Luke 12:1-12
Warnings and Encouragements
1Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
8"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
The Pharisees were a part of society who were the wise and the learned...They had been educated in the Scripture...The Pharisees had interpreted the Scriptures in a way, that Jesus disagreed with them...Throughout the gospels Jesus interacts with both the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and they are in conflict, most of the time...Jesus is the Son of God...He knows the Bible...He, in fact, is the Bible...Most of the Pharisees could not see this...
The Pharisees had misinterpreted the Old Testament...Jesus warns His disciples to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees...Their yeast was the symbol for this wrong interpretation...They had corrupted the Good Word...Jesus did not want His disciples following in the way of the Pharisees...Things seem hidden from them (the Pharisees)...
Some of the Pharisees teachings were hypocrisy...The teaching by hypocrites will not stand...In God's time, everything will be revealed...There is nothing that is hidden that will not be disclosed...What you have heard in the night, will eventually be heard in the daylight...What secrets you have whispered in the most secret of rooms, will be revealed at Godspeed...We have no secrets from the LORD...The Pharisees hypocrisy will be revealed...
God is love...God, the Father's pure love and our imperfections of sin are a difficult mix...Only the Son can reconcile us to perfect love...He is so powerful in love and light, that we are mere grasshoppers, when we compare ourselves to Him (according to Isaiah)...As we get closer to His love and His light, we feel His power, and understand more of our weakness and wickedness...It seems the closer we get to His light, the more the light is reflected on us, and we see ourselves for what and how we are...The closer we get to Him, the more power we know He has...We should both fear Him and love Him...He is perfect...We are but wretched men, who don't want to sin, but sin everyday...We want to do right, but we can't...Jesus tells us, "Yes, I tell you to fear Him"...We the imperfect man in trying to understand and explain His perfection, His power, His love, can only be done with our imperfect imaginations...Even that is not enough, but it is the best we can do...
Jesus teaches us that five sparrows are sold for two pennies...So even the sparrow has a value...But our Father knows the exact number of hairs on each of our heads...So don't be afraid, because we are worth much more than sparrows...
Then Jesus tells us that whoever acknowledges Him before man, the He will acknowledge us before the angels of God...For some reason, and Jesus is still right about this today, those who acknowledge and recognize Him often get persecuted... But loving the Father and Son, meaning standing up for them...
Jesus also warns against blaspheming the Holy Spirit and how we should never do that (blaspheme the Holy Spirit)...But He offers us no detail in what this means...This has been interpreted in different ways...Maybe this is a good thing we don't know what this exactly means, so we never do it...
Jesus prepares the disciples for their persecutions, which we read about in the Acts of the Apostles...They disciples are persecuted later after He is resurrected...Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say...This (first persecution) actually comes to fruition in Acts 4:1-22...Luke tells us that St. Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8) when he is being persecuted before the Sanhedrin...
The world can be a troubling, dangerous place...Jesus teaches us we are not to fear our opposition, but fear the LORD...Only He has the power to throw one into hell...We are to be on guard against the teachings of the Pharisees, but to listen to the Holy Spirit...We have much more value than the sparrow, and even though God knows everything about the sparrow, Jesus tells us we are worth much more than many sparrows...If we acknowledge Jesus to others, He will acknowledge us to God's angels...