How do you summarize a chapter like this? It at once feels so eclectic that you feel as though Luke is simply meandering through a field of parables and stories, but upon a closer reading themes begin emerging from the shadows…
The story of the separation of the sheep and the goats is the final block of Jesus’ teaching. It is based on a moment of confusion on the Day of Judgment that seems to have captivated Jesus’ imagination…
…even when Jesus moves on from a parable the images would have lingered in the ether of their minds and hearts, now awakened, alert to the true nature of the kingdom of heaven…
verse 2 continues a glimmer of gospel hope: “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (similar language appears in Jeremiah 23:6 and Isaiah 53:5 as well). So we have judgment and restoration, rootlessness and rootedness, arrogant rejection…
Jesus is building upon Isaiah’s prophecy that God’s words will fall on dull ears that are heavy, gluttonous even, from heeding other words. They are “un-hearing” because they’ve feasted on words that satiate…
Parables drop us in the middle of a story, engaging our imaginations, showing us reality rather than telling us about it. After all Jesus does not say: “If you exegete the Old Testament promises, you will understand the doctrine of the Kingdom,” but rather…
Take some time to read this passage again SLOWLY. Pause over words which stand out. Write them down. Why are these words in particular significant today? Take them to your Heavenly Father in prayer…
Here’s how the story goes: The young man comes to Jesus to ask a flawed question. It’s unlikely that the man knows his question is flawed, but Jesus’ response quickly reveals the separation between their understandings…
When Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him for saying he must suffer, he is betraying the fact that he is still invested in the old definition of the triumphant Messiah king…
Those who find the treasure recognize it as the kind of wisdom described in Proverbs 2: worth seeking like silver and hunting like treasure. It’s the joy of water to a woman dying of thirst, and free bread to a penniless beggar-of-a-man…
