Jesus provided his disciples teachings for how to follow Torah, God’s word; he told them parables to help them discern questions of ethics and of human nature; he offered them beatitudes for comfort and encouragement. But sometimes Jesus spoke words that followers then and now have found difficult. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), to act as if they were slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). He restricts his mission (Matthew 10:6); he speaks of damnation (Matthew 8:12); he calls Jews the devil’s children (John 8:44).
In The Difficult Words of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine shows how these difficult teachings would have sounded to the people who first heard them, how have they been understood over time, and how we might interpret them in the context of the Gospel of love and reconciliation.
In this session, biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine discusses Jesus’s instruction to the rich man to sell all he owns and give to the poor. She explores themes of wealth in the gospels and implications for believers today.
In this session, biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine looks at the Gospel of John’s discussion of “the Jews.” She reflects on the first century reality of Jewish identity and contemporary versions of antisemitism mistakenly taken from this text.
Running Time: 11:37
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