Talk of JESUS . com

Category: 4 Gospels + Good News of the NEW Testament

What are the Gospels?

FOUR Gospels:

GOOD NEWS! (That’s what Gospel means.)

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John begin the New Testament proclaiming the Good News of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and talk of JESUS Christ.

The four Gospels are first hand witness + proclaiming GOOD NEWS

  • by two Jewish Apostles of the Messiah JESUS, Matthew & John
  • Two gentile (non-Jewish) followers of THE WAY of Jesus Christ, Mark & Luke, who proclaim the GOSPEL recorded from witness of Peter, Paul and other Apostles and disciples of JESUS in the first century.

READ the Good News of the Messiah and Savior Jesus from accounts of His twelve Apostles & others witnessing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

SHARE the Gospel

  • with your Christian friends and those who do not yet believe in JESUS CHRIST.
  • Comment on a Talk of JESUS post and SHARE in your social media world.

  • Parable of the Talents and Barns

    Parables

    The word “parable” comes from the Greek word παραβολη parabolee. In the Greek para means beside, and ballo means to cast or throw. So parable, in a very basic sense,means to cast beside. The word “parable”, in its more developed sense, still retains that underlying meaning. [source]

    We know parables as stories Jesus would use to illustrate a point – a plausible story that could involve us as a character or participant. Typically we know a point of the story will involve some conclusion leading to a change in our thinking, a sort of paradigm shift (to borrow a 20th c. perspective of such an illustrative story).

    Talents

    One story of some familiarity may be Jesus’ parable of the talents. Before we hear it once more I ask you if you could define a talent. (No, it’s nothing like the show, ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’) If you guessed money, you get half-credit. (That was all I knew.) Let’s talk shekels first.

    30 pieces AA shekel is a Hebrew coin. It’s used as a measure of weight and money; coin-sized weighing 11.4 grams (.4 oz. US). A handful of shekels might be 30 pieces of silver (but Roman coins as pictured were likely worth more, like a US dollar in another country with unstable currency).

    Gunny sackA talent is much more than a handful of shekels: The shekel, in turn, was a 50th part of the maneh, and the maneh was a 60th part of the talent. The talent was, of course, equal to 3,000 shekels. [source] A talent in not the precise weight of commerce, but rather the larger calculation of accounting income over time.

    By weight 3000 shekels [one talent] would equal about 75 pounds [20-40kg averaging 33kg].

    Parable of Talents

    Matthew 25: 

    14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

    To be continued… 

     

  • Sons of Tradition

    Sons of Tradition

    Two thousand years ago: the setting in Judea, a leavened relic of a Roman province once known as Judah; in fact a thousand more years before, a respected United Kingdom of Israel. Yet Solomon’s kingdom was split, David’s power long lost, Moses’ Law long debated and Abraham’s history much distorted.

    Temples destroyed. Temples rebuilt.

    Religion becomes something of a unifying tradition of ruling God’s people with political compromise and Levitical leverage.

    The faithful expected a Messiah in some generation. Jewish leaders beholden by tribute to Rome’s rich rulers gripped tightly the tenuous reins of the rule of Jerusalem.

    Jesus, or for that matter any man making claim as the promised Messiah, was a threat to everything their traditions had accomplished and every high official with religious power.

    Matthew 15:

    Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

    He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

    The Messiah Jesus always had words of hope and blessing for the common disciples who received God’s word. Yet Jesus boldly disputed the motives of religious rulers. He challenged their traditions. Jesus knew them and exposed their hypocrisy before their followers, as had John the Baptizer before Herod had beheaded him.

    Jesus challenged their self-serving interpretations of the Bible. He asked them if they knew their Bible? He told them that they were not like David, not like Moses and not like Abraham. Above all Jesus told the religious rulers that they did know know God, our heavenly Father.

    Into a culture which lifts up the father as the revered head of the family this is high insult. Into a religious culture which claims one God as Father of their nation this borders on blasphemy – at least blasphemy against who the religious leaders claim as God as Father who gives them all authority over God’s people.

    Jesus’ three earthly years of controversial teaching have nearly come to an end. Many miracles have proven this Messiah of God and no learned religious leader has been able to trip Him up. But once more they try.

    John 8:

    21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

    … 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” …  28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me…”

    30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

    31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

    Once again, Jesus gives hope to the disciples of His true teaching. But not all believe, especially the religious leaders who must bow down humbly before God and accept the truth of scripture.

    What is it they do? Besides opposing the very Messiah to His face, they twist truth just as they do in their false leading of those who support their Temple – NOT God’s Temple, but Herod’s Temple; for it was Herod the Great, friend of Rome and only half Jewish, who rebuilt the Temple of tradition.

    33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

    If you are a religious leader who suspects you could be standing before the Messiah of God, is this the impertanence you offer before the Lord?

    Further, is it even true what the Pharisees have claimed?

    How can a Jew pretend to ‘have never been enslaved to anyone?’ The history of the Hebrew people proves more the opposite: in Egypt, in Babylon… Do these religious leaders claim to be offspring of Abraham and not know their own history?

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    To be continued…

    This is introduction to the series: Abram, Sheik of Ur

  • Fully Trained – 9

    Fully Trained – 9

    The gospel of Luke carefully records truth from eyewitness accounts of numerous historical citizens of the first century.

    Luke 6:

    Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

    17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all…

    “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

    … 26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

    Love Your Enemies

    27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…

    32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

    … 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

    39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man?

    The following is a fictional representation, conclusion to eight previous episodes of eyewitness by one of Jesus’ first disciples.

    You can’t follow your self. I had thought I could, even as I listened to Jesus and began to follow Him. I thought that I could lead my family. I thought that I could lead others at work. I thought I could lead my friends to be like me.

    Jesus taught us to follow only God. If you follow someone who has no idea where they are going – let alone for eternity – they are as blind as you.

    Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

    Jesus’ parable was actually for all of us who wanted to fix everyone else who didn’t follow God the way we think they should. He was talking about us and we didn’t even realize it at the time (before we became more like our teacher and our Lord).

    41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

    I had a lot of fixing to do before I could ever look another man in the eye. Jesus showed me that. Oh, I didn’t see it that first time we heard our Lord teach this parable; but I learned it every time I looked into His eyes and saw His love for me.

    How could I ever be like Him? How could I look into the eyes of another with that all-embracing love?

    He told another parable:

    43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit.

    As an early disciple of Jesus I began to think of my faith as a small seedling in need of water and warmth and food. I could not see me bearing any fruit that could help another as Jesus so often encouraged us by His words. Yet in time we would blossom.

    Our faith began to flower in love instead of judgment, because of the love of Christ.

    I began to watch what I said to others, especially loved ones whose eyes I could read as Jesus once looked deeply into my own blind eyes.

    In Jesus’ love my eyes beheld light and life.

    But also I learned to hold my tongue of judgment on my enemies; for their actions shouted that Jesus was their true enemy more than me.

    45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

    I wanted to be like our Master Jesus, a kind and humble Rabbi to the poor and lowly. And as I said before, we saw the leaders of our people murder the Messiah Jesus on the Cross. What love was this, that Jesus died for me.

    Yet then He rose from death! Only the True Christ could defeat death. And Jesus taught us to continue… that He would always be with us.

    And I remembered that our Lord had said:

    46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

    47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

    And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

    From the very first day we heard Jesus teach I wanted to build a foundation of my faith in God in Him.

    Our Lord did not disappoint. Jesus had called Simon His rock. After Jesus’ ascension into the clouds and the preaching of Simon in the very Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, I understood what our Lord meant to have our foundation built on Him.

    Only now do I finally begin to understand what it means for a disciple to become like his teacher – for me to become just a little more like Christ Jesus.

    Being ‘fully trained’ is more than just understanding what we have been taught. To be fully trained means we have no choice other than to be like our Teacher.

    For if we are unwilling to follow our teacher, will we not follow another? And will a false prophet or false teacher or false friend or false learned teacher not blindly lead us into the pit?

    If Jesus is not our Lord, why would we follow Him? For it is most difficult. As He said, we have had to take up our own cross to follow Him.

    And if God is not leader of our life, are we nothing more than evil creatures who intentionally turn from our Creator?

    If in our own severe judgment of others we are not mercifully led by the righteous spirit of humility, will we not appear at our own judgment deserving the same wrath?

    Our Teacher had said to us, all those years ago:

    Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

    Jesus would later teach us:

    It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— John 6:45

    And so we were. We were taught by God! For this, I thank God, who sent to us Christ, our Lord.