Dear Student of the Word,
Greetings in the name of our Lord! I know I sent an update only 10 days ago, but I only have two more installments of our Luke study before we can move on, and I am eager to finish. After this, I will publish my study of James, then Revelation, and I will have the entire New Testament on this blog site. In the meantime, I just published my John study and I am editing Paul's prison epistles, which will be published in book form before the end of the year. In this week's Luke study, we look at Jesus as He stood before Pilate and Herod before His crucifixion. This is what I wrote in part six of this week's seven-part study, which can be downloaded below:
Study Thirty-Two, Part Six
26 As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' 30 Then "'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" ' 31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
23:26 – No one can be seized to carry their cross. It must be a voluntary decision. When Jesus talked about bearing your cross daily, this is what He was referring to. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38).
My “cross” is working with the Church. I would much prefer to work with corporations, but Jesus has always wanted me to pick up my cross and work where He wants me to work. My cross, however, never involves denying my purpose, and my cross won’t involve doing something that isn’t according to who God made me to be. I have chosen to fulfill my purpose in the sphere that Jesus has chosen and I will do it daily and follow Him, but I follow Him according to who I am – who He created me to be. The cross seldom involves denying who you are, but always involves expressing who you are in a way and in the place God chooses. What is your cross, do you know? Are you trying to deny who you are, thinking that is your cross?
23:27 – Word must have spread when it became light and a number of sympathizers now identified with Jesus on His road of suffering. When you decide to follow Jesus, it is for times of suffering as well as blessing. Are you suffering for Him? I’m not talking about suffering for your stupid decisions, but for following Him? Are you following Jesus as He leads you on the road to personal crucifixion? If you are, don’t be ashamed or discouraged! You are doing the will of God.
23:28 – Jesus never attracted attention to Himself, nor did He require that He be the center of attention. Jesus was suffering an agonizing death, and many are wailing for Him, identifying with His pain and suffering. Yet He deflects their attention and sympathy and focuses them on what is yet to come as a result of what they were doing to Him. Leaders must constantly work to keep themselves from being the center of attention, even when their ministry requires that they be in the spotlight.
23:29&30 – Jesus was referring to the fall of Jerusalem that would take place about 35 years later, and the fall of Jerusalem was a terrible time for everyone who didn’t know or follow Jesus. Rome would come and surround Jerusalem and starve its inhabitants. It would be so bad that the people would wish for death, but it would not come soon enough.
23:31 – The Jews were treating Jesus as they were, and times were relatively good, but He asked what they would do when things were bad. Desperate times would bring out the worst in anyone, but Jesus brought out the worst in some. That is how wicked they were.
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy this study of Luke's gospel from God's word.
P.S. I have published my entire study of John that can now be purchased in paper or Kindle format on Amazon.
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