God, Self & Other – Luke 19: Women, Fishermen, Sinners, Tax Collectors and at Least 1 Murderer (i.e., The Future Leaders of Christ's Church!)
10/03/17 • 35 min
Notice that Jesus never travels alone – strange behavior for a 1st century Jewish holy man/prophet.
Even more...unexpected...is the crowd with whom Jesus surrounds himself. Many are not known for their “holiness” (being sinners, drunkards and tax collectors). And a few have an even greater disqualifying element of their person they are women! (Oh...and don’t forget later that Jesus add a very famous murderer to the group!)
In this episode we get a glimpse into the earliest church leaders – who they are, and who they aren’t. (Who refuses Jesus's invitation, and why???)
Notice that Jesus never travels alone – strange behavior for a 1st century Jewish holy man/prophet.
Even more...unexpected...is the crowd with whom Jesus surrounds himself. Many are not known for their “holiness” (being sinners, drunkards and tax collectors). And a few have an even greater disqualifying element of their person they are women! (Oh...and don’t forget later that Jesus add a very famous murderer to the group!)
In this episode we get a glimpse into the earliest church leaders – who they are, and who they aren’t. (Who refuses Jesus's invitation, and why???)
Previous Episode
God, Self & Other – Luke 18: The Heartbreaking Difficulty of Believing in a Truly Loving God
Love is hard to believe. For all our longing for love, all of our hope that love wins..., to actually trust in love when it is offered is incredibly difficult, especially when the offer comes from God.
In this episode we look at Jesus's encounter with a notorious "sinner" and the lesson it offers in the breadth of God's grace, a breadth even the most learned theologians of Jesus's day could not fathom.
Luke very carefully arranges this story to ensure we understand it is a lesson in the depth of love available to us, and which we are to show to others. We'll also look at one very practical way we can embody the command to love our neighbor.
Here's a link to some coins of the Roman Empire of the 1st century. You can see the stalks of grain very clearly in several of them.
The text for this sermon is Luke 7:24-50 (NRSV). This sermon was originally preached at Canvas (Irvine, CA) on May 8, 2016.
Next Episode
God, Self & Other - Luke 20: Interpreting Parables and the Story of a Sower
Parables were one of Jesus's primary tools for teaching, and yet they are easily and often misunderstood. In this episode we look at the genre of parable and how it differs from other literary devices (e.g., metaphor, analogy, etc.). We then apply our interpretive skills to the so-called "Parable of the Sower" and discover layers of meaning that were not immediately obvious. In this episode I also mention the Trailhead program being offered by Westmont University. I'm honored to have played a small role in helping shape some of the spiritual formation and discernment curriculum and I think it will be a wonderful experience. If you are (or have) a high schooler, I'd love for you to take a look.
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