http://www.esvbible.org/Luke+12/
All in eleven verses, Jesus brings in some of the scariest warnings and greatest encouragements that I think I've read in the Bible. He warns against the way of the Pharisees because they are hypocrites. Jesus and the Pharisees never got along because while the Pharisees were religious leaders and outwardly did everything right, their hearts were focused on themselves and pleasing themselves, which is not right. The focus of worship is all about focusing on God. The Pharisees did not like being called out like this, so they condemned Jesus. In this passage, Jesus warns against their hypocrisy because He says that all hidden things will be revealed. You cannot hide what you say, do, or even think from Jesus. And on the day of Judgement, He will reveal all the things, good and bad, that you have done out in the open. Jesus knows even the things about us that we hid from ourselves. Taking it a step further, Jesus says there is no need to fear the people who can kill you; thus, destroying the body because Jesus has the power on Judgement Day to throw you into Hell after your body has been killed. Then, comes the encouragement. Jesus says that five sparrows cost two pennies, but God knows each of the sparrows, and that despite what He said before, we are worth more, individually, than many sparrows. It's importnat to note that sparrows were used in ancient Judaism as sacrifices to pay for sins. And Jesus says that God remembers each sparrow killed. He declares that God has numbered the hairs on our head. That is the intimacy to which He knows us. Then, there are some more warnings to heed. If you publicly acknowledge Jesus, then He will acknowledge you before the angels, but if you disown Him when you are out in public, no matter how devout you may claim to be at home or in church, Jesus will disown you. Additionally, if you speak a word against Jesus, you can receive forgiveness but not if you speak against the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only one who can save but since He is no longer on Earth, He can only save through the Holy Spirit, who is on Earth. If you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, He will be unable to help you repent, which is necessary to salvation. The final encouragement Jesus offers here is that we should not worry about how we will defend ourselves in the face of religious persecution because the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say when the time comes. This can be seen very clearly in Acts when Steven defends himself.
A man in the crowd shouted out that Jesus should tell the man's brother to divide the inheritance with him. After all, who wouldn't listen to the Son of God getting in your face with a crowd of people. In the man's mind, he probably thought Jesus would do it because it would show generosity but Jesus could see the greed in the man's heart that prompted this, so He told a parable. In the parable, a rich man receives a huge harvest one year, so he builds bigger barns and stores away for many years, but God comes to him that night and tells him his life will be demanded from him. Then, who gets all of the grain? If you focus on building riches for yourself in the world, you can't build up the riches in heaven that you will need. You can't take the treasures of this world with you, so why let greed for these things consume you?
Jesus then takes it a step further, as He often does, and tells the people that they should not worry about the riches of this world. The birds don't worry about what they will eat, and they survive, yet people are worth more than birds. Then, there's the flowers. They are more beautiful than any clothes ever made, and people are worth way more than flowers. Worrying is not worth the time, and it won't add time to your life. Even the pagans worry about the things of this world. God created humans, and He knows what we need. Leave it to Him to provide. God provides so well, in fact, that He will give us His entire kingdom, so we should sell our possessions and give to the poor. Make money for ourselves that will never expire or outlive its worth. It will be safe in Heaven where no thief can steal it and nothing can destroy it. Luke 12:34 is a hugely important verse. If you focus on building up a worldly treasure, that is what is most important in your life. Getting more makes you want even more, so it will eventually consume you. If you focus on storing things up in Heaven, then you will have a greater desire to keep doing so. Not only will this cleanse your heart, and improve your character, but it will even improve the world. Additionally, it will be harder for the things of this world to shake your faith because you will be so grounded in the things of God. The things of this world will have little value in your heart.
The next passage has a lot of good material. Jesus tells a sort of commanding parable that we should be ready with lamps on like servants waiting for their master after a party. The master will be home late, but He will have more to ask of the servants before they are dismissed. Furthermore, the master could come and tell the servants that He will serve them. They wouldn't want to miss that. The master will be very pleased if He finds the servants awaiting His return even if it is very late or even close to the next morning. Then, Jesus sort of changes parables for the same example. He says that if the owner of a house knew when the thief was coming, the thief would never have broken in. In the same way, we must always be prepared because we don't know when Jesus will return. He goes on to say that a master who puts a servant over all of the other servants will only be pleased if He returns to find the servant doing as he's been instructed; however, if the master is gone long, and the servant in charge begins beating the other servants, the master will severely punish him. Here is the key paragraph. If someone knows the will of the Master, and does not do what the master desires, He will be beaten with many blows. On the other hand, a servant who does not know the will and still does not do what is right, will only be beaten with few blows. The punishment for those who don't do what they know God wants them to do will be greater than those who do not know the will of God. We serve a God of mercy, and in this case He mercifully lightens the punishment He must serve to those sinners who never had the chance to know Him. There is a burden in God giving us much because the more He gives us, the more He will require from us. The more we have, the more He expects us to give of ourselves. The blessings God provides us with will not only help us but those whom we serve as well.
Jesus says that He did not come to the world to bring peace but to divide it. Just as He says that people will hate His followers because of Him. The world will divide between those who follow Jesus and those who don't. Because we must fight wholeheartedly for those who do not yet have salvation, we may also have to fight them for a time. We must put our duty to God before anything, even our own families.
Jesus says the people are hypocrites because while they know how to interpret the signs in the sky to predict the weather, they also go complaining to someone else to interpret what is right or wrong. God has given us everything we need to do this ourselves, especially through the Holy Spirit. We must make our own reconciliations when we do wrong against someone or we will have to pay the full price of what we have done. This is especially important for when we sin against God because the punishment we will have to serve is an eternity of damnation.
