When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. (Ephesians 2:17-19) We are all immigrants. We were once aliens, strangers in a strange lan…
Jesus had just entered Jericho. There was a man in that town who was named Zaccheus. Zaccheus was despised and mistrusted. He was a tax collector for the Roman government. Once he collected what Rome wanted, he was free to bilk the people of as much as he wanted which he did becoming wealthy on the backs of the already poor people of Jericho. Zaccheus had heard that Jesus was passing through…
“Who Is My Neighbor?” “A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to gain eternal life?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?’ He responded, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have answered correctly. Do …
Picking up where we left off last week in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is still at the banquet that we visited. One of the other guests at the feast heard Jesus’ story about places of honor and remarked to him: “Happy are those who will feast in God’s kingdom.” In saying that, Jesus was given an opportunity to share another story about hospitality and God’s kingdom. “A certain man hosted a large dinner and invited m…
“One Sabbath, when Jesus went to share a meal in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees…he noticed how the guests sought out the best seats at the table.” (Luke 14: 1,7, CEB). And he told them a story. Harvey was invited to a wedding banquet. Harvey saw that a seat by the host was open and slipped around the room until he was standing at the place near the head table. It turns out that the h…
