Luke 14:25-35
Did you read what Jesus said here? Doesn’t it sound like a cult? Any religious leader who demands that a follower actually hate his/her own spouse and children in order to be a disciple. . . Wow!! I understand that high quality persons are attracted to high standards. But this is ridiculous! Whatever happened to the Jesus who preached love and responsibility? There has to be an explanation.
Luke 14:15-24
Would you get miffed if after sparing no effort or expense on a lavish banquet for your friends – who said they’d love to come – then discover that they found excuses not to come? The behavior of the rejected host in this story seems to border on vengeance. Does this host really have the right to be so miffed? Or maybe we simply don’t understand how lavish this banquet really is. So, what does this have to do with me?
Luke 14:7-14
Jesus gives a teaching about wedding banquet etiquette followed by a teaching about hosting a luncheon or dinner. Practicing Jesus’ teaching about wedding banquet eti-quette result in being exalted. Practicing Jesus’ teaching about hosting a luncheon or dinner has even better results – repayment at the resurrection! How could we miss this? Or are we practicing this anyway without realizing these benefits? Awesome!!
King Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus at his birth. Now Herod’s son (with the same
name) is trying to kill Jesus as an adult. At least that’s what Jesus is told by the religious leaders who want him to leave that area. So which one is Jesus calling a “fox” here? It really doesn’t matter because Jesus declares his independence from any authority that would prevent God’s purpose from being fulfilled in his life.
Luke 13:18-30
How many efforts are there in attaining some goal? How many goals are worth a lot of
effort? Apparently this goal tops all goals because Jesus said to pull out all the stops. I see from the text that missing this narrow door results in being “thrown out” of God’s kingdom. So how narrow is this door? Isn’t narrow thinking socially and intellectually incorrect?
Luke 12:1-12
I’ve skipped over some bold and pretty judgmental teaching of Jesus, but I’ll refer to that in today’s message. More hard teaching occurs in this text, but some mind-blowing promises await those who don’t need the hard teaching because they have moved away from the fringes and taken risky steps toward Christ. All investments have risk. That’s what they are.