1. Does anyone really think that you could use spies on Jesus? He’s God. Um…you’re not going to fool Him.
2. They didn’t know how to deal with Jesus, so they decided to try to trap Him into saying something that would get Him arrested for political (not religious) reasons. You have to admire their perseverance…
3. Why are they even wasting time trying to butter Jesus up?
4. I guess they assumed that, since Jesus was the Christ (the One who would free the Jews from oppression), He would say, “Viva la revolucion! To heck with paying taxes to Caesar.” They were wrong…
5. Jesus’ answer is awesome. Follow your obligations to give money to Caesar (his image IS on the danarius coin). But since the image of God is on you, you need to give your life to God. Awesome!
6. He stupefied them.
7. OK, so the Sadducees didn’t believe in life after death. How sad, you see. He he he…that sounds like Sadducee. He he he…
8. More of the law of Moses. This almost sounds like a riddle. But, indeed, this is a law in the Old Testament. If a guy dies, the next oldest brother marries the widow and preserves the line by having a kid for the older brother. It sounds weird. But that’s what they used to do.
9. I’d be wondering if that woman was poisonous or something.
10. It is a good question, though, who will she be married to at the resurrection because all seven brothers were her husband.
11. Does it bother any of you to see that Jesus doesn’t seem to say that marriage really exists in heaven?
12. My wife, Mary Kate, would be more like my sister in heaven. You know, I think that might even be better in a lot of ways. We will be children of God.
13. Wow, and Jesus says that even Moses believed that people weren’t dead after their lives on earth. He calls God “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus says that this was understood that none of those guys were “no longer” even though they were dead.
14. I picture some British teachers saying, “Tally ho! Good show! Touche’!” He he he…
15. Any more questions? No. Ok. He he he…
1. Did you know that there were two Lazarus stories? This is the “fictional” one that Jesus tells to prove a point. The other one is when Jesus raises His friend from the dead…
2. High contrast here: rich guy who’s decked out to the nines and a poor guy who gets his sores licked, hoping to go through the rich guy’s trash for some food.
3. Interesting phrasing…”Abraham’s side.” Where’s that, do you think?
4. The rich guy went to Hades (which was really just the Greek word for hell…keep in mind that the Gospels were written in Greek). Interesting that he could see Abraham and Lazarus from hell.
5. His experience in hell is described as “agony.” I don’t want to know what that feels like. Interesting that this dude still doesn’t really treat Lazarus with respect. He just wants to use him to get a taste of water.
6. I think Abraham definitely explains the finality of hell. Once you’re there, you have no opportunity (because of this “chasm”) to go to the other side.
7. Also, we see that the rich man doesn’t have the ability to speak to his loved ones who are still on earth. He wants Lazarus to do it for him. Whether he can do it for him or not, we don’t know. But we DO know that Abraham (and since Jesus is the story-teller, Jesus) thinks that it isn’t necessary to get messages from the afterlife. All that is necessary is to listen to “Moses and the Prophets,” aka God’s Word. This is what we have. If we believe, we have life.
1. I can imagine how people would ask that question about only a few people being saved. I mean, you’d have to think that the religious leaders were propagating this idea that only the elite make it to heaven.
2. The “door” to heaven is narrow, though. So, it’s not easy to get through. When Jesus says that people will try to get through, I would have to think that those people are not going to authentically try to reach God…but are just trying to get God’s goodies. What do you think?
3. Sounds like people who will try to get to God at the end of their life, when they’ve wasted their time here on earth…
4. It would stink to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just long enough to get thrown down to hell. That will be known as “The Great ‘Woops, I Guess Jesus Was Right’”.
5. People from all over will be with God. I’m glad because I know California is a long way from Israel.
6. “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” What do you think that means?
7. Some Pharisees were looking out for Jesus. They didn’t seem to want Herod to kill Him. Apparently, Jesus is unfazed.
8. Look at Jesus’ heart– He wants to gather His people under His wings like a mother hen. People often down bestow feminine attributes on God, but this is a very maternal feeling that Jesus is putting out here.
9. I can’t imagine how heartbroken Jesus was about the fact that His own people wouldn’t listen to Him.
1. Wow, before you go thinking that Pilate was a nice guy, we first find him mixing the blood of some Galileans into his sacrifices to his pagan god. Whoah…
2. Apparently, the guys who brought this up thought that they were going to shock Jesus. Instead, He shocked them…He said it would be worse for people who did not repent! He brings up another disaster and says that those people weren’t worse off than any of them if they don’t repent. And something tells me that a spiritual death would not be cool…
3. You have to think that the fig tree parable is about God’s people not bearing any fruit, taking up space, “wasting soil.” Someone is making excuses for this unfruitful fig tree. Do we make excuses when we don’t serve God?
4. Jesus only needed to see this crippled woman before He decided to heal her. He didn’t seem to care where or what He was doing. I love the fact that we serve a God who has tunnel-vision when it comes to compassion. He healed her, and she praised God. Awesome.
5. And the synagogue ruler has to ruin the good times. He told her that she should have come back on a day besides the Sabbath. Geez. What, was he going to heal her?
6. Jesus says that those guys care more about the needs of their livestock than their fellow human beings. Before we point fingers, do we take action to alleviate the suffering of our fellow human beings or are we more like the hypocrites?
7. I bet the opponents were humiliated. What could they say? This woman was a “daughter of Abraham.” But Jesus is becoming the “People’s Champ” more and more.
8. I think it’s important to understand that if only look at the “kingdom of God” as heaven, we’re missing the BIG PICTURE. The kingdom of God is God’s will being done all over. So…it’s like a tiny little seed that grows and grows. God’s work is sneaky like that. But it can be overwhelming after time in a person’s life. I mean, here I am choosing to spend time in the Word on a Saturday afternoon when my Xbox is crying out after me. I would like to think that these small acts, if I take them seriously can grow into huge movements of God in and through my life. And, you…choosing to read God’s Word and responding to it, I pray that your mustard tree grows and grows.
9. Yeast in dough works the same way. Little thing has a big effect. Kind of like a ripple effect.
1. Thirty-six pairs went out as workers. Do you think there was any significance in the number? I mean, 12 was always a good number. And three was too. So…twelve times three with two together. Hmm…seventy-two is a magic number.
2. Interestingly, Jesus is telling these 72 workers to pray for more “workers.” What is the “harvest”?
3. Who would send a lamb into a den of wolves? Hmm…following Christ is definitely risky.
4. Why not bring any supplies? Why not say “whassup” to people you saw on the road? Is Jesus trying to emphasize something here? Urgency? Focus?
5. So…stay where you are welcome. Don’t stay where you are not. Pretty clear. The idea, also, is that they would take whatever was provided for them. This is where that “the worker deserves his wages” comes from. What is the “work” that’s being done?
6. Why do you think it was important to stay in the same house?
7. “Eat whatever is set before you.” No problem.
8. They were to heal the sick and preach about the coming kingdom of God. What does the “kingdom of God is near you” mean?
9. Whew…wouldn’t want to be the town that wasn’t welcoming. Let’s do remember that Sodom that was destroyed, and that would be more enjoyable?
10. Uh oh…and then we get this list of places that rejected Jesus: Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Jesus says that the pagan towns of Tyre and Sidon would have repented at the coming of Jesus, but they didn’t flinch. Uh oh…
11. It’s crazy to think that a follower of Jesus is like Jesus Himself in the regard that, if a person rejects him or her, they are also rejecting Jesus. And, if anyone rejects the actual call of Jesus directly to them…even worse, that’s like rejecting God Himself. I guess that’s why those towns had it so bad. They heard Jesus firsthand and didn’t respond.
12. I’d be stoked if I was casting out demons.
13. Jesus saw Satan falling from heaven because this new force was on earth, a force of people empowered by God to change the world. Awesome.
14. These guys were apparently impervious to poison (unless I’m being to literal here). God made it so that they could go around without fear of being “bitten.” I guess this is why there are those crazy snake-handling churches. I guess they think that they also have this same authority. That brings up an interesting question, though. Is that authority that God gave those 72 available to us today?
15. Jesus also reminds them to get over themselves. They should be thankful that they are going to be able to go to heaven. Christians do have a hard time getting over themselves sometimes (including me).
16. Jesus is full of joy because these guys are getting it done in His name. He is happy that these “little children” (maybe uneducated Jews) were changing the world.
17. It’s amazing to know that it is even a miracle to be able to recognize WHO Jesus is. And I still think that we don’t know God like Jesus does.
18. No doubt they were blessed. I feel blessed to read this. And I know people like Abraham, Moses, Job, Esther, and David would have died to see this happening!
1. Jesus really wants to communicate the fact that He’s going away. Do you think this is so that the disciples do not become attached to Him and instead focus on His teachings?
2. Some Jews thought Jesus was suicidal. Wow.
3. Wow, Jesus draws a line in the sand when He says “if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
4. Jesus talks about being “lifted up.” What does He mean there?
5. It’s amazing to think that Jesus was so in tune with the Father that He wouldn’t do anything that His Father had not asked Him to do.
6. People were putting there faith in Him. Well, I guess that’s better than asking silly questions and saying that He was “of the devil.”
7. A couple of key things: we demonstrate our being disciples of God by holding to Jesus’ teachings; and, when we do that, we will know the truth. This truth will set us free. Holy living is a reward in and of itself. We will be set free when we follow Jesus’ commands.
8. Always missing the point, the Jews say that they are not physical slaves to anyone. Of course, Jesus is talking about being a slave to sin. Or, maybe like Morpheus tells Neo in the Matrix, we are slaves in our minds.
9. Somewhere in here is the idea that we will go from being a slave to sin to a son of God. That’s (in the words of that stupid Beyonce song) an upgrade.
10. Somewhere along the line, the descendents of Abraham missed the point that Abraham learned directly from God. They think that if it doesn’t come from Abraham, it’s no good. Jesus is saying that His Father is bigger than their father.
11. When Jesus calls them on their failure to be like Abraham, they say that they aren’t “illegitimate children.” Hmm…could have fooled Jesus…
12. Jesus says that they would definitely recognize Jesus if they were their Father’s sons (and daughters). He implies that, perhaps, they have a different “father.” How about the “father of lies”?
13. We learn a little about Satan. Apparently, he was always a murderer, always a liar.
14. I bet it appalled Jesus on so many levels that these people wouldn’t listen to the truth. It’s like the Dr. Phil guest that just doesn’t get it. Only, we’re that Dr. Phil guest.
15. If we “belonged” to God, we would hear what He says. What do you think about that?
16. Wow, so they throw out racial slurs and accusations of being demon-possessed. Those Jews sure knew how to make Jesus feel welcome…
17. Yet again, Jesus reiterated that He is not even doing this for Himself–it’s all for the Father’s glory. Where’s the demon-possession in that?
18. Jesus promises eternal life to those who keep His word. Awesome.
19. This eternal life idea causes the Jews to go off. They can’t imagine being any more righteous than Abraham, and HE died. “Who do You think You are?” I can answer that one. Jesus.
20. Jesus again says that this idea of Him living forever isn’t something He made up to make Himself look good. This was God’s choice. This is God’s doing. And, even though Abraham did die physically, HE longed to see the day when Jesus (THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD!) would come!
21. The Jews response: “You’re not old enough to have known Abraham.” He he he…yeah, well, that’s up for debate.
22. Talk about a conversation ender…Jesus says that before Abraham was born, He existed. His words, “I AM,” were clearly the name that God had given Moses in the burning bush! Jesus is saying that He is THAT GOD, the “I AM” GOD. No wonder they picked up stones. What would you have done?
1. Already, the Jews are trying to kill Jesus. Wow.
2. It doesn’t seem as if Jesus really wants to be a “public figure” yet. Why do you think that is?
3. Isn’t it crazy that even His own brothers didn’t believe in Him?
4. Hmm…Jesus is obviously waiting on God’s timing. So, He avoids going to Judea during this Feast of the Tabernacles, a time when He could have a HUGE audience. He’s intentionally not making a big show.
5. But, Jesus sneaks over there anyway in secret; so He can hear the chatter about Him: anticipation, praise, and criticism. Why do you think Jesus “eavesdrops” on the Jewish people?
6. Can you imagine being such a polarizing figure that the very mention of your name could get people in trouble?
7. Apparently, halfway through the Feast was God’s timing. And He preached outside the temple courts. I bet that was packed. Yeah, I’d be a little confused at how a carpenter could have so much knowledge about God.
8. Jesus says nobody taught Him. His knowledge comes straight from God. Wow, if that were the same for all “preachers” we’d be a whole lot better off…
9. Then Jesus throws in the fact that none of them are even keeping up with the Law of Moses, so why are they all agitated about Jesus giving them something straight from God again.
10. You can always count on stupid answers from a crowd: “You are demon-possessed” and “Who is trying to kill you?”
11. Hmm…that’s interesting logic: the custom to cicumcise you child on the eighth day of their life comes from the time of Abraham. And, if the eighth day happens to fall on a Sunday, so be it. So…why are they getting mad that Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath? It’s as if Jesus is saying that, in order to obey God, He HAD to heal this man.
12. Then they ask if this is the Guy everyone’s trying to kill. OK…so which is it? Are they not trying to kill Him or they ARE trying to kill Him?
13. They say that Jesus can’t be the Christ because they know where He is “from.” Yeah, but they don’t know the full story…
14. Then Jesus says that they don’t know God because, if they did, they would know that God sent Him. Uh oh…
15. How did He get away?
16. Some people were won over because of the signs that Jesus did. I guess that’s ok, but wouldn’t you think that His words are what did it?
1. OK…things I’m noticing from this story. One, we are talking about a powerful guy’s servant who’s sick here. Not a family member. Also, it just says that he “valued” him. That could mean he either had compassion or needed someone to get the job done. And then, you’ve got the fact that this guy doesn’t go to Jesus himself. He sends important Jewish elders along. And, the elders (who you’d think would be thinking spiritually) say that Jesus should help him because he loves the nation (good) and built the synagogue (um…so, he is valuable to them?). To me, unless I’m reading this with a suspicious eye, I haven’t really seen a huge amount of faith or spirituality yet…
2. Wow…and then everything changes in the second paragraph. He sends out friends to stop Jesus from coming. He felt unworthy to see Jesus or even have Him under his roof. Whoah. I think I’m beginning to understand this guy. He’s a Roman leader in a Jewish nation. And he’s seeing God in their synagogue, and he’s seeing God in this Jesus. But, he feels unworthy, as a Gentile, to have Jesus near him. His only hope is for a long-distance relationship because of who he is. (I love that Jesus doesn’t think like that…)
3. How about this dude’s faith! He just asks (through his friends) to have Jesus “say the word.” He believes that when someone is in authority that a command is carried out. So…he believes that Jesus is in command over life and death, so why wouldn’t they do what He told them to do?
4. For Jesus to say this about a Gentile was an act of grace. It was faith that mattered to Jesus, not lineage to Abraham. So…this guy simply took Jesus at His word. I think we still squirm at Jesus’ teachings and promises. So…it’s refreshing to see someone who didn’t have childlike faith, but more like military certainty-like faith.
5. A widow (no husband) losing her only son (no heirs, no providers) would be up a creek without a paddle in this culture. (Kind of like Naomi in the book of Ruth and the widow that Elijah stayed with.) In the two previous cases, we know that God has compassion towards widows…
6. Jesus’ heart went out to this lady, while she was in the funeral procession. He tells her not to cry… What do you think her response was at that moment?
7. I love Jesus style here. Almost to reinforce what the centurion had said, he commands the boy to get up. He does! And he talks. I wonder what he says!
8. Prophets could do what Jesus just did (see Elijah and Elisha…of course, that was only with the power of God). So…it comes as no surprise that the people simply think that Jesus is a prophet. Oh…but He’s so much more…
Filed under: abijah, abiud, abraham, achim, ahaz, amminadab, amon, asaph, azor, bathsheba, boaz, david, eleazar, eliakim, eliud, god, hezekiah, hezron, isaac, isaiah, jacob, jechoniah, jehoshaphat, jesse, jesus, joram, joseph, josiah, jotham, judah, manasseh, mary, matthan, matthew, nahshon, obed, perez, rahab, ram, rehoboam, ruth, salmon, shealtiel, solomon, uriah, uzziah, zadok, zerubbabel
Some people get turned off by reading this genealogy. I say it is due to lack of the proper background. Oh, the stories that are embedded in this genealogy…
1. Jesus is referred to as the son of David and the son of Abraham. Why David? I’m guessing because he was the iconic king. This would imply that Jesus is going to be the King. Then you’ve got Abraham. He’s the father of the faith. Jesus isn’t just going to be the continuation of that faith…He’s going to be the fulfillment of it.
2. Notice that this geneology doesn’t start with Adam. It starts when the faith starts (with Abraham). I think that’s interesting.
3. OK…so we know Abraham (far from perfect), Isaac (not really perfect), Jacob (definitely not perfect), and Judah (not perfect either). These are all direct descendents of Jesus. Their stories are wrapped up in His DNA. Cool huh?
4. Then you’ve got Perez (don’t really know), Hezron (who?), Ram (nice name), Amminadab (don’t know), Nahshon (who?), and then Salmon. Now, you might think that Salmon is just a dude with a fishy name. But, look who his wife is…Rahab! Does anyone remember who she is? She’s the prostitute from Jericho who hid the Israelite spies. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus Christ comes from a line that includes a foreign former prostitute?
5. And that’s not all. Look who Rahab’s son was: Boaz. Remember him? If you guessed the husband of Ruth you would be right. How cool is that! The story of Boaz and Ruth getting together is the story of two people coming together who will eventually be ancestors of Jesus. Oh…and Ruth was foreign too.
6. They had Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David. He’s the rock star in the bunch. And it’s cool to see that David was a relative of Jesus too.
7. Interesting choice of words next: “David was the father of Solomon by THE WIFE OF URIAH.” I don’t think this is intended to belittle Bathsheba. But, it does remind us all that Solomon came from David’s sinful relationship with Bathsheba (at the expense of Uriah). Wow…it’s amazing to know that THIS is in the line of Jesus Christ as well.
8. Solomon had Rehoboam (remember the king who listened to his young friends over his older advisors and split Israel). Then King Abijah, King Asaph, King Jehoshaphat (a great king), King Joram, King Uzziah, King Jotham, King Ahaz, King Hezekiah (another good king), King Manasseh, King Amon, King Josiah (my favorite king), and King Jechoniah (the king who was taken away to Babylon). That’s a rich history, and Jesus is a direct royal heir to the kingdom of Judah.
9. Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, who was the father of Zerubbabel (who was in charge when they were allowed to come back to Jerusalem), who was the father of Abiud, the father of Eliakim, the father of Azor, the father of Zadok, the father of Achim, the father of Eliud, the father of Eleazar, the father of Matthan, the father of Jacob, the father of Joseph…this is the Joseph who is engaged to be married to Mary! Hmm…now this is the shocker…why does Matthew list the geneology of Joseph instead of Mary? I mean, technically, is Joseph REALLY Jesus’ father?
10. Nice symmetry. 14 generations from the beginning of the faith until the line of David. 14 generations of the line of David until getting exiled. 14 generations from the exile to Christ. Wow…
11. Then we get to the story of Jesus’ birth. This question can’t be asked enough: what do you think was going through Joseph’s mind when he found out that his woman was pregnant?
12. Joseph didn’t want to shame Mary, so he was going to break things off silently. Nice guy. Maybe nicer than you think. She could have been stoned for this “crime.”
13. Wow…I still would have wondered if I had eaten some weird lamb when an angel came to me in a dream. But, Joseph “gets it” to the best of his ability and mans up.
14. Can you imagine receiving that kind of message about the baby inside your fiance’s womb? (one that you didn’t make!)
15. Isaiah prophesied about this centuries earlier. Wow. Do you even think that Isaiah knew what he was predicting?
16. Immanuel…God with us. My favorite name for God.
17. Joseph is an amazing man. He really swallowed his pride for God.
18. And he also didn’t have sex with her UNTIL she gave birth to Jesus. I don’t know why that offends people to think of Mary having sex. But, after Jesus, she did (and made more babies). Anyway…Joseph was strong for not having sex. Again, maybe that had something to do with his sinful-nature seed not messing with the sinless baby forming in Mary’s womb?
1. If Elizabeth had been hidden during her pregnancy, imagine what kind of surprise it would have been to her friends and relatives when she did give birth to a son!
2. As God-honoring Hebrews, they a) circumcised the boy on the eighth day and b) were going to name him Zechariah, after his daddy. But, Elizabeth tells them that his name is going to be John. This means that Zechariah must have communicated to her in some way to let her know what was going on (even though he was silent). [I like this part in the movie, "The Nativity."] Dad backs her up with the writing tablet. Sweet.
3. It’s interesting that, at that moment, Zechariah’s tong was loosed. Maybe it was because the name was chosen to honor God and not him, and maybe this was the final act of submission/faith on Zechariah’s part?
4. I bet the neighbors were a little kooked.
5. You would have to think that this boy was going to be something…
6. Let’s break down Zechariah’s prophecy about Jesus: God has brought up salvation from the house of David. This is going to be the culmination of all the promises that God made through the prophets. This is going to be the fulfillment of all that was promised to Abraham and his family.
7. His prophecy about John the Baptist: He’ll be God’s prophet, giving the people a heads-up to what’s coming.
8. I wonder what a kid like that was like when he was a kid.
9. Why do you think he was raised in the wilderness?
