Luke 12:32

12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased ¹  to give you the kingdom.

Luke 18:25

18:25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle ²  than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Luke 19:12

19:12 Therefore he said, “A nobleman ³  went to a distant country to receive ⁴  for himself a kingdom and then return. ⁵ 

¹ tn Or perhaps, “your Father chooses.”

² sn The eye of a needle refers to a sewing needle, one of the smallest items one might deal with on a regular basis, in contrast to the biggest animal of the region. (The gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” was built during the middle ages and was not in existence in Jesus’ day.) Jesus is saying rhetorically that this is impossible, unless God (v. 27) intervenes.

³ tn Grk “a man of noble birth” or “a man of noble status” (L&N 87.27).

⁴ sn Note that the receiving of the kingdom takes place in the far country. This suggests that those in the far country recognize and acknowledge the king when his own citizens did not want him as king (v. 14; cf. John 1:11-12).

⁵ sn The background to this story about the nobleman who went…to receive for himself a kingdom had some parallels in the area’s recent history: Archelaus was appointed ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea in 4 b.c., but the people did not like him. Herod the Great also made a similar journey to Rome where he was crowned King of Judea in 40 b.c., although he was not able to claim his kingdom until 37 b.c.