Jesus said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. Luke 19:42

There are things behind the grandest screen, the ultimate veil of the eternal, which remain completely unseen, unknown, unconceived as the world and all those in her hurry and scurry about like phantoms, like zombies entirely deaf to the simple, constant, eternal truth spoken out at the head of the street, day after day after day.

God have mercy on your people.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Luke 17:3b-4

Bring back, ‘I Repent’.
‘I’m sorry’ is played out.
‘I repent’ is much more on point, and it is no careless expression.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:68‭-‬69

When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Luke 7:20‭-‬22

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:4‭-‬5

Hidden in plain sight

The Truth is actually extremely plain and clear

Yet most do not see or understand

This was prophesied; Jesus emphasized it; the apostles themselves experienced it; the crowds demonstrated it, we still experience that in our natural thinking, our natural or so called “logical” rational minds or selves, our “nous”

We can all agree in our natural understanding how a literal application of certain things like certain instructions in Matthew 5 or John 6 could warp any one of any age. It left even the closest to Jesus befuddled until after the resurrection, and at the time of John 6 ALL the crowds deserted him. 

Nevertheless, the clear and plain Truth is still plainly and clearly understood only when one actually receives the Kingdom of God like a young child.

—–

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child (paidion) will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:13‭-‬16

This man prepared his writing materials and sat down around the year AD 60 to record the life of Jesus.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_the_Evangelist

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1:1‭-‬4

The Wasteful Son

Thanks to Luke’s record we have Jesus incredible teaching of the wasteful son

“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” Luke 15:31‭-‬32

“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.” Luke 14:26‭-‬27

No motivational speaker has ever uttered such words. None. JESUS is no motivational speaker. He does not mince words. He IS the WORD. He does not parse truth. He IS the TRUTH.

All other attachments will perish. He who does the will of God will have eternal life.

This is discipleship.

WTW.

What about pygmies in Africa? What about people who never hear about JESUS? What about this, what about that? These are the quintessential hypothetical diversions we have heard which were exposed years ago as thinly veiled evasion attempts. And these have been around with the same intent for thousands of years.

What about the innocent children? What about the good citizens? What about the good Americans who died in the twin towers?

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Luke 13:1‭, ‬4‭-‬5

The Good News is timeless. It is simple. It is amazing, and it is free-though it cost everything. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. If you do not repent, you will die in your sin. Every person has sinned, and each person’s payment for their own sin is death. But God’s free and gracious gift is eternal life through JESUS, our LORD and yours.

Reflecting on the December 11 discussions spanning Luke 8-11…

Usually, we think of Mark’s earliest account as being most raw, dramatic and revealing the most focus on the miracles and power among the first hand accounts and primary witness documents. However, Luke does not disappoint.

Focus for a few minutes on the realities in these chapters. We certainly do not want to focus on evil. We must remain focused on JESUS. In this interest, what do you think happened to all the evil spirits exposed through and throughout the powerful earthly ministry of Jesus? Do you think they disappeared? And forget what we think. What actually happened? Where are they? People in America – and as we saw, perhaps Greek society and the so called civilized world at large – are ‘too educated’ to acknowledge these things. So what about the Suriname experience? What about the Aramean experience? What about Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, the Middle East, Africa, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador & NSI? What about bakru, obia and takru ai? Mere superstition? Do these unclean spirits only haunt the superstitious societies, the uneducated, the so called third world?

Take heed lest ye be plagued and know it not.

Luke 13

Now there were some present at that 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 in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others 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’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig 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.’ ”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.’ ”

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” Luke 8:16

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.” Luke 11:33

Truth exists without constraints
We exist within constraints in the natural
Even in the natural we can see the light of truth which is without constraint
By the Spirit alone we become able to see the truth without constraint
Light is Truth itself beaming through the constraints of the natural realm, of time, language and culture.

Read chapter 11 again with the Aramaic and Surinamese mindset and the focus is more like any upbringing which is fully familiar with the spiritual realm rather than the Greek or American cultures.

The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic