Fr, Mike compares the story of the rich young man to the story of Zacchaeus, highlighting the difference in their willingness to follow Christ with their whole hearts. Looking at the stories of these young men, Fr. Mike invites us to reflect on our willingness to follow Christ with all that we are and all that we have. Today we read Luke 17-19 and Proverbs 26:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Bible in a Year podcast?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 319. We're reading Luke chapters 17, 18, and 19, also Proverbs chapter 26, verses 13 through 16. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.
Chapter 2: What scripture passages are being read today?
I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. If you do, you receive daily episodes and daily updates right to your podcast app. It is day 319.
We're reading Luke chapter 17, 18, and 19, Proverbs chapter 26, verses 13 through 16. The gospel according to Luke chapter 17, some sayings of Jesus. And he said to his disciples, Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to him by whom they come.
It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times and says, I repent, you must forgive him.
The apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, be rooted up and be planted in the sea and it would obey you. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down at table?
Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and put on your apron and serve me till I eat and drink and afterward you shall eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what he was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. Jesus cleanses 10 lepers.
On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well.
the coming of the kingdom. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, Behold, here it is, or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
And he said to the disciples, The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, behold there or behold here. Do not go, do not follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the son of man be in his day.
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Chapter 3: What lessons can we learn from the rich young man?
For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you and hem you in on every side and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. Jesus cleanses the temple.
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.
The book of Proverbs, chapter 26, verses 13 through 16. The sluggard says, there is a lion in the road. There is a lion in the streets. As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. It wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer discreetly.
Father in heaven, we give you praise. Thank you so much. We give you honor and glory, and we just praise you for your son, Jesus, and the revelation of the gospel of Luke. Oh my goodness, Lord, thank you so much for Luke taking the time and taking all the effort. I can't even imagine, Lord, the effort that Luke put in to writing these words to be able to give us a picture of Jesus.
Jesus in his teaching, Jesus in his righteous anger against the scribes and Pharisees and those who were bought and sold in the temple. His righteous love and calling of people like Zacchaeus, people like the rich young man, people like us. So thank you, Father. Thank you for loving us. And thank you for Luke.
And above all, Lord, thank you for your Son and your Spirit, which are your gifts to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Oh, gosh. So we just have three chapters in Luke, which are phenomenal. And we're getting, he walked into Jerusalem, right? So we know we're coming to the end.
We only have two days left with the Gospel of Luke. But there's something about this. I just want to highlight a couple points. You know, in chapter 17, very, very beginning, where it talks about if anyone should cause one of these little ones to sin, it always reminds me years ago when I was in seminary, there was a professor. His name is Dr. Chris Thompson. He taught us morality.
And maybe I've said this before because it just stuck with me so much. And he said, gentlemen, he's talking to all the guys who would hopefully be ordained priests. He said, gentlemen, when it comes to your life, when it comes to sin, when it comes to leading others into sin, I have one word for you. And that word is millstones.
And it was just this, it was very convicting because he just spoke with authority. He was a husband and a father and just a really morally upstanding man, not only super intelligent, but also incredible teacher, probably the best teacher I've ever had in my life. And that conviction that had the millstones, man, you cannot, you may not lead others into sin. And that has just sat with me.
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Chapter 4: How does Zacchaeus's story illustrate repentance?
But we also know that Jesus had made it clear at various times he had to be pushed sometimes, not had to be pushed, but he allowed himself to be pushed in certain moments in the Gospels. to reveal that it is not one's pedigree, right? It's not the birthright, not the fact that we're children of Abraham or sons of Abraham that enables us to experience the grace of Jesus Christ.
It is the fact that we're lost, the fact that we're miserable and that his mercy comes to meet us in our misery. And so even if someone is a Samaritan, even if someone is a Syrophoenician woman, even if someone is far, far from the Lord, you know, in the Acts of the Apostles, we're We have the Ethiopian eunuch.
Nothing has nothing to do with Judaism, except for the fact that he seems to be a God-fearer. And yet the gospel and the grace of God is for him and for you and for me, which is just incredible. So Jesus is highlighting these Samaritans as well. Now, keep moving on a little bit. One of the things I want to highlight is that these two men in chapters 18 and chapter 19.
In chapter 18, there's the rich ruler. And whenever I describe the rich ruler, I describe him as the good kid. He's a church kid. He's someone who, as he says, you know, he's a rich young man and he wants to know what he has to do to inherit eternal life. He's a good church kid. Jesus says, you know the commandments. Yep, you bet I do. Lord, I've been following them all since my youth.
Now, not in Luke's gospel, but in another gospel, I think Mark's gospel, it says Jesus looking at him, loved him. And so here's this look of love between the Lord God and this rich young man, this good kid, this church kid. But when Jesus asks him, okay, you've given me stuff. You've done good things. That's great. That's wonderful. But now you have to give me your life. Now give me your heart.
Give me what really matters. He goes away sad. Now remember coming upon this once that it said that the term, we just read here in chapter 18, that he went away sad. That actually, this may be, I think this is accurate, that term for sad, grieved, is the same word that is used to describe the grief, the agony that Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Chapter 5: What does Jesus teach about faith and humility?
Chapter 6: What can we learn from the parable of the unjust judge?
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive kingly power and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 pounds and said to them, trade with these till I come.
But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingly power, he commanded these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by trading. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.
And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your pound has made five pounds. And he said to him, And you are to be over five cities. Then another came, saying, Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin.
For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant." You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow?
Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest? And he said to those who stood by, take the pound from him and give it to him who has the 10 pounds. And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 pounds. I tell you that to everyone who has will more be given, but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it, and bring it here. If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? you shall say this, The Lord has need of it.
So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their garments on the colt, they set Jesus upon it. And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road.
As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
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Chapter 7: How does Jesus demonstrate mercy to a blind beggar?
Not only this, in the gospel, it talks about a great millstone. And now our translation here, the RSV, doesn't have the word great. But imagine what a great millstone is. So you know what a millstone would do is it would go around this circle, right? Obviously, and you would have either a human being or an animal that would kind of pull it around this centrifugal point, right?
So a center point and the millstone was so big and so heavy that it would crush whatever's underneath it. So typically it would be, you know, grain, barley, that kind of thing. And we grind those, whatever was underneath the millstone into a fine powder. It was that heavy, over 2,000 pounds at least.
And so imagine having that great millstone, 2,000 pounds placed around your neck and then thrown into the sea. You go down pretty fast. It would be pretty drastic. And that's the seriousness with which Jesus takes sin. And that is so important for us, the seriousness with which Jesus takes sin. Now, moving on, in that same chapter, chapter 17, we have Jesus cleansing seven lepers.
And we note this, you know, there's a number of times we have the parable before, the parable of the Good Samaritan. And we have here, there's Jesus passing through Samaria or between Samaria and Galilee. And there's 10 lepers. All of them get healed. One comes back. It was a Samaritan.
We know about the Samaritans now because we've gone through the entire Old Testament and we know that those Samaritans, they had been those who had intermarried, you know, because when the Babylonians or Syrians came in, they had brought five nations with them and they intermarried with the Jews there and essentially corrupted their religion. They corrupted their following of the Lord God.
And so the Samaritans in many ways were even worse kind of, I don't say enemies, but even worse enemies than the enemies of the Jews. Like they're worse than the Assyrians, worse than the Romans, worse than the Babylonians at some times because of the fact that they would see themselves as brothers and yet they were living as estranged family members, right?
And yet here is Jesus using them as good examples, right? Why? Well, we know that Jesus first came to save the Jews, right? He first came to fulfill the Old Testament covenant that the Lord God had made with the Jewish people.
But we also know that Jesus had made it clear at various times he had to be pushed sometimes, not had to be pushed, but he allowed himself to be pushed in certain moments in the Gospels. to reveal that it is not one's pedigree, right? It's not the birthright, not the fact that we're children of Abraham or sons of Abraham that enables us to experience the grace of Jesus Christ.
It is the fact that we're lost, the fact that we're miserable and that his mercy comes to meet us in our misery. And so even if someone is a Samaritan, even if someone is a Syrophoenician woman, even if someone is far, far from the Lord, you know, in the Acts of the Apostles, we're We have the Ethiopian eunuch.
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Chapter 8: What does the parable of the ten pounds reveal about stewardship?
Okay, give away your riches. Give away what you're relying upon or trusting in, you know, that wealth. But more importantly than anything, come follow me. And he went away sad because he asked, that was too much. It was a bridge too far for the rich young man. On the other hand, in chapter 19, we have this guy named Zacchaeus who is not a church kid. He is not a good kid.
He is the guy who would be the furthest person from a church or from a synagogue. In fact, he was a sinner and everyone knew he was a sinner. And yet what happens? Jesus sees him in the tree and says, Zacchaeus, come down with haste and I must stay at your house today. And it says he made haste, meaning he moved fast. He moved quickly and came down, and this is the key, and received him joyfully.
Because so often, right, the rich young man, he went away sad. He went away grieved. He went away crushed. And sometimes we think that, like, oh, gosh, if I gave the Lord everything, that's me. I would walk away grieved. It would be so hard. It would be so sad. I'd have to, okay, fine, Lord, you can have everything in my life, and I'd just be miserable. But the opposite is true.
The one who walked away was miserable. And the one who came down and met Jesus received him joyfully. Not only that, he literally, well, kind of figuratively, put his money where his mouth was. Behold, half my goods I give to the poor. Jesus doesn't even tell him to do this. He just says, I'm going to do this. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.
Now, here's the little pro tip. Zacchaeus, he was a tax collector, chief tax collector. He would have defrauded some people. So he's paying people back right at this point. And yet, here's the big dichotomy. The good kid, the church kid, walks away miserable because he can't give the Lord his heart. He's not willing to give the Lord his heart.
The bad kid, the kid who was lost, the kid who everyone would have disqualified, he comes down and receives Jesus joyfully and gives him everything. And this is so key for every one of us. Now, whether you are a good church kid or not, whether you've been far away from the Lord or not, the call is the same. And the call is, come and follow me. The call is, come, give me your heart.
What matters to you the most? What do you love the most? Come and follow me. And entrust that, your heart, to me. And so that's what we're praying. Because, you know, this isn't just about listening to the Bible. This is also about responding to the Bible. It's not just about hearing the word of God. It's about acting upon the word of God. And so to receive joy, Let's say that.
Today, this afternoon, whenever you're, I don't know when you're listening to this, wherever you are and whenever you are, to be able to say, I hear the Lord's voice, call your name and say, come down. I want to stay at your house today. And come close to the Lord and receive him joyfully. Saying, Lord, I give you everything I love. And I give you what I love with. I give you my heart.
I'm praying that that's what you're able to do today. Please pray for me that that's what I'm able to do today. Because we need each other's prayers. That's why, as always, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.
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