One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Luke 20:1-8)

Let’s take a quick note of the setting here: Jesus is teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel. The people, who as we see throughout Luke and the other gospels, had been pretty well starved of solid teaching from the Law and Prophets and instead strived to live up to the man-made traditions that the chief priests and scribes and elders had taught them to observe. The words of Jesus as He taught with authority were life giving to a spiritually starved people and in comes the chief priests, scribes, and elders to demand that Jesus tell them by what authority He was doing things. They were so worked up with their own issue with Jesus, especially in light of the fact that He had just driven out those who sold within the temple, that they couldn’t see past the nose of their own faces to be aware of the good teaching that was going on inside the temple and the good it was bringing to the hearers. It would appear that pride was the ultimate driving motivation of those chief priests, scribes, and elders in that moment.

Jesus, from a young age, had increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), and this was just one of the many ways in which He demonstrated that wisdom in rough situations like these. Jesus could have engaged with the men as they rudely interrupted His teaching in the temple, but He chose to ask them a question, that if they answered correctly would have given them the answer to their demands and led them to the message of the gospel.

The problem between the chief priests, scribes, and elders came when they didn’t seek to answer the question in truth, but to attempt to work out an answer in a way that would simply get them what they wanted. The sad part is, the very first part of their discussion would have led them to truth had they not hardened their hearts in their pride.

Jesus asked them about the baptism of John, which was that of repentance and the start of receiving the message of the gospel. As they discussed it, there really were only two options to answer – from heaven or from man. But they said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” They had the answer, it was from heaven, and even the people were convinced of the truth that John was a prophet of God, but they were so blinded by their pride which led to the refusal to accept truth, that the question meant to guide to truth ended up being perceived as a riddle of sorts in their minds.

Here’s the kicker though, they were forced to humbly admit they didn’t know where it came from, yet if they had chosen to humble themselves, they could have received the truth.

Nonetheless, the interaction seems to have been a quick conversation that Jesus then segways into a parable, which we’ll dig into next week.

But right now, we are faced with some uncomfortable parts when we seek to apply this to our lives and to learn from this interaction the chief priests, scribes, and elders had with Jesus.

How do we approach Jesus when how we’ve perceived something is upsetting to us? I don’t think any followers of Jesus are necessarily asking Jesus what authority He has, but we just might ask or think that about one of His followers as they operate in the gifts He’s given or the callings He’s placed them in. If we’re finding this happening, we have to be careful not to approach things in our pride, or we just might end up making demands and untruthful claims, which if it’s against one of God’s servants is ultimately against God Himself.

If we can enter situations with that unfortunate truth in our minds that we are naturally prideful and self-seeking, then we can be watchful to deny ourselves, humble ourselves, and truly listen and seek truth as it comes, instead of twisting what we hear to fit our self-seeking agenda that our pride has created for us.

These are hard things that the Lord wants to break down in us and smoothen out those hard, destructive edges that snag everything on them. So ask yourself this: Will you choose to truly humble yourself and listen and obey the truth of God’s word in your life? That’s definitely not a question to answer too hastily, but one to sit with and let God examine you in. Pride has roots deeper than we often realize, and just because we’re not overly arrogant doesn’t mean pride doesn’t affect us. The chief priests, scribes, and elders didn’t seem to think they had a pride problem, but their pride was rather obvious.

Be encouraged, God already knows our prideful tendencies and is ready to kindly and graciously point it out and help rid us of it, and He’s the only one who can point it out in such a way that brings us gently to our knees, not in shame or judgement, but in a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and humility. Rest assured as you come to God, you’re not being judged, you’re incredibly loved.

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. (Luke 19:45-48)

In this powerful scene from the Gospels, Jesus enters the temple and takes direct action against the corruption He sees there. The temple was meant to be the place where God’s people could come together in worship, prayer, and communion with the Lord. But what Jesus found was a place of commerce, exploitation, and distraction from the true purpose of the temple.

He declares that the temple, God’s house, “shall be a house of prayer,” but instead, the religious leaders and merchants had turned it into a “den of robbers.” They had focused on profit, tradition, and outward appearances, ignoring the heart of God’s intention for the temple: a place of reverent communion with God.

We, as followers of Jesus of whom the Spirit indwells, are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus’ words were not only applicable for the physical temple in Jerusalem during that time, but they’re also a reminder to us about where the purity and focus of our hearts and worship should be. God calls us to be a place where prayer, worship, and His glory are central. But so often we allow the distractions of the world—the culture, our personal ambitions, entertainment, or even traditions—to distract us from the call.

Jesus' cleansing of the temple is not just a historical event, it’s a call to personal and corporate repentance. Have we allowed our hearts or churches to be filled with things that distract from the purity of worship? Have we, in our modern culture, turned the Church into something that serves our preferences, comfort, or desires, rather than being a place that humbly seeks God’s will and draws near to Him in prayer?

It’s important for us to remember that the Church exists for one primary purpose: to bring glory to God, through worship, prayer, fellowship, and the preaching of His Word (Acts 2:42). Every action we take as the body of Christ should aim to glorify Him, not to cater to the expectations or distractions of the culture around us.

In a world that often misunderstands and misrepresents the Church, we must remain steadfast in keeping the focus on what God intended. The culture may try to redefine the Church, but we must hold firm and live out the truth that it is a place where God’s people gather to seek Him in prayer, in the reading of His Word, and in the fellowship of believers.

The Church is not a place to gain social status, not a building for personal advancement, and not a platform for self-promotion or the promotion of cultural ideals. The Church is solely God’s house, which He has set apart for His glory as a place of prayer, worship, and deep, authentic relationship with Him. Let us be faithful to keep the focus on God’s purpose for the Church, not on what culture or consumerism might want to make it.

To be faithful in keeping that focus, we have to be willing to do regular heart checks and ask ourselves the hard questions, and even further being willing to be honest with ourselves in the answers, letting God mold and shape what’s out of place. Ask yourself these questions:

I encourage you, take time to reflect on your personal worship this week. May we not allow the enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us turn any part of the God’s Church into a den of robbers. But may it always be our goal to seek God’s heart in prayer with purity, humility, and devotion, making His house a house of prayer.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

From first look, Jesus had just been praised by multitudes of people and yet now we see Jesus weeping over the city. The people had rejoiced at His arrival on that colt, but their expectations and the box they had put the long-awaited Messiah into skewed their perspective and they missed the reality of His coming and the things that make for peace. They wanted peace in defeating the Romans in the physical realm and Jesus came to give them peace with God in the spiritual realm. And in doing so they didn’t know on that specific day the things that make for peace.

The prophecy of that specific day and the Messiah’s arrival had been prophesied long ago (Daniel 9). Daniel’s vision in Daniel 9 was written around 538 B.C., long before Jesus ever came, and the date of what we call the Triumphal Entry was precisely prophesied down to the day. God had made it known to the people over half a millennium in advance and had given detailed prophecies about Jesus as Messiah, of which Jesus fulfilled, and they missed it.

Jesus then prophesied the consequence of not knowing their time of visitation and His prophecy that the enemies would barricade around Jerusalem and destroy everything, happened only 38 years later in the year 70 A.D. when secular history documented that Titus, a Roman army general who later became emperor, surrounded Jerusalem and cut off their food supply and eventually stormed in and destroyed everything, completely burning the temple to the ground.

Now I don’t know about you, but initially the fact that they missed their day of visitation and the horrible consequences they’d receive because of it, kind of makes me shake my head and think, “How on earth could you have missed it? God made it so clear”, but when I look at how Jesus responded, I’m quickly humbled. Jesus knew the upcoming prophesy in light of the people not knowing the day of their visitation, and He gave them the prophecy long ago about their day of visitation, AND He ensured it was recorded and preserved for them; but He didn’t shake His fist or head and become indignant at the lack of knowledge; instead, He wept.

He loved all people then, He loves all people now, and He wants us to understand the revealed mystery that He is our Prince of Peace who came to bridge the chasm our sin created and allow us to make peace with God through His sacrifice on the cross. And now, thousands of years later, we have a complete canon of Scripture that clearly lays out all the Law and Prophets of old and how Jesus clearly fulfilled all the prophecies about Messiah and has more than proven to be God in the flesh who came and dwelt among us, our Savior. As we just celebrated the birth of Jesus, may we never forget nor take for granted the thing Jesus did to make for our peace with God.

As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:37-40)

As Jesus was preparing to enter Jerusalem, a whole multitude of His disciples begins to rejoice. This was a crowd of people who had seen the mighty works Jesus had done, had been following Him, and were rejoicing and praising God for all those mighty works they witnessed.

It’s interesting that the Pharisees who had seen much of the same mighty works as the crowd has seen, did not rejoice but instead admonished Jesus to rebuke His disciples. A Psalm of king David says that God is enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). The Pharisees’ admonishment was a blatant disbelief in Jesus as Messiah and in reality, put them in a place of telling God to rebuke the praises of His people.

Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And here we see Jesus’ answer in kind when He said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Could you imagine stones crying out with praise to God?? The very thought is beyond our imagination, yet the truth of it remains.

In our daily lives God is working and doing mighty works in our midst. Do we cry out, rejoicing and praising God for it? Or do we refrain from praising Him for one reason or another? Are there ever times that proverbial rocks are crying out in your silence?

I don’t know about you, but I never want to be put to shame by rocks over my silence and lack of praise to God for His goodness. Even if God never did any mighty works, He is still worthy of all praise. God is worthy of my praise and God is worthy of your praise.

I encourage you to take a moment and without any regard for what others think, meditate on Who God is and the mighty works He has done, and freely rejoice and praise Him aloud now.

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. (Luke 19:28-35)

Jesus was about to make His triumphal entry and even still, He took the opportunity to allow His disciples to be taught and used for His glory and demonstrating the sovereignty of God.

Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to go find a colt for Him, He told them where to go, when to go, and even gave them instructions on how to respond to questions that would arise from them obeying Him. And this one verse, verse 32, shows us yet another example of God’s Word never failing to come to pass: So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. (Luke 19:32)

Jesus called two of His disciples to do something, guided and equipped them in it, it came to pass just as Jesus said it would, and they were effective in serving Jesus.

Imagine being in the shoes of those two disciples. Jesus has just told them where to go find a colt, to untie it, and bring it to Him. That very well may have brought up a fear, anxiety, or an uncomfortable feeling in the disciples at the thought of the colt owner confronting them. They may have even questioned to themselves, “What if I give the answer Jesus tells me and there’s still an issue?” All valid thoughts, but the reality of it is this: if any thoughts had crippled those disciples from walking in the work Jesus had sent them to do, they would have simply been disobedient.

We can get sometimes get stuck in our minds playing all the “what if” scenarios and assuming how things may turn out, but in reality we don’t know the future, only God does. If God is calling us to do something, we should choose not to overthink things and simply obey. That’s obviously easier said than done, but when we make it a practice and habit to not spend large amounts of time thinking on the same things over and over, basically ruminating on the things we can’t control or change, then we can better operate in choosing to set those thoughts down and let them go and simply operate in what we do know and trust: God and His word.

We read time and time again in Scripture how God’s Word never fails and about the incredible sovereignty of our great and mighty God, and we undoubtedly experience this in our personal lives too. So why ever fear, doubt, and waste any time thinking about “what if” possibilities when God tells us to do something?

God is good, faithful, sovereign, and true, and we can have complete faith and security in Him. If God calls us to do something, it’s up to Him to guide and provide that way and it’s up to us to trust Him and walk in obedience. Be encouraged, my friend - when God tells you to do something, walk confidently in obedience, watch Him work, be amazed by Him, and give Him the glory and praise for it.

When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Luke 19:15-26)

Leading up to these verses was the start of the parable where the lord left on a trip to take hold of a kingdom and left his servants with money and instructed them to do business while he was gone. For the first two servants, they did well and were put in authority over cities, but the third servant not so much. We all want to be among those who hear, “Well, done, good servant!” so let’s learn from where the third servant went wrong.

The third servant laid away the mina his lord gave him because he was afraid of him. Fear of an authority figure isn’t the issue though, it was why he was afraid of him…he said it was “because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” The lord sounds like a harsh man and we can almost have understanding for the third servant here, but before jumping to conclusions, was that actually true of the lord?

The reality is that the lord wasn’t those things. He makes that clear in his response as he questions what the third servant “knew” and tells him if that were true, then he should have at the very least put the money in the bank to earn some kind of interest. The rhetorical question shows us that the perception of the third servant was false and therefore his fear was unfounded.

The third servant was condemned by his own words and called wicked for it. The servant’s view of his lord caused him to act out of emotion and it wasn’t rational even if his perception had been correct.

Everything in the lord’s actions within this parable shows us that he wasn’t what the third servant made him out to be. The lord had given the servants money, and around 3 months’ worth of wages at that so not a small amount of money. With the average annual income in the United States being around $60,000, then 3 months of income today would be around $15,000. The lord was generous in giving such a large sum to each servant and directing them to engage in business while he was gone, and he was entrusting his riches to them to do as he directed.

The first two servants mentioned the gain they earned for the lord with what he had given them. But the third servant didn’t even engage in any business. He didn’t even do the bare minimum, which would have been to put the money in the bank and earn interest. The third servant let his false view of the lord disable his actions altogether, and his disobedience was wicked.

The first two servants who had obeyed their lord and made gains of varying amounts were rewarded for their obedience. There were listed amounts and variations of how much one servant had gained from the one mina and the rewards were given in proportion to it, but that’s not the focus. The focus that Jesus points us to in this parable is this: ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’

It’s not about how much, it’s about how faithful.

The first two servants had been faithful and more was given, but the third servant had no faithfulness and even that initial mina he was given was taken away. God doesn’t look at us based on the successes of the investments we make with the gifts He’s given us; God looks at the motive of our hearts and the faithfulness to obey Him.

Here’s the deal – Those servants couldn’t have gained ten or five minas if their lord hadn’t given them a mina to begin with. In and of ourselves we can’t offer God anything; but God gives us gifts and prepares good works for us to walk in for His glory and He tells us to faithfully use them and walk in them. If we do that and we reap a lot, we’ve been faithful to obey. If we do that and we reap a little, we’ve been faithful to obey. If we don’t do it at all, we’ve not been faithful to obey at all. See how the amount that’s reaped isn’t what God is focused on?

God is far more concerned with our hearts than what our actions can reap. God doesn’t need us to achieve His purposes, but He wants our hearts to be right before Him as He uses us to achieve His purposes.

Let’s close with a question: Will you purpose in your heart to grow closer to your Lord Jesus, to know Him beyond earthly perceptions, and be faithful to use the gifts He’s given you to obey His command of tending to kingdom business while we await His return?

[Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10)

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree to see what he could see…did you just sing those sentences in your head? If you grew up in the church, you likely grew up singing the Zacchaeus song in Sunday school, and most of the time we focus on Zacchaeus in this section of Scripture, but today we’re going to focus on the crowd.

Since Zacchaeus was a tax collector, the crowd did not like him. Jews in those days considered other Jews who worked for Rome as tax collectors to be traitors and all around awful human beings. But what’s interesting is how they responded to Jesus telling Zacchaeus that He must stay at his house and seeing Zacchaeus come down and receive Jesus joyfully – they all grumbled.

Jesus only did what He heard from the Father, so we know that it was the Father’s will that Jesus go to Jericho and have a divinely appointed engagement with Zacchaeus. And did no one at all wonder at the fact that Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name as He called him to come down from that tree? Jesus had literally called him by name and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house and the people grumbled over it because of their view of Zacchaeus as a sinner.

Jesus very well knew this man was a sinner. As the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost, it was people like Zacchaeus whom He was seeking. So why didn’t the crowd see it this way?

The people failed to see two very important things: one, they failed to see how Jesus viewed Zacchaeus – a man who was lost that He was seeking to save; and two, they also failed to see how Jesus viewed them – people who were also lost, therefore sinners, of whom He came to seek and save.

If they hadn’t failed to see themselves as sinners, they may not have failed to see how Jesus saw Zacchaeus and may have even rejoiced that Jesus had called him and come into his home to bring salvation there. But what about in today’s world where Jesus isn’t here in person? As ambassadors for Christ, we should have a heart for people the way God does. But if we fail to see ourselves in the proper light, we’ll fail to see others the way God sees them.

Even with failing to see how Jesus viewed Zacchaeus and how Jesus viewed them, why would they grumble at what Jesus did? They were all there to see Jesus and it was only Zacchaeus whom Jesus called out to in that moment. It would seem as though the real reason for grumbling wasn’t all based on the fact that Zacchaeus was a sinner, but the fact that they weren’t called upon to host Jesus that day.

Jealousy, or at its foundation – covetousness, can cause a lot of grumbling in a heart who isn’t happy with where its at, because it causes a person to look outward for the inward satisfaction. Jealousy or covetousness can poison the well of contentedness with desire or longing for what other people have, even to the point of justifying to ourselves that the other person is somehow a worse sinner than we are. But that isn’t what Jesus desires for us.

And as Zacchaeus heard theses grumblings of the crowd, he turns to Jesus with his changed heart and explains that he is going to give away goods to the poor and restore whatever he’s defrauded with interest. It makes me wonder if the crowd heard this and continued in their grumbling, maybe even doubting Zacchaeus’ motives or thinking he was just trying to justify himself as a sinner. And it didn’t actually matter what the crowd thought or grumbled about, because Jesus knew the truth.

Jesus responded, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus addressed the grumbling and the very hearts of the crowd in His response. It was up to the individuals in the crowd and how they decided to respond to Him. And we don’t know how the people responded to Jesus because Scripture doesn’t tell us, but we are all responsible for how WE respond to Jesus.

How do you respond when others get opportunities you may want? And how do you respond to Jesus when what you think or feel conflicts with what He says?

Jealousy and grumbling are easy, natural even because we’re all sinners, but that’s not what we’re called to do. Can you be happy for people as you see God working in their life and using them for His glory? Will you put aside jealousy and grumbling that come up in you to push past it and look at things from God’s perspective?

I ask all these questions because, well, I can’t know what’s in your heart…but you and God do. Only you two can get down to the nitty gritty and root out any jealousy and grumbling that arises in you. But if we cling to our perspective of self-justification, the “but they’re a sinner” outlook, then we’ll never move on to the real work of our own sin that Jesus wants to address.

I’ll leave you with these verses from James: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:8-10)

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (Luke 18:35-43)

In a quick overview of some interesting aspects to this story, notice this:

Do we cry out to Jesus, our Messiah, with a fully abandoned surrender like this blind man had? Do other’s opinions and actions affect our approach to Jesus, or do we carry on in persistence knowing who we are calling out to?

This goes beyond ailments and healings. What about when we’re in public eating at a restaurant, do we quietly, quickly, and almost ashamedly pray for our food or are we unapologetic in taking the time to thank God for the food He’s blessed us with, no matter who may be watching or saying something against us?

The way the blind man approached Jesus showed his heart posture towards God. In the same way, how we approach God will show our heart posture and help us identify if there are some heart issues we need to address.

When the blind man answered Jesus’ question of what he wanted Jesus to do for him, it was both with boldness and reverence. He was bold enough to say, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” But it also showed a reverence in implying that he knew Jesus could but was asking His permission. If he would have stated it in another way, such as “Lord, recover my sight” or “Lord, can you heal my eye sight?”, that would have been either lacking in reverence or confidence in Jesus’ ability and the man’s initial address of calling Jesus the Son of David would have been undermined as well.

If we truly believe that Jesus is God, our Messiah who has reconciled us to God, then we will approach Him in faith with a bold and confident reverence of Who He is. And if we’re not, we need to check our hearts on what the issue is.

The blind man’s faith pushed him to continue pursuing Jesus even when all those around him were trying to silence him. How do we respond when others around us try to silence our faith? If the blind man hadn’t had the faith to continue despite the actions of others, he wouldn’t have had a personal encounter with Jesus and he wouldn’t have been healed in that moment.

Now, this isn’t saying that if we have enough faith, all our ailments will be healed, but we can’t deny nor dismiss that in many miracles, faith is mentioned as an aspect of it. And our faith plays a part in more than just healing, it also can impact those around us.

When we are willing to walk by faith even if that means being seen as a fool in the eyes of the world in order to live in a way that is pleasing to God, we are following Jesus and glorifying God. And in our walking by faith and following Jesus, our example of faith and the things that God does in and through us, it just may silence those who oppose us and help bring them to a place of praising God in witnessing His work; just as it did in this situation… And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Let’s take time to be mindful of how we’re approaching Jesus and resolve to live out our faith in full surrender of God, regardless of how anyone may react to our pursuit of Him.

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (Luke 18:31-34)

Jesus prophetically spoke of the future He would face in fulfilling His mission as He brought up what the prophets had wrote about Him hundreds of years prior. There are over 300 prophesies about Messiah in Scripture, and 33 prophesies were fulfilled on the day of Jesus’ death alone. Of the few prophesies He mentioned to His disciples in these verses, these were prophesied by king David and Isaiah:

Yet we read that when the disciples heard Jesus, they didn’t understand any of it. My initial thought is, “How unfortunate that they didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them”, but it’s really not unfortunate, because it was divine. It was hidden from them, and they were kept from grasping any of it for a purpose. What Jesus told them wasn’t for them in that specific moment, it was meant to be recalled later and recorded for future followers of Jesus, like you and me.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am a naturally curious person, and I like to understand the why in things:

The list of why questions could go on and on, and while some why questions can be answered or found out, some are hidden from our understanding. But does the why actually matter? Do we have to understand everything? Well, no.

Because if we’re walking by faith, pressing on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, and simply doing what we’re called to as a servant and follower of Jesus, then the why doesn’t actually matter. What matters is that God knows all the answers to those questions, and because if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things for our spiritual good; even to the point of using evil for good.

If our sights get stuck on the why, then we miss the best part of the circumstance – that we’re not alone, forsaken, nor abandoned because God is with us, continuing to author each one of our stories in which He will one day bring to completion.

We may not always understand what God is saying to us at every moment He speaks or what He allows to happen in our life, but if we continue to press into Him, if those things do come into clarity the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the things He has said to us, just as Jesus promised when He said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:25-27)

I encourage you to set your sights above life’s circumstances and firmly fixed on Jesus, not getting hung up if you don’t initially understand what God is speaking or what is happening in your life but continuing to follow Him as you trust His plan for your life. Life is definitely hard; but God is good, and so are His plans for you, so let not your heart be troubled!

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18:18-30)

First off, we have to take note of something really awesome…Jesus accepted the title of Good Teacher. We know from what Paul wrote to the Romans that no one is righteous nor does good, and Jesus clearly stated that, No one is good except God alone. Jesus didn’t rebuke Him though, just clarified the truth about who He is. While also fully human, Jesus is God.

Jesus listed 5 of the 10 commandments. But what do we notice about which commandments He listed? The ones He listed are commandments that people tend to feel justified in themselves based on outward observation of them – not murdering, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and honoring parents.

But as we know from Jesus’ teaching on the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, simply lusting after someone in your heart is committing adultery and being angry with someone is likened to murder. This ruler claimed to have kept all those 5 commandments Jesus had listed from his youth which showed that he had already skipped right over the heart check.

A couple short sentences later, Jesus made the heart issue glaringly obvious to the ruler: “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” The young man had come to the conclusion that he had somehow arrived and was like the male version of Mary Poppins – practically perfect in every way – but Jesus wasn’t concerned with how the man acted outwardly since youth, He was concerned with this man’s heart and what he was lacking.

Telling the man to sell everything and give it to the poor wasn’t Jesus being an activist or hating on rich people; it was pointing out commandments that the man hadn’t been following because he had made his riches and material things his god and they were idols to him. The whole law was summed up in two commandments to love God and love others. To obey Jesus’ command would have been a hurdle that once the man was over, he could have moved past worshipping material things and onto truly worshipping God as he went and followed Jesus, leaving everything else behind and counting it all as loss in pursuit of God.

We don’t know what ever happened to this man because the last thing we read about him is that he went away sad because he was very rich. All we know was that in that moment of time, he heard from Jesus directly and because his wealth had such a stronghold on him, he grieved over that being the path to inherit eternal life instead of being grieved with the godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

Let me ask you this: Does money or riches have a hold in your life? Does the thought of giving up anything in your life make you sad?

This is a good heart check moment, and these are really good questions to regularly check in on and take some time to self-reflect on where our hearts are currently. If we’re not willing to give up quite literally anything and everything in following God, then we have a heart issue to deal with.

I’ll leave you with the words of Jesus here because it’s encouraging to both one who is doing well on this heart issue as well as to the one who is struggling with it. If you’re doing well in this area – be encouraged by the Lord’s pleasure and promise. If you’re struggling in this area – be encouraged and stirred to a change of heart with the promise the Lord has given to those who are willing to give up everything for His sake:

And [Jesus] said to them “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”