By studying almost everything that the Gospels record about the life of Jesus, we have an advantage over daily devotionals that only consider random portions of Scripture: we don’t avoid or miss anything that God wants us to know about Jesus. The only record we have of Jesus’ life is found in the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Holy Spirit inspired them to write exactly what they did, so all of it is important, and we shouldn’t neglect any part.

Today’s reading is one of those portions that some people avoid, because what Jesus said seems too demanding of them. But ignoring what Jesus taught doesn’t do away with what He said! Everyone needs to face up to what we’ve just read.

Jesus was very plainly teaching that there is a cost to be His disciple. He expects our highest devotion, and He couldn’t have made His standards more clear.

First, we must love Him even more than the people we love the most: our fathers, mothers, spouses, children, brothers and sisters. In fact, Jesus said we must love Him more than our own lives. True disciples of Jesus are sold out to Him. Jesus is not just a part of their lives, He is the center of their lives.

Second, Jesus said that we must carry our own cross in order to be His disciples. What did He mean? He wasn’t saying, of course, that His followers must literally carry a cross on their backs wherever they go. The carrying of the cross that Jesus talked about must be symbolic of something.

In Jesus’ day, when crucifixion was a common means of punishment, the expression He used was probably common. It would have meant, “Do the thing that you would naturally not want to do,” or “Deny your selfish desires for a greater cause.” Those who are Christ’s true disciples have done just that. The most important thing in their lives is no longer pleasing themselves, but pleasing God.

Third, we must love Jesus more than any material thing if we are to be His disciples. Jesus owns us and everything we own. Therefore, He should have control over everything we possess, and we should do with it as He directs.

Unfortunately, too many people decided to become followers of Christ without first considering what it might cost them. When they do realize the cost, they change their minds. For example, a person might decide to follow Christ, but when he does, all his friends abandon him. So, in order to gain back their friendship, he stops obeying Jesus. Or a new follower of Christ who didn’t count the cost might be required by his employer to lie to customers or lose his job. In order to keep his job, he stops following Jesus.

Have you considered the cost of following Jesus? It seems like a contradiction, but it’s true: Salvation is a gift that could cost you everything!

Q. Can someone be a Christian without being a disciple of Christ?

A. Not according to the Bible. Neither Jesus nor any of the apostles taught that a person could be a believer in Christ without becoming a follower of Christ. There are not two classes of Christians, the uncommitted who believe in Him and the devoted followers. Those who truly believe in Jesus become His disciples.

Q. Is it possible for a person to be a disciple of Jesus, but not give away any of his earnings to support the spread of the gospel or help the poor?

A. In light of all that Jesus said about our responsibility as His followers pertaining to money, it seems highly unlikely that such a person could actually be a true follower of Christ.

Application: A major problem in churches today is that many people claim to be Christian, but they really aren’t. They think they’re going to heaven just because they prayed a prayer to receive Jesus, even though their lives are no different from that of non-Christians. They are unwilling to sacrifice anything for the sake of following Christ, such as their time, their selfish pursuits, their money or their reputation. Those kinds of people are going to be very surprised when they are condemned to hell. We need to tell them the truth.

Just the fact that the only fault the Pharisees could find with Jesus was that He healed on the Sabbath tells us that He must have been a very good person. (We know that he was sinless). Jesus wasn’t content to let them think that He was guilty of even one little sin, so He explained that the fault they’d found in Him wasn’t a fault at all. Rather, they were criticizing Him for a virtue. He was helping someone who needed help on the Sabbath, just as they would do for their sons or animals if they were in need on the Sabbath. So Jesus proved that their only criticism of Him was unjustified. He was sinless.

As we’ve previously seen, the religion of the Pharisees was mostly just a show. They worked hard at looking good on the outside, but their inward motivation was all wrong. They were seeking the praise of men rather than the praise of God, something that usually characterizes religious people who are not born again. Jesus saw through them, and noted that their desire to be honored before others was evident even in how they seated themselves to eat a meal together. Each one tried to sit near the head of the table where the most “important” people sat, and Jesus seized the opportunity to teach a lesson about humility. When we exalt ourselves, we run the risk of being humbled, just like the man who takes a seat of honor at a wedding feast. It’s much better and more pleasing to God if we will humble ourselves. If we will, we’re more likely to be exalted.

Humble people are always thinking, not of themselves, but of others. For that reason, they have a servant’s attitude, looking for opportunities to be a blessing. However, just because someone serves others isn’t sure proof that he’s a true servant. Many people outwardly seem to be kind and generous, but often they are just acting in order to gain people’s favor. They are hoping to personally benefit in the long run. For example, people sometimes give gifts in order to make others feel indebted to them. That is one reason Jesus told us to give secretly. Secret gifts are motivated by pure love.

That is also why Jesus told the host of the dinner not to invite his friends, brothers, relatives and rich neighbors when he gave a dinner. They could and would repay him for his kindness. A higher, more godly love would be demonstrated by giving a dinner for those who could not repay him. Jesus told him that if he would give a dinner for people who could not repay him, such as the poor, crippled, lame and blind, God would reward him at the resurrection of the godly.

This doesn’t mean that it’s wrong for us to show love to our friends, brothers, relatives and neighbors. But our love for them could be just selfishness disguised as love if we have hidden motives. God is calling us to a higher love, one that is pure like His. He wants us to show love to those whom most people neglect, ignore, and even hate.

Q. What do you think God would say to a person who wants to look good in the eyes of others when he humbles himself with the hope of being exalted?

A. God would say that person is guilty of false humility. True humility has no plans for being exalted by other people. It only desires the praise of God.

Q. How do you think God feels about social cliques, small groups of exclusive people who look down upon or don’t associate with those who don’t meet their standards for acceptance?

A. He’s against them, because they are held together by selfishness and convey hatred toward people He loves.

Application: Is there anyone you know that most people ignore, a person who receives very little love from others? It may even be someone in your school or church who is a little different from everyone else. In light of what Jesus said, what do you think He wants you to do? Will you?

This important story was told by Jesus while He was dining with a group of Pharisees. Just after He had said something about the resurrection of the godly people, one of the diners expressed what a privilege it would be to share in the Kingdom of God. The man was, perhaps, conveying the heart-felt feelings of everyone present, and Jesus recognized His opportunity to tell them who will and who will not be one of those privileged people.

Amazingly, the point of Jesus’ story is that it is not God who determines who gets into His kingdom. People themselves determine their destiny. God has sent an invitation to everyone, but unfortunately many are making excuses to decline His offer.

Their excuses, as Jesus so wonderfully illustrated, make no sense to anyone with good sense. One man in Jesus’ story had just purchased a field and wanted to inspect it. Not only was he rude for declining the invitation, but his reason for declining was insulting to the host. He considered the inspection of his field, something he could do at any time, to be more important than his invitation to the feast, which he would never have another opportunity to attend. He also appears foolish not to have inspected his field before he bought it.

The second man was equally insulting, conveying that he would rather spend time with his new oxen than with the host and his guests.

The third man stated that he’d just been married so he couldn’t attend. Perhaps this man represents the person who lets other people make his decisions for him, in this case, a wife.

The wealthy host was angry when his servant returned, informing him how his invitations had been denied. So he instructed his servant to go to the streets and alleys of the city and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind, and all of them gratefully accepted his invitation. But there was room for still more, so the host instructed his servant to go to remote places where few people lived to urge anyone he could find to come to his feast. He wanted his house to be full. He was obviously a very gracious man. He clearly represents our God, who has extended His salvation invitation to everyone.

Q. Many of the people of Jesus’ day considered the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to be cursed by God, assuming they were deserving their of plight because of their sinfulness. As a result, they had little compassion on such people. What does Jesus’ story teach us about that viewpoint?

A. It teaches us that it is entirely wrong. Although we may not understand why some people are born with birth defects, or why some people suffer tragedies in their lives, we should never assume that it is because they are greater sinners than the rest of us. God loves every one of them, and He wants them to accept His invitation to be saved.

Q. Jesus wanted to point out in this story that people who reject God’s salvation invitation are very foolish. What could be more foolish than refusing eternal life and living forever in heaven, and choosing to spend eternity in hell? Can you think of any foolish excuses that people use today to decline God’s invitation?

Application: The wealthy host in today’s story finally told his servant to go to the remote, less-populated areas to invite people to his feast. God loves people in far-away places, and all Christians should be involved in helping those kinds of people hear about God’s invitation. We can do that by praying for God to send people, by giving money and praying for those who are taking God’s message to far-away places, or by going ourselves. Are you like the servant of the wealthy host?

The main reason why Jesus became a human being was to die for our sins so we could be forgiven. Jesus was the “Lamb of God,” and it was God’s will that He die in Jerusalem during the Passover feast with all the other Passover lambs. As Jesus made His final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, He taught in towns and villages on the way, and one day someone asked Him a very important question: “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

Using different words, Jesus restated what He’d taught during His sermon on the mountainside, revealing that only a minority of people would be saved, while the majority would go to hell: “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

In this instance, Jesus told His questioner that many people would try to enter heaven, but they would be kept out for one reason—because they were evildoers. Some people will even claim that they ate and drank with Jesus and listened to Him teach in their streets, which will be true of many people who were alive when Jesus walked the earth. However, their association with Him won’t be enough for them to be saved. It’s not being just associated with Jesus that gets a person into heaven, it’s believing with an obedient faith that He is the Son of God. If a person only associates with Jesus, he obviously doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, otherwise he would give his life to Him in obedient service, and no longer be categorized as an evildoer. He may believe that Jesus is a nice person, a good teacher or a faithful friend, but that is not enough. Are you a part of the minority who will enter heaven through the narrow gate?

Jesus also made it plain that there are only two places people will go after they die: heaven or hell. There is no purgatory as some think, a place where people pay for their sins and then are eventually released into heaven.

In the final part of today’s reading, we read of Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem. Take note that although He knew He would soon be crucified in that city, He wasn’t feeling sorry for Himself. Rather, He was feeling sorry for the people of Jerusalem because He knew the consequences they would suffer for rejecting Him. Within forty years, their city would be destroyed, and tens of thousands of the inhabitants would be crucified by the Roman army. Worse than that, those who rejected Christ would spend eternity in hell.

It was God’s perfect will that all the people of Jerusalem be saved, expressed by Jesus when He said, “How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings” (Luke 13:34). But why wasn’t He able to do what He wanted? Jesus explained: “But you wouldn’t let me.” It won’t be God’s fault that anyone is in hell.

Q. Jesus said that in the future, when His kingdom comes, there will be people who are despised now but who will be greatly honored then, and there will be some who are greatly honored now who will be despised then. About what kinds of people do you think He was speaking?

A. For the most part, those who are devoted followers of Christ are not being honored by the world, but are being despised as fanatics and fools. They will be honored by God in His kingdom. On the other hand, there are many unsaved people whom the world presently honors, but who will be despised by God when they stand before Him.

Q. In today’s reading, Jesus quoted from Psalm 118. We can read in that same psalm these words: “The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22). What do you think the writer of that Psalm was talking about?

A. According to Jesus and Peter, Jesus is the rejected stone that became the cornerstone (see Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11). If you don’t know what a cornerstone is, ask your parents.

Application: Jesus promised in today’s reading that people from all over the world would be citizens of His future kingdom. This proves that Jesus died for everyone and that God loves every member of every race and nationality. He is not prejudiced at all. When you think of people of other races or nationalities, are your thoughts like God’s thoughts? Christians, above all people, should not be prejudiced.

We are sometimes tempted to think that people who suffer some tragedy are more wicked than most people, and that God is punishing them for their sins. Surely, it is with those people that God is angry. In today’s reading, however, we gain Jesus’ perspective of such things, and because Jesus is God, we can be sure His perspective is correct.

Two tragic things had recently occurred in Jerusalem. The first was Herod’s murder of some people from Galilee as they were sacrificing in the Temple. We don’t know any details of what happened, but can be sure it was the talk of all Judea and Galilee for some time. The second was the accidental death of eighteen men who were killed when a big stone tower toppled over onto them. In both cases, many Jews of Jesus’ day had assumed that God was punishing them because of their wickedness. They also assumed that because they were alive, they themselves must not be deserving of such a fate, and they, unlike those who died, had God’s approval.

Jesus said, however, that the people who died were not greater sinners than anyone else, and warned the living that unless they repented, they would also perish. In other words, from God’s perspective, the survivors were just as deserving of a tragic death as those who perished. The survivors, however, had simply received more time to repent. So, the question people should have been asking was not, “Why did those people die?” Rather, they should have been asking, “Why are any of us still alive?”

Jesus answered that question using an illustration of the unfruitful fig tree. The man who planted the fig tree was tired of waiting for the tree to produce figs and decided that the tree should be cut down because it was wasting space in his garden. His gardener, however, persuaded him to give the tree one more year, promising to give it more fertilizer and special attention. Then, if it didn’t produce any figs after that year, he would cut it down.

Those who survived the contemporary tragedies of that time were like the fruitless fig tree that deserved to be cut down. God, however, had mercifully decided to give them more time to repent and produce the fruit of obedience in their lives. The people who died couldn’t complain over their fate, because they’d received only what they deserved. In fact, they, too, had doubtlessly deserved to perish long before they did, but also received undeserved mercy.

Although God didn’t cause the Tower of Siloam to fall on eighteen men and kill them, and although God didn’t inspire Herod to murder the Galileans, no one can intelligently say that God didn’t permit both tragedies to occur. Jesus said that both served as warnings to the living that they needed to repent. Those warnings, too, were indications of God’s mercy to the survivors, who really didn’t even deserve to be warned!

Q. If everyone died on his or her eightieth birthday, and no one died before then, how do you think that would affect the way people live their lives?

A. Most people would lead very sinful lives and then, as the time of their eightieth birthday drew near, would become very holy! But, because everyone knows that death can occur at any time, and because we are constantly reminded of that fact by the tragic, unexpected deaths of so many people, smart folks are motivated to repent immediately. That way they’re ready to stand before God’s judgment seat at any time.

Q. Was it fair that God allowed some people to die in those two tragedies and allowed others who were equally deserving of death to live?

A. It was not really a matter of fairness from God’s standpoint since everyone deserved to die before he did. For example, suppose there were two murderers in prison who had both killed many people and who were sentenced to die. One is scheduled to be executed on Monday and the other on Tuesday. What would the prison warden say to the Monday murderer if he complained of unfair treatment? He would say, “You have no right to complain of unfair treatment, because you deserved to die a long time ago. Fairness for you is not something that is an issue at this point. And did you treat the people you murdered with fairness?”

Application: People have been asking for ages, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Their question reveals their ignorance about God’s holiness and humanity’s sinfulness. Jesus said that no one is good except God alone (see Mark 10:18), so that disqualifies every person from being classified as “good.” In light of our sinfulness and God’s holiness, the question people should be asking is, “Why does anything good ever happen to such bad people?” The answer to that question would be, “Because God is so merciful.”

When faultfinders want to find faults, they find them! Right before this synagogue leader’s eyes, a woman who had suffered for eighteen years was instantly healed. And what did he see? He didn’t see a woman who was healed, he saw a man who sinned by “working” on the Sabbath, performing a healing. His words revealed what was in his evil heart and his actions exposed his hypocrisy. Jesus said that everyone takes care of the needs of his animals on the Sabbath day, doing things that could be classified as work but nevertheless are considered unavoidable responsibilities. If it is acceptable to take care of animals on the Sabbath, is it not all right to take care of people on the Sabbath? Certainly it is. Just as in our day, some people of Jesus’ day placed a higher value on animals than on people!

By the same token, some modern Christians seem to want to take all the enjoyment out of Sundays on the basis that we should “keep the Sabbath holy.” They demonstrate a similar attitude to that of the synagogue leader. Certainly our Sabbath, which most Christians practice on Sunday, not Saturday, is a special day in which we can focus even more on spiritual things. But to forbid children to play on Sunday afternoons, or to say that it is a sin to fix a meal on Sunday to serve hungry people, is not what God had in mind when He gave the Sabbath commandment.

Q. What should have been the response of the synagogue leader?

A. He should have begun to praise God with the woman who was healed, and then fall on his face before Jesus, repenting of his sins and asking for forgiveness.

Q. Jesus said that Satan had held the formerly-crippled woman in bondage for eighteen years. What does this tell us about the source of sickness and God’s will concerning healing?

A. It tells us that Satan is the real source of sickness. This also provides additional proof that God wants us well, since the devil is His enemy and the Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil (see 1 John 3:8).

Application: Can you imagine being bent double for eighteen years, unable to stand up straight all that time? Think of how excited and thankful this woman must have been when Jesus healed her. For us, this story is one more proof that Jesus is the Son of God, and it should encourage us to look to Him to grant us the miracles we need in our lives. He is full of compassion.

The old Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared,” should also be a motto for every follower of Christ. Boy Scouts are supposed to be prepared for whatever might happen, but Christians should be prepared, above everything else, for the return of Jesus. He said He will come when “least expected” (Luke 12:40). Thus, there exists the potential for people to be caught off guard. Some will be very surprised and completely unprepared.

What is it that will determine who is prepared and who is unprepared for Jesus’ return? Those who are obeying Jesus will be prepared, and those who are not obeying Him will be unprepared. Jesus said we should wait for Him as a servant waits for his master to return from a wedding feast. This once again teaches us that, although we are saved through our faith in Jesus, real faith manifests itself in obedience. If Jesus is truly our Savior then He is also our Master, and we are His servants.

Unfortunately, there are many people who think they are Christ’s servants but who prove they aren’t by what they do. Specifically, Jesus mentioned people who oppress His other servants (see Luke 12:45). At another time, Jesus said that love for one another is the mark of His true disciples (see John 13:34-35). Those who oppress and hate Christians definitely aren’t Christians. Jesus also specifically mentioned in today’s reading that some of the unprepared will be partying and getting drunk. The Bible plainly teaches that drunkards will not get into heaven (see 1 Corinthians 6:10).

According to Jesus, at His return the unprepared will be treated just like unbelievers (see Luke 12:46), with one exception. They will be punished even more severely because they knew their duty, but refused to do it. Those people who are found to be disobedient at Christ’s return but who didn’t know much about what He expected of them will be punished less severely. This indicates that the “unprepared” of whom Christ was speaking are probably professing Christians, supposed servants of Christ who have some knowledge of the Bible, but who are not really saved. Both the knowledgeable unprepared and the ignorant unprepared will be banished to hell, although their punishments will vary there. This means that it would be much worse to be the child of Christian parents and only a “church kid” who has no real relationship with Jesus than an ignorant pagan who knows little about Jesus. Both will spend eternity in hell, but the “church kid” will be punished even more severely there.

Jesus said that the servants whom He finds doing His will when He returns will receive a special favor and reward. Amazingly, Jesus said that He would reward His obedient servants by serving them a meal! God foretold through the prophet Isaiah of a fabulous meal that He would prepare for His people: “The Lord Almighty will spread a wonderful feast for everyone around the world. It will be a delicious feast of good food, with clear, well-aged wine and choice beef” (Isaiah 25:6). We can also read in the book of Revelation about something called “the wedding feast of the Lamb” and how blessed are those who are invited to it. If you are a true follower of Jesus who is prepared for His return, you’re one of those blessed ones!

Q. Kids of Christian parents often outwardly conform to their parents’ standard of behavior while they’re growing up, but once they grow old enough to leave home, their lifestyles change dramatically for the worse. What does this tell us about those kids?

A. They were perhaps never really saved in the first place. That is why parents should not only teach their children about what is right and what is wrong, they should teach them why certain things are right and certain things are wrong. And even more importantly, they should teach their children about Jesus and who He is, so that their children’s good behavior results from their personal relationship with Him and their desire to obey Him—not just a temporary outward conformity.

Q. Jesus compared Himself to a burglar in today’s reading. At other times He compared Himself to a “thief in the night.” Why would Jesus ever use evil people to describe Himself?

A. Both comparisons teach us the limitations of comparisons and the foolishness of trying to find too much meaning in Jesus’ parables and metaphors. Remember that a metaphor is a comparison of things that are basically not the same, but which have some striking similarities. The only similarity between Jesus and a burglar is that people are not expecting either, and are caught by surprise when they come. That is where the similarities end.

Application: If Jesus returned at this instant, are you ready this instant?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A. Obedience to God and unselfishness.

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