This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

The Pharisees want to know
when God’s kingdom will come.

Jesus doesn’t give a straight answer.

He hints that God will take away the faithful
from destruction when the Son of Man is revealed.

Just as Noah was saved by the ark, the disciples
ask where they can go to escape destruction.

Cryptically, Jesus says that
their ark will be a corpse.

The faithful will be saved when
they’re taken to a body.

The disciples worry about
what this might mean.

Jesus encourages his disciples
to pray and not lose heart.

God will rescue them.

But Jesus then wonders aloud, “Nevertheless, when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Luke then layers story after story to show
us the parables and encounters of Jesus

about the unlikely people who
will find God’s kingdom.

A Samaritan leper, a widow, two tax collectors,
a blind man, and a rowdy group of children

are models of faithful people
who will enter God’s kingdom.

But the character most like the Pharisees—a rich, moral
young ruler—chooses money over following Jesus.

The point is simple: Faithfulness is
not found where the Pharisees expect.

Jesus ends this conversation
about God’s kingdom with a parable.

A master leaves his estate to his servants
while he inherits a new kingdom far away.

When he returns, he finds that his faithful
servants have wisely invested his money while

the faithless buried it, never
imagining it could grow.

The faithless servants are the Pharisees.

They grumble under their
master’s generous rule.

They resent the fact that the master’s generosity
is being given to people they deem unworthy.

Like the older brother in the
story of the prodigal son,

they were disgusted that people like
Zaccheus could receive God’s mercy.

Jesus promises that people
like them will be destroyed.

The consequences for not being faithful
when the Son of Man returns are disastrous.

Just like the fire that destroyed Sodom or
Noah’s flood, judgment is inescapable.

Our only hope is to be taken from it.

Like the disciples, we should ask,
“Where can we go?”

Jesus answers our question with good
news, even if it doesn’t sound like it.

“Where there is a body,
the vultures will gather.”

Jesus is not talking about
the habits of birds of prey.

He is talking about where we
can go to escape judgment.

He is talking about his death
and his body.

Jesus told the Pharisees that before the
kingdom comes, the Son of Man would die.

Before the flood, an ark was built, and
before God’s judgment, a cross will be built.

Jesus is explaining that the way we escape
judgment and enter into his kingdom is not

by trusting a boat’s engineering but by trusting that
Jesus’ death will protect us from God’s judgment.

If we give up all we have like Zaccheus,
run to Jesus like children, and call out for
mercy like a blind man, we will be saved.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see
the God who judges the pride of the Pharisees.

And may you see Jesus as the one who
dies in order to rescue us from judgment.