While attending a meal with religious leaders in Luke 14:1-24, Jesus broke with social norms and caused multiple disruptions. His goal was not to offend but to instruct, first about the use of the Sabbath day and then about the kingdom of God, which he compared to a great banquet. At the end of the parable, the invitation is still going out, so let’s enter while there is room.
There is a word that runs through Jesus' farewell discourse and appears eleven times in John 15:1-17 in one form or another. It can...
Four short parables point to the surpassing value of the kingdom of God and the need to find it now.
In the New Testament, as in the Old, the people of God were led by elders who were selected from among the people.