Day 68 | To Seek and to Save
March 7, 2015 - WEEK TEN
James Tissot, Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree, Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by public subscription.
DAILY READING
Luke 19:1-28
John 12:1-11
For Younger Disciples
CONSIDER AS YOU READ
- Does it give you hope that Christ was “a guest with a man that is a sinner?”
- What have you done with what the Lord has given you? Have you hidden it?
- Are there times when we, like Judas Iscariot, criticize another’s worship because it is expensive or impractical? How is Mary’s offering similar to our using the best materials to build beautiful temples?
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
In the [Parable of the Pounds], the nobleman entrusted a pound to each of his ten servants, giving a total of ten pounds…. [A] pound was worth a little more than six month’s work for a common laborer at the time of Jesus Christ.
During his absence, Jesus entrusted his spiritual affairs in the mortal world to his servants and gave them stewardships over his possessions until his Second Coming….
This parable had immediate application to those who did not accept Jesus as their king. Many such were eventually slain or scattered during the rebellions and wars that followed Jesus’ death and the temple’s destruction.
But the parable has a greater application to when Jesus will return at his second coming and judge the world and slay the wicked, or those who do not accept him and his gospel….
The parable of the pounds applies to each of us who has received stewardships from the “certain nobleman” who is none other than Jesus Christ. He has given each of us, his servants, a pound, symbolizing the stewardships and gifts he grants to us. During his absence we are required to use this pound wisely in building up the nobleman’s kingdom. We are not to hide it in a piece of cloth out of our fear that the nobleman is an austere man who will punish us if we fail in our stewardship (Donald W. Parry and Jay Parry, Understanding the Parables of Jesus Christ, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006 ).
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
Jesus Knows Your
Name An Article
from The Friend
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
- When we suffer, does that mean that God does not know or love us?
- Why is it sometimes easier to find God when we are suffering hardships?