The people who weren’t Jesus’ followers heard Him tell many parables, but they didn’t understand what He was talking about. Jesus, however, would always explain the parables to His followers later on because they were open to the truth (see Mark 4:34). Aren’t you glad that the Bible records many of Jesus’ explanations so that His modern-day followers can also understand His parables?

Today we read the parable of the wheat and the tares. Tares are weeds that look very much like wheat, but when the wheat begins to produce grain, the tares produce nothing. From God’s perspective, there are only two categories of people in the earth: “the people of the Kingdom” who are the followers of Jesus, and “the people who belong to the evil one” who are not followers of Jesus. Although saved and unsaved people look a lot alike, what differentiates them is their fruit, or lifestyles. True believers in Jesus act like it, just as true wheat produces grain.

At present, God is allowing both saved and unsaved to live side by side. But that will not always be the case. At the end of the world the two categories will be separated, and the unsaved will be gathered by God’s angels and thrown into hell where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42). The godly people, however, will live together forever in God’s kingdom with brand new glorified bodies. Perhaps Jesus was literally referring to those new bodies when He said we will “shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43). (And you thought you were a bright kid now!)

Two other parables we read today illustrate the future outcome of what Jesus began two thousand years ago. Both parables are about things that grow large after a small start. A mustard seed is so tiny that it’s difficult to see without a magnifying glass, but it grows into a huge plant. So God’s kingdom began very small, with just Jesus and a few disciples. But it has been growing ever since then, and one day there will be nothing other than God’s kingdom. And, only a little bit of yeast is added to bread dough to make it rise, but that little yeast permeates the entire lump, ultimately affecting the whole loaf of bread. So, too, one day Jesus’ influence will affect the entire world. That is the day we’re waiting for!

Q. Can you imagine living in a world where everyone is obedient to God and has a glorified body? Can you think of some things people now use that won’t be necessary in God’s kingdom?

A. Door locks, guns, burglar alarms, band-aids, and deodorant to name a few!

Q. Jesus never once referred to people as Christians and non-Christians. In what we read today, He defined people as either being “people of the kingdom” or people “who belong to the evil one,” evildoers or godly (see Matthew 13:38,41,43). What do these terms tell us about who really is a Christian and who is not?

A. They tell us that people who are evildoers and claim to be Christians are not really Christians.

Application: Most people think that things will always be the way they are right now. But what we read today from the lips of God’s Son indicates that is not the case. The wisest thing anyone can do is to get ready for the eternal future, regardless of what anyone else thinks. Although Christians may be in the minority right now, one day we’ll be a 100% majority.

This short section in Matthew’s Gospel serves as additional evidence that Jesus was God in the form of a human being. Although He had a mother, four half-brothers and at least two half-sisters, He did not think of them like you or I think of our mother, brothers, or sisters. We consider our relationships with them as special, and unlike what we share with any other people on earth. They’re our own “flesh and blood.” Jesus, however, considered Himself to be more closely related to those who, as He said, do the will of His Father in heaven. Had He been only a human being and not God, His reaction to the request of His mother and brothers to see Him could be considered thoughtless, uncaring, and even sinful. But because He was God, He spoke the pure truth, testifying that He had a closer, more important relationship with those who obeyed God than He did with His own mother and brothers.

At least two other points could be made about this short passage. When Jesus declared that His disciples had a relationship with Him that could be best compared to the relationships between family members, He endorsed the fact that family relationships ought to be the closest relationships among human beings. Again, notice that when He wanted to make a point about the closeness of His relationship with His disciples, He used a comparison of relationships within a family. He did not say, “Who are My favorite neighbors?” or, “Who are My best friends at school?” but, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” (Matthew 12:48).

In our perverted and ungodly culture, many families are fragmented. Parents and children are alienated from one another; brothers and sisters hate each other. Families slowly drift apart as individual members seek deeper relationships elsewhere. That which God has intended to be an institution for building our closest relationships is often just a dormitory at best or a battleground at worst. But Christian families shouldn’t be like that. God wants your closest relationships to be with your father, mother, sisters and brothers. It may sound hard to believe if you and your brother(s) and/or sister(s) are enemies, but God wants you to be very close friends . Are you?

There is, however, one possible exception to this, also made clear in this short passage in Matthew’s Gospel. Just as Jesus acknowledged that His relationships with His spiritual brothers were higher than His relationships with his physical brothers, the same is true for all followers of Christ. As Christians, we can and should have relationships with one another that transcend the best relationships that non-Christians have with their own family members. If some or all of your family members aren’t Christians, you may well have closer relationships with people outside your family, people who are believers like you. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should neglect your relationships with unsaved members of your family. Rather, you should love them with God’s love, attempting to win them to Christ. And if all of your family members are saved, then you are doubly blessed to have such special relationships with people who are your physical and spiritual brothers and sisters!

Q. How would you describe your family and the relationships between members? Are you very close, close, not so close, drifting apart, or splintered? What could you do to improve the relationships within your family?

Q. How much time does your family spend doing things together? Do you think the amount of time you spend together is sufficient to build your closest relationships? Do the things you do together as a family truly contribute to drawing you closer to one another, or are they non-productive things, such as watching TV?

Application: As believers in Jesus, we are members of the most wonderful family in the world. We’ve got millions of brother and sisters in heaven and on earth, an awesome big brother named Jesus, and a Father who cares for us like no other!

One day some religious teachers and Pharisees asked Jesus to show them a miraculous sign to prove that He was from God. Jesus had performed many miracles already, healings in particular, and the Pharisees had surely heard the reports and even witnessed some themselves. So they were probably asking for something even more spectacular, like fire falling from the sky or the Sea of Galilee being divided in two.

Jesus replied that their request showed how evil and faithless they were, but then promised them a spectacular miraculous sign: Just as Jonah was in the belly of a great fish for three days and nights and came back to life, so He would spend three days and nights inside the earth and come back to life! That would prove beyond all doubt that Jesus was from God, because He was dead and only God could bring Him back to life! No magician could pull that off!

Jesus knew, however, that even after He was resurrected, the Pharisees and religious teachers would not believe in Him. Hoping to bring them to their senses, He told them what would happen when they stood before God’s judgment seat. God would assemble the people of Nineveh who repented at Jonah’s preaching, and they would condemn those who rejected Jesus. Additionally, God would bring before His judgment seat the Queen of Sheba, who was so spiritually hungry that she journeyed hundreds of miles to hear Solomon’s God-given wisdom. She also would condemn the Pharisees and religious teachers for rejecting Christ. Both she and the people of Nineveh demonstrated an openness to the truth, and were convinced of the truth with much less proof than that which God had granted to those to whom Jesus was speaking.

Finally, Jesus compared the people of His time to a demon-possessed person who was temporarily delivered. After the demon had gone out, the person’s condition improved and he was temporarily clean. But he then allowed the demon to come back into him, and this time that demon brought with him seven other more wicked demons. Consequently, the man became more wicked than he was previously.

This comparison has been proven universally true. Our own nation has experienced several periods of national repentance and revival, however, the effects are short-lived. After a period of years the nation slides back into sin, and the people become more sinful than those who lived before the last revival. We are praying for another revival in our nation, but there will be no lasting righteousness until God’s kingdom comes.

Q. Did you notice that Jesus claimed to be greater than both Jonah and Solomon? Isn’t that an indication that He was prideful?

A. No, it’s another indication that Jesus was God in the form of a human being. It would be prideful for any other human being to make such a claim. God, however, can’t think too highly of Himself, because He is by far the greatest person ever. It would be impossible for Him to be guilty of pride.

Q. If a person is possessed by a demon or demons, but then becomes born again and delivered, according to what we just read, does he have to worry about becoming demon-possessed again?

A. A person who is born again has the Holy Spirit living inside him, and so he could never be demon-possessed and Spirit-born at the same time. The demons that formerly possessed him may come back to tempt him, but he can use God’s Word, believing and obeying it, to resist them, and they will flee (see James 4:7). In the passage we just read, Jesus was making a comparison to describe the deteriorating spiritual condition of His generation. He wasn’t trying to convey that every demon-possessed person who is delivered eventually becomes more demon-possessed.

Application: Today we learned about the varying receptivity of people to the truth. Entire cities sometimes collectively repent, while other, more spiritually privileged groups of people harden their hearts. How would you rate your city’s or country’s receptivity to the truth? Do you think the people are becoming more or less receptive?

This story happened about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, Israel. The Jewish people had a big building something like a church that was called the Temple. God had said that all the men who were descendants of Moses’ brother, Aaron, were supposed to work at the Temple doing various jobs. They were called priests. One of their jobs was to burn incense, something that smelled very nice, in an inner room of the Temple, called “the holy place.”

There were so many descendants of Aaron at the time of this story that they took turns doing the various jobs. It just happened that Zechariah was chosen to be the one to burn incense inside the Temple, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. He was probably really excited to go in the Temple into a special room that few people ever got to see! Imagine how shocked he was when an angel named Gabriel suddenly appeared before him! Have you ever been scared in your own house when you suddenly saw a family member whom you didn’t know was in the same room with you? Think of how you’d feel if it was someone you didn’t recognize. What if it was someone who looked like an angel? No wonder Zechariah was “overwhelmed with fear” (Luke 1:12).

The angel told Zechariah some amazing news: In answer to his prayer, his elderly wife would have a special baby. Zechariah’s son would be a great prophet and preacher, and by the Holy Spirit’s power, he would persuade many people in Israel to quit sinning. That way, they would be prepared for another very special person who was about to come: God in the form of a man!

Zechariah didn’t believe what he heard because he thought he and his wife were too old to have a baby. They were as old or older than your grandparents! But nothing is too hard for God, and Zechariah should have believed what he heard. It was an angel who spoke to him, and that angel had just come from heaven to deliver the message from God.

God was a little bit angry with Zechariah’s unbelief, so He took away Zechariah’s ability to talk for about nine months! God expects us to believe what He says because He never lies. A lesson we can learn from Zechariah is that it is better to say nothing at all than to say something that disagrees with what God has said. God is always right in what He says.

Q. We learned today that many of the Israelite fathers weren’t very good fathers, but when they heard John’s preaching they repented and started to really show their kids that they loved them. What is the most important thing your father or mother could do to show you how much they love you?

A. Teach you about God and the Bible! (So you must have good parents!)

Q. When do you think Zechariah prayed to have a son?

A. Probably many years before when he was a younger man, since he didn’t believe it was possible for his wife to have a baby even after hearing the angel’s message. Our prayers are not always answered as soon as we’d like.

Application: God’s Word is always true, so we should never say anything that contradicts what God has said.

Today we realize even more how wicked the Pharisees were. After witnessing the instantaneous deliverance of a man who had been both blind and unable to talk, they claimed that Jesus got His power to cast out demons from Satan. Most of the other witnesses whose hearts weren’t so hard began wondering out loud if Jesus was the Messiah.

Jesus easily exposed the lie of the Pharisees’ accusation. Why would Satan empower someone to cast out his own evil spirits that he had commissioned? He would be undoing his own work, and if he continued, his kingdom would be doomed to self-destruction.

Jesus also mentioned that some of the Pharisees’ own followers were casting out demons. Were they empowered by Satan as well? The Pharisees would of course deny such a thing, showing their double standard.

Jesus then explained that He cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is much stronger than any evil spirit. The Bible says that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8, NASB). Jesus explained that by using greater power, He was able to “tie up the strong man,” Satan, and rob him of his possessions, the people he’d held captive. He then went on to warn the Pharisees that they were guilty of a sin that could never be forgiven: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What is that? The Pharisees were saying that the marvelous works of the Holy Spirit were actually works of the devil. That is blasphemy, aimed specifically at the Holy Spirit. When someone’s heart is so hard that he can see the power of the Holy Spirit instantly heal a blind and mute man, and then call it the work of Satan, there is no hope for him to be saved. The condition of his heart is so bad that forgiveness is out of the realm of possibilities.

Sometimes the devil convinces young Christians that they have somehow blasphemed the Holy Spirit by something they’ve thought or said. But no true Christian could commit this sin. In fact, if you’re even concerned that you’ve committed this sin, that proves you haven’t, otherwise you wouldn’t be concerned.

Referring to the Pharisees, Jesus said that the condition of their hearts was revealed by their words, just as fruit reveals whether a tree is good or bad. A bad tree can’t produce good fruit, and likewise, evil men can’t say “what is good and right” (Matthew 12:34). When people one day stand before God to be either allowed into heaven or thrown into hell, the words they spoke on earth will be used as evidence to prove whether they are saved or unsaved. People who have truly believed in Jesus will have spoken kind words, forgiving words, words about God and Jesus, words from the Bible, and words of praise and thanksgiving to God. People who have never believed in Jesus will have spoken many hateful, selfish words, words that mocked the Bible and Christians, and even used God’s name as a swear word. Do your words prove that you’re a believer in Jesus?

Q. How do you suppose some of the Pharisees’ own followers were able to cast out demons?

A. We can read in another Gospel something that John once reported to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t one of our group” (Mark 9:38). Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him!…No one who performs miracles in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me” (Mark 9:39). So we learn that other people, even those who weren’t followers of Jesus, were using His name to cast out demons. They had discovered a way to cast out demons that worked: tell the demons to come out in Jesus’ name ! That shows us that there’s a lot of power in the name of Jesus! It also indicates that the followers of the Pharisees who were casting out demons must not have been too devoted to the Pharisees. Their hearts were obviously more open to Jesus, and they were on the verge of believing in Him.

Q. Jesus said that any city or home divided against itself is doomed. Can that same principle be applied to a church?

A. Yes. God wants His people to be unified, but when Christians in the same church start fighting with one another, it can ruin their church. The more unified we are, the stronger we are.

Application: The Holy Spirit is a million times more powerful than any evil spirit from Satan. That’s why the Bible says, “The Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4).

This woman who kissed Jesus’ feet probably had a reputation as a prostitute. Although the Bible contains no such record, it seems likely that Jesus had previously ministered to her, accepting her repentance and forgiving her many sins. Now, at Simon the Pharisee’s house, she returned to show her love and gratitude for her Savior. It’s quite obvious she believed that Jesus was God in the form of a human being: How many people’s feet would you wash with your tears and dry with your hair? How many people’s feet would you repeatedly kiss and perfume? Hopefully only God’s!

This story, for several reasons, also affirms that Jesus was who He claimed to be. First, because Jesus allowed the woman to do all those things to His feet, and there’s no evidence that He was the least bit uncomfortable with it. Why? Because He was God, and God deserves to be worshipped. Would you allow someone to do that to you? Hopefully not! Any other human being who allowed another person to perform such a worshipful act would be guilty of great pride.

Second, Jesus told the woman that her sins were forgiven, something that only God has a right to do, as those present that day realized. If Jesus wasn’t God, then He was one of the most evil people who ever lived, because He knowingly deceived people into believing that He was God and accepted worship of which only God is worthy. If you don’t love Jesus, then you hate Him! But nobody should be neutral about Him, because He wasn’t, as some think, “just a good man.” Simon the Pharisee thought that what he was witnessing proved that Jesus wasn’t even a God-sent prophet.

Simon assumed that a God-sent prophet would automatically know how immoral the woman was. It hadn’t occurred to him that Jesus was God and that the woman had repented and had been forgiven by Him. So Jesus explained to him what was happening before his eyes. He was witnessing a redeemed person worshipping God with humble gratitude. Because she had been forgiven of so many sins, she was especially thankful, and it showed.

Then Jesus compared her actions with Simon’s. Simon hadn’t even offered Jesus the common courtesies of that day which any dinner guest should have received. No doubt Simon had a servant wash the feet of his other guests when they arrived, but he hadn’t even offered Jesus water to wash His own feet! Yet the forgiven woman washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Simon hadn’t greeted Jesus with a common kiss of greeting as he had his other guests, but the forgiven woman repeatedly kissed His feet, an act of adoration. Neither had Simon extended to Jesus the common courtesy of anointing His head with olive oil as he probably had done for his other guests, but the forgiven woman anointed Jesus’ feet with rare and very expensive perfume.

Simon’s discourtesy revealed that he didn’t invite Jesus to his house for dinner in order to get to know Him or ask Him honest questions, but to set Him up before his other Pharisee friends, so they could have a close-up chance to find fault with Him. They hated Jesus, and wanted to prove He wasn’t even a God-sent prophet. How sad! If they had known and believed the truth, there would have been no room for the forgiven woman near Jesus’ feet, because they would have all been on their knees there, weeping for their sins and asking for His forgiveness!

Q. How was the forgiven woman able to perform her act of worship while Jesus was eating with Simon and some other Pharisees? Do you think that she crawled under the table or did she stick her head under His chair?

A. That was a trick question! In Jesus’ day, people ate their meals lying on their sides around a very low table, their legs pointed outward like spokes on a bicycle wheel. The woman in today’s story knelt behind Jesus’ feet and legs, where she was easily able to wash His feet with her tears and dry them with her hair.

Q. According to Jesus, what was it that channeled salvation from Him to the immoral woman?

A. Her faith in Him.

Q. How can we be certain that she did possess saving faith?

A. Her humble act of worship revealed her faith. She publicly, without shame, demonstrated that she believed Jesus was God. All true Christians possess a deep gratitude to God for the forgiveness of their sins, and it shows by how they live their lives.

Application: Jesus said that a person who has been forgiven much, loves much, and a person who has been forgiven of little, loves little. Actually, all of us who are saved have been forgiven of much more than we realize. Does your love and gratitude for Jesus show by how you live?

The United States Marines often advertise for recruits, saying they are looking for “a few good men.” Jesus, however, found a few good men and women as the first recruits for His growing army. They loved Him because He first loved them. According to what we just read, some of the female recruits had been previously ill or demon-possessed. Mary Magdalene, whom you will one day meet in heaven, had been delivered of seven demons, which tells us that she had been in a horrible condition before she met Jesus. Unsaved people can allow the entrance of demons into them by practicing wicked things, and so it’s quite possible that Mary Magdalene was formerly a very sinful person. But Jesus delivered and forgave her, and now she was following Him closely. She was the very first person to see Him after He had risen from the dead!

Another one of Jesus’ female followers was Joanna, the wife of Herod’s business manager. She, along with Mary Magdalene, was one of the first people to see Christ’s empty tomb. She also helped to support Jesus and His disciples financially. Since Joanna’s husband made his living working for Herod, it was actually some of Herod’s money that was used to buy food for Jesus.

People who are true followers of Christ, male or female, want to support His cause, and one of the ways they do that is with their money. Today, Christ’s followers financially support His cause by giving money to their church, missionaries and mission works. Anyone who claims to be Christ’s follower (and who makes money) but gives no money to Christ’s cause is only fooling himself. Do you give a portion of the money you receive to Christ’s cause?

Joanna and her husband, who worked for the occupying Roman government’s ruler were probably looked upon by most other Jews as traitors. But Jesus gladly accepted her as a member of His band of disciples, right along with a number of other people even though their reputations might hurt His. But Jesus was motivated by pure love, and He was unconcerned what judgmental people might think of Him because of those with whom He associated. We should follow His example.

Today we also read about another Mary and her sister Martha, two women who were very good friends of Jesus. Jesus visited their home one day, and as Martha diligently worked to prepare dinner, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching. Martha was trying to be a good hostess, worrying about every little detail, and she became angry that her sister wasn’t helping her with all the preparations.

Under most other circumstances, her anger might have been justified, because her sister should have been helping her. But that day, God was visiting their house! That doesn’t happen often! Jesus commended Mary for her right priorities. Spiritual food is more important than physical food, especially when it is being served by God Himself!

Q. If there is work to be done at your house by you and your brother(s) and/or sister(s), based on what Jesus told Mary, is it OK if you don’t help carry your share as long as you grab your Bible and start reading it?

A. Sorry! You can read your Bible any time, and you certainly shouldn’t use Bible reading as an excuse to get out of acting like a Christian! Mary’s case was different because Jesus was physically present and was teaching. I suppose if He had been taking a nap, He would have agreed with Martha.

Q. What do you think Jesus would say to the person who skips church on Sunday morning because he or she has so much to do to prepare for the church picnic on Sunday afternoon?

A. He would tell them that their priorities were mixed up.

Application: God loves women just as much as men. Therefore, no Christians should think of themselves as being superior to the opposite sex.

While John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod (see Matthew 11:2), it was apparent that he began to doubt that Jesus actually was the Messiah, even though he had seen the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus at His baptism. Just as we often do, John began to battle doubts when he faced adversity. This shows us that John was an ordinary person like the rest of us.

Jesus replied to John’s questions by speaking of His authenticating miracles. The blind, lame, deaf and leprous were being healed. Even the dead were being raised. Only the Messiah sent from God could do such things.

John’s doubts may have also stemmed from his misunderstanding of God’s Word, just as our misunderstanding of God’s Word sometimes fuels our doubts. Perhaps John was expecting the Messiah to set up the long-awaited kingdom, as the Old Testament promised He would. John’s problem is that he didn’t sufficiently understand all that the Old Testament promised concerning the Messiah. With His reply, Jesus may have been pointing him back to Scripture, specifically to a messianic prophecy in the book of Isaiah. Jesus knew John realized that Isaiah 40:3 was a reference to his own ministry. John had once quoted it, explaining his identity to some Jewish priests: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, Ô Prepare a straight pathway for the Lord’s coming.'” In His reply to John, Jesus may very well have been quoting from Isaiah 61:1, a passage that refers to the Messiah’s healing and preaching ministry.

Although John experienced temporary doubts about Jesus, Jesus still called him the greatest man who ever lived. This indicated that John wasn’t great because of anything he did, but because of what God did through him. He was chosen before conception in his mother’s womb to be a prophet, a prophet who would prepare the way for the Messiah. His ministry had been foretold in the Old Testament. God made him into a bold, anointed preacher, and multitudes of people repented as a result.

The amazing thing that Jesus said is that “even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of God” will be greater than John the Baptist. John was the greatest person who ever lived because of what God did through him, but every one of us will one day be able to rightly consider ourselves greater, because of what God will do through us in His kingdom! Wow! Perhaps it will be then that Jesus’ amazing promise of John 14:12 will come to pass: “The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…” John the Baptist never performed any miracles, but, speaking of His miracles (see John 14:12), Jesus said all believers would do the same works and even greater works! Can you imagine being used by God to heal the blind, lame and deaf, or raise someone from the dead? The Bible says that we will one day rule with Jesus for a thousand years over the whole earth, and perhaps it is then that we can look forward to being used by God so greatly!

Q. When we are tempted to doubt that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God, what would be the best way we could eradicate our doubts?

A. By re-examining the evidence for these facts in the Bible. God’s Word builds faith within us.

Application: In the final part of today’s reading, Jesus compared those who rejected Him to children arguing with one another, who, no matter what, can’t be pleased. Jesus’ enemies found fault with John the Baptist for his fasting and abstinence, and criticized Jesus for His feasting and drinking. It wasn’t that they couldn’t believe; it was that they didn’t want to believe, and so they used any and every excuse they could think of to remain unbelieving and disobedient. As sad as it may seem, there are some people who will never be convinced to believe the gospel.

O, how I would love to have been present to see this miracle in person! How about you? If we use our imaginations, however, picturing in our minds what happened that day outside the gate of Nain, we can still share in some of the thrill of the eyewitnesses.

A weeping woman, who had already suffered the tragedy of her husband’s death, is now following the funeral procession of her only son, trudging to the place where a fresh grave has been dug in the ground, right beside the place where her husband’s body lay. Carried on a pallet in front of her is her son’s lifeless body, cold, still and white, a child who once walked, laughed and held her hand. She has no other children of her own to comfort her, but her relatives and neighbors are walking with her, weeping out loud, sympathetic to her adversity, but helpless to do anything to reverse her misfortune. Many are wondering why God would allow their friend to face such anguish, and at the same time, secretly thankful that they are not wearing her shoes. Her future looks bleak with no husband or son to support her. How could things be worse?

That day the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the village of Nain, with a plan to turn mourning into joy and to glorify the Son of God. When Jesus saw the funeral procession, His “heart overflowed with compassion” (Luke 7:13), and He walked over to the coffin bearers and stopped them. Then, with the same spoken power He used to create the universe, Jesus commanded the dead boy to get up, which he instantly did! Shock waves of astonishment rippled through the crowd as the boy began speaking. He was dead, but now is truly alive! As the stunned crowd tried to make sense of what their eyes had just witnessed, Jesus helped the boy from his funeral pallet and gave him to his mother. No doubt they embraced with tears of joy and praise to God.

Although Jesus doesn’t intervene every time people face similar tragedies, this story should remind us that He does care deeply when we suffer. Additionally, it proves that Jesus has power over death, and strengthens our faith that He is certainly the Son of God. There are no other religions in the world that claim that their founder raised people from the dead!

Q. Can you think of a reason why someone being raised from the dead is a greater miracle than someone being healed?

A. When a person is raised from the dead, he also has to be healed of whatever killed him, otherwise he’d immediately die again. Additionally, every cell in his body is healed, because all of them die once he’s dead.

Q. What do you think would have been your reaction if you had seen Jesus perform this miracle?

Application: Our Savior is master over death, and we’ve been delivered from our fear of it (see Hebrews 2:15). One day Jesus will resurrect every person who has died, and one day we will be united with our loved ones who have died in Christ. The joy this widow experienced when her son came back to life is nothing compared to the joy we’ll have in heaven!

Because Jesus ministered in Israel, a nation predominantly inhabited by Jewish people, most of the people He helped were Jewish. However, during Jesus’ time, Israel was controlled by the Roman Empire, so there were also Roman governmental leaders and soldiers living there. This Roman soldier of whom we just read was called a centurion, which meant he was an army officer in charge of one hundred other soldiers.

According to Luke’s account, the centurion was a good man who loved the Jewish people, and he even helped them build a synagogue. These facts, along with what we’ve read about his words and actions as he related to Jesus, indicate to us that he was a godly man. He even considered himself unworthy to personally meet Jesus, sending some respected Jewish leaders to take his request for his servant to be healed.

Upon learning of the centurion’s desire, Jesus, without hesitation, began heading toward his house. However, when the centurion heard the news that Jesus was coming, he realized that the Jewish leaders he’d sent had partially misunderstood his request. He wasn’t expecting Jesus to actually come to his house, but if He would just speak a word where He was, that would bring healing to his servant. He considered himself unworthy to have Jesus in his home, again revealing his high regard for Jesus. Perhaps he even realized that Jesus was God in the form of a human being. So he quickly sent another messenger, hoping to convey to Jesus before He arrived that it was not necessary for Him to come. Just as he had authority over other soldiers who obeyed his commands, he believed Jesus had authority over all sickness, and that He didn’t have to be physically present to heal his servant.

Jesus was amazed by the Roman centurion’s faith, a faith that was stronger than what He had yet encountered among Jewish people. He then seized the opportunity to tell everyone present that the kingdom of heaven is wide open to non-Jewish people who have faith. In fact, He said that many people who aren’t Jewish will feast in heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while many Jewish people who don’t believe in Him will be cast into hell, where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). That was shocking news for the Jews, who prided themselves as being God’s special people. They despised anyone who was not Jewish, calling them “dogs.” Praise God that anyone who believes in Jesus can be saved! If you believe in Jesus, you’ll get to eat one day with this centurion in heaven, along with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

For the centurion, his faith in Jesus not only paid off for eternity, but also during his earthly life, as his dying servant was healed “that same hour” (Matthew 7:13).

Q. You probably noticed that Matthew and Luke’s versions of the same story were slightly different. Matthew said that the centurion personally made his request of Jesus, whereas Luke said that the centurion sent some Jewish leaders on his behalf. Some people claim that this contradiction proves that this story is just a myth, making the Bible unreliable. Does it?

A. No. There are numerous details in this story that are identical, and only one apparent contradiction. Matthew must have either not known the detail of the Jewish leaders’ involvement, or he simply chose not to include it, purposely condensing the story a little bit. When two people report the same incident, it’s not unusual for one to omit details the other might include.

Q. Jesus talked about people eating in heaven, so there must be people who will have mouths and stomachs there. He also talked about people weeping and gnashing their teeth in hell, indicating that there will be people there with eyes and mouths. How can this be true if, when people die, they leave their bodies behind, and only their spirits go to heaven or hell?

A. The answer is that everyone, saved and unsaved, will one day receive new bodies. Those bodies will be somewhat different from what we have now, because they will never die, but will also be similar to our present bodies in some ways. Christians will receive their new bodies when Jesus comes back. The unsaved people now in hell will not receive resurrected bodies until after Jesus reigns for one thousand years on the earth. Then they will stand before the final judgment and be cast bodily into the lake of fire (see Revelation 20:5-6, 11-15).

Application: Although some Christians don’t want to face up to this fact, it is entirely scriptural: Those who trust Jesus receive blessings in this life that aren’t received by those who don’t believe. Jesus said the centurion had greater faith than any Jewish person He’d met. How do you think He would evaluate your faith?