NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 24

Luke 24:1-53

24:1 Those most faithful to Jesus continue to visit and tend His tomb.

24:2 During one of their routine visits, they notice that the tomb has been opened. 

24:3 They investigated but found the tomb to be empty.

24:4 As they are trying to understand the situation, with much anxiety, they are joined by two angels. Angels, messengers of God, shine with the light of God's love, truth and wisdom. 

24:5 At the appearance of the two angels, the women are astonished; their immediate reaction is to bow down to these angels who are shining with the life of God. They angels ask the women a question: Why do you search for Jesus in a cemetery where the dead are? By this, the angels mean to remind the women that Jesus is alive in God, always. Incapable of death.

This is elemental in the foundation of our faith as well: Jesus worked to teach us to elevate our faith because He wanted us to realize that our God is a living God, who created us with the intention of keeping us, eternally. When someone leaves they earth, they are not gone, but reformed with God.

24:6 The angels remind the women that Jesus Himself informed and prepared them for His rise after the crucifixion. 

24:7 The angels use the specific words of Jesus to recall the memory in their minds...

24:8 Suddenly the women remember. It was a difficult concept for them to comprehend but now that they are facing the reality of it right before their eyes, they realize its truth.

24:9-11 The women return to the rest of the group to inform them of the truth just delivered to them by the angels but they are reluctant to believe them.  

24:12 The message did resonate with Peter -- he reexamined the tomb and noticed that while Jesus' body was seemingly absent, the clothes He wore were still lying there. Peter has a private realization that Jesus indeed rose after "death."

24:13 Two of Jesus' followers were travelling. 

24:14 Together they discussed and recounted the events of Jesus' crucifixion. This was a massive event for the world and they experienced it -- we can imagine that their emotions were so complex and prominent that they couldn't do anything but discuss it with each other. 

24:15 These two were very passionate about their faith in God and love for Jesus, and for this reason, something very beautiful was about to happen to them.  Jesus Himself joined them, but this time, Jesus in His eternal, spiritual form. 

24:16 At the time, the two men were so consumed by emotion that they did not realize the presence of He whom they so loved. Jesus, in His spiritual form, was able to appear however He wished and at first, He wanted to present Himself to the men the exact same way He lived His life: humbly. Jesus did not appear to them with flash and brilliance (thought He could have) He appeared as a simple, modest figure -- and they did not recognize Him.

24:17 Jesus joins the two disciples and asks why they are sad. The men interpret this to mean that the person posing the question is unaware of the events which took place concerning Jesus. However, when Jesus asks why they are sad... we can understand that He means: why be sad when God's will was performed and Jesus rose in life and success with Him? Jesus questions the quality of their faith as they so quickly forgot everything they were taught.

24:18-24 The travelers recount to Jesus the events they assume He is unaware of.

24:25 Jesus wants them to be firm in their faith! If they believed Jesus while He was alive, they should remain firm in believing all of the truth that He taught -- that He would rise and return to them. We all have to follow through with our faith otherwise it is weak.

24:26 For everything Jesus did and stood for, He certainly qualified Himself for a place in God's house. 

24:27 Jesus, ever the teacher, began to remind them of all the scripture that spoke concerning Jesus' life, death and Resurrection. 

24:28-29 The disciples reach their destination and, kind souls that they are, invite this mystery-Person to say with them, instead of travelling alone.

24:30 Jesus sits down with them and fulfills His promise -- to sit and eat with them after the resurrection. Luke 22:15-16. 

24:31 Immediately the disciples' faith returns to them and they realize that Jesus is with them, returned as promised. 

24:32 The had an inkling that something was going on while they traveled, the wisdom of Jesus was with them and they felt it but had not yet put it together.

24:33-35 The disciples return to Jerusalem and use their own experience to repeat what the women had said in the beginning, Jesus had returned to them. 

24:36 Jesus appears to the group as they all begin to realize the truth and wishes peace to them.

24:37 They were amazed because Jesus had appeared to them in His spiritual form -- entirely different from the forms we live in on Earth. And Jesus' form is brilliant and amazing and they are stunned. 

24:38 Jesus wants to know why they are so distressed and why the doubted His truths -- it's important to Jesus that we listen to what He says, work to understand it, and they believe it with all of our hearts. 

24:39-40 Jesus offers them the opportunity to study Him -- the determine for themselves that it is indeed Him, but in another form.

24:41-43 This quite a funny scene if we envision it. Jesus' new form has completely thrown this group off. First the experienced the miracle of following Him and learning from Him... they fell in love with the Word and then had to watch Jesus be killed. Their hearts were heavy and clouded with deep emotion. And then -- Jesus appears to them without any wounds, without any pain or sadness and munches on some food like nothing happened. Of course... a LOT happened, but Jesus really wanted to show them the truth: there is no sadness or fear when we return to God. Jesus was never scared of death because He knew that children of God never die. This is a lesson He still needed to explain and teach to the disciples. 

He's basically saying: See! You never had to worry! Lighten up, God is alive and full of love for you. 

24:44-45 Jesus connected the dots for them: He reminded them of everything He taught, that He was never in any danger but needed to fulfill God's word in order to set in motion a message for world and the first disciples. He opened their understanding to absorb the truth of His words because they were truly trying to comprehend. 

24:46-48 It had to have happened the way it did happen, Jesus explains. His life was devoted to teaching God's brilliant message against evil and Jesus' life and death on earth accomplished that. They were witnesses of the events and they are important because they became the first teachers of Jesus' word... which has spread across the globe and across generation. 

24:49 Jesus gives them Godspeed... their faith enables them to be strengthened and propelled by God's grace (and yours enables you to be the same). Jesus wanted them to truly solidify in their faith before they went out teaching because they needed to be firm and strong in their faith otherwise it would crumble.

24:50 He led them... He physically walked them through their first steps (as He does with you). And He remains with us as we continue to walk and work in faith but His presence transforms to something more spiritual... because an entity so beautiful must return to heaven... but guess what, He works from Home! He blesses them (and you).

24:51-52 His teaching of the disciples completed, Jesus ascend back into heaven, the Home He is made of. And after his ascension, the disciples are filled with strength of faith. They devote their entire lives to teaching and spreading His message... through their passionate acts beliefs. 

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 23

Luke 23:1-56

23:1-2 The accusations against Jesus are without base, truth or even logic. These adversaries of his want to be powerful and they want to oppress others in order to become wealthy... Jesus stands in the way of their ability to do so and therefore they fabricate lies against Him. 

This still a problem in today's world. Many religions and religious figures are corrupt, only pretending to be holy but actually do not live out God's word in their lives. Many are corrupted by desire for fame, power and control. Fancy churches are perfect examples where people are neglecting the suffering of the world in order to build impressive, ornate buildings. 

Read the word of God for yourself and study with Him so that you are never led astray by these false teachers.

23:3 Pilate simply asks Jesus if He is this person... and Jesus responds that Pilate is correct in assuming that Jesus is that He is indeed the teacher who led the people of Judea (but also the world as humanity spread throughout it). 

23:4 Pilate, being a sensible man, cannot find fault in Jesus (because there was no fault to find!)

23:5 Jesus' enemies however, were firm in wanted Him gone... they demanded His death despite being able to justify it.

23:6-7 Pilate did not want to be a part of the corrupt situation... He knew that Jesus was innocent in did not want to condemn and innocent man. Pilate had Jesus relocated to Galilee. 

23:8 In Galilee, Herod was amazed to have Jesus... he wanted Jesus to prove himself. 

23:9 We already know that Jesus will not prove Himself to teach the word of God... Jesus wants people to believe based on the love and healing that He gives them. Jesus wants people's love... He does not desire to impress them with tricks.

23:10-11 Herod and the rest of Jesus' adversaries began again to behave aggressively toward Jesus. They wanted a show and Jesus would not deign to deliver such a farce to them. If they wanted proof of God, they would have to behave and learn just as everybody else did. Their evil and impatience revealed them as horrible souls.

Jesus does not defend Himself because He knows that He cannot be killed or harmed by men... Jesus is protected by God always. So are you.

23:12 Greedy as he is, Herod does not want to do the corrupt deed of killing Jesus and so he refers Jesus back to Pilate.

23:13-16 Neither Pilate nor Herod could find fault in Jesus and rather than give into the angry, senseless crowd of adversaries' demands, they refuse to kill Jesus. Pilate agrees to chastise Jesus (in order to try to placate their anger) but will not kill Him.

23:17 Pilate will have the opportunity to release Jesus as cultural tradition allowed for the release of a prisoner during the feast.

23:18-20 However, instead of allowing Jesus' release... the evil crowd demands the release of an actual criminal, Barabbas. 

23:21 They demand for Jesus to be crucified... out of their greed and evil they seek to kill an innocent person.

23:22-25 Pilate refuses... he does not to kill an innocent man, but the crowd is persistent and Pilate weakens in his resolve to do the right thing. Jesus is handed over to His enemies and his death becomes even more visibly imminent. 

23:26-27 Those who love Jesus are with Him right through the end. Expressing their love and despair at this despicable circumstance. 

23:28 Even facing what He was, Jesus continues to teach. Jesus wants His students (even until now!) to remain vigilant. Do not weep for those who leave the earth because they reunite with God. Jesus wants us to be prepared to face life here on earth, where it is our job to defend goodness. 

23:29 This a metaphor: Our spiritual union with God is symbolized here as a marriage. Blessed are the people who do not "divorce" the true God, and produce the works of a false (and corrupt) god. 

23:30 Jesus explains that when the true God presents Himself to humanity on the earth, many people will be so ashamed at their wicked behavior but will not be able to hide from it or God.

23:31 Be brave, Jesus teaches, because if evil was strong while He was here... imagine how much more they will try to get away with once He appears to be gone. We do not have to fear anything... when we develop our faith we can face all things with success and purpose. We can drive out darkness and evil with our light and compassion.

Jesus is the greenwood: the healthy, thriving, eternal youth of God... His time away from Earth with God, will be a metaphorically "dry" time for earth and humanity.

23:32-33 Jesus is positioned between two actual criminals. This is placement makes me think of couple of things: 1) Jesus came to earth, in the midst of evil, and yet He came alive through God... and He brought so many to life with His love and wisdom despite the bleak situation. 2) It also makes me thing about how blind and ignorant humans can be... to have the right decision, the truth right in front of their eyes but evil and greed corrupting their ability to admit it. 

23:34 One of the most beautiful, forgiving, revealing moments in the Bible. Jesus has compassion on even His brutal enemies. Jesus requests forgiveness for them. Wow. Jesus loves Humanity, He came to earth and taught despite knowing He would suffer for it. He came for all of humanity... He extends His love even to the people who do not seem to deserve it. His love is so strong... even for His enemies, imagine what it will do for those who love Him back! 

Jesus is given many gifts from God (all of them are also offered to us, as devout, compassionate students) and He forgives people who are too corrupt to see and earn them. Amazing. Once again, it's quite obvious why God loves Jesus so deeply. He's perfect in compassion, patience, humility and love. 

While He prays for them, they harm Him... He is so strong, so kind. He teaches a message in everything He does and says.

23:35 The brutal mocking continues. These people are so ignorant of God's omnipotence... that He controls everything and that they would not even exist without His creation. 

23:36-38 Jesus did not take anything from them, symbolic because we should not accept anything from a corrupt situation or person. Also: Jesus does not need saving. When we love God, we cannot be killed... we live eternally, spiritual in and with God. Actually, corrupt men, Jesus is the ruler of the world! 

23:39 One of the criminals beside Jesus, who believes, asks Jesus to save Himself and them also with Him. In doing this, he reveals his faith. 

23:40 The other criminal grows worried but also shows his faith in this way: he's worried because he's done wrong in his life and truly believes he will have to face God and explain his actions. He's actually humbled to be punished along with Jesus... and fearful because he will arrive before God at the same time as Jesus and look all the more... lackluster and corrupt. 

23:41 This criminal admits that he deserves disappoint because he did do wrong... but he reveals his faith by admitting that Jesus is innocent.

23:42 This man, even though he had committed wrongdoings, is faithful and owns up to his mistakes. He reveals his faith by asking Jesus to think of Him... to forgive him.

23:43 We know that Jesus and God are forgiving and kind. Jesus perceives that the man is earnest and therefore he is forgiven and welcome into God's home.

Side note: This is a perfect place to point out that while the process of baptism can be beautiful symbolic pronunciation of your faith, it is your heart, soul and efforts on earth which earn you a place heaven. This criminal had not converted until the very end of his life, never had the chance for baptism, yet was welcomed yet.

23:44 This was an unusual natural occurrence; the earth turned dark in the middle of the day for several hours. God is the creator of everything: the entire universe reacts when His will comes into fruition. 

23:45 The corrupt temple was torn, split... revealed for its corruption. God wanted to make it entirely clear to everyone that these people were corrupt and evil and their establishment was representative of that.

23:46 Jesus used His last breath on earth to profess His love and commitment of His soul to God. We trust our lives in God's hands. His will supports, protects and inspires us. 

23:47-48 The events inspired some people then and there to recognize the truth of Jesus' message. There were passionate reacts from all of the crowd. There reactions of conversion to God's side, fear, anger, sadness... the entire universe was shaken. 

23:49 Jesus' followers remained watchful and brave. They remained with Him, physically and spiritually. As God's children, we must also watch. The world is desperate for compassion right now and we must be brave and aligned with God in everything we do and experience. His love will support us through the suffering of the world today. He will work with us to bring joy and saftey to those who need it -- and what a blessed opportunity.

23:50-52 Joseph, a faithful, compassionate man claims Jesus' body to ensure it is respected. 

23:53 Jesus' body was brought to a resting place (the kind of place that was cultural reserved for wealthy people). This is symbolic because even those Jesus was born "poor," in a manger, His love of God became His wealth... He accomplished so much success.

23:54-56 Those most faithful to Jesus, never left His side. Symbolic: never leave His side, He never leaves yours (even though He isn't physically visible... His love is strongly felt). 

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 22

Luke 22:1-71

22:1 Passover, traditionally a celebration of God's protection of His children, was near. Multitudes of people were preparing to celebrate because Jesus' message resonated with them.

22:2 Knowing that the holiday would enliven Jesus' following, the chief priests and scribes (the leaders of the the church and community) tried to plan a way to kill Jesus. Before Jesus, they had complete control over all of these people who found safety in Jesus. They were not kind leaders and therefore nobody remained obedient to them once offered the strength Jesus taught them. The chief priests and the scribes wanted their control back and were willing to kill Jesus to get it. 

22:3-6 We can understand from this post that Judas, one of the 12 disciples, was overcome with some of the qualities Satan represents: greed, deceit. We can also analyze this in a deeper way: the good, kind people of the world are followers of Jesus (whether they realize it or not, their actions qualify them as His family) and the evil, deceitful people of the world are followers of Satan (whether they realize it or not, their actions qualify them as Satan's family). The scribes and chief priests are representative of Satan and when Jesus gets in their way, like Satan, they desire to have His power. So, whether Satan physically entered Judas or not, the works of Satan were done through him.

Important to keep in mind: Judas later "weeps bitterly" over his betrayal of Jesus. He throws the money he received from the deal to the ground. Our God is a forgiving God and when we are sincere in being apologetic for our mistakes, He accepts us. 

22:7-13 Jesus knows every detail of the next (and last) hours of His life. God prepared Jesus well, to the last, tiniest detail. Jesus knows this meal will be His last and in these versus He makes it very clear that all along, He was omniscient. Where they will have the last meal is established with ease. 

22:14 Jesus sits down to the last supper with the disciples.

22:15 Jesus is so passionate in His love for His students. It's beautiful to Him to spend the time with them before the world's history and future is changed forever. There's nowhere else He would rather be than right there with them, teaching and supporting them. 

22:16 Jesus informs them of how soon His death will be... He's entirely aware that this is His last meal but He is not nervous. He is not afraid. He's dining with the people He loves and He's so focused on God's home that He does not fear leaving this one. 

22:17 A metaphorical verse: Jesus takes the sustenance from God, gives His gratitude to God, and then spreads it to His students so that they will understand God's love.

22:18 Such a moment will not present itself again for a long time, Jesus is informing them. He'll return to heaven and humanity will continue through its journey on earth.

22:19 Another metaphorical verse: Everything that Jesus is and offers to humanity is a gift from God and He is thankful for it. Jesus wishes for us to also receive gifts from God and to be thankful and importantly, to spread them to others. 

22:20 The metaphor Jesus creates is that His message is to become the blood which sustains our life. Indeed it does.

22:21 Jesus is also aware of which disciple will betray Him... but He isn't angry or confrontational, or even scared. Jesus understands that God's will must unfold on the world. God offers us complete freedom to be who we want to be and to do the things we want to do. He's a just God... allowing for His children to reject Him if they want to. Jesus also knows that a strong, eternal message will come from His death on earth and will spread throughout the world for generations. After His death and transfiguration, He will have exemplified that there is no death for those loved by God. His spent His entire life spreading love and wisdom and even in His "death" He continued to do so.

22:22 Jesus goes as it has been determined. We give our trust to God's will because He loves us so much; His plan is the perfect path for us to become wonderful students of His.

22:23 The disciples are flummoxed, and truly the events about to unfold around them were extraordinary.

22:24 The disciples still have lessons to learn and luckily for them (and us) Jesus was still around to teach to them. They wonder, of the 12, who will be the greatest disciple. This argument is contradictory to everything Jesus had taught them. God's children are humble and do not seek reward. God's children do things out of the compassion of their heart, not for gain, but because it's the right thing to do and they love their responsibility to do it!

The disciples take extra long to learn and I believe this is for our benefit. Their struggles teach us that it's okay to take a journey of learning the bible. You study it, you put time and effort into it and you don't have to be perfect on your first read! Their difficulty understanding concepts helps us because it leads Jesus to reiterate principles we might have missed otherwise. 

Jesus is going to explain the way God organizes and the way humanity does.

22:25 Humanity creates systems of authority, where the ruler has control over the population (and frequently abuses their power). The people in positions of authority reap (greedily) the rewards of having control over everything and everyone.

22:26 God's organization is equal for all: Jesus, the manifestation of humility and compassion, even Himself serves. God does not rule over people... He creates a spiritual world in which all souls work and live together (all with the same privileges).

The same organization can be applied to our hearts while we are here on Earth. God equips us with the compassion to help others, to "serve" Him is to work WITH Him and it's a blessed privileged. God allows us to accomplish things with Him. He's humble, He loves to share blessings and spread blessings through your actions.

22:27 Jesus explains that He came to earth also as a servant. He sits with the disciples expecting nothing of them that He Himself does not do. Jesus is fair... He exemplifies entirely the life He wishes and teaches us to live. He doesn't use His position to control people... no, He shares everything He has and He works so hard every moment of His life to do God's will. Beautiful things are accomplished when we do this.

22:28-30 All souls who live and work as Jesus did are welcome to the gifts and promises given by God. God knows that you will defend, protect, inspire, create moments of compassion for others and He is so delighted by that. So proud of you. 

22:31 Simon-Peter, as we reach in previous chapters, will deny Jesus out of fear. His fear will temporarily dismantle his faith.

"Satan" and even that which he stands for, constantly tempt God's children away from Him. Greed takes pleasure in corrupting good hearts. God has faith that His children will be strong and when they need support, He's right there to help them through.

22:32 Simon-Peter however, has Jesus' prayer and therefore cannot be lost. Jesus will pray for you too if you speak with Him, work with Him to be a kind, productive soul. Jesus is leading us, supporting us and in return He hopes that we will take what we have learned and use it to support others.

22:33 Not having Jesus' perfect foresight, Simon-Peter cannot believe or understand that his faith will fail him when he is under pressure. This is why we should trust and love God, He understands our past, present and future, knows our shortcomings and loves and helps us through them.

22:34 This will be a lesson for Simon-Peter but also one for us. As our faith develops, we can expect more and more from it. Our experiences on earth teach us ways to be stronger and more brave. We aren't usually perfect on our first try, but if we realize that this time on earth is the perfect opportunity to work hard to get it right...we eventually do.

22:35 Jesus is wrapping up the package of His teaching to ensure the disciples (and we) got the message. If you are on Earth and all you have is God's love... you have everything you need to be happy, purposeful and successful. Jesus reminds the disciples that they went out teaching without any provisions and yet they were entirely successful and never lacked for a single thing.

As you develop your faith, this truth will become more and more obvious to you. God truly does take care of His children. God knows what you need and you mean everything to Him; He's told you that it's His great pleasure to ensure you are well taken care of. Luke 12:32 By developing your faith in Him, you give Him permission guide and enhance your life. Truly, He is all we need.

22:36-38 Jesus was teaching them to metaphorically suit up for the events which would soon take place: His crucifixion. Jesus wanted them to be informed, prepared and courageous in their faith in order to handle the betrayal which would lead to Jesus' exit from earth for a long time. Courage in your faith is always enough.

22:39-40 The disciples continue to follow Jesus and Jesus reminds them to continue to follow Him, even when His presence is no longer immediately apparent. Never succumb to the temptation or pressure to go against your work ethic or compassion. 

22:41 Jesus always prays to God... Their communication is constant... and ours should be as well. Jesus begins an extremely important, expressive, passionate prayer. This prayer is often misunderstood so let's take a look at in in order to extract all of the true depth and meaning.

22:42 Jesus is not afraid of facing His "death." Throughout Jesus' life, He has remained faithful and courageous in and through God. Jesus knew of His death before coming and during each moment of His life and He never feared or doubted. What Jesus is asking God for in this prayer is for any other possible way to filter the good souls from the bad. Jesus' foresight informs Him of all that will take place in Humanity's time here (right up to now, what the world is currently facing and beyond) and Jesus saw that humanity would go through a lot of suffering. Jesus prayed for another fair way to give all humans the freedom they deserved but at the end of His prayer: Jesus gives His faith to God's will. God has allowed for this world to provide us the opportunities to become our true, authentic selves with complete freedom. Unfortunately, some of God's children use their freedom to do evil. In this way, the good souls from the bad are filtered. Jesus loves us, He wishes for us to never experience any pain or sadness, but He understands that God always lays out the best plan for us. 

Trust God. His will, not ours, will lead us. 

22:43 Jesus was experience acute anxiety, His abundant love for humanity filled Him and He wanted so to remain with us... He knew that God's plan was best, but it was so hard for Him to prepare to leave us (in physical form). He loves us so much... He knows that He is always with us, but He also knows that we forget that. God sends Jesus a comforter, and God will send you the same if you need it. John 14:16.

22:44 Jesus' devotion to humanity was pouring from Him. Understand how passionately you are loved. We are Jesus' every ounce of life, everything He is made of is meant to support and inspire our compassion. 

22:45-46 This is a metaphor. Jesus steps aside to pray to God, essentially to be with Him for a time, and while He is away, the disciples fall asleep. This was a symbol because Jesus was preparing to do just that...to go away with God for awhile... and He knew that much of humanity would "go to sleep" or fall away from Him and His love and message.

22:47 The symbol continues, Jesus teaches us to be prepared but because so many do not listen, they find themselves caught off guard in the moments they needed to be ready. Jesus is about the be captured by the chief priests and the scribes because of their deal with Judas. Remember that God allowed for the chief priests and the scribes freedom to make this decision... if God wanted to, He could strip all of us of our freedom... but He's fair, He would not do that.

22:48 Jesus is always aware of the events happening and about to happen. 

22:49-50 The disciples react with anger -- they begin to fight the adversaries. However, Jesus reminds them that they must allow God's will to unfold.

22:51 Even until the end, Jesus always heals and gives compassion. He heals the ear of His enemy because He represents a God of love and forgiveness. God's will is defended by love and justice but never violence. Jesus walks the walk... everything He stands for He exemplifies. He is not violent or aggressive. 

22:52 Jesus asks His adversaries why they arrived with so many weapons -- and truly they were ridiculous for at least two reasons: 1) no weapon can defeat or even hinder God's will and 2) Jesus was entirely peaceful His entire life! There is no need to use a weapon on a peace-maker (and yet corrupt humans do it all the time).

22:53 Their plan continues to be ridiculous. Jesus tells them that they had the opportunity to capture Him at anytime... He never hid... and yet arrive secretly and with weapons to try and trap Him.

22:54 They capture Jesus (remember, God allows their freedom to do so). Simon-Peter follows after Jesus. Without realizing, Simon-Peter is about to deny Jesus, just as Jesus foretold him.

22:55-56 Peter is recognized as a disciple who stood with Jesus.

22:57 Out of fear for his life (clearly Peter's faith still needed development) he denied that he was a disciple of Jesus.

22:58 Again Peter is recognized but denies his identity.

22:59-60 A third time, Peter's faith is tested and he fails. Peter's lesson is not yet over (will resurface in The Book of Acts) where God will truly solidify Peter's faith and life's work as a teacher of God's word. 

22:61-62 Peter then remembers Jesus' warning. Peter was not vigilant, he allowed himself to be tempted by fear. It's okay, Peter learned a great lesson from this (and we can too) and he deeply regretted his denial of Jesus and the God he so loves. God wants us to understand that faith is constantly testing during our time on earth (the actions of other humans ensure that) and so we must make our faith strong and brave. Experience gives us the opportunity to learn many lessons. Now that he has made the mistake, Peter can strengthen his faith to never make the mistake again.

22:63-65 Jesus is brutally mocked. These are some very disturbed, corrupt men... but they are also fools! They have no power... they have nothing except the freedom God allows them to reveal their ugly nature. God has all of the power and could have muted them without any effort. God wants us to be strong when our enemies mock us, knowing that He is always with us and our enemies have no power over our strong spirits.

22:66-67 The chief priests and scribes accuse Jesus of that which they refuse to even believe. Jesus does  not have to prove anything to corrupt people. If they will not listen, they are not worth the effort. 

22:68 They will not communicate logically... and Jesus will not engage in a wasteful, one-sided conversation in which only one person is contributing. Jesus teaches us how to deal with our enemies. We do not have to plead out intelligence or our truth when our lives exuded intelligence in truth. Our truth is plain as day, bright as light. 

22:69 Indeed Jesus takes His place beside God, who He so loves and is loved by.

22:70-71 For speaking the truth and being kind, the chief priests and scribes find enough reason to kill Jesus. In today's world we have the same kind of fools -- who defend evil without any logic, who oppress innocent people just to retain their power and control. Be strong in the face of them, protect others from their terror because God will return and those who were terrible will perish. Be strong in the face of adversaries and in protecting others because your compassionate heart knows it's the right, the blessed, the most wonderful opportunity.

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 21

Luke 21:1-38

21:1 This verse begins a valuable lesson. As God's children, it should be our highest honor to devote our whole selves to compassion, to giving out love and effort to the people who need it. In today's world, there is no shortage of people who need our devoted focus. Jesus views rich people donating to charity. 

21:2 Among them, an impoverished woman is also donating. The difference is that this impoverished woman put everything she had into this charity.

21:3 Someone might think that the rich person is greater for donating a larger quantity but Jesus refocuses our understanding: the rich man put in some money that he would not miss. While his acts were charitable, he gave a very small portion of what he was capable of giving and his limited compassion was therefore revealed. Conversely, the woman gave all that she had... she donated the only money she had even to receive her next meal. Her compassion was great, and because she put in everything, she gave more than did the rich man.

You might feel like you a small and that anything you do on earth will not have a big enough impact. God does not measure in such a way. It is how much of ourselves we devote to others... God measures the depth and width of our compassion not our bank account.

21:4 Jesus was able to perceive people's true souls: He knew that these men donated because they had enough money to given without negatively impacting themselves. True, there are people in the world who don't give a time or a second of their time to charity, but this woman gave what she had to people who probably even had more than she did! 

God wants us to be this compassionate. He wants us to trust that He will fill our lives when we are charitable with others. Humanity wrongly believes that they need money to survive and be happy but when you trust God, you realize that all you need to thrive is His love.

21:5 Around Him, people marveled at an impressive church. Even today, people wrongly believe that a fancier church means a holier church. So wrong! The dilapidated church that gives to the poor is the holier church. Do not be impressed by aesthetics, God has shown you what is of value: truth, compassion, humanity.

21:6 Jesus explains that this building they are so impressed with both literally and metaphorically become irrelevant. The corrupt morals of the church make it unimportant. Isaiah 65:17, when God reforms the earth at the end of this trial, such trivial things will not even be worth remembering. It is our compassionate action which stands the test of time.

21:7 The mention of this inspires the disciples to ask when the end of this current earth will be. Jesus will give us some signs to determine the answer. This study is also covered in Mark 13 and Matthew 24.

21:8 Near to the end times, there will be many religious institutions which claim to be of Jesus but actually are corrupt behind closed doors. People will claim to be from God but will be corrupt men.

21:9 Do not fear the rumor and talk of war around the globe. Since the beginning of time, societies of humans have been unable to coexist... war is commonplace here.

21:10 And war will continue to be commonplace, nations around the globe will become angered with each other (that is quite true and has been for some time). 

21:11 We will begin to experience a disrupt in the world: frequent earthquakes, famines and illnesses. The universal nature which surrounds us will begin to act strangely to what we are used to. 

21:12 It's important, Jesus is explaining, that we realize the truth children of God will be questioned and their faith will face adversity. Our tribulation will be defending our faith against enemies who reject it.

22:13 Not to worry, Jesus explains, your tribulation will provide God an opportunity to work through you.

22:14 You don't have to plan or worry, God will give you the courage and the words to confront your enemies. 

22:15 Beautiful! Our giving God will never allow us to fail. Adversaries will not be able to stump or control us, Jesus exemplified this for us in His interactions with the Pharisees. 

22:16 Understand this verse correctly: for some, even family members will not understand their spirituality. The whole world will be awed and infatuated with a false ruler, a false God but because they know who the truth God is, they will reject Him... and the world will not understand that.

22:17-18 Despite facing many adversaries, God has sealed you with protection. Your eternal life with God is preserved. They cannot out-smart you... you and God together diminish your enemies.

22:19 Have patience. It's a simple statement but it's a journey for the soul. Students of God, learn to have strength and patience to do God's will, it's an amazing, worthwhile mission. With patience we can observe our surroundings with wisdom and we can endure anything, persevere through any adversity. Derive the patience from your faith that you will reunite with your God eternally. Derive your patience from your deep desire to bring God's will to the world... it's a purposeful, fulfilling life to live.

21:20 Jesus tells us to watch Jerusalem. When it's surrounded by armies and enemies, we can predict that the end of this particular world is near. It's not that Jerusalem is innocent... it's just a place to watch world events take place. Jerusalem is as guilty and as innocent as the other countries of the world but --- Where it started is where it shall end. 

22:21-22 Jesus wants people to flee away from the place where false religion will be prominent. Desolation shall arise in this place and by that we can deduce that a faux-god shall rise there. Jesus does not want us entrapped in such thought -- and it will traverse the world. Defend your true faith always, regardless of what they world believes. 

22:23 This pregnancy is a metaphor. God wants us to unite with Him, so to speak, as our true marriage. If the true God returns to find that His children have "remarried," or united with a false god, He will be saddened that we chose a different path in life. He is the true God, the one who promotes love and compassion and creates all life. Woe to the people who chose any other man as a god because they are corrupt. 

22:24 Those who are corrupt with be eliminated. With their acts, they rejected their eternal life with God.

22:25 When the true God comes, the entire universe will react. There will be no doubt when the True creator returns. 

22:26 The earth will react in such a way that those who are not prepared for such an occurrence with will anxious.

22:27-28 Our beautiful Jesus will return to Earth and those who were compassionate can reach up their hands and their arms to receive Him. It will be a perfect, amazing time for those who are kind... and terrifying for the evil.

21:29-33 The Parable of the Fig Tree: the parable of the fig tree is a deep metaphor which is predictive of the end times. Just as we are able to discern the season of harvest in plants, Jesus' instruction enables us to discern the season of God's harvest.

21:34 Jesus wants us to be purposeful, to be sober and clear-headed. He wants us to be focused and in our most attentive state of mind in order to be a part of God's will. 

21:35 People who allow themselves to become distracted will miss the importance of God's will and will be living in a chaotic world with a chaotic mind. And it's true that people without a compassionate purpose dawdle through life in lethargy. There is important work to be done, do not waste all that you are capable of.

21:36 Be vigilant and faithful. If you are paying attention to the world and to developing your faith, you'll never have any trouble. You will perceive the global events of the world and you will be prepared to face them with wisdom and strength.

21:37 Jesus taught throughout the day and prayed at night. We should use our daylight hours to be productive and even if we did during the day, consult God on our downtime. Always openly communicate with Him, His wisdom will always guide you.

21:38 Jesus' focus is inspiring, determined, focused. He woke up every day of His life carrying out God's will in order to teach us to do the same.

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 20

Luke 20:1-47

20:1 I find these next few (1-8) verses exhilarating. Too often in life we are forced to deal with adversaries who pompously question us and argue against us and we learn here how to handle those occurrences by learning how Jesus handled them. 

20:2 Complete arrogance and lack of common sense drives the Pharisees to ask Jesus who gave Him permission to teach and heal (as if such acts even need permission)! Even if He did need permission, we know who granted it: the creator of the world... and universe...and eternity, I'm quite sure that's enough qualification to call the shots! 

20:3 Rather than engage in argument with the Pharisees,who were so clearly only looking out for their own interests (securing their own power), Jesus begins to inject common sense into the situation.

20:4 John the Baptist was famously known throughout many citizens as a prophet preparing the people for the first coming of Jesus... Jesus asks the Pharisees where they believe John the Baptist was from. By answering "Heaven," they reveal that Jesus is here on the authority of God. By answering "Earth" they claim than John the Baptist was not a prophet... 

20:5 The Pharisees knew where John the Baptist was from, they had witnessed the miracles and teachings of him, but because John the Baptist lead the people away from following the Pharisees, they did not want to admit this. 

20:6 However, if the Pharisees deny that John the Baptist was from Heaven, the multitude of people would be enraged and their lives would be in danger. This is how the evil live: they plot and plan to deceive or craft their way into and out of things. They never just tell the simple, straight truth. Pay attention to the character and actions of people so that you can discern these types. 

20:7 The Pharisees take the cowardly way out of this question, they put no effort into answering with logic or respect, or truth. 

20:8 I love this moment! Jesus does not waste His time on this ridiculous situation. The Pharisees are behaving rudely, skirting around the truth and evading common sense. If they don't want to use their logic and respect, Jesus moves right along past them. If they were open to having a serious, respectful conversation, it would have been a different story. 

Use the same method in your life: when somebody wants to have a respectful, logical conversation with you then they have earned a bit of your time. Do not waste your time on somebody who is looking out only for their own interests and ignores all truth and logic to defend themselves.

Keep in mind that the Pharisees knew the truth but were denying it. They wanted to strip Jesus of His authority on earth because they were losing theirs. 

20:9 The Parable of the Wicked Vine-dressers: We will explore this parable through metaphor. This is God; He created the world, placed humanity on it and then gave them the freedom of growing and experiencing life without His visible presence. 

20:10-12 Some time passed and God sent a prophet to the earth. This prophet was the encounter the world that humanity had created... but there was no good "fruit," humanity had made a mess of the earth by being greedy and unkind toward each other. They killed the prophet (so many prophets throughout the Bible were treated horribly). 

20:13 After a history of prophet after prophet being denied and killed, God, wanting to save the earth, sent a complete manifestation of Himself, Jesus to try to realign the world with His love. He hoped that humanity would accept such a miracle manifestation of truth, wisdom and love. 

20:14 Instead, people treated Jesus even worse than they did the previous prophets. Greedy people desired the power that He had and they wanted it for themselves (we see this exemplified with the Pharisees jealously over Jesus' authority and awe from the people). 

20:15 Even Jesus was killed by the corrupt members of humanity and for that they will face repercussions. 

20:16 God will give heaven to people who deserve it, there's space for everyone but because everyone will not earn their place (by being kind) He gives those places to people who will. 

20:17 Jesus is the stone, that crucial piece of the structure that enables it to stand firmly. By denying Jesus, they are rejecting the piece that holds everything together, all of the love and wisdom of God.

20:18 There's no way around it, if a person rejects all that Jesus stands for, they ruin themselves. The Pharisees understood that they were of this bunch, the people who would endure the consequences of their corrupt actions and they were made angry by the realization. 

20:19 Right then and there they wanted to kill Jesus but because He was surrounded by so many who loved Him, they did not have the chance. They were seething with anger -- this is how evil they were, they sought to kill whoever disagreed with them. They sought to kill without hesitation a man, an Entity, Jesus who had done nothing but kindness and healing wherever He went.

20:20 The Pharisees continued to behave deceptively. This is what the evil do, the strategically plot and plan to incriminate people who stand in their way. 

20:21 The Pharisees are very obviously being fake here, they are trying to set Jesus up for failure but it will not work.

20:22 The Pharisees know that Jesus loves God and encourages people to put Him first in their lives, in order to try to test Him, they ask Jesus if people should abandon social government in favor of following God.

20:23 Jesus perceives their test immediately and is vexed but undeterred by it. 

20:24 Again, Jesus approaches the issue with common sense: He asks to see a coin, on which is the face of the leader of the social government at the time.

20:25 Jesus explains that people are to give to the leader what is the leader's job to procure (taxes and such) and to give to God what belongs to God (their life, their love, their kindness). Jesus did not come to bring anarchy to the world, He came to lead people through the social constructions of the world in order to eventually reach Heaven. 

20:26 Even the Pharisees were impressed by Jesus' answer (of course they were, Jesus is the embodiment of logic and wisdom). They Pharisees would not admit that they understood and that they were impressed with the answer because above all else, they wanted their power, wealth and fame back. They wanted to continue to oppress the people and grow wealthy from mistreating them. They kept silent because they could not argue against this wisdom.

Learn from Jesus, people cannot logically argue against you when you use your common sense and wisdom. Be truthful and fair and you will always cross the barriers people try to put in your way.

20:27 Jesus is tested by another group, the Sadducees, who do not believe in life after earth.

20:28 This was a custom of the time when women had no right to property or any place in society at all. When a man died, it was his brother's responsibility to take care of the widow. This was not a romantic situation, it was a method to ensure that a widow would not starve and go homeless if her husband died. 

20:29-33 The Sadducees create a hypothetical situation in which 1 woman lived as 3 different men's wife during her lifetime. Before we go forward, realize that the Sadducees are entirely missing the point: they want to know whose wife she will be in heaven but in heaven, there is no marriage. Every soul is united in a family with God and there's no need for these social relationships.

20:34-35 Here is Jesus explaining that last point: marriage is a custom on earth but it's not in heaven. 

A funny side note: when I was younger, this was a difficult concept for me to grasp. Now with a deeper, more understand faith, I've felt the power of God's love. God completely envelopes our life and leaves us lacking of nothing and wanting of nothing. It fills us, it's the only relationship we need to be complete. 

20:36 There's no death with God... those men would not have died, they would have transfigured into God's world. Jesus explains that the humans who are kind and filled with faith and love are as eternal and as beloved as the angels in heaven (who are pure in innocent and compassion). 

20:37 Since the Sadducees referenced Moses, Jesus explains to them that even Moses understood and believed in the life that follows earth.

20:38 We have a God of life, of love and creation and we never have to fear death because it isn't possible for a compassionate soul to die. Love is reunited in Heaven.

20:39-40 Some of the people listened and learned from Jesus' teaching. They absorbed what they had and felt the truth within it. None of the people had anymore questions because Jesus had clearly spoken and explained all of their inquiries. God is wise, to those who ask and then truly listen, He imparts His wisdom inside of them.

20:41-44 Jesus came through Mary, who served as a humble vessel which brought forth Jesus. Mary was a descendant of David but Jesus' DNA was directly from God. So while David can technically be considered an adoptive great (great, great, great, etc) grandfather of Jesus, even David, a faithful student of God, knew that Jesus was from God and was therefore a Son of God. 

20:45-47 A final instruction in this chapter, but a very important one as it applies to today's world. Jesus wants us to beware of religious institutions which are extravagant. He wants us to beware of religious figures who dress elaborately in long robes and fancy clothing, sit in the highest places in the church and around the world as they travel. He wants us to beware of the religious figures and institutions which use their money on expensive celebrations and gatherings. Beware of religions which have long, repetitive prayers and fail to teach people to communicate simply and directly with God. God does not want to hear a rehearsed prayer that has no love or faith behind it. God wants to speak with you as an individual about every and any moment of your life... do not let anyone tell you what to pray or how or who to pray to. You pray to God about whatever you want to... you express to God whatever you want to. It doesn't matter how long or fancy a person's prayer is, and Jesus explains to us that there are religions in the world which dress up their prayers but have no faith or love behind them. No understand of God at all! They completely contradict His word.

Let your relationship with God be personal! Between you and Him. The men on earth who celebrate themselves and run fancy religious institutions anger God because they miss His message entirely and trick good people into doing the wrong things. 

So many people in the world claim to love good but do not exemplify that in their lives. They go to church but they do not even know what's written in the Bible. They preach to others but are arrogant, do not even follow the advice they expect others to live. They are pompous hypocrites and Jesus does not want you to become ensnared in their trap. How to you keep away from them? Develop a personal relationship with God and the Bible, you will always have your own perspective on His message and you will be able to discern truth from lies.

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 19

Luke 19:1-48

19:1-4 What is important to realize about Zacchaeus is that he put effort into searching for Jesus. It is a lesson to us that when we search, despite barriers, we will find. Zacchaeus was passionate about finding Jesus and his faith led him to the fulfillment of that.

19:5 Jesus perceived how much effort Zacchaeus had put into finding him. He knew that Zacchaeus did not give up when it became difficult and Jesus understood the faith within him. Jesus invited Zacchaeus to spend some personal time with Jesus in his own house. God truly resides with us when we seek Him.

19:6 He joyfully received Jesus. Have joy inside of yourself, God is with you also, always. 

19:7 As there always are, there are people around who are judging a situation they do not understand. Jesus knows our true hearts, He perceived Zacchaeus' faith in a way that a person could not, or at least chose not to. Jesus knew He was a good person... but even if Zaccaeus was not a good person, we know that Jesus came specifically to reach those children who needed help from bad or broken paths and He would have stayed with him anyway in order to do that.

19:8 Zacchaeus defends himself against the people who reject him. He tells Jesus that he cares about the poor, he gives the impoverished HALF of what he has (much more than many of us do)! He also explains that he has never tricked or stolen a single thing from a single person. Jesus already knows this, it's why He was so quick to welcome Zacchaeus. 

19:9 Jesus (our teacher and creator of salvation) goes to Zacchaeus' house because Zacchaeus is a descendant of Abraham, meaning that he is faithful to God as Abraham always was. 

We call Jesus our salvation because He saves us from the cyclical strife in the world. He saves us from greed and violence... He implants a light inside of us and inspires us to be compassionate and kind. We are saved by walking the path He laid for us. 

19:10 Jesus came to find and nurture those who needed God. Much of humanity was (and still does) loiter in chaos and unrest -- they constantly try to find contentment and happiness but cannot... Jesus leads a clear and direct path to the balm we seek.

19:11 The Parable of the Minas: Jesus taught this parable for them (and us) to understand God's plan in allowing our freedom on the Earth for a time (the reason and purpose). They thought that God was going to appear very soon, but Jesus was explaining to them that it would be awhile (as we now know to be true)!

19:12 God created the earth and through earth, He hoped to gain a kingdom of people who believed and loves as He does. He went to prepare a place to bring His beloved children after their life on earth.

19:13 He gave to each person equal amount of life and experience and plans to return to see what we each have made of our circumstances.

19:14 But many people do not believe or love as deeply as God does and for that reason, there are many rogue people who do not do good with the circumstances in their lives.

19:15 When God returns, having completed the beautiful home for His beloved children, He will find out how each individual lived during their lives (the good and the bad).

19:16-17 The first person in this parable represents a group of people: these people used what God gave them and they neither created anything extra with it nor destroyed anything with it. This means that these people were good people, they did not cause any harm on the earth. These people used what God enabled them to have and while they did not go above and beyond with it, they were fair and good. 

While on earth we show God what responsibility we are capable of having. In heaven, He's going to match our responsibility with what we did on earth. He knows what important work, and how much, He can trust us with.

19:18-19 This second person represents another group: This person was given much but was not able to handle the responsibility of all of it -- God equips us with everything we need to do great things in the world but we must work to accomplish these things... for some, this is too much responsibility. This person, also acceptable, showed God that they could handle some responsibility, but not too much. Some of the gifts from God they kept for themselves.

19:20-22 This third  representation are a type of people who are selfish with what they have. Rather than use their gifts from God (talent, intelligence, circumstance) they used the gifts to cushion their own life. This person enters heaven expected to be allotted prize (like the two above) but Jesus explains that this type of person did not earn anything in heaven because they were selfish with what they had on earth.

19:23 This person essentially lost God some of his value because in hoarding their gifts, they neglected God's children (who are His true value) and He ended up losing because He loves them and this person did not used what they had to help them. At the very least, Jesus explains, they could have done something of mutual benefit to themselves and another... but they did nothing selflessly.

19:24-26 The beautiful gifts God gives in heaven are therefore taken from the selfish and given to the selfless. When God knows he can trust a soul, He gives that soul much! 

19:27 The nobleman of the parable eliminates his enemies from the picture. We have a loving God, He will erase the evil from our lives. 

19:28-29 Jesus keeps moving toward His destination, where He knows He will be crucified. He and God have gone over the entire plan: where, when, why and how so Jesus is able to lead His disciples into future events.

19:30-31 In Jesus first advent here on earth, He comes as a teacher... He goes forward creating a path for His future followers. He instructs two of the disciples to collect a colt. He explains that they will face no trouble because God has ordered it to happen and nothing can hinder or block God's plan. A great lesson for us. 

19:32-34 Just as Jesus instructed, the disciples go to accomplish this mini-mission. We will find equal success when we do not hesitate to trust God's guidance. Exactly as Jesus predicted, the situation unfolds before them. We can trust that God gives us all of the facts and prepares us well. 

19:35 They brought the colt to Jesus and prepared it for Him. This is symbolic of their love for Him and also their trust: they put what was theirs underneath Him because they knew He would take care of them. 

19:36 The path created was made with Jesus and with His beloved followers (us). He is as much as part of us and we are a part of Him, the familial connection is strong. He makes a path for our purpose. 

19:37-38 There is so much love and joy surrounded Jesus. He exuded peace and kindness and it reached many people (even reaches us today). They were so excited that it angered the Pharisees... 

19:39-40 The Pharisees call for Jesus to calm down His followers but Jesus never would: our fervor, our love and celebration for our loving God is not something that can or should be quieted. The whole earth would despair if God's children were silenced. Likewise, the whole universe thrives when God's children are alive with love and joy.

19:41-42 Jesus is overcome with emotion for humanity. A manifestation of God, Jesus knows of what the future holds for humanity... from His crucifixion, throughout the following generations, the troubles in this generation we are in and beyond. If only you could see, He is saying, how much love and order has been set in motion to save all of God's children from these things, we would also be overcome with emotion. However, only God (and Jesus) have that foresight... and it's just as well really because it would be too much for us to handle all at once. God has set an entire universe in motion in order to make peace for us... He's given us this trial of freedom on earth in order to mine the true, loving hearts of the world. 

19:43-44 Jesus explains that humanity will face difficult times because much of it abandons the good and wise instruction of God. Without God's wisdom, many people are caught up in the chaos of false things like greed and vengeance. Without knowing when God is going to return, some people behave atrociously, thinking their actions go unnoticed by a more powerful entity. And worse, when a person or institution comes which claims itself to be of the true god but is false... the uniformed masses will fall victim to it. 

19:45-46 Jesus finds that in a church there are people who have turned it into a business (a huge problem even today). Places of God are not meant to be hierarchical or lavish in wealth and decoration -- yet many churches today boast their "leaders" and their fancy establishments. They collect money from people and are corrupt with it -- they use it to maintain their power, fame, aesthetics... rather than on being compassionate toward people who need it. It's a prominent problem, especially today and Jesus wants you to be aware of such places. 

Remember that to love God and to loved by Him, you should be your humble self. Even if you study God's word under a tree or in a parking lot... or anything, that place is special because you are there with Him. In fancy places, God is only aware of the wasted time, effort and money that could have went to aiding His children.

19:47-48 Jesus' adversaries wanted to silence Him but they could not even touch Him until God was ready to allow the crucifixion. Jesus came to teach and He used every ounce of His life to do just that, passionately and with love. All of the people were attentive to Hear Him... multitudes of people were focused on listening to His message because they found pure, solid truth and love in it (just like we do)!

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 18

Luke 18:1-43

18:1 This and the following 7 verses are teaching through metaphor. Humans should always pray and never get discouraged because they feel like God either can't hear or won't here. We've learned in our previous lessons that it's God's great joy to listen to His children and give them whatever they need and whatever is good for them, Luke 12:22. God hears everything we say to Him and He delivers to us what we ask for in the time and manner that is best for us. He's omniscient, He knows what to give us and when because He can understand so much more than we can. It's important that you have a faithful communication with God, so many people beg or demand things from God but they really don't even know Him... they spend no time with Him. Returning to the metaphor...

18:2 This is a judge who isn't faithful to God (meaning that he does not emulate the qualities God teaches: kindness, justice, compassion. Also, this man has no respect for his fellow humans -- he does not care what happens to them or that they are treated fairly.

18:3 This woman approaches him for help from someone who is disturbing her in some way.

18:4-5 The man does not care about her or her problem however, he eventually helps her because he does not want her to keep coming back and annoying him with the issue.

18:6 This man, who was unkind and selfish, answered the plea of a woman he did not care about, a woman who annoyed him. God wants you to realize that even this terrible man answered the plea of something needing his help. He didn't want to help but he did... Yet, we have a God who WANTS to help, who cares about us and loves us and people get discouraged in prayer. Remember the first verse of this chapter.

18:7 God is with us through every difficulty and adversary and He never gets annoyed or bored. He hears His children who love Him, study His word and implement it into their lives and how they interact with others -- it's His great pleasure to answer our prayers.

18:8 Without delay, God sets in motion the answering of our prayers. The key is to be in direct communication with God, to have a relationship with Him. Sadly, even though He loves us so much, upon returning to Earth... He's going to find that many people have no faith.

18:9 The following 5 verses are specifically tailored to the arrogant.

18:10 Two people went to pray to God: a man who claimed to be devout and had a high position in the church and a man who was a tax collector (at the time this was a corrupt business and not a reputable job).

18:11-12 The man with the high position in the church filled his prayer with arrogance -- he was too prideful to realize the equality of all humans. He donated to the church, he called himself holy, but he contradicted all of that by praising himself and looking down on others. You can't say one thing and do another. Have the common sense this man lacked.

18:13 The second man did not claim to be anything but a person who needed to be better -- and God loves humility, it's His language.

18:14 Jesus is teaching us to understand that the humble are celebrated by God and the arrogant are made humble by God's disappointment in them for being so cruel.

You cannot judge any person... just because someone goes to church, says the right things, looks the part, does not mean they are kind or faithful. Look for humility in the people you encounter and be humble yourself.

18:15-16 All people are equal with God -- this was a society were only men were respected. Jesus taught them (and us) that without any discrimination, all people are loved by God and are to be treated with love and respect and justice.

18:17 A very young child is innocent, naturally inquisitive and openhearted. God wants us to remain this way and to never disregard a child simple because they appear small, weak or unimportant. The way into God's house is behave kindly and without objective.

18:18-19 This man wants to know how to join God in heaven after live on earth. He calls Jesus "Good Teacher" and Jesus takes this opportunity to humbled Himself (just as he taught us above). Jesus wants us to know that the True, Eternal Goodness is from God and to always remember that.

18:20 Jesus reminds the man of the commandments (written in Exodus 20).

18:21 The man says that he has following all of those instructions since he was a child. He's asking for more, what more can I do? 

18:22 The ultimate child of God devotes their entire life and everything they have to following Jesus as a teacher, to bringing the word of God to the world. This does not mean forcing scripture on anybody! It means to offer all of your time, effort and compassion to everyone who needs it. To give up wealth if you have it in order to help others with it. Wealth in time, wealth in ability, wealth in money... there are many "wealth(s)" that we all have. 

18:23 This man in particular had a lot of wealth-wealth. He was rich. The man did not want to give up his wealth. There are levels of faith and each is specific to each individual... Jesus wants us to understand that the most faithful children of God are completely devoted to Him and bringing compassion to the rest of His children. This man could not get over his love of money to reach that point.

18:24-25 In these times, cities were bordered by walls and at night, the walls were secured so that no one could pass. However, there was a small passageway called a "needle" that would permit the entrance of one man and none of his positions. It was a safety procedure. However this lesson also works metaphorically: you cannot squeeze into heaven will all of your possessions from earth, they don't mean anything there. It's difficult for God to watch His children... watch their fellow humans suffer when they have the means to help. It's difficult for a rich man to get into heaven because those riches are gifts that should be used to help others.

18:26 This person is baffled because the world is (still) full of so many people who choose money over charity. Who is left to be saved?

18:27 Jesus lets us know that there are people who exist (and have existed) who have developed their relationship with God and have over come their love and connection to money. It seems impossible to us but God works with His children who work with Him and together they accomplish beautiful, selfless things.

18:28 Peter gives himself and the disciples as an example, they left their old lives because they heard the word of God and absorbed it, loved it and wanted to spend their entire lives bringing it to others. There are still people like that.

18:29-30 Jesus assures us that God always takes care of His children who devote themselves to others. We should help others because our heart and souls want to, love to but we can also keep in mind that we lose nothing when we are with God. God replenishes all of the love and opportunity we give to others.

18:31-33 Jesus foretells his crucifixion. Indeed everything He predicts happens to Him exactly as He predicted it.

18:34 They did not yet understand that Jesus was talking about. They did not want to lose Jesus and the idea of Him being gone was impossible to them. They did not yet have a grasp on the life that comes after earth. They did not understand God's plan with Jesus -- that He would allow His death on earth in order to bring a beautiful message to the world.

18:35-37 An impoverished man witnesses the passing of Jesus -- which we can imagine was impressive. Multitudes of people following Him, including His many disciples-in-training. The man learns that it's Jesus passing.

18:38 The man reveals that he had read the Bible, as it foretold the coming of Jesus -- this man, hearing that Jesus has arrived, immediately shows his faith.

18:39 People tried to shush him, this poor man meant nothing to them. They felt that because he appeared so lowly, he should not bother Jesus - wrong! The main continued to show his faith and call for Jesus (whose mother is a descendant of David, a faithful man of God).

18:40-41 Jesus stops for this man (and with him, the multitude had to stop). Jesus (and God) always goes out of His way to see and listen to and heal a faithful child of God.

18:42 Your faith has made you well. This man trusted God and had faith that God could heal Him -- our faith makes us well because it allows us to realize that God can and will do anything for us that contributes to our betterment. Our faith teaches us wisdom, perception, compassion... it heals us from the inside out.

18:43 He was healed and he expressed his love and gratitude toward God. Moreover, he followed Jesus, he devoted the new life he was given to learning and spreading God's generous and loving word.

NT: The Book of Luke, Chapter 17

Luke 17:1-37

17:1 Jesus is explaining something we all must understand: life is sometimes difficult. It's impossible to life life without challenge, but what we must also remember is to that will work with us through those challenges if we develop our relationship with Him. The closer we are to God, the more we understand the simple and courageous wisdom He teaches us. He teaches in many ways, by instructing us to be watchful and perceptive we learn to interpret the organizations, people and ideas around us. By instructing us to be hard working and kind we learn value and honesty, we're given purpose and motivation. So, although those challenges do come, do not let them pass without learning from them or gaining strength from them.

17:2 Someone who has offended a kind person, a faithful person or a meek person will have to face the consequences of their actions -- they have no chance of escaping retribution of shame for what they caused. The "little ones" in this verse refer to the people who are walked over, used, oppressed, abused as if they are little... but we know that God's kindhearted children are mighty and so is the love and power behind them.

17:3 Do not let anyone walk over you, if someone does wrong to you, it's your right and your job to make clear their transgressions against you. It's not vengeful to call somebody out on the truth. At the same time, when somebody hears what you say and genuinely is regretful, listen to them... let them try to repair what they've broken. It's important that we be perceptive, we have to be careful to distinguish truth from lies.

17:4 God wants you to understand the nature of His own forgiveness: as many times as someone comes to Him apologetic and ashamed of their mean/bad/evil-behavior is the same amount of times He listens to them and allows them to try to be better. This takes perception as well because: we cannot allow people to continue to hurt or cheat us in the same ways over, and over, and over again because that means they do not truly regret their actions. At the same time, we should be generous in allowing people the opportunity to make up for their mistakes... when they truly want to. 

In God be strong and wise and perceptive -- use those gifts to also defend others who might not have the gifts you do. We should determine our value by the amount of people we love and support.

17:5-6 With and through your faith you will always accomplish what might have previously seemed impossible to you. When your heart is motivated and devoted to helping others, God is always going to support your intentions. You can change the world with your voice when your voice is speaking out for others -- we've seen it happen! ex. Martin Luther King Jr, Malala Yousafzai... throughout history people whose intentions were for the betterment of others have been heard by the world. This verse is a metaphor to explain that -- what you command to be done for others will be done, that simple. 

17:7 This is a metaphor: God does not want us to do what is our duty (being a good human) only because we want reward for it. We should be good humans for no reason other than because we want to, because we're supposed to. 

17:8-9 This person does his job... he's not overly celebrated for doing what he's supposed to do. This person is respected... but he's not a hero for doing his job. Likewise should we be in our lives: we're not heroes for being decent people... that's just doing what we're supposed to do! For example, feeding a hungry children is not something we do to get a trophy but because we want and are supposed to feed a starving child. The trophy should be irrelevant -- we should not even think about, we definitely should not desire it.

17:10 Be a good person without needing an incentive. Do not be a good person for your own reward... that's selfish. Be and do good because it's need to be done and because it is our duty as humanity to protect each other.

17:11-12 In these verses we learn about a flaw of humanity: many people are ungrateful when they receive what they've asked or prayed for. Some people only communicate with God when they are angry about something, sad about something, or wanting something. We need to be appreciative of God for all He does for us and for His constant presence in our lives. This works with people too -- always be appreciative to the people who devote their time and effort to you. Don't be ungrateful!

So, Jesus encounters 10 men who have this infectious disease and want to be healed.

17:13 The men asked Jesus to be healed -- they are desperate to be healed. 

17:14 Jesus asks them to show the (corrupt) priests what the truth, fair God has done for them and they will be healed. Immediately they left -- they wanted to be healed so bad they darted off to get it accomplished.

17:15-16 One of the men returned immediately so that he could show his gratitude to Jesus and to God. His prayers were answered and he did not forget the entity responsible. He was so grateful, so in awe and in love with God, he couldn't possibly live his life forgetting about this blessing and Who is came from.

17:17-18 Only 1/10 returned to thank God. They accepted their blessing greedily and forgot about the entity who healed them. They got what they wanted and left. We don't want to be these kind of people in our lives. Always show your gratitude to God and people who help and love you. Be very conscious of when someone has done something for you -- and do not forget about God the minute you feel like you don't need Him anymore. He never abandons you... show Him the same love and respect.

17:19 Your faith will always make you well -- strong of mind and heart, clear headed, focused and loved by God. Your blessings will always remain with you... and will increase and thrive because you nourish your relationship with God... you grow as a person spiritually and in wisdom. 

17:20 The Pharisees ask when the kingdom of God will come -- they are not asking out of curiosity, they are asking with as a snide remark. Jesus answers them and the way He answers allows us to understand the scope and the nature of God.

17:21 Jesus does not want us to be focused on the wrong thing: God's eternity is made up of the love we express, inspire and create as humanity. God is within us, the strength of all that He is is made up of the simple wisdom that is love. Don't look for a building, an organization, a man to represent God... because spiritual light and love is God and is within us. It exists in amazing ways. 

17:22 Indeed the world has seen days, years and events that have had much of humanity calling out for God. It's a difficult, complex world and evil ideas have always pestered, ruined, oppressed the lives of others. Our time on Earth is a journey of what each individual will do with their freedom and there are unfortunate consequences of that -- but God is fair and He gifts us all freedom here to do what we want. He gives His love and direction to help those who suffer... but we must complete this journey. 

17:23 Indeed the world has seen men and organizations come which claim to be holy and wise but instead are deceivers and corrupt. With our freedom, God wants us to be able to identify the true God and to deny those men and organizations which try to control but are selfish and greedy in nature. 

17:24 Jesus explains that you should needed follow anyone who claims to be like a god or better than you in anyway because when Jesus returns to Earth with God... they won't need to say a word, the entire Earth will flash with their light. There will be no question, no convincing... 

17:25 ... but before Jesus returns, He first had to complete His mission that we are ready about now. He certainly suffered many things and was (and still is) rejected in many ways. He came to Earth, created a beautiful message which would spread through time and space on the Earth and He gives us time to see what we do with it.

17:26 There is much we can learn from the Bible -- the Old Testament and the New Testament. The "end" days will be like the beginning with Noah... 

17:27-30 Most of the world will continue through their everyday lives without any clue that Jesus' return is imminent. This verse goes a bit deeper metaphorically, people will be consorting with greed and recklessness and will be caught off guard as they do. Suddenly, because they were not vigilant, a change will come that they were completely unaware of. 

Develop your relationship with God -- you'll always be informed and perceptive.

17:31-33 Material possessions do not matter, those who are concerned about keeping and using their means to run from God (either out of shame or evil) will not be able to. Metaphorically: you don't want to be caught away from your humanity and compassion. You don't want to rush, desperately to be a better person because you already wasted your life... you've already made the decisions and created who you are. 

If a person lived to make their own lives better (and ruined others' lives in the process) they lose their eternal life. If you give your life, if you devote your life to helping and loving your fellow humans, you preserve your eternal life.

17:34-36 This is not a rapture theory. By learning from God's word, you know how important it is that His faithful children remain on Earth to help Him spread His word to help and love others. These verses mean that some people will be "taken" by Satan... this means that they followed what he stood for: vengeance, greed, power, lust. They were taken by their terrible decisions.

17:37 This is a reiteration of Matthew 24:28. Where are the people who are taken? They circle around the corrupt ideas they sold their souls to.