Highlight Exodus 18:12 says, “then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.”  Read More

Welcome Welcome to Week 4 of the Cost of Living. This reading plan is typically designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about right here.  Read More

Highlight The parable of the talents comes in a run of several parables all talking about the coming return of the Lord. The Parable of the Talents is specifically a reminder that we must keep diligently working while we look for the Lord’s return. The parable centers around ‘talents,’ which is not a coin or currency, but a unit of weight. The amount of weight varied by culture. A Greek talent was about 60 pounds while a Roman talent was closer to 70. Regardless, in every nation it was a heavy amount! The large gold menorah in the tabernacle weighed a talent (Exodus 25:39). Thus, even a single talent would be an immense fortune of gold or silver.  Read More

Highlight The Parable of the Tenants is unique amongst the parables we have looked at thus far because it is not very hard to understand what Jesus is talking about. The meaning is thinly veiled, so much so that at the end of this passage we are told that even the chief priests and Pharisees could tell that “he was speaking about them.” (v45) Jesus’ parable begins with a famous metaphor in Isaiah 5, where God describes Israel as a vineyard. It even uses the same structures: a fence, a winepress, and a tower. It proceeds through Israel’s history with a reference to two waves of prophets that the Israelite leaders rejected and killed. In Jewish tradition, these prophets were referred to as the ‘former’ and ‘latter’ prophets. Up until now, the parable follows the history of Israel as the Pharisees and Chief Priests would have understood it. But then, according to Jesus, the master sends his son.  Read More

Highlight Part of the genius of Jesus’ use of parables was that he used common knowledge at the time to help everyone understand the character of God. The problem for modern readers is that sometimes we don’t share that common knowledge so some of the nuance is lost on us. This is the case with the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Obviously people who have worked longer are getting paid the same as people who worked for less time, and that is unfair. However, the dynamic changes when we understand something about the people who worked the longest.  Read More

Highlight The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is directly connected with yesterday’s parable of the Dishonest Manager. After hearing the parable of the Dishonest Manager and the following lesson on money, the Pharisees scoffed. This second parable is told to the scoffing Pharisees, and is therefore appropriately confrontational.  Read More