Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 56
44
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
17:31–18:15
as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day
a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to
pack. A person out in the field must not return home. Remember what
happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you
let your life go, you will save it. That night two people will be asleep in one
bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour
together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
“Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked.
Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass
nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always
pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who
neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to
him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’
The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t
fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m
going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her
constant requests!’”
Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he
rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely
give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will
he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!
But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth
who have faith?”
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own
righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple
to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God,
that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly
not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my
income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his
eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying,
‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the
Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could
touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the
parents for bothering him.
