Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Heaven (Grammar 101)

   By way of explanation and clarity I write this post. This will be a random ruminating on a word, or two. Heaven, let’s start there as it is the word I want to focus on. It is the day after Christmas and we have been excited about Jesus leaving Heaven for Earth. I have been among those celebrating Jesus' birth, however my focus has been on Heaven and the glory that lies ahead.

Heaven:  

We know its size. 

We know its inhabitants, including God and Jesus.

We know the requirement for citizenship.

We know the principles it is governed by

and though we do not know its exact location, we do know it exists.

Heaven is where God, Jesus, angels and those believers that have gone on to glory live. When we as the saved saints leave Earth, Heaven will be our home. Just as surely as we live a particular country, Heaven is home to all of those just mentioned.

Let’s revisit basic grammar for a moment.

Nouns:   name people, animals, places things and ideas.

Abstract nouns:  refer to ideas, emotions, concepts and things not tangible, can not be detected by the 5 senses.

i.e.,  bravery, friendship, honesty, peace, wisdom, marriage.

Concrete nouns:   refer to nouns you can detect by your 5 senses.

i.e., coffee- can be seen, tasted and smelled. book- you can see and touch it.

Count nouns: a noun that can have a number in front of it, and an “s” following it is a count noun:  

i.e., I gave Baxter a pumpkin dog treat.

       He jumped up and grabbed three treats.

Treat is a count noun.

Non-count nouns: refer to nouns that can not have an “s” put on the end.

i.e.,  snow, jewelry, scenery, traffic.  

Collective nouns: refer to a word that represents a group, can be plural or singular, but is most commonly expressed in the singular.

i.e., bunch (grapes), choir (group of singers), flock (sheep), herd (cattle).

Here are the two that apply for this post.

Common noun: refers to general items.

i.e.,  dog, state, sea, woman, man.

Proper noun: refers to a name specific noun, identifies the general variety, is a one-of-a-kind item, and are always capitalized.

i.e.,  

dog-   Baxter

state-   Maryland 

sea-   Red Sea
woman-   Queen Elizabeth

man-   R.T. Kendall  

Sentence Example:  When in Chicago the restaurant I enjoy is Elephant and Castle. 

Common noun:   restaurant 

Proper noun:   Elephant and Castle.

Sentence Examples:    Can you see a planet tonight? Yes, we can see Saturn. 

Common noun:   planet 

Proper noun:   Saturn

   While “heavens” (often used in plural form) connotes the sky and all the area above the Earth, Heaven as in the dwelling place of God and those mentioned above is a specific place, with a specific name and therefore is a proper noun that requires capitalization. I realize that does not happen in Bible translations and versions, but for me and here on Honeycomb, that is what I find to be correct. With that same grammar rule applied, much to my chagrin, so is Hell. Correct is correct so that rule will apply there, too.  

   I imagine I enjoyed the visit down Grammar Lane more that most, but I think not only words are so important, but so are their applications and the way they are presented. We are losing so much of the beauty in our language though abbreviations, slang and the twisted “urban” definitions given to lovely words- causing them to become something ugly and twisted, or in some cases ugly words that are used to speak of something desirable. On top of which, common grammar is quickly becoming a lost skill and a dumbing down in society is the result. This may not bother some, but it does me.

  

   So there is my little rumination on a word I love. Whether you agree with me or not, or care or don't, I would urge you to think about the words you use, how you use them, and if maybe societal trend has influenced your verbiage when maybe you would rather it did not. Yep! That's me: Wordgirl! Oh, and have been so since before the cartoon I found out about some years ago. 

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Love gives.

Kristin and Ethan

Have you ever noticed how often gifts are given when love is involved? Love is often expressed by the giving of a gift. Some years ago my husband and I attended an I Still Do conference. Dr. Joseph Stowell was presenting a concept until that point I had never heard of. He shared with us the 5 love languages as described in the book, The 5 Love Languages written by Gary Chapman. Those languages are the manner in which a person best receives love, they are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Physical Touch and Receiving Gifts. None of those really woke anything in me up until he went into the detail behind the feeling loved by being given gifts. It was like a big warm and tingly meteor hit me. My childhood flashed before me. My father enjoyed bringing things home for my brother and I. He would bring things to me that I found to be wonderful. He had impeccable taste, in my child's mind, in clothing. We are talking the 60’s here folks. Big hot pink flowers on bright turquoise background on my shorts and skorts with poor boy tee shirts brightly embellished too. Then the go~go boots and ... well you get it. He did this regularly. I grew up and became a giver, I thoroughly enjoy giving to people, and that is how I receive love. Now, when I got a little revelation on that being my love language, I felt incredibly shallow. Some years later I got another revelation.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Let’s read that again.

For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Take a look at those 5 love languages. I have never read this book in its entirety, but God began to remind me of those languages and you know what??? Those are 5 different manifestations, ways to show love, but at the heart of each one, the person showing that love is GIVING  something of themselves. I determined I was not the shallow person I thought I was. God shows love by giving. I want to go into so much here about the things God has given us, and I will do that at a later date. For now, I have something I deeply wish to share.

I have a wonderful friend whose name is, Carol. She has a son and three daughters. Her daughters are the ages of my three daughters and they grew up together.  All four of her children are amazing and love the Lord with every thing in them. Carol and her husband have modeled that before them all of their lives. The youngest of Carol’s daughters had a beautiful baby boy in May 2008.  June of last year, June 19, 2011 little Ethan Ryder Hazen Brown passed away, he sustained a head injury that took his life. This injury was brought about by his step-mother Stacie, who was charged with battery resulting in the death of a minor. I see no need to go into the horrible details of this awful thing, but on Valentines Day I do see it appropriate to share the love side of this story. I look back on those days of Ethan being in the hospital and the days following and my stomach still cringes and I still well up and cry. But I in no way can walk that horrible dark road that dear family had to walk. And therein is what I want to share. Were there moments of anger and maybe rage and certainly unbelief, absolutely. Did they choose those emotions to dwell on and fester about? No. Did they assume a vindictive and hateful stand against the step-mother that committed this heinous crime? No. This lovely family pulled together and became closer than they had ever been before, and they were quite close to start with. But most of all, they ALL drew on the love of God. The mother of that little boy and the family as a whole have not made hateful remarks about the woman that did this. Instead, they have asked for prayer for her. They have not highlighted the fact that Ethan is gone, they have expressed thankfulness and praise to God that he is in Heaven being held by Jesus until they can hold him again. This family knows what God’s love is and they know how to show it, and have done so in the worst of circumstances. I find it most appropriate to tell you this on this Valentine’s Day, a day set aside to honor love, because this morning was this woman's sentencing. Today from about 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Ethan’s family was in a court room reliving all of this with Stacie who committed this painfully grievous crime. This is s snippet of the message my friend Carol sent out just hours after they left the court room.

We have returned home after four long hours listening to evidence, deliberations, statements, judgments.  Stacie Brown has been sentenced to 50 years in prison- more than we dared expect.  God held us very tight through all the emotion.  We all got to share a statement about our relationship with Ethan, our loss, and our trust in God.  I believe your prayers were answered as we were spared any details we did not already know.  The gospel "appeared" more than once in our statements- so we can pray now that God uses His Word which will not return to Him void. And so, there is a certain sense of closure, no satisfaction, really, but some finality.

Thank you with all our hearts for your fervent prayers on our behalf.  There is not despair, there is victory because of our Lord Jesus Christ.  All praise and honor and glory be to God on high.

Carol and Tom (and the whole bunch of us)

This is a portion of what Ethan’s mom Kristin put on Facebook this afternoon.

I know so many of you have been praying and I want to say thank you! God was listening and carried us through this long morning... We were there from 9am to almost 1pm and Stacie has been given a 50 year sentence, which was the maximum. I'd like to say it feels great and I'm am grateful to see justice served, but it doesn't take away the pain, just as expected. But we praise God for getting us through this difficult morning and as we all had a chance to tell Stacie we've forgiven her, we continue to pray for her. And we ask those of you who have lifted us up this morning to pray with us for her. A thousand thank you's to you all. I believe everyone left the courtroom today knowing that no matter the devastation life can bring, God is still good and He loves us ALL.

There is no way I could have shared that with you and done it right. I think what these amazing women have said deserves to be read straight from their heart.

God loved us so much and He wanted us back in fellowship and right standing with Himself. He wanted to fellowship with us so much that he offered up His perfect Son. Jesus loved us so much though perfect was willing to pay the sinners debt by being mocked and brutally murdered, and God the Father endured it in the name of forgiveness. Now there is a gift of love. Forgiveness is a most tremendous gift, and God freely gave it to us, we only have to receive it.

Carol and her family have in the most painful of situations given Stacie their forgiveness. Their hope is that she will receive Jesus and though in prison physically be freed spiritually. That is a story well deserving to be told and commemorated on this day honoring love, Valentine’s Day.

Tom, Carol and all of your family, I am so thankful for all of you and so honored to have been in your lives. I love each of you and want you to know that. I have not talked much at all about this, I have found it so painful and I grieve for you. But today, I wanted to honor you, memorialize your dear Ethan and give glory to God by sharing your testimony of faithfulness and love, real and true love.

Kristin and Ethan

There may have successfully been a defining of 5 ways to show love for the purpose of building better relationships so they can last, but love, real God love, the unconditional agape style love is eternal because God is eternal and God IS love. That love as we can see in my friend, and her family is understood in every language.