"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it ..." (Luke 9:24)

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." (Luke 9:24)

Is Jesus talking about the death of the body?

Losing one's life typically means for the body to die in our modern English vernacular. Is this what Jesus meant?

The statement Jesus is making is specific for those who claim to follow Jesus or claim to have surrendered to Jesus. This is indicated from Jesus' previous statement - regarding their pulling up stakes on their material life.

Jesus is not discussing the physical body at all in fact. The word "life" is being translated from the Greek word ψυχή (psychē), which means, according to the lexicon, "the breath of life" and "the vital force which animates the body... of animals... of men;" as well as "the soul - the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions."

So we see that Jesus accepted and taught of the existence of the spirit-person who operates the temporary physical body. And he is referring to the existence of this spirit-person in this statement.

As we've discussed, we also know scientifically that we are not these physical bodies, but are the spirit-person existing within them.

So how does this spirit-person become lost or saved according to Jesus' statement here?

Does it come by staring at the cross in church and making the empty pledge, "I'm saved because I accept that Jesus died for my sins"? Nope.

This is clarified here, as Jesus says, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it." This means that all the banter about wanting to be saved, and then claiming to be saved because we wanted to be saved and we accepted Jesus as dying for our sins so we are now saved is all bogus. Those of us who thought we were saved were wrong. We are not saved.

Wanting to be saved is about me. It is the seeking of being relieved of one's consequences for previous misdeeds.

Jesus clarifies what it takes to become saved. As we track the two statements between 9:23 and 9:24, we see that Jesus spells out here that a person becomes saved when one follows Jesus' teachings, and becomes saved only when one "loses their life for" Jesus.

But what does it mean to "lose our life for" Jesus?

Many will cry out and become gleeful as they pledge they have "surrendered to Jesus." But what does this mean? 

For many, it is about fitting in. Feeling good. Feeling we are cured. Getting a good cry out. 

To proclaim being "surrendered to Jesus" for the purposes of fitting in or feeling good about ourselves has little value. The supposed surrender is only an empty word.

Jesus clarified this directly:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

What Jesus is talking about is a shift in our interests. Our desires. A person who "loses their life" for Jesus is a person who loses their self-centered interests and decides they simply want to please Jesus. They are finished with their own self-centered concerns, whether it is being saved, becoming wealthy, being healthy, having a good job, winning the football championship or whatever.

When a person really "loses their life" for Jesus, these self-centered interests are replaced by those interests that please Jesus. A person who "loses their life" for Jesus is a person who only wants to do what pleases Jesus.

And what pleases Jesus?

We know what pleases Jesus by his teachings. And what were those teachings?

Jesus' teachings revolved around loving and serving the Supreme Being - doing God's will. For example, he taught the importance of praying to God and praising God's Holy Names, saying:

"When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Luke 11:2)

(Or King James version: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.")

Yes, we can see in this prayer and in other statements, that Jesus' teachings focused on doing God's will - as clearly stated above in Matthew 7:21. This means that pleasing Jesus means doing what pleases God. Why? Because Jesus loves God and he wants to please God.

And Jesus' primary - first and foremost - teaching?

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

Doing these things will, as Jesus puts it, "save" our lives.

This means that being saved means not being concerned about being saved. It means that being saved comes automatically when we put the Supreme Being first in our lives. When we seek Him. And we seek to come to know Him and love Him. And we seek to please Him.

"Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet ..." (Luke 10:4)

"Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road." (Luke 10:4)

Why can't they take a purse, bag or sandals or greet someone?

Why is Jesus suggesting that his 72 disciples (Luke 10:1) go out and preach without a purse, bag or even sandals?

In other words, he wanted them to go traveling to these various towns (two each) without money ("purse"), belongings ("bag") or even shoes: Barefoot, with no money or possessions. Why?

Jesus was teaching them to be solely dependent upon the Supreme Being.

Passing on Jesus' teachings while being completely dependent upon the Supreme Being for food, shelter and protection allowed them to be in the position Jesus wanted from them - to represent the Supreme Being as they were taking refuge in God.

It is not that going barefoot or not having money makes a person take refuge in God or represent God - as this is cheap imitation. Rather, Jesus was instructing his students to set an example at a particular time and circumstance.

During that time, Temple priests were paid per diem salaries and lived well at the expense of the Temple - and those who made offerings. Jesus wanted to show that the Truth is not a business deal. It is offered by God and His true representatives without obligation or cost.

Is this done today?

Yes, there are some who still teach in this manner: Humbly, without the expectation of respect or honor.

But some of today's institutions who claim to represent Jesus do completely the opposite: They take advantage of Jesus. They profit from their proclamations and preaching. The reverends, priests, cardinals, and popes are well-paid and housed in extravagant quarters.

They don't need to rely upon the Supreme Being because they earn salaries. And they wear extravagant robes, hats, and comfortable shoes, all paid for by the poor people who attend their churches.

These institutions claim to represent Jesus, but they are basically businesses. They employ their preachers just as a business employs salespeople - in order to market their business and bring in the income. They might claim their purpose is spreading Jesus' teachings, but they don't spread his teachings. They spread a false promise that all we have to do is join their church and accept that Jesus died for our sins and their members are saved.

And if one doesn't join their sect, they say that person will go to hell. On top of this threat, they promise that Jesus will heal all our diseases and make us rich or even help our football teams win - or whatever else we want. Wow. What a great deal. And all they need to do is join the sect and claim they are saved?

Is this proposition real?

As a business, this would be a perfect strategy for getting customers. Imagine a business telling its customers that if they come to the store and drop money into the collection box, and just say "the CEO saves" then all their problems will go away. They will be healed, they will be wealthy and they won't have to go to hell now.

Such a business will certainly get lots and lots of customers, and won't have to sell anything - except of course their false proposition.

But eventually, such a business will be identified as a scam.

Like scams, these institutions that claim to represent Jesus promise all this, yet little is delivered. They promise that accepting that 'Jesus died for my sins' will erase one's consequences. But this is a falsehood.

If it were true, why have so many people who attended these churches gone to jail for committing a crime? If their sins were cleansed by Jesus' crucifixion why would they still have to suffer the consequences for them?

Even some Catholic priests have gone to jail for their crimes of child molestation. If Jesus' persecution on the cross saved them from the responsibility of their sins, then why did they go to jail? Why do they have to pay for their sins with jail time if Jesus saved them from their sins?

And why, if Jesus heals everyone that goes to these institutions, are there so many sicknesses among their members? Why do some of their members die from cancer or heart disease and other illnesses like everyone else? Isn't Jesus supposed to heal them as promised by their teachers?

And if Jesus helps win football games, why does every football game have a loser even though both teams prayed to Jesus to help their team win?

Because these are not Jesus' teachings. These are attempts to use Jesus. They are attempts to take advantage of Jesus' ability to heal others, or otherwise, perform miracles - by those who want to profit from Jesus' teachings.

Just consider Jesus' clear teaching on this topic:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matt. 7:21-23)

Jesus follows this clearly by stating:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matt. 7:24)

How are Jesus' words put into practice?

Jesus is separating this idea of using Jesus to heal or perform miracles from following his teachings: "who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice."

He also separates those who aim to use Jesus to save themselves from their sins from those who serve God: "Only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" will be returning to the spiritual realm - "enter the kingdom of heaven."

He is also separating this from doing a quid-pro-quo with God: Doing service in order to get something in return.

This also means that using Jesus' dying on the cross in order to get our sins cleansed is not Jesus' teaching.

The phrase, "will enter the kingdom of heaven" is clearly describing being saved. A person who is saved enters the kingdom of heaven. And thus Jesus is stating that "only" - yes "only" - "the one who does the will of my Father" will be saved.

Doing someone else's will out of volition means serving them. It means doing what pleases them.

Asking to be "saved" by Jesus' "dying" on the cross, or having our diseases healed by proclaiming Jesus or asking Jesus to help us get rich or win football games is quite the opposite of Jesus' teachings: These are wanting Jesus to do what pleases me.

Our will is to be saved. Our will is to be healed. Our will is to win the football game or be the boss or be famous or whatever. If it is my will - it is all about me. What pleases me. These institutions are teaching us to want God and Jesus to do what pleases me. In other words, they don't teach us what Jesus taught - that the goal is to love and serve the Supreme Being. Their teaching is to ask God and Jesus to serve me.

This is the opposite of Jesus' teachings. Jesus wanted his students to learn to serve and please the Supreme Being with their lives. And he wanted them to focus on that service.

This is why he also told them "do not greet anyone on the road."

He wanted each team of two to enter the village and begin preaching. He didn't want them to get sidetracked while on the way. Who knows who they will meet on the road. Even if they were to stop and preach, they would be taking time away from what Jesus wanted them to do: To preach to a crowd of people within the village. There they could properly lay out the precepts of Jesus' teachings, and allow multiple people to learn those teachings at once.

And what was Jesus' most important teaching?

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" (Luke 10:27)

"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" (Luke 12:54-57)

He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" (Luke 12:54-57)

Why is the audience important?

Jesus is speaking directly to a crowd, rather than his close disciples - whom he was speaking with earlier.

It is critical to understand the context of Jesus' statement, most specifically who Jesus is speaking to. This opposes many interpretations of today's teachers who like to create generalities of each of Jesus' statements, as though he is making every statement to all of humankind.

This, however, does not result in an understanding of Jesus' teachings.

For example, what if a college physics professor walks into a third-grade classroom. Does he begin writing complex equations on the board and discussing quantum physics with the children?

Certainly not. He will speak in generalities - possibly trying to tell the kids what physics is from a more basic level. But in order to understand physics specifically, the kids will eventually (later) need to attend a college physics class.

Within the texts of the four Gospels, we find that Jesus spoke variously to 1) his disciples; 2) John's disciples; 3) the Pharisees; 4) the high priest; 5) specific students such as Mary; 6) those he was healing; 7) general crowds who had come to hear him speak.

He spoke differently with each of these and others - specifically regarding their situation and their concerns. Sometimes he spoke specifically about the Supreme Being and sometimes he spoke in generalities to help guide them generally towards the right direction in their search for truth.

This is what Jesus is doing in this statement to the crowd. He is not having a confidential discussion with his disciples about the Supreme Being. He is speaking generally to a crowd to help guide them in terms of who they should follow.

Notice Jesus is not speaking in flowery language to please the crowd. He isn't looking for a bunch of absent-minded followers. Rather, he calls them "hypocrites!"

Why? He is appealing to their sense of judgment. He says they know how to interpret the weather so keenly, but they are not making good judgments regarding their spiritual teachers - as they are following the Pharisees and high priests of the Temple sect.

What does interpreting this present time mean? 

He says:

"How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?"

The phrase "present time" is being translated from the Greek term, καιρός (kairos). The word can mean "a measure of time" but also notably, "to what time brings, the state of the times, the things and events of time" according to the lexicon.

So what is happening while Jesus is speaking to the crowd?

Jesus is speaking to the crowd. That is what is happening. Jesus is traveling around the countryside teaching. He was teaching people about the Supreme Being.

And while he is teaching, people are judging him. People are making judgments about whether Jesus is God's representative or not. The Pharisees and Sadducees were telling people that Jesus was not God's representative. They were spreading lies about him and trying to trap him by asking him certain questions.

Each of these people - many of which were following the Pharisees and were thus "hypocrites" - had to decide for themselves whether they would accept Jesus as God's representative or not. It was their decision. They each had to make this decision on their own. This is why Jesus said:

"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?"

The word "right" is being translated from the Greek word δίκαιος (dikaios) - which means, "righteous, observing divine laws" according to the lexicon.

Why didn't Jesus advise them to follow the Jewish teachers?

Jesus is speaking of their making a decision relating to their spiritual lives. He is arguing against the institutional Jewish teachers such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the high priests. Instead, he is offering his own teachings as God's representative. Is he right?

Jesus is stating that they can discern the weather by looking at the sky. Why then can't they make a good decision about whom to follow?

This is the decision each of them needs to make. Their spiritual future will depend upon whom they choose to follow. If they follow Jesus, they will become enlightened. If they follow the Jewish institutions, according to Jesus they will be misled.

Does this also apply to today's institutions?

Today there are so many teachers from so many institutions who are giving us their various opinions and interpretations of scripture and what Jesus supposedly taught.

Many teach things like praying to Jesus to win football games and praying to Jesus to heal my leg or get me a better job or make me rich. They want us to believe that Jesus is some kind of super-waiter - we can just ask him for stuff and he will bring it to me - as long as I really believe that he will.

Meanwhile, most of these teachers stand up before their assemblies to speak to their followers in return for cushy salaries and expense accounts, teaching that Jesus' purpose in coming here was to "die for our sins."

Yet Jesus never taught any of this. If Jesus was simply going to die for everyone's sins, why did he bother teaching at all? Why would he waste his time walking throughout Judea teaching people how to love God? 

If all we have to do is accept that Jesus died for my sins then why bother praying? Why would he teach:

 "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

Why bother worshipping? Why bother reading scripture? We can just accept he died for my sins and then we're done, right?

Such a teaching is not simply irresponsible. It is blasphemous. Just consider Jesus' clear statement to those who teach these things:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)

Thus we find clearly that Jesus was not preaching what these teachers preach in the name of Jesus. Jesus was teaching "only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" will return to the spiritual realm - and thus be "saved."

This, of course, eliminates those who figure they would just "bathe in the blood of Jesus" and accept that he "died for my sins" to be "saved" and thus go to heaven - the spiritual realm. They are rejected by Jesus: "'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Doing someone's will means serving them. Jesus was teaching his followers to serve the Supreme Being. This is the key to returning to heaven (being "saved") according to Jesus.

And following Jesus' teachings - which showed people how to serve the Supreme Being - provides the foundation for serving God and thus pleasing Jesus. This is why he followed the above statement with:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matt. 7:24)

“This is my substance - offered for you – do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

This is from the Lost Gospels of Jesus translation. To compare, here is the translation of this verse from the New International Version:

"This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

Most other translations are similar. One might wonder why the Greek word σῶμα (sōma) was translated in this case to "substance" rather than "body."

What is the context of Jesus' statement?

Here is the context of Jesus' statement - what was going on as he said this:

Then he took some bread and offered it to God. He broke it and gave it to them and said, “This is my substance - offered for you – do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

The Greek word σῶμα (sōma) can certainly mean “body,” but also, according to Thayer's lexicon, “is used of a (large or small) number of men closely united into one society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body” and “that which casts a shadow as distinguished from the shadow itself.”

The word can also refer to one's spiritual body - or spirit - according to the lexicon.

Obviously, Jesus is not saying that the bread is his physical body.  Jesus is sitting in front of his disciples as he says this, and they can see his body. His body's hands are holding the bread.

How can the bread be Jesus' body?

Could the bread represent his body? How is that? What sense would that make? Is Jesus wanting his disciples to eat his physical body like a bunch of cannibals?

That makes absolutely no sense. In fact, this characterization of Jesus' statement is asserted by those who revel in Jesus' suffering. They like to make everything about Jesus' physical body dying on the cross. They think his suffering on the cross has removed the consequences of their sins - as if Jesus was some sort of sacrificial lamb that people eat after it is offered to God.

This notion is not only grotesque. It is also nonsensical. The same people that promote such a theory also say that Jesus' physical body rose up after it was murdered on the cross.

So which is it? Does Jesus' body become sacrificed and people eat it or does his physical body rise up after the crucifixion?

They can't have it both ways. In reality, both of these proposals are nonsensical. Let's look at each:

Was Jesus a sacrificial lamb?

Jesus was not a sacrificial lamb that cleanses the sins of those who simply accept that Jesus died for their sins. How can we know this? We can know this because every day we see people having to suffer the consequences of their sinful activities, even though they have accepted that Jesus supposedly died for their sins.

For example, we find that people who are members of churches will be put in prison for a crime they commit. They have to pay for their crime (sin) by going to prison. That means that Jesus' crucifixion did not save them from having to pay the consequences of their crime.

Now, if Jesus' crucifixion paid for their sins, why are they continuing to pay for their own sins (crimes) with jail time?  If they had been members of churches that taught this philosophy before they committed their crime, why didn't Jesus' crucifixion save them from their sin? Why did they get arrested in the first place if Jesus already paid for their sins? If this philosophy is true, then policemen should just ask the criminal if they accepted Jesus as dying for their sins, and if they do, then they would release the criminal because Jesus already paid for their sins.

But police don't do this. They arrest the criminals. Because Jesus didn't die to pay for their sins.

This goes for any other consequences that we find in our society. If a person gets angry and punches someone, the other person will likely punch them back. This is the consequence of their being violent - violence returned is a typical consequence of violence extended. We also find that if we are kind to others, others are typically kind back. Again, we are always presented with the consequences of our actions - good or bad.

This is why it has been said, "as you sow, so shall you reap."

Jesus did not teach, "as you sow, so shall I reap."

This is also why Jesus told a man he had just healed:

“See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

Thus we understand that Jesus taught the law of consequences. Now if Jesus was going to die for everyone's sins, then he would have told the guy that. He wouldn't have had to tell him to stop sinning or something worse would happen to him.

The bottom line is that Jesus is not the sacrificial lamb for anyone who wants to wipe their sins off on.

Did Jesus' body rise after death?

As to the second assertion, as we've discussed with the previous verse, Jesus' physical body did not rise. His spirit-person 'rose', leaving the physical body at the time of death. This is very clear from Biblical verses:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (Matt. 27:50)

With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

From these we can understand that Jesus' spirit-person left his physical body at the time of death. And it was this spirit-person - an angel-like form - that appeared to Jesus' disciples after the death of his physical body. Jesus indeed did rise: He rose out of that physical body at the time of death.

This is why Jesus was not immediately recognized when he appeared to them. Because he didn't appear to them in his physical body. He appeared to them in an angel-like form, that could appear through locked doors, and could suddenly appear walking at their side.

As to why Jesus' physical body was missing from the tomb - the four gospels don't describe this. But we can easily conclude that Jesus' body was moved. Yes, they posted guards, but the guards also slept, and when they awoke, Jesus' body was gone. In fact, the tomb was not Jesus' permanent tomb - it was lent to Jesus by Joseph until they could find a more suitable tomb for his body.

Each spirit-person rises out of the physical body at the time of death. Where the spirit-person goes from there depends on upon their consciousness and previous activities. The spirit-person who becomes devoted to God during their physical lifetime will return to the spiritual realm. Those who do not will take on another physical body and suffer the consequences of their previous lifetime.

Why 'substance' and not 'body'?

So why does the Devotional Translation use the word "substance" instead of "body" in the above verse? Jesus is referring to his very substance – what he is made of – in a metaphorical sense. Jesus has just offered the bread to the Supreme Being. Now he is saying that this bread represents his very substance because he is offering himself to the Supreme Being.

Most miss the fact that Jesus offered the bread to the Supreme Being. Most Bible versions have translated the Greek word εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteō) to "gave thanks" yet it also means "to consecrate a thing" according to Thayer's lexicon. 

How is something "consecrated? According to the Old Testament, this means to offer it to the Supreme Being.

We find throughout Jesus' teachings that he supported the teachings of the Prophets, such as Moses, Abraham, Samuel, David, and others. Heck, his most important commandment to love God was a quote of Moses from Deuteronomy 6:5:

'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

All of these Prophets made offerings to God. It is documented clearly in the Old Testament.

Jesus is explaining that he had offered the bread, just as he is offering himself to God. One who offers themselves to the Supreme Being is making the total commitment. They are voluntarily surrendering their life to the Supreme Being in love. This is what Jesus was doing.

And this is the meaning of Jesus' allowing the Jewish Chief Priest and his guards to arrest him and put him up on trial, and eventually be subjected to the brutal persecution by the Romans and the Jewish priests.

Jesus could have evaded the arrest. He could have slipped off in the woods that night and stopped preaching. But he didn't. He stood up for his teachings of love for God. He would not back down. He would not run away.

This is essentially an offering to God - but it is Jesus' offering. Jesus made this decision. It was not as though God forced him to be persecuted - as some others have asserted. Rather, out of devotion and love, Jesus suffered the ultimate sacrifice. This is because Jesus loves God and wanted to show everyone just how important his teachings of love for God are.

And yes, the understanding of this act of love and devotion by Jesus certainly has the ability to save each of us. By understanding the extent of Jesus' love and total commitment to the Supreme Being, our hearts become purified. And that purification has the ability to redirect our commitment towards our own loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

This is what can propel each of us to return home to the spiritual realm.

But this is an ongoing choice each of us can make. As we make such a commitment and taste the loving relationship between Jesus and the Supreme Being, we can be saved.