4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
8 "I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever publicly disowns me will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14 Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21 "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Points of Interest:
• ‘began to speak first to his disciples’—again, like at the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), Jesus is addressing his disciples, but he’s speaking in front of the entire crowd. Apparently, he wants the whole crowd to know that he expects his disciples to behave differently from what he’s seen from the Pharisees.
• ‘the yeast of the Pharisees’—a very small amount of yeast affects an entire batch of dough. Sadly, the thing the Pharisees add which affects the entire environment, is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is living by a set of rules different from the one you teach. It’s more than just failure to live up to your principles; it’s possible to fail sincerely. Hypocrisy takes it a step further: it’s purposefully setting up a standard for others you don’t expect to keep yourself, or treating your own failure more lightly than the failures of others, or pretending you are living up to standards you are not. Jesus warns his followers to be vigilant about hypocrisy. If they let even a little in, it will affect their entire lives.
• ‘What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight’—Jesus has spoken before about the fact that things he is keeping secret will eventually be known, but apparently it’s not just Jesus’ secrets that will be uncovered. It’s in the nature of secrets to come out, and that includes the dirty little secrets of the Pharisees or of the disciples if they succumb to the temptation of hypocrisy. I don’t think Jesus is talking about punishment here. I think he’s just stating a plain fact: hypocrisy has a tendency to be found out; and when it is, people love to talk about it.
• ‘who kill the body and after that can do no more’—this reminds me of what Jesus said yesterday about cleaning the outside but leaving the inside dirty. Just like it’s possible to clean the body without affecting the soul, it’s also possible to kill the body without affecting the soul. And just like the inside of a cup is more important than the outside, the soul is more important than the body.
• ‘you are worth more than many sparrows’—Jesus is saying that while God has the authority to throw people in hell, that doesn’t mean that he’s hoping he gets the chance. God values life, even the life of a sparrow and all the more the lives of human beings. Fortunately, the one who has the power to do us real damage wants to do us good instead.
• ‘anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven’—I think that Jesus is referring back to Monday’s passage when the Pharisees accused Jesus of defeating demons with demonic power. Blasphemy is saying that something holy is evil, which is exactly what the Pharisees did: they called the Holy Spirit (by whose power Jesus was casting out demons) the prince of demons. I don’t think Jesus is being spiteful by saying that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit leads to unforgiveness; I think that once again he’s stating the simple truth of the matter. If someone thinks the Holy Spirit is the devil, they won’t welcome the Holy Spirit into their lives. But as John told us in his sermon (Luke 3:15-17) the Savior has come precisely to bring the Holy Spirit to people; it’s by being baptized in the Holy Spirit that we are freed from our sins. So, by refusing the Holy Spirit, they are refusing the power to be rescued.
• ‘When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities’—it is not just Jesus who will have trouble with the authorities. His followers will follow him into trouble.
• ‘the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say’—another form of daily bread. Jesus doesn’t give them the words now; instead, the Holy Spirit will give them the words when they need them.
• ‘tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me’—according to the law set up by Moses, the older brother would receive twice as large an inheritance as the rest (Deuteronomy 21: 17). It’s unclear whether this man is saying that his brother hasn’t giving him his share at all, or he’s hoping that Jesus would say that the inheritance should be divided equally. In any case, Jesus is not interested in getting involved.
• ‘Be on your guard against all kinds of greed’—it could be tempting for this man to think, ‘Once I receive my inheritance, I’ll be all set.’ But that’s a distraction from what matters most: there’s a lot more to life than possessions.
• ‘I have no place to store my crops’—Jesus exaggerates to the point of ridiculousness. This man is so rich that his big problem is he has nowhere to put all his wealth.
• ‘And I'll say to myself’—this man is a bit self-involved. He’s actually talking to himself about what he’s going to say to himself later.
• ‘eat, drink and be merry’—this phrase has become somewhat well-known, as a sort of cheer for partying, but in context it’s tragic: it’s the last thing the man says before dying. He doesn’t actually get the chance to be merry. It’s like dying on the eve of retirement; he’s been working his whole life toward this moment, but he doesn’t get a chance to enjoy it.
‘Eat, drink, and be merry,’ is probably a reference to the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, in which Solomon comes—at least temporarily—to the cynical conclusion that the most a human being can expect out of life is to eat, drink, and be proud of their work (2:24 and 3:13); the less fortunate still have to work, but they don’t get a chance to enjoy it. So, this man is saying, ‘I won!’ just before he keels over.
• ‘Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’—this whole story is an illustration of what Jesus said earlier: ‘What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?’ (Luke 9:25).
Taking it home:
• For you and your family: Ask God to save you from hypocrisy. Pray for the faith to be honest, sincere, genuine, and fair as you apply the truth to your own life.
• For your friends: Pray that your friends would begin to know how valuable they are to God.
• For our city: Pray that God would break the power of greed in our city. Pray that people would not be fooled into thinking that acquiring things is the way to the good life.
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