Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

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You know what stood out to me me today? Not just that Jesus will go after even just one of us who may go astray…but it’s the fact that He says when He finds us He will joyfully put us on His shoulders and bring us back. Maybe you have wandered off. You’ve wandered so far that you wouldn’t even know how to get back if you tried. Maybe you’ve been hurt by the church, a spouse, a friend, a loss, etc. and you don’t think you could even walk back if you wanted to because you have been wounded. Jesus says He will pursue you, and when He finds you, if you let Him, He will put you on HIS shoulders and carry you back. You can make it back today…let Him carry you back! Not only that, but maybe you feel guilty and ashamed that you have wandered. You don’t want people to judge you and ridicule you as the religious leaders did. Don’t forget…Jesus says He will carry you back JOYFULLY! He will be so happy that a party will break out in heaven! No need to carry guilt and shame around Jesus…He already bore that for you! So…are you lost? Let Jesus bring you back today in joy!

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them He said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even their own life-such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

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Wow…this is such a tough passage. The reason, is after this Jesus has left us no excuse not to completely surrender and be sold out for Him. Family can’t hold us back. Our own life can’t hold us back. In fact, He takes it so seriously that He says we need to really consider whether we want to follow Him or not. We have to be willing to give up EVERYTHING. He compares us to salt. Salt is good…but if we aren’t making a difference in our world based on our commitment to Christ, then we are no good for anyone. If all we are going to do is sit in a pew, complain about the music or sermon, sit in some Sunday school classes, give some money, and pray before meals…then Jesus says we have nothing to give the church or the world. If you say you follow Christ, then your life better prove it. If you say you follow Christ, then there better not be anything standing in between you. It’s a great cost, but the reward is guaranteed and greater than anything we can imagine. So….who’s in?

When one of those at the table heard Him say this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus replied, “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

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Aren’t these some silly excuses? I have to see my field…I have to try out my new oxen…I just got married. Here’s the deal, God sees your excuses as silly too. My job is just too demanding…I don’t have time…I don’t know how…I’m not good enough. There is no good excuse when it comes to slacking in following Jesus. He wants all or none. Stop making silly excuses. Live your life for Him. Change your priorities. Eternity is at stake.

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched. There in front of Him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him on his way.

Then He asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say.

When He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, He told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Then Jesus said to His host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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Jesus says ALL who exalt themself will be humbled. It’s not that it is a possibility…it’s that it will happen. It’s hard to love others when you’re constantly trying to be better than them. It’s hard to love others if you are always looking down on them. Jesus says humble yourselves…and you will be exalted when it actually matters. Do you need to take a step down off the pedestal? Today, examine yourself and where you stand.

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to Him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day-for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often i have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

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Jerusalem just never could quite figure it out. It’s no different than a lot of other people today. They just don’t see what God has put in front of them. They only see what they want to see. Law and tradition is often a blinder to the miracles God is putting in front of us. Take off the blinders. See the miracles God is trying to show.

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

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This is one of the scariest passages in all of scripture. Jesus says many will be told that He never knew them. I wonder, what about us? What about you? Do you know Jesus? I’m not talking about a knowledge of Him…but do you “know” Him? Are you close to Him? Do you invite Him into your life? Do you live for Him? Many who “go to church” and go through the routine are going to say, “Jesus we went to church and gave money and sang the songs! We even went to Sunday school and Wednesday night prayer service! Why can’t we come in?” And Jesus is going to say, “I don’t know you…get away from me you who do evil.” I don’t want to hear those words and neither do you. Get to know Jesus today.

Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”

Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

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I see this passage like this. The kingdom of God has to be nurtured and shown attention to in each persons life. If this happens, it can grow into the greatest thing in a persons life. A tree that can provide shelter from the storm, cool shade when it’s hot; a source of fun; something to hang your life on. It can literally change your entire life! And it should! But it also has to be kept up with. It needs a solid root system to have a steady foundation. We can have the kingdom of God operating in every aspect of our life. But it requires us to make some choices to help it grow for us. Don’t you want that?

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.

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So much stood out to me in this passage. First, I just can’t help but see how Satan has lured God’s people into focusing so much on the legalistic that they had abandoned the spiritual. I mean, they were hardcore about that Sabbath. More than what God ever intended for it. I see the church do this even today…with things that should be minor and we make major. Also, I love the parallel to our lives here. I believe some of us have been bound by past failures, temptations, etc and for years we have been walking around crippled from what God had intended for us. We have been given grace to be set free from those things that bind. Jesus was handed over and bound so that we didn’t have to be. Allow Jesus to tell you today what He told the woman…today you are set free. Then, straighten up, drop the chains, and live a life of praise to God for what He has done.

Now there were some present at the time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the other living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this gig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

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Jesus again and again says to repent or you will perish. What Jesus teaches here though, is that repentance is so much more than just an apology. It is determining that your life won’t look the same as it did before. It’s deciding that our life, based on the grace we receive from God, will then go forward and bear fruit. Bear fruit? You know…that passage in Galatians you have heard your whole life. We repent…and then go live a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. If we are to truly repent, God must be able to see the fruit from our changed life. So…is your life producing fruit?

He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

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Jesus said they were hypocrites because they could see and understand the patterns of the earth and the sky but couldn’t see what was happening right in front of them. I’ve never really thought about that statement until now. We use the patterns of the sky to determine weather and temperatures. Many put their faith in these patterns but haven’t put their faith in the Creator of the patterns. They are choosing to believe in one and not the other. There is a whole world that is lost but are putting their faith in weather forecasts. It’s time we point them to the direction of the Creator.