What Jesus Did

Jesus told this story to his disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer's money. So the employer called him in and said, 'What's this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.'"

—Luke 16:1-2 NLT

Key Thought​

In today's age where feelings and intentions are sometimes given greater value than behavior, Jesus' teaching on being held accountable...

 

[Concluding the tale of the two sons, Jesus said,] "His father said to [the older angry, jealous son], 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'"

—Luke 15:31-32 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus told this story [1] about a father and his two sons and the two previous stories [2] to tell us that when sinners come to...

 

[Continuing the tale of the two sons and talking about when the younger profligate son returned home, Jesus said,] "Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 'Your brother is back,' he was told, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.'

The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged...

 

[Continuing the tale of the two sons, Jesus said, "So the younger son who had wasted all his money in wild living] returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.'

"But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the...

 

[Continuing the tale of the two sons, Jesus said,] "When [the younger son who had wasted all his money] finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant."'"

Note: This passage continues the third story (Luke 15:11-32) that...

 

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[Jesus continued,] "A few days later [after the sons received their inheritance from their father, the younger son] packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs...

 

To illustrate the point [about the celebration at finding something that was lost] further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate now before you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons."

Note: This passage is the beginning of the third story (Luke 15:11-32) that Jesus told about the joy of recovering something or someone that is lost. The other two stories are Luke 15:3-7 and Luke 15:8-10...

 

[Jesus continued,] "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."

Note: This passage is the second of three stories that Jesus told about the joy of recovering something or...

 

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people — even eating with them!

So Jesus told them this story: "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home...

 

[Jesus continued,] "Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"

—Luke 14:34-35 NLT

Key Thought​

Salt is used for seasoning and for preservation. We are called to be the salt of our culture and of our time. Jesus' point in talking about salt losing its flavor is this: If we lose our basic...