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Jesus Calls Those Who Hear and Act on God’s Word His Family (Luke 8:19-21)

Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. 20 He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” 21 He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” This brief encounter continues a theme that has run throughout this part of Luke’s Gospel: how we hear the word of God. In the parable of the sower, Jesus describes the good soil as those who hear the word, hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance (Luke 8:15). He then warns, “ Take care, then, how you hear ” (Luke 8:18). Now, when His mother and relatives come looking for Him, Jesus brings that teaching to its conclusion. Jesus says, “ My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it ” (v. 21). He reveals that those who receive God’s word and allow it to shape their lives belong to His family. Hearing, therefore, means more than receiving words with our ears or u...

Jesus Calls Matthew and Shows Mercy to Sinners (Matthew 9:9-13)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10 While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. 11 The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. 13 Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Jesus sees Matthew sitting at a customs post and simply says, ‘Follow me’ (v. 9). Tax collectors were widely despised. They collected tolls and taxes for rulers associated with Roman power. In practice, a collector could be responsible for turning over a required amount and then charge people more than that amount, keeping the excess for himself. This made the system open to abuse and gave tax collectors ...

God’s Generosity Exceeds Human Calculation (Matthew 20:1–16a)

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5 So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6 Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8 When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ 9 When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 10 So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but ...

Jesus Calls Us to Hear the Word and Bear Fruit (Luke 8:4-15)

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to him, he spoke in a parable. 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6 Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” 9 Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. 10 He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that ‘they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.’ 11 “This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. 12 Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and tak...

Jesus Proclaims the Good News of the Kingdom of God (Luke 8:1-3)

Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve 2 and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources. Jesus continues traveling through the towns and villages of Galilee, “preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God” (v. 1). Earlier He had said, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43). The Kingdom is God’s saving rule becoming present through Jesus—seen not only in His preaching but also in His power to heal, free people from evil, forgive sins, and restore them to life with God. Luke tells us that the Twelve accompany Jesus, but he also draws particular attention to a group of w...

Those Who Know How Much They Have Been Forgiven Love Much (Luke 7:36-50)

A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. 42 Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forg...

Jesus Warns Against Rejecting God’s Call (Luke 7:31-35)

Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” Jesus speaks these words after describing the different responses people have made to John the Baptist. Those who accepted John’s call to repentance acknowledged what God was doing, while the Pharisees and scholars of the law refused John’s baptism and therefore “rejected the plan of God for themselves” (Luke 7:29–30). Jesus now shows that the same unwillingness to respond to God is also being directed toward Him. He compares “the people of this...

Jesus Gives His Mother to the Beloved Disciple (John 19:25-27)

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John places the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple directly at the foot of the Cross. While the other Gospels describe women watching from a distance, John brings our attention to those who remain close to Jesus in His final hour. Even as He suffers, Jesus remains attentive to His mother and the beloved disciple. When Jesus says to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son,” and then to the disciple, “Behold, your mother,” His words first express a real act of filial care. Jesus entrusts His mother to the beloved disciple so that she will be cared for after His death. The title “Woman” may sound distant to modern ears, but in the biblical wor...

God Gave His Son So That the World Might Be Saved John 3:13-17)

No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Earlier in this chapter, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a teacher of Israel, comes to Jesus at night and acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God because of the signs He performs. (John 3:1–2). Jesus responds by telling him that no one can see the kingdom of God without being “born from above,” or born of water and Spirit (John 3:3–5). Nicodemus struggles to understand because he is thinking in terms of ordinary physical birth, while Jesus is speaking about the new life that ...

Jesus Calls Us to Forgive from the Heart Without Limit (Matthew 18:21-35)

Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 23 That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 25 Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. 26 At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ 27 Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. 28 When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged ...

Jesus Calls Us to Hear His Word and Act on It (Luke 6:43-49)

A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. 45 A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. 49 But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.” Jesus brings His teaching in the Serm...

A Disciple Must First See Clearly Before Guiding Others (Luke 6:39-42)

And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye. This passage continues Jesus’ teaching about mercy, judgment, forgiveness, and generosity in the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus now asks whether a person who cannot see clearly can safely guide someone else. His image of one blind person leading another is deliberately vivid: without clear sight, both are in danger of falling into the pit. Before a disciple attempts to guide another, he must first allow Je...

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