I have a pastor friend who tells a story about leading a Bible study focused on what he called “the hard teachings of Jesus”. His group was discussing the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18, who came asking Jesus about how to inherit eternal life. As we pastors tend to do, he was trying to … Read the rest
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I can’t quite escape the irony of ascending this pulpit, when we’ve just heard about Jesus coming down from the mountain to teach. Luke’s version of the beatitudes parallel Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount, but here his teaching is delivered on a plain. On the level ground, where you might say that the mountain and … Read the rest
Continue reading "Leveling on the Plain" »