day after day and well knew that he was not leading a violent revolution. He had denounced that way and their commitment to going down that path. But they came in the middle of the night, armed to the teeth, and ready to lead a peaceful man to his own death. They had cowered during the day, but become rather bold at night. Surely the darkness was reigning not just that night but in their hearts. The darkest hour of the entire human race was about to fall.


Devotional Thought
Jesus was perfectly committed to doing God’s will and he did so perfectly. Yet, we should not ever forget that following God’s will led Jesus directly into his own death. We want to follow God’s will for our lives but we generally want that will to be pleasant things that work out really well for us. What is God calling you to do right now that might be unpleasant or cause you to die to yourself that you would rather avoid? What can you learn from Jesus’ preparation for the Cross that can help you prepare for the challenge of following God’s will?

Luke 22:24-38 Commentary

24Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you[a] as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

33But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."

34Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

35Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?"
"Nothing," they answered.

36He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."

38The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords."
"That is enough," he replied.



Dig Deeper“But dad,” my son reminded me, “Burns’ don’t quit.” And there it was. It’s often annoying to be reminded of your own words at a time when you’d rather not here them, but this was actually not one of those times. In fact it was quite encouraging and a little bit funny. I decided about ten years ago that I was no longer going to drink soda because I just didn’t need the sugar and caffeine that are so integral to most sodas. I was explaining to my wife that I was going to quit drinking pop (that’s soda for those that did not grow up in Wisconsin) when my then five-year old son walked in and called me quickly to the standard that I had called him to many times. He knew that he was my son and that he was part of the family, but we always tried to stress to him what that meant. From the time that he was born, or at least when he was able to start understanding things, we wanted him to comprehend that there were certain expectations that came along with him being a Burns. There were just certain standards to being a Burns. There were things that we did and things that we just didn’t do. So, from the time he could understand we would remind him that Burns’ just don’t quit. That’s the way it was. That’s part of what it looked like to be part of this family. Of course when we told him that, we had in mind the idea of giving up on things before they were finished or because they got hard. But his insistence that I shouldn’t quit drinking soda because I was a Burns was at least a good indicator that he had heard that message and stored it away. If nothing else, he knew that being a Burns meant you didn’t quit, even if he had to work a little bit on learning when to apply that standard.

One of the great themes of the gospel of Luke is that of Jesus creating and calling people to be the long-promised family of God. They were called to leave their old groups, their old identities and to come and transfer their loyalty and commitment to God’s new Jesus-shaped family. In the previous passage, Luke described the intimate family Passover meal that Jesus took and gave to his new family as a new meal. Just as Passover called the Jews back to remember what God had done for them in creating them as a people, now this new meal would remind the followers of Christ just exactly what God had done for them to create them as his new family in Christ. It is no accident that Luke has chosen these two conversations here concerning who would be the greatest and concerning Peter’s betrayal of Jesus. Both conversations are built firmly on the idea of being part of this new family. If they are going to be part of the family that just took their first meal together then they need to learn a few more lessons about what it mean to be part of that family.

As committed to the kingdom of God and Jesus’ new family as the disciples wanted to be, they still didn’t perfectly understand the nature of this family. It would not be a normal religious group with a hierarchical leadership structure. It would not be a normal family group with a strong earthly father who held the authority within the group with absolute certainty. They certainly wouldn’t be like the Gentile kings who believed that their subjects existed for the purpose of sustaining the life of the king and his government and country rather than the other way around. Their subjects worked their whole lives to support the lifestyle of the king or emperor who then turned around and tried to convince people that it was the king who was so kindly allowing his subjects the few things that they had. They squashed people with their authority and then told them that they were the benefactors of the people.

They would have to soundly reject all of that if they wanted this kingdom and wanted to be part of the Messiah’s rule in the age to come. The age to come was often described in terms of a great kingdom banquet at which God would be the judge or ruler. Here Jesus says that his apostles would indeed share in that role of judging and ruling in the coming age if they truly understood and embraced the nature of the kingdom that Jesus was actually giving them.

There was no room for any of that self-advancing, self-promoting, self-focused leadership, so arguments about who was the greatest were to completely miss the point. If they wanted to be great in this kingdom family then they would embrace the measure that he was using rather than the one the rest of the world clung to. In this family, there would be none of the idea that the greatest ones sat at the table while everyone else served them. That’s not what leaders in this family would do. No, the greatest in this kingdom would be the servants. Now that would completely turn things on its head.

Leadership in this family would not be like declaring themselves to be the ruling fathers of this new family. The leaders in this family would be like the youngest child in the family. They were the last on the totem pole to receive anything and it was their job basically to serve everyone else in the family. The youngest child had no claim to being exalted in the family. This is the servant leadership to which they were being called. The early church would indeed embrace this type of leadership but sadly by the time of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries, this would slowly begin to change as the church leaders began to exalt their role of authority and position and eventually began to even refer to themselves as the “fathers” of the Christian families This is not what Jesus called for from his family though and it is up to leaders today to be ever-vigilant against becoming the very type of leaders that Jesus warned against. The Christian family just doesn’t do that.

But they also needed to know that a part of being a member of this family is to be persecuted by Satan. It would not all be easy sledding. In fact, the opposition and persecution that come from truly following Christ can often be indicators that Jesus’ people truly are living the kind of righteously defiant lives that our King has called us to (this doesn’t mean, however, that Christians should act however they would like and then claim that any questions concerning our behavior or any criticisms are nothing more than persecution). Jesus wanted Peter to know that he would be tested and he would fail. But when he did fail that didn’t mean that he was a failure. Falling is not failure. Quitting is failure. So when he did fall, that should not destroy Peter’s faith. In fact, he needed to pick himself back up and get about the work of strengthening the rest of the flock.

Certainly Jesus wanted Peter to know of the ferocious storm that was coming their way and he wanted to make sure that their faith wasn’t destroyed when they were battered by the coming storm but there was also something that Jesus was trying to teach them. One of the hallmarks of being part of his family would be the necessary realization that they could not operate or survive at any level on their own strength. They had already seen and accomplished much as they spread the new of the coming kingdom of God. Yet, the danger of that was exactly what was on display in their argument over who would be the greatest among them. There was a very real danger of them relying too much on themselves. Jesus was going to allow them to fail at the hands of the tempter. Peter would deny Jesus. The others would scatter and run. They needed to learn that they could not make it on their own. Peter was so confident that he would follow Jesus even if meant death, but he would have to learn.

Peter thought he would stand loyal and firm and be able to stand up to whatever opposition was coming his way. But Jesus knew he would falter and wanted him to falter. Not because he despised Peter and the others but because he loved them and wanted them to learn the very important lesson that they would need to rely on the Holy Spirit. Following this lesson of temptation and failure, Jesus would urge the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and do nothing until the Spirit came to them in power (Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:4-5). They would need to rely on the Spirit for the challenges to come.

Jesus wanted them to understand that they were about to undergo a time of intense spiritual battle. Jesus himself was walking into the jaws of death and all that the forces of evil could muster up against him and things weren’t going to be much easier for them. The road ahead was long and difficult. The turning point of history was fast approaching them like a freight train and they were still worried about things like who was the greatest among them. They still thought that they could stand up to what was coming on their own resolve and strength. Jesus tried, in verses 36-37, to paint for them a picture of the battle that they were entering into. It would be a long battle and they need to prepare themselves like someone who would be preparing to go to war. Just as Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 53:12, now would be the time when the Messiah would be despised, rejected, broken, bruised, seemingly defeated, and “numbered among the transgressors.” Satan was about to deliver his fiercest blow and they just weren’t ready.

In fact, they so completely missed the point that they thought Jesus was speaking literally. If there was a fight to be had then forget getting just one sword, they already had two. They were still thinking in terms of an actual physical battle. Perhaps this was finally the time, they thought, when Jesus would start acting like the Messiah that most of Israel had hoped he would be, one that would defeat the Romans in battle. But that wasn’t Jesus’ point at all. They failed to understand that he was speaking quite symbolically and they were still failing to fully grasp the nature of the family to which he was calling them. The time of their faltering had already started. The time of them learning that they would fail every time if they relied on their own strength and their own understanding was already upon them.

Jesus had warned them, not so that they would avoid failure in the face of the fierce temptation but so that once they did falter, they could look back and remember that Jesus had told them that this would all happen. They could learn the lessons and even understand why they had to go through it. They would learn to rely on the Spirit for everything and to be led by him in all things. They would become the family of God that was led by the Spirit (see Romans 8:14-15). No, he was not trying to avoid the misunderstanding and failure but simply provide them with the necessary information to learn from it after the fact. So, despite the fact that they were still completely missing most of what Jesus was telling them, he ended the conversation in verse 38. The TNIV translation is a bit misleading as Jesus says “that is enough,” which could be taken to mean that the two swords that they produced would be fine for now. Jesus’ response, though, was actually a rebuke and a conversation ender that would be better rendered “enough of this.” They were just not going to understand right then and Jesus would have to go off and face the coming terror on his own, just as Isaiah had prophesied. He would forge on alone.


Devotional Thought
Do you ever find yourself trying to press on under your own strength or understanding rather than humbling yourself in prayer and waiting patiently for the Holy Spirit to guide you on your paths? Spend some extra time in prayer today if you can petitioning God to lead and strengthen you in everything you do. Take some time to consider whether you have been fully relying on God or trying to do a lot of things on your own.

Luke 22:1-23 Commentary

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
1Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

The Last Supper
7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."

9"Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
10He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 12He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there."

13They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." 23They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.


Dig Deeper
One of my favorite childhood memories, although I do have many, is going to my aunt and uncle’s house each year for Christmas Eve for a big party. Every year the entire family on my mother’s side would gather together and go there to celebrate Christmas Eve together with a lot of food and fun. One of the great traditions of that evening would be when my Uncle Joe would gather all of us kids around him later on into the evening. He would sit on a chair and all of us kids would sit on the floor around his feet and he would read us “The Night Before Christmas.” It was a wonderful tradition that me and my sister and all of our cousins still cherish. My Uncle Joe died many years ago now and somehow the tradition of reading that story has passed on to me and it’s something that I’ve been doing for 19 Christmases now. There were a few years right after he died where the gatherings were a little sparse but in the last ten or fifteen years the tradition has picked up steam again and there is a whole new crop of young cousins and kids running around everywhere. We still gather together ever year and we eat, we laugh, we catch up, and we have our traditions like the reading of “The Night Before Christmas” and the fact that my sister and my cousin Denny will always be twenty minutes late for the party. What is quite interesting, though, is to consider why we do this every year. It’s not because it is the best party in town. I’m sure there are better parties going on that people could scatter and go to. It’s not because we are all best friends. That’s evidenced by the fact that many of us only see each other that one time a year. So why do we have that meal with all of it’s traditions? It’s because we are family. If nothing else, getting together each year and eating together and sharing in those traditions declare and remind us all that we are family. It’s an important connection.

Meals and traditions bring people together like nothing else really. Special meals and special traditions can become among the most cherished and important things that people ever do and they certainly can create some of the very best memories. The ancient Jewish people were second to none when it came to placing a primary importance on family and no one had more important festivals, meals, celebrations, and traditions than they did. Chief among those traditions and festivals was that of Passover. Passover was a powerful declaration to one another and to the world that the Jewish people were one family and that nothing was more important than their identity as that family. That is why this meal that Luke describes for us here was and continues to be so indescribably powerful. Jesus intentionally took the strongest and deepest tradition that the Jewish people had and he quite intentionally re-cast it to be the family-forming and identifying event of his new family, the new people of God. This would be the tradition and meal that would constantly remind his people that they were, above all else, a family.

But all families have their problems. Many people are shocked and almost don’t know what to do with the fact that one of Jesus’ closest followers could betray and him turn him over to those who wanted to get rid of Jesus. We simply don’t know all of Judas’ motives, though many have tried to speculate, but in the end speculation is all it is. It played right into the hands of chief priests because now they could quietly arrest Jesus away from the crowds and get him before the end of Passover, before he might leave Jerusalem again. But that still leaves us with the uncomfortable truth that someone who knew Jesus intimately and followed him for years, betrayed him and fooled all of Jesus’ other disciples. He didn’t fool Jesus, of course. And it is always deeply convicting to consider that even though Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, he continued to love Judas, even washing his feet on his final night (Jn. 13), to the extent that Jesus never treated Judas differently than the others. Judas’ motivation seemed so confusing for Luke that all he could comprehend was that this was one of the more opportune times that Satan had been waiting for since 4:13. The only thing Luke could attribute Judas’ behavior to was satanic inspiration. Whatever Judas’ motivations might have been, he was a perfect opportunity for Satan to try to take Jesus down. If nothing else, though, Judas is a great reminder in the midst of this powerful, family-creating meal that was taking place, that families are not always perfect. Even Jesus’ family had those who were not loyal to the cause, unbeknownst to everyone else except the Master. Yet, the family survived and even prospered. As much as Satan might take the advantage to use those who don’t remain loyal to the Messiah and his people, God will use that very opposition to make his people even stronger and more equipped to carry on.

With the details of the betrayal out of the way, Luke can return to this very Passover-inspired meal. The Passover meal itself was Israel’s great celebration of the Exodus, the time when God brought them out of slavery and created them as his people, his family, through the sacrifice of the blood of the spotless lamb that was spread on the top and sides of their doorframes in a cross-type pattern. Passions ran high during Passover as it stirred up Messianic and nationalistic hopes, but more than anything else, Passover was a family meal that was eaten together in families.

Jesus sent his disciples off to make preparations for the meal, and just as when he sent them to find a young colt for him to ride into Jerusalem on, Luke is not clear whether Jesus had made preparations ahead of time and just not told his guys until they needed to know or whether this was a case of his miraculous foreknowledge. Whatever the case, they went upstairs to have a Passover meal together as a family. Jesus had declared to them throughout his ministry that they were being formed into a family group, the fulfillment of the promises that God had given Abraham to bless the whole world through one family. Now they would engage in this most of family-forming and identifying meal.

Luke, as is his custom, gives us some details of this meal but certainly not all of the details that we might like to fulfill our curiosity. With the details that he has given us, though, we can learn that Jesus clearly followed many of the elements of a traditional Passover meal while changing others. As they came together for this family meal, Jesus took the role of father while they all reclined in the customary Passover fashion, laying on their stomachs while propping themselves up on their left arms. There were four specific cups that were taken during the Passover meal and it appears that Luke has described the second and third cups of this new Passover that Jesus administered. The bread that he offered up would have come from the third course of the meal which was eaten along with the lamb and the bitter herbs.

As Jesus gave them this new Passover meal, he infused it with the meaning of his new meal. Like Passover it would be a meal of remembering. The remembering aspect of Passover was vitally important because it solidified them as a larger community and a people but also reinforced the family groups in which they took the meal. It took them back to their roots, back to the events that formed them as a community and called them to affirm, as one people, their common heritage. It both reinforced the family bonds while continuing to forge them at the same time. This was precisely what Jesus was doing with this new meal of the new covenant. The cups would not just remind them of Passover events any longer, but would be infused with the new meaning of the blood that Jesus was about to shed to create them as a family. This cup would be a remembrance and not something that they would do with Jesus again until the kingdom of God came. (We are not told whether Jesus was referring to the aspect of the kingdom that would come at Pentecost in Acts 2 or the fullness of the kingdom coming in the resurrection age. A case can be made for either option but either way it doesn’t effect the meaning of this passage.) The bread would be a reminder not only of Jesus’ body and sacrifice but of the body in Christ that he was creating in his upcoming actions on the cross.

This would be the family-forming and roots-reminding meal of the new covenant community. It would be the central aspect of them coming together. They would proclaim the Lord’s death and all that it meant to create them as the body of Christ and the family of God (1 Cor. 11:23-26). This was the new covenant that Jeremiah promised (Jer. 31:31) and which would become a common theme in the New Testament (see Matt. 26:28; 2 Cor. 3-4; Heb. 8-10).

Luke told us all the way back in 9:51 that Jesus’ march towards Jerusalem was, above all else, an exodus. It was the new exodus and it was now coming towards an end with a new Passover meal. Jesus was coming to do for all nations of the world what God had done for Israel so long ago. He was giving them the opportunity for freedom from the slavery that entangled them and form them into a new people, God’s family. He would be the Passover lamb, whose death would allow his people to escape into freedom. Just as Pharaoh tried to defy God’s purposes and hardened his heart, only to see God use that hardening to bring about his plan, so Satan and those who aligned themselves against Jesus would give their best effort to derail Jesus and his new exodus, but God would use that very opposition to bring about his purposes.

When we come together, then, to celebrate this meal that Jesus gave us, we should take the time to not just remember what he did for us in the actions on the cross, but that at the heart of this meal is to remember that it forms us into a family. It has it’s food. It has it’s traditions. It is a family meal. And that’s an important connection.


Devotional Thought
In the 21st century we often think of “salvation” as a private and individual event but that’s not the picture that the Bible presents. Biblical salvation is the act of leaving our own autonomous “you-niverse” and becoming members of God’s family. The communion meal of the early church was a weekly family reunion of sorts. Have you become part of a true and genuine church family that lives and interacts together as God’s family? Does your Christian community really show the rest of the world an example of God’s people living together in your hearts as family?

Luke 21:34-38 Commentary

34"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

37Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.


Dig Deeper
When I was in the tenth grade in high school I was moved into an advanced English class. The class seemed to have a little more work that was required in comparison to the regular classes but it was apparent that one of the big differences between this advanced class and the normal classes was that we were given much more independence in getting our work done and in the ability to do it with more creativity. But with that independence also came the responsibility of getting the work done. Our teacher would not coddle us and make sure that we got the work done. She would assign it and then it was up to us to finish it off well.

On one of the very first days of the year, she told us that we would have to keep a writing journal. Each day we would write on a topic of our choosing but we had to fill up a page. It was up to us to find the time to do it and keep it up. She reminded us about the journal each week for the first few weeks but then it was up to us to keep it up. It was one of those things that wasn’t very difficult if you stayed alert and on top of things and did it each day. It just required a little discipline and the occasional self-reminder that the teacher had promised that she was going to grade these things at the end of the year.

But as a school year wears on, you don’t realize just how long it can be. I started out quite disciplined with my journals. I wrote with energy and creativity and sometimes went over the required page. I actually was enjoying the writing and kept up with them well into November and December even though I knew that many of my classmates had already started to fall off the pace. Eventually I began to make little compromises. I lost my fervor and would miss a day here and a day there. I comforted myself that many others were much farther behind than I. Before I knew it, it was May, we had one week before we had to turn our journals in, and I was over 40 journal pages behind what I needed to get an “A” for the journal assignment. I had not stayed prepared and alert and the due date had snuck up on me like a thief.

I cannot begin to imagine the excitement and energy that the very first Christians must have felt. It must have been simply enthralling for Jesus’ followers to hear this promise that he would be vindicated as the Son of Man just as Daniel had promised so long ago. One of the great struggles of the first century for early Christians, though, was to hold on to the belief that they were truly the people of God. That was not such an easy position to maintain in the face of public opinion. The Jews rejected Jesus’ Messianic claims outright and could easily dismiss a so-called Messiah who had died at the hands of the very pagans that, in their view, the Messiah should have been defeating. Plus, they still had the Temple and it would have been easy to point to the many Scriptures that spoke of the importance of the Temple in worshipping God. Christians could claim that Jesus was the true Temple but what did they possibly have to back that claim up other than the cherished words of a dead Messiah? The sledding wasn’t any easier with the pagan world. The message of a crucified Messiah who died the most shameful of deaths was utter foolishness to most in the pagan world. They considered those who did embrace Christ as “atheists” who denied the existence of their long-cherished gods.

The thrilling excitement of coming into the family of God and hearing the promises that Jesus would judge those opposed to God and bring their Temple down could easily fade into the long march of days, months, and years. Year after year the mocking questions of where this Messiah was had to wear on the early Christians. Where was he? When would he return? Take a look, the Temple was still there and the world was marching on just as it always had. Conditions in Israel had gotten bad for the first few years following Jesus’ death, but then Agrippa, one of Herod’s sons was given power over Judea and things seemed up. But through the convening decades of the 40’s and 50’s AD, things in both Israel and Rome went up and down, but nothing seemed like anything different beyond just the normal twists and turns of life for most people. The Christian communities, however, faced constant persecution and pressure from the pagans, from the Jews, and even from their own physical families.

The very real danger, then for the Christian community in the middle of the first century was to get weary. Jesus knew that it would be so easy to get bogged down with life. The temptations could be many. They might lose discipline and begin to slip back into the routine of a normal life that would be much easier if they just made small little compromises to fit in with their neighbors better. They might start to lose heart and faith as days melted into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, and it would be easy to start to doubt that the Messiah was ever going to come in the clouds of judgment or that the Temple would ever be destroyed as Jesus had promised.

There were many things that could cause them to become sleepy and lose their grip, forgetting that they had a mission to constantly announce and expand the kingdom of God. But the judgment of the Messiah would come. They must never lose heart, even though many would and many more would be tempted to. Jesus’ warning was intended to head some of that off. Losing faith or falling asleep and returning to their regular lives, especially for those Christians that were Jewish could wind up being disastrous when the Son of Man did come in judgment through the Roman armies as they finally descended upon Israel and destroyed the Temple. They should pray, then, Jesus urged them that they would be able to stand faithfully before the Son of Man when all that he prophesied about actually did happen. When the people of God were finally vindicated along with their Messiah, the true Temple, and the rival Temple stood in ruins, woe to those who had fallen asleep and didn’t keep up their faith in the Messiah and his family.

It is important to remember that Luke’s first readers would most likely have been reading this Gospel in that very time that Jesus had warned of. They were several decades removed from Jesus’ death but had still not seen the Temple fall. They were the very ones that needed to take to heart Jesus’ words and not fall asleep at the wheel. To drive this point home well, Luke gives one more reminder of why those early believers or those that were reading his Gospel many years later after the Temple had fallen should continue to cling to Jesus and his family as the true Temple in the true kingdom of God.

Each day throughout that final week, Jesus would do what so many other pilgrims at Passover time did. He would go into the Temple during the week but then, because Jerusalem was so overloaded with visitors, he would go into the outlying areas at night to bed down for the evening. But each day the residents of Jerusalem and the Passover pilgrims from all over Israel could find Jesus teaching in the Temple, warning them of the crisis to come for the nation of Israel and revealing the will of God for all of the people. Jesus was, Luke once again makes clear, fulfilling the role that the Temple itself should have but had failed to because of the rebellious and faithful people of Israel, especially the religious leaders. He was serving as the place where all people could come for the revelatory words concerning God’s kingdom and his promised family. The fact that Jesus was doing this in the physical structure of the Old Temple only heightened the irony and highlighted the fact that the Old Temple must eventually go so as to clearly vindicate Jesus as the true Messiah and demonstrate that he is the true Temple of God. He was the place where the fullness of the presence of God could be found. It was no longer in that building.

This passage is so intimately relevant for us today because the malaise of sleep and stupor can often be often be the greatest enemy of the Christian community in our time. We all want to fight the glorious spiritual battle and there certainly can be many exciting moments when we engage in the mission of continuing to spread the message of reconciliation around the world, but much more often than some ongoing, adrenalin pumping battle, is the slow and steady work of building community, praying together for the same things day after day, and the slow but rewarding work of digging into God’s word and learning more and more each day. Building a Temple of living stones is, after all, long, slow, and difficult work. But we must always remember that Jesus will return one day regardless of how easy it might be to forget that. We need to be patient and stay alert.


Devotional Thought
Has the grind of the daily Christian life come to make you feel more like you’re falling asleep sometimes? Jesus tells us to keep awake and to pray constantly, and Luke follows that up with the picture of Jesus teaching at the Temple. The implication is that constant prayer and devotion to the word of God are two major components in keeping us awake and alert. Are you awake and alert right now? Are you ready? If not, what do you need to do to get that way?

Luke 21:20-33 Commentary

20"When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

29He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32"I tell you the truth, this generation[b] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Dig Deeper
A few weeks ago my youngest son came up with a stroke a brilliance. He was eating a treat and had left the wrapper on the dining room table. I had just come in from doing some work out on the lawn on a sunny Saturday afternoon and saw not only his wrapper but also that he had created quite a mess of scattered toys, thrown pillows, and scattered shoes and socks throughout the downstairs while I was outside. His older brother was quietly sitting in the corner with some headphones on while working on his homework for the weekend on the computer. I told him that I had to run a quick errand but I expected everything to be put back into place by the time I returned. I then left for my errand fully expecting that he would comply with my orders while I was away. Much to my chagrin, however, I discovered upon my return that he had chosen to not pick up one thing. When I asked him why he had not picked up anything his response was sheer genius. He looked at me with all the sincerity that he could muster up in his little face and said that he thought I was talking to his brother. He would have picked everything up just as I had wanted, he claimed, if he had only known that I was talking to him and not his older brother. Of course to follow his line of reasoning you would have to ignore many facts, like the fact that everything laying around the house was his, I had not even been speaking to his brother, and of course, that his brother had headphones on. It was a nice try but he still had to clean up and had now added some extra punishment onto himself for not obeying.

When we read passages like this, they can quite admittedly be difficult to discern and understand. It is full of figures of speech and imagery that is just not very familiar to us who are separated by thousands of years and a huge cultural gap. Figures of speech and language of imagery and metaphor can be the most difficult things for people of other languages or cultures to understand because you cannot simply translate a figure of speech from one language into another. If I say that I was “flying down the road,” simply translating that into another language would do little good unless you understood that this was a figure of speech meaning I was driving fast. The key, then, to understanding such passages is to start with things that are familiar or obvious and let that dictate the more difficult portions. This passage, thankfully, has some clear markers that help us to understand what this passage is all about. Things like “Jerusalem being surrounded by armies,” Jesus telling his disciples that at that time they should “lift up your heads,” that they would know that when certain things happened that the kingdom of God was near, and that “this generation” would not pass away until these things happened, all let us know that, despite how end-of-the-world some of the language and imagery sound, Jesus was clearly talking about things that would happen in the lifetime of many who were standing there listening to Jesus.

Those who wish to interpret this passage as being about the time of the resurrection and the end of the present age are left to claim that Jesus imperceptibly and quite confusingly jumps back and forth between prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and speaking of his yet-to-come return at the time of the resurrection. They even go so far as to claim that “this generation” refers to a generation that is yet to come. To imagine, however, that Jesus was looking at those men and women two thousand years ago and telling them that “this generation would see all of these things, but was not actually referring to them but to some other future generation is about as logical as my son claiming that he thought I wasn’t talking to him. The judgment and national calamity that was going to come upon Israel for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and the time of God’s visitation is certainly a metaphor and a foreshadowing, in many ways, of the ultimate and final judgment that will accompany the king when he returns to claim his people as his own and usher in the age to come, but we simply cannot force that interpretation into Jesus’ words here. The events that he was prophesying over would happen to the generation that had rejected him.

Verses 20-24 fall in that category of fairly safe ground to interpret. When they, meaning the people who were standing there listening to Jesus, saw Jerusalem being surrounded by armies they would know that the time of Jerusalem’s being left as a desolate house (Lk. 13:35; see also Isaiah 5:9; 24:1-10) was very near. Jesus didn’t specifically say that these armies would be Roman but that was certainly a fairly obvious guess for anyone in the first century. If Jerusalem was going to be surrounded by enemy forces they would almost surely be Roman, and that is exactly what happened in 70 AD (nearly forty years, or the typical biblical span of a “generation” after Jesus spoke this prophecy) as Roman forces led by Titus came and surrounded the city of Jerusalem. For disciples who were still in Judea and the area surrounding Jerusalem this would be no time for some sudden pangs of nationalistic fervor or misplaced loyalties. When the armies came they needed to get out quickly (the pieces of evidence that we do have indicate that the Christians in Jerusalem at this time did exactly that and fled before the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem). No one in Jerusalem would be safe when the calamity finally struck, warned Jesus. Even those that would normally be protected like pregnant and nursing mothers would be in great peril and even be killed. Jerusalem would surely be trampled as God allowed the Gentile armies of Rome to fulfill their time and purpose as God’s instrument of judgment for his people that rejected him.

In the next group of verses from 25-28, we find ourselves on much more unfamiliar ground. We shouldn’t just jump to the conclusion, however, that these figures of speech need to be understood woodenly literal any more than it would help to insist, in the example above, that I had sprouted wings and could actually fly. It was rather common imagery at the time that this was written to describe great moments of national and political upheaval in terms of celestial signs and monumental cataclysmic events, not unlike we might call a major event “earth shattering.” Even a quick survey of the latter half of the late 60’s up through 70 AD would show that just such nerve-wracking upheavals were happening throughout the Roman Empire. The relative peace and comfort of the Roman world seemed on the verge of collapse after Nero’s suicide in 68 AD as a litany of emperors came in the next few years and civil war was constantly a very real possibility. At the same time, the relations between Rome and Jerusalem had basically disintegrated and by 70 AD war with Rome was looming for Jerusalem.

With all of this unrest swirling about, that would be when they would “see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (again, the group of people that he was talking to was certainly included into that “they will see”). As much as we might like to infuse the coming of the Son of Man in a cloud talk with thoughts of the return of Christ at the time of the resurrection, it’s just very unlikely that this is what is in view here. Not the least of the reasons that this was not what Jesus was referring to in the overall context of this passage and in the Gospel of Luke as a whole. This is where we must let the clear referents in passages like this help guide us through the shadows.

References to the Son of Man come from the great prophecy of Daniel 7, an extremely important and popular passage in the first century that was written, so the Jews of Jesus’ day as well as the early Christians believed, concerning the time when God’s Messiah and his family would be vindicated after suffering at the hand of those opposed to God. The coming in the clouds was familiar Old Testament language used when God came in judgment against those opposed to him (see Ex. 34:5; Isa. 19:1; Ps. 18:11; 19:1; 104:3; Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15). So, the picture of the Son of Man coming in the clouds is a different event than the promised physical and visible return of Christ (Acts 1:11) that we know today as the “Second Coming”. Luke certainly believed that that was a reality to look forward to but that’s just not primarily what Jesus was talking about here (although certainly the exaltation and vindication of the Son of Man was a foreshadowing and a guarantee of his final return and judgment of the entire world). Jesus was connecting with familiar imagery to to make clear that when he came in judgment, his people would be vindicated as the true people of God. The surprising thing for the people of Israel that continued to reject the Messiah was that they would be the ones that would be treated as the enemies of God. When Jerusalem was besieged and the Temple in ruins, God’s true people would be shown for who they were. The Son of Man’s coming in judgment would show clearly that he was sitting at the right hand of the Lord with his enemies as a footstool (Lk. 20:42-43).

Just as they could look at fig trees and see the signs that summer is near, so they would be able to take Jesus’ words to heart and know that when they saw the signs of Jerusalem being besieged and great turmoil in the known world, they would know that this was no accident. They had nothing to fear. This is precisely what Jesus predicted would happen. This was what must happen in order for God’s Messiah to be finally vindicated over and against the people that rejected him and for God’s true family to be revealed.

As we enter into verses 32-33 we find mixed ground once again. Verse 32 is rather solid and obvious, while, for us, verse 33 can be a bit difficult because it is another Jewish figure of speech. “This generation,” the one that Jesus was speaking to would see these things. That places these events squarely in the first century and shows that attempts by some commentators to apply “this generation” to some some random generation that is still in the future just do not hold water. As mentioned in the previous passage, Jesus was consistently and crystal clear that the generation that rejected him would be the one to feel the judgment for their actions (see Matt. 11:16; 12:41-42; 23:36; 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 11:30-32, 50-51: 17:25; 21:32). The generation that rejected the Messiah would be the one to see him coming on the clouds in judgment. That much could be taken to the bank.

Just as my last sentence was a figure of speech that cannot be taken literally, so was the promise that “heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.” It probably meant something along the lines of the figure of speech I used about the bank. It would be easier and sooner happen, implied Jesus, that the present age of heaven and earth pass into the age to come than it would be for his words to not be correct. It should not be missed, then, that Jesus was basically equating his own words with the authority and permanence of the words of God. He was likely playing off of a common rabbinic saying at the time that used a similar figure of speech: “Everything has its end, the heavens and earth have their end; only one thing is expected which has no end, and that is the Law of God.”

All of the things that Jesus was warning of would come on the generation of the vineyard’s tenants that had rejected and killed the son, because once the son came, there would be no other messengers. Yet we should not suppose that this passage has nothing of importance for us. We might not have been part of “that” generation but we do live in a time when people regularly reject the Messiah and his kingdom. It is our calling to boldly warn them, just as Jesus warned his generation of the disaster that will surely come upon those who reject the king. But it is also part of our calling to show the world a living image of what it will look like to live in God’s future age and to call all humans to be reconciled to God and to be part of his promised family.


Devotional Thought
Jesus warned that rejecting him would lead to disaster for the nation of Israel. The Bible is clear that rejecting Christ’s offer of salvation is equally disastrous for all humans. Are you as bold about declaring the danger of rejecting Christ as Jesus and his first disciples were? Who do you need to gently but firmly warn today of the disastrous consequences of continuing to live out their rejection of God’s Messiah?

Luke 21:5-19 Commentary

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."
7 "Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?"

8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."

10 Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

12 "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.



Dig Deeper
We have always expected our two sons to do a few chores around the house and to chip in with things and we have never given them an allowance but just expected that they would help out. This summer, however, we decided to crank things up a bit for the season and told them that we were going to give them each an allowance. They immediately got extremely excited and started to chatter over the things that they could save for and buy and try to figure out how long it would take them to save for certain items that they really wanted. In their excitement, though, I had to step in and tell them not to get too carried away. The allowance would come but the amount of chores that they had to do each week was going to greatly increase. In other words, the thing that they really wanted would come but it would not be immediate and there would be a whole lot of labor and hard work in between their present excitement and the actual fulfillment. They just needed a good stiff dose of reality.

I think the above example is important to understanding this passage because it is so easy for us to get off on the wrong foot. We have a great tendency to misunderstand the meaning and language within this passage and the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Matthew 24 and to find them to be dark, mysterious, and ominous. Yet, that is not entirely how the disciples would have heard theses words. In fact, it seems that throughout the passage, at least in the early going, Jesus wants to comfort his disciples, but he really wants to keep them grounded and to understand that it’s not quite time to get over-excited yet. A lot of tough times are ahead. But why would Jesus have to do that at all? Why would talk of the Temple being utterly destroyed and the final end of the Old Covenant coming be something that would excite Jesus’ disciples. Why would he need to hit them with a good stiff dose of reality? Once we discover the full meaning of Jesus’ words here, the answer to those questions become relatively clear.

The first thing that we have to get out of the way when we read this chapter is the idea that Jesus is somehow talking about the end of the world or the end of the present age. When we consider the context of the book of Luke going all the way back to chapter 9 and look at what is actually said here, we realize that the idea of this being about “the end of the world as we know it” is more due to the fanciful imaginations of modern American writers and televangelists looking to bilk well-meaning people out of a quick buck than anything that is actually said here. What does confuse matters a bit for modern readers is the first century apocalyptic-style figures of speech that are used throughout this passage, especially in the portion that we will consider in the next section. We will consider these figures of speech when we get to them and examine why they shouldn’t automatically lead us to thinking about the end of the world. It is true that passages like this that speak of the coming judgment of the Son of Man on Israel certainly carry echoes of his ultimate return and Matthew’s gospel seems to play to that element of foreshadowing more than the other gospels. But Luke is particularly careful to make sure that his primarily Gentile readers don’t make any such misunderstandings. This passage is a clear and important prophecy from Jesus about the coming destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, an event that would take place nearly forty years after Jesus first uttered these words.

The previous passage has clearly set the table for the meal that we are about to eat for the rest of chapter 21. Those who had come in control of the Temple and the direction of the nation of Israel had turned it from a house of prayer into a den of rebels, the very charge that Jesus made when he symbolically took authority over the Temple. So now that Luke has adequately set the table, he tells us that the disciples were walking along marveling just how stunningly beautiful the Temple was (and by all accounts it was one of the most beautiful buildings ever constructed). But Jesus makes it clear once again that the Temple will be destroyed. He begins by declaring that the “days are coming” (the TNIV renders it “the time will come”) which connects this with the common Old Testament prophetic declaration of judgment (see Jer. 7:1-14; 22:5; 27:6; 52:12-13; Isa. 39:6; Hos. 9:7; Amos 4:2; Zech. 14:1). The Temple has been judged. It is no longer the place where heaven and the will of God will be revealed. Jesus is the true Temple and the false Temple must tumble. But in order for that to happen, it goes almost without saying that something cataclysmic must happen to Jerusalem as well.

As Jews it might have been a sad thing in some respect to hear that this beautiful building would be brought to the ground but it was also a source of great joy. The destruction of the old Temple meant the vindication of the Messiah as the true Temple. It meant a clear marker to those with open hearts that those who were in Christ and had put their faith in him by entering into his life would also be vindicated as the true people of God. One of the great arguments of the first century was who were the true people of God. Both the Jewish people and the early Christians claimed this distinction. But the Jewish Temple fell, never to be rebuilt, and Jerusalem along with it. The Temple that was the Messiah, however, would be “destroyed” but rebuilt in three days (John 2:19-20) and he would be declared to be the Son of God through his resurrection (Romans 1:1-4). The combination of the fact that the Jewish Temple would be utterly destroyed just as Jesus predicted, while Jesus, the true Temple, would be killed but resurrected three days later and would continue to live on in the Temple of his people, the body of Christ (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21), were clear and exciting demonstrations that Jesus’ people really were the true family of God.

When would all of this happen was the obvious and expectant question. How long would they have to wait? In fact there was a common belief in the ancient world that major socio-political events would be portended by great celestial signs or similar phenomenon. Should they expect something like that, or even another messenger from God to declare that the moment had come? Jesus wouldn’t give them any signs of that sort, although he would give them some signs, of sorts, later on in this passage for which they could keep a look out. But the time itself will happen quickly. It will be a time of war and great tumult. There will be terrible things going on all around them.

The point of all of this is that as exciting and encouraging as the thought of Jesus and his people being vindicated as God’s true people and the Temple, the very thing that had now become a symbol of opposition to God’s true purposes in the world, it would not be a pleasant process. Some would come claiming to be Messiahs or to be messengers from God but they need not be fooled by all of that. It would be a time of earthquake, famine, war and destruction. These were all things that were commonly associated in the Old Testament with great periods of God’s judgment.

These terrible events, however, need not cause them fear. When all of this breaks loose, they could rest assured that the time was near, but it wouldn’t happen immediately. This would be a process that would take awhile. In fact, before this all happened and they would be shown as God’s true people, they would be devastatingly persecuted. When the going got tough for Israel, they would soon turn things around and come down on Jesus’ people, and the non-Jewish world would quickly pick up that example and persecute them as well. They should not take this constant persecution as a sign of God’s disfavor with them or his favoring of the Jews who would also claim to be the true people of God. They could rest assured that this was all part of the process. Just as Jesus was persecuted before his ultimate resurrection and vindication, so would they be persecuted before the Temple would fall and they would be justified as God’s true family (that would not, of course, mean that their persecution and suffering for the name of Christ would be over).

They would be persecuted. That was a fact. In fact, much of what Jesus predicted will be described by Luke in the book of Acts (Acts 4:16-18; 8:1-3; 12:1-5). But as was already made clear in 12:11-12, they need not worry about whether they will be faithful during this time. Some of them would be put to death and would be betrayed by their physical families and brought before the authorities to renounce their loyalty to the Messiah, but they need not worry about how to prepare for that. When the time came, Jesus would be with them (in chapter 12 the promise was that God would be with them, showing just how closely the work of Jesus and the Spirit would be) and would guide them in what they needed to say. Notice in all of this how it related to the disciples within the lifetime of many of them. Jesus was not talking about some far off future events, still in the future for us. He was talking about very real things that would happen during that generation that had rejected the Messiah (see Matt. 11:16; 12:41-42; 23:36; 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 11:30-32, 50-51: 17:25; 21:32).

Although Jesus’ words to his followers that they would soon be persecuted was specific to his first-century disciples, the principles continue to apply to Jesus’ family wherever they are persecuted right down to this very day. We don’t need to worry about finding the right words or doing the right thing at the right time. As long as we are committed to follow Christ wherever it leads, the Spirit will guide us when the worst of times comes. Of that, Jesus’ brothers and sisters can always be assured.


Devotional Thought
The amazing thing about this passage is that Jesus was telling them that they would go through many difficult times in waiting for it to be made clear that they were truly the people of God. That can be a long and tempting wait. God’s people today have a similar wait as we look forward to Christ’s return and his resurrection. What can you learn from this passage that helps you to stand firm and faithful in our waiting time?

Luke 20:41-21:4 Commentary

Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41 Then Jesus said to them, "Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? 42 David himself declares 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." ' [c]

44 David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?"

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."


Luke 21
The Widow's Offering
1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 "Truly I tell you," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."



Dig Deeper
Not too long ago I was having a brief online conversation with someone from a different country than the one in which I live. Normally that goes fine and the fact that I am from a different country than someone else poses no problem at all. This was a little different, though. This friend mentioned that they thought it was pretty cold where they were at which caused me to chuckle a bit. I know for a fact that the country in which this person lives almost never gets below 50° F. To me that’s just not cold so I replied that I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t that cold. They argued back that it got extremely cold in their country and that I sure didn’t know what I was talking about. She then asked how cold it got where I lived. When I told her that it was currently about 0°, she replied back that that was pretty cold but not too bad. I agreed that it wasn’t terrible but I would prefer it get about around 32° because that’s a really pleasant temperature to run in. She mentioned that this seemed like a really warm day to run in. Then it suddenly hit me that we had a big problem. We were working with two entirely different measurement scales. I was speaking in Fahrenheit while she was using Celsius. This means that when I said it was 0° F, she was hearing 0° C, which is about 32° F. But 0° F is is -17° C And when I said that I wished it was 32°, she was hearing 32° C, which would be about 90° F, a truly warm day to go running in. The problem was not necessarily with either Celsius or Fahrenheit but with the fact that we were using completely different scales. Unless one of us changed our paradigm we would never be able to understand one another.

This is what is at the heart of these three little passages that all seem, on the surface, to be unrelated but are actually quite related if we follow Luke’s line of thinking. At the core of each of these stories is the problem that happens when you are using different scales to measure things. If two different groups are using two different scales for measuring, they will never be able to understand one another without some serious re-interpreting. The point of each of these stories is that those opposed to Jesus were looking at things with an entirely different measuring scale than God is and if they didn’t transform their thinking rather quickly they were going to be left behind when God’s new family marched forward into history.

In the span of Luke’s narrative, Luke 21:40 brought to an end the last chances that the religious leaders and the nation of Israel had to turn to Jesus and ask him questions. Rather than asking him sincere questions and trying to find truth, they squandered their opportunities by trying to catch him in traps and induce him into blasphemous statements so that they could get rid of him. Now, as verse 40 made clear, they had no more questions. That tactic simply wasn’t working. Jesus was too smart for them so they would drop the questions and would soon simply arrest him, railroad him in a mock trial, and do to Jesus exactly what he predicted would happen to him in Jerusalem. But not before Luke will give Jesus his clear say about why they have failed to recognize his authority and what the terrible results of that would be.

Jesus now acts in the role in the role of questioner and commenter. The people of Israel were waiting expectantly for the Messiah but did they even know who he really would be? The problem was that they did not. They were using an entirely different measuring scale and needed to change their thinking radically. That’s where Jesus’ question comes in. It was a much beloved belief that came directly from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. Jesus points out a problematic issue from what would become one of the favorite Old Testament passages of the early church (see Acts. 2:30-36; 7:55-56; 13:33-39; 1 Cor. 15:22-28; Eph. 1:19-23; Heb. 1:3-14; 5-7). In that passage, which describes what Israel’s ideal and promised king would be like, David refers to this Messiah as his Lord. So how can the Messiah be both David’s Lord and his son (a word that was often used synonymously for descendant)? Descendants were always considered lesser than their ancestors so how could this be?

The problem wasn’t with the ancient Scriptures but with their understanding of the Messiah. They were hoping for nothing more than an earthly king who would lead them to great military victories over their enemies, particularly the Romans. But they were missing the little hints from passages like these that when the king arrived he would be the embodiment of God himself. God would come and shepherd his own people just as he had promised (Ezek. 34:10-12). The rejection that Jesus was facing, that would culminate in his own death was the action of God himself. God did not send another to die in his place. The living God was completely and personally present in the Messiah. Until they understood that they would not be able to grasp the truth of the Messiah. Psalm 110 is a beautiful passage written about the Messiah who would rightfully be enthroned after defeating and subjecting those who opposed him. But this king would not just be David’s descendant but also the one that David called “Lord”. He would be the one that would share the very throne of God. David didn’t just envision a son but one who would also rightly be his Lord. The people that Jesus was addressing, though, were using the scale that included “son” but their scale had no room for the “Lord” aspect that they were missing.

Did people need evidence that the religious leaders of Israel were using the wrong measuring system? His disciples need look no further than the teachers of the law. Were they being the humble servants of God and the spreaders of God’s will the way that those who claim to serve the living God should? Were the defending the cause of the poor and needy as embodied in their treatment of the most vulnerable among them, the widows? Were they showing the nations of the world what God’s future age would look like? The answer to all of those was a resounding no. Rather than measuring their worth by God’s measuring standard they judged it by how long and fancy their robes were, by how much honor and pomp surrounded them wherever they went. They made a show of their religion all the while they were ripping off the weakest and most in need of being cared for in order to strengthen their own position. Their religion was a sham, so no wonder they were using the wrong standard to measure the Messiah with. Their actions demonstrated loud and clear that they were not close to living as the kind of people that Jesus had spent years teaching his disciples that God wanted, so how could they possibly recognize God’s Messiah when he actually came? They would, Jesus ensured, be punished most severely for their ungodly injustice. This is a topic to which he will turn more fully in chapter 21.

To make the point clear about their mistreatment of widows, which was emblematic of a entire wholesale rejection of the love of mercy and justice that God demanded of his people (Matt. 23:23), Luke tells us of a scene in the Temple as Jesus observes a poor widow contribute her last two coins as an offering to God. In this short but powerful account Luke has given us much to think about as he continues to show us that the measuring standards are quite different than anyone might expect. He takes us, once again, to God’s scale where two insignificant coins are an immeasurable sacrifice.

The reality of this scene is that its primary function is to serve as a buffer between the denunciation of the religious leaders of Israel and the stark prophecies of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem herself that will take up the remainder of Luke 21. Jesus denounced the teachers of the law for their mistreatment of widows and now Luke shows an example of that in the Temple itself. Because of their oppressive and self-advancing policies, the priests, teachers of the law, and other religious leaders had put this woman in a position where she was giving God her last two coins. Rather than the Temple being a house of prayer that showed people what it looked like when heaven broke into the present age, it had became a place of robbery. It truly was a den of thieves that would soon receive its just punishment.

But even though Jesus didn’t specifically commend this woman for giving generously in the face of the shameful practices of those who had put her in that position, there is much to learn from her example. She is commendable not because she gave a great amount but because she gave sacrificially and faithfully. When God measures our giving he doesn’t count, rather he weighs. She gave more than anyone who put in much larger amounts. But this woman trusted in God more than she trusted in those two coins. This is significant because it is so hard to do that when you are down to your last few resources. (Certainly, we must note, that this woman obediently gave her last but this passage should not be used by greedy men claiming to be ministers who would use such a passage to bilk the poor out of their last few cents. She is a positive example because she gave willingly, but the men who called her to do so and did not help her in her situation are soundly being criticized.)

Another important thing to be learned from this woman is that she gave a very small amount and yet this was enough for Jesus because she gave everything she had. In the end, that’s always what God wants from us whether it be our resources, our time, our hearts, or anything else. Yet sometimes when we have very little to give to God, we are the ones who disparage that as not enough. If we genuinely have only two hours a week, for instance, to serve in a ministry that we’ve wanted to be a part of, then we have to trust that this is pleasing to God because we are giving all we have. We must remember the truth mentioned above that God does not count but he measures. It is our challenge to make sure that we are judging things based on the same measuring standard that he is using.



Devotional Thought
Are you truly giving God everything you have? When you do, is that enough or do you beat yourself up for not doing more? If your resources or time are very limited but you are genuinely giving everything you have, is that enough? Are you using God’s measuring standard or the world’s?