CONCERNING HYPOCRISY, WORLDLY ANXIETY, WATCHFULNESS, AND HIS APPROACHING PASSION
(Galilee.)
LUKE 12:1-59
First, here's some broader context for Luke's entire twelfth chapter which encompasses several difference audiences and lessons:
"Unto his disciples first of all (pros tous mathētas autou prōton). This long discourse in Luke 12 is really a series of separate talks to various groups in the vast crowds around Jesus. This particular talk goes through Luk_12:12."-RWP
Be Honest with Yourself, Others, and God
"...He began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." Luke 12:1-3
"Be sure your sin will find you out," the Word declares (Num_32:23)—not because God will track us down, but because our sin itself will." -Jon Courson
"The true Christian, like the nightingale, sings in the night; but the hypocrite has all his songs in the day, when he can be seen and heard of men." -Biblical Illustrator
"The same is true with righteousness. Jesus shone on the Mount of Transfiguration because He was light. Thus, the real miracle of the Transfiguration is not that Jesus was shining. The real miracle is that His humanity was able to conceal His divinity for so long. Indeed, that which is inside a man comes out eventually." -Jon Courson
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| The Parable of the Rich Fool, by Bertram Poole |
Focus on Heaven
"Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” -Luke 12:13-15
"Jesus, however, here, as on other occasions (see Joh_8:3-11), firmly refuses to interfere in secular matters." -Pulpit Commentary
"Because the man was covetous, he could see in Jesus nothing more than a rabbi who might influence his brother. Our sense of want largely shapes our conception of Christ. Many to-day see in Him mainly a social (and economical) reformer, because our notion of what we and the world need most is something to set social conditions right, and so to secure earthly well-being. They who take Jesus to be first and foremost ‘a judge or a divider’ fail to see His deepest work or their own deepest need. He will be all that they wish Him to be, if they will take Him for something else first." -Andrew MacLaren
"Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:33-34
"Some might argue, from the sequel of the story, that God looks with disfavour on riches as riches. St. Augustine replies to such a mistaken deduction, "God desires not that thou shouldest lose thy riches, but that thou shouldest change their place" (’Serm.,’ 36.9).
"Possessions are dangerous because they can possess us. Did you get a new car—or did it get you? You used to be free on Saturdays to toss a ball with your kids. But now you have to wax your car, tune it up, keep it running. Small men seek to get. Great men seek to be." -Jon Courson
"In the world's stock market, the word is "Buy." In God's, it's "Sell." This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a home or a boat or a car. But if anything begins to possess you, leaving you less time and energy for the things of the Lord, sell it and invest in people, in heaven, in the kingdom." -Jon Courson
"He forgot Solomon’s words, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow" (Pro_27:1). Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. "Extremes meet," suggests Dean Plumptre; "and the life of self-indulgence may spring either from an undue expectation of a lengthened life" (as was the ease here), "or from unduly dwelling on its shortness, without taking into account the judgment that comes after it. The latter, as in the ’carpe diem’ of Horace (’Odes,’ 1.11. 8), was the current language of popular epicureanism" (see St. Paul’s reproduction of this thought, 1Co_15:32); "the former seems to have been more characteristic of a corrupt Judaism." -Pulpit Commentary
"God has given us all things not to possess, but to enjoy. The birds sing because they don't have to pay taxes, work on their wardrobes, or paint their houses. They simply enjoy what God gives. Do we do the same?" -Jon Courson
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