The consequences of persisting in violent struggle with the Roman Empire would be suffered by the innocent and the guilty alike.
Preserving and Destroying
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Jesus’ Preserving and Destroying saying may play off two different senses of the noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”).
Lesson of Lot’s Wife
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Lot’s wife serves as a warning that overattachment to possessions can come at the cost of one’s life.
Days of the Son of Man
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In Jesus’ saying, the Son of Man does not function as the agent of destruction, any more than Noah did in the time of the flood or Lot did in the last days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Sign-Seeking Generation
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What was “the sign of Jonah”? This LOY segment offers a new and surprising answer.
Innocent Blood
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How well-read was Jesus? The LOY segment entitled Innocent Blood probes the possibility that Jesus read and quoted a no-longer-extant Second Temple-period Jewish literary work that warned against violent religious extremism.
Generations That Repented Long Ago
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Did Jesus condemn his contemporaries for failing to recognize him as the Messiah or for something more insidious?
Woes on Three Villages
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The Woes on Three Villages express Jesus’ sorrow that Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had not responded to his warning not to get sucked into the black hole of violent religious nationalism.
LOY Excursus: Sources of the “Strings of Pearls” in Luke’s Gospel
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The “strings of pearls” (Luke 8:16-18; 9:23-27; 16:16-18; 17:1-6) offer an example of the outsized influence of the First Reconstruction on the synoptic tradition.
Darnel Among the Wheat Parable
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Is the Darnel Among the Wheat parable an allegory about eschatological events, or a lesson about God’s character?
A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing
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When a woman in the crowd praised Jesus’ person, he redirected her attention to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is realized through the doing of God’s word.
Yeshua, His Mother and Brothers
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Did Jesus reject his natural family in favor of a spiritual kinship, or did he pay Mary and his brothers the highest possible compliment?
Four Soils Interpretation
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In the Four Soils interpretation Jesus explained the meaning of the imagery in the Four Soils parable.
Jesus’ Teaching Style Illustrated by His Response to Martha’s Anxiety
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The complete 2006 lecture is now accessible to JP users. View now!
Four Soils Parable
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By not revealing what the Four Soils parable was about until its dramatic conclusion Jesus drew in his audience and held their attention, making them the very thing the parable urged them to be: good listeners.
Mustard Seed and Starter Dough Parables
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Jesus used the Mustard Seed and Starter Dough parables to demonstrate that the Kingdom of Heaven is a living and active presence that is increasing within the realm of human experience.
Is Yeshua Superior to the Law? Reappraising the Antitheses in Matthew 5
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The complete 2006 lecture is now accessible to JP users. View now!