All four Gospels give an account of Jesus being anointed by a woman as an act of worship. In Matthew and Mark, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, anoints Jesus’ head in Bethany following the Triumphal Entry. In Luke an unnamed woman who was a notorious sinner anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair in the home of Simon the Pharisee in Galilee. In John these two anointings are combined. Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair just before the Triumphal Entry. But in all four accounts the woman is criticized by someone for her extravagant worship, yet defended and commended by Jesus.

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most important stories of our faith. As with any truly great story, this parable invites everyone everywhere throughout all time to find themselves somewhere in this tale of a father and two sons. Jesus' brilliance is on full display as he invites us to see the father's love afresh and anew in our own lives. He challenges the notion that we can earn God's love for ourselves or withhold his love from others. Jesus reminds us that the love of the father is readily available in abundance for everyone.

Some Galilean Passover pilgrims had been executed when they rioted against Roman occupation and eighteen people had perished in a Jerusalem building collapse. Jesus commented on these tragedies by saying, unless your rethink everything, you will all perish in the same way. Jesus is not talking about afterlife issues, but warning Jerusalem against embracing the way of war. Jesus is saying to them, if you don’t rethink war and peace according to what I’m teaching, you’re all going to die by Roman swords and collapsing buildings. And this is exactly what happened forty years later when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and according to Josephus 600,000 people perished. War is hell. And there is no way to peace — peace is the way.

Salvation is this: to live in the kingdom of God—the kingdom that comes from heaven bringing peace, justice, and human flourishing to the earth, and where King Jesus bestows forgiveness upon all, and finally, at the end of the age, raises the dead.

In the wilderness the devil tempted Jesus with three good ideas:1. Feed everyone.2. Liberate everyone.3. Persuade everyone.And who would disagree that these are good ideas? But Jesus discerned the devil lurking in those good ideas. The devil's good ideas were really these not so good ideas...1. Feed everyone and forget God.2. Liberate everyone and kill the bad guys.3. Persuade everyone and eliminate faith.

Jesus is the perfect epiphany of who God is. Reading the Bible without the spirit of Jesus is a veiled and death-dealing reading of Scripture. This why Augustine said, "It is not the Old Testament that is done away with in Christ, but the concealing veil, so that it may be understood through Christ."

Loving is a kind of knowing. We know God not only by collecting information about God. We know God by loving the way God loves. We love our enemies because God loves them. God loves the people we hate. When we love those who judge us, make fun of us, insult us, dismiss us, or judge us we see who God is and who we are supposed to be. Hate is a destructive force. When we respond to enemies with hate, it begins to deform our hearts. When we love our enemies we find our true selves and we free ourselves from hate and the need to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.

In Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus opens his sermon with the Beatitudes -- eight blessings. In Luke's account of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus also opens his sermon with the Beatitudes -- this time four blessings. But in the Sermon on the Plain Jesus also pronounces four woes. Luke's Gospel reminds us that the Kingdom of Christ brings both blessing and woe.

You may feel like a sinner; you may feel guilty; you may feel like a failure; but none of that matters. Keep believing in the boundless mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

The Bible is a dangerous book — especially if you emphasize the parts people would rather overlook. In his hometown the people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. Why? Because Jesus told the stories prophets tell — and no prophet is accepted in his hometown.