From Beginning To End - Quarter 4Sample

Here there are a couple of incidents on the Sabbath. The Old Testament law taught that a person could not work on Saturdays. The Pharisees are the strictest followers of these rules, so they are upset when Jesus and His followers did things on the Sabbath they considered work. Jesus points out an event from their history where the law was ignored to feed hungry people. Luke then records one of Jesus’ sermons. Jesus is teaching that following God requires more than just rule following.

Sometimes people dismiss Jesus’ more extreme teachings by coming up with hypothetical examples in order to dismiss the entire teaching, like when Jesus says to love your enemies. A person says, “Does that mean if someone were to …, I would still need to love them?” This mindset becomes an excuse for not loving people who have done things far less offensive. It would be good to rethink some of those attitudes of hate, avoidance, revenge, judgment, and lack of forgiveness.