9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
15People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
18A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 20You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother."
21"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
28Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
29"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." (NIV)
Main Points
A. The only ones who can be declared righteous are those who have no hope in themselves, but in God’s mercy alone.
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God….”
Humility – the realization that you are hopeless and helpless before a holy, perfect and just God, and throwing yourself at His mercy as a result – is the mark of true repentance and faith. The tax collector understood this and the Pharisee didn’t.
Isaiah the prophet understood this too, in Isaiah 6:1-8 – “Woe to me; I am ruined…”
Reflection question: Which attitude characterizes my heart more – the Pharisee’s or the tax collector’s? Not only on Sunday mornings but in day-to-day living?
B. Through their utter sense of need and dependence, children show us how we need to approach God.
17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
Many may have this passage in mind when they assert that little children are inherently good, but it is only as they grow up and become exposed to the “evil institutions of society” that they become corrupt. But this is a misuse of the passage. Children, no less than adults, are born and conceived in sin and therefore need a Saviour (Ps 51:5).
Nevertheless, children provide a model for us in the way they demonstrate trust, and rely upon others; this is how we need to be towards God.
Paul understood this well in 2 Cor 1:8-9, as he speaks of how he responded to one of his great trials: ”We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (emphasis mine)
Reflection question: How often do I turn to God in need?
C. Only the saving grace of God can break the idol of wealth in the hearts of the wealthy.
25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Some take Jesus’ instruction to the ruler in verse 22 (“Sell everything you have and give to the poor…”) as normative for all Christians, therefore requiring us to be ascetics who can’t own anything, and therefore need to rely on others to get by. But this idea doesn’t square with passages such as 1 Th 4:11-13 and 1 Ti 6:17-19. (Note also that when Zacchaeus says – in Lk 19:8-10 – that he has given half of his goods to the poor – Jesus commends him, rather than scold him “for giving only half and not all”. )
What Jesus is doing, however, is providing a probing test to the ruler – what does he care for the most in the end – his wealth, or the kingdom?
Recall Jesus’ words in Lk 16:13: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Reflection question: Does my thinking about money mainly relate to a sense of responsibility I have over how to manage it for the good of others and the glory of God? Or do I tend to dream about how I could be fulfilled through it? If the latter, have I truly experienced God's saving grace?
D. God will bountifully provide for those who put Him before all other devotions.
Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."
”Jesus is not encouraging his disciples to abandon familial responsibilities (cf. Eph. 5:25; 6:4). But sometimes family members turn against a believer, or there may be times of temporary separation due to Christian ministry….Whatever someone has to sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom will be repaid many times more by God.” (ESV Study Bible, p. 1995)
Recall that even though Peter says in verse 28, "we have left everything to follow you", Paul reveals in 1 Co 9:5 that Peter did not permanently abandon his wife at all.
Reflection question: Do I constantly put God first in my life? If not, is it because I don’t trust Him to provide for me?
Next week: Luke 18:31-43
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
15People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
18A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 20You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother."
21"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
28Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
29"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." (NIV)
Main Points
A. The only ones who can be declared righteous are those who have no hope in themselves, but in God’s mercy alone.
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God….”
Humility – the realization that you are hopeless and helpless before a holy, perfect and just God, and throwing yourself at His mercy as a result – is the mark of true repentance and faith. The tax collector understood this and the Pharisee didn’t.
Isaiah the prophet understood this too, in Isaiah 6:1-8 – “Woe to me; I am ruined…”
Reflection question: Which attitude characterizes my heart more – the Pharisee’s or the tax collector’s? Not only on Sunday mornings but in day-to-day living?
B. Through their utter sense of need and dependence, children show us how we need to approach God.
17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
Many may have this passage in mind when they assert that little children are inherently good, but it is only as they grow up and become exposed to the “evil institutions of society” that they become corrupt. But this is a misuse of the passage. Children, no less than adults, are born and conceived in sin and therefore need a Saviour (Ps 51:5).
Nevertheless, children provide a model for us in the way they demonstrate trust, and rely upon others; this is how we need to be towards God.
Paul understood this well in 2 Cor 1:8-9, as he speaks of how he responded to one of his great trials: ”We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (emphasis mine)
Reflection question: How often do I turn to God in need?
C. Only the saving grace of God can break the idol of wealth in the hearts of the wealthy.
25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Some take Jesus’ instruction to the ruler in verse 22 (“Sell everything you have and give to the poor…”) as normative for all Christians, therefore requiring us to be ascetics who can’t own anything, and therefore need to rely on others to get by. But this idea doesn’t square with passages such as 1 Th 4:11-13 and 1 Ti 6:17-19. (Note also that when Zacchaeus says – in Lk 19:8-10 – that he has given half of his goods to the poor – Jesus commends him, rather than scold him “for giving only half and not all”. )
What Jesus is doing, however, is providing a probing test to the ruler – what does he care for the most in the end – his wealth, or the kingdom?
Recall Jesus’ words in Lk 16:13: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Reflection question: Does my thinking about money mainly relate to a sense of responsibility I have over how to manage it for the good of others and the glory of God? Or do I tend to dream about how I could be fulfilled through it? If the latter, have I truly experienced God's saving grace?
D. God will bountifully provide for those who put Him before all other devotions.
Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."
”Jesus is not encouraging his disciples to abandon familial responsibilities (cf. Eph. 5:25; 6:4). But sometimes family members turn against a believer, or there may be times of temporary separation due to Christian ministry….Whatever someone has to sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom will be repaid many times more by God.” (ESV Study Bible, p. 1995)
Recall that even though Peter says in verse 28, "we have left everything to follow you", Paul reveals in 1 Co 9:5 that Peter did not permanently abandon his wife at all.
Reflection question: Do I constantly put God first in my life? If not, is it because I don’t trust Him to provide for me?
Next week: Luke 18:31-43
