December 29, 2025
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Reading along with us in our Lenten readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Advent 2025 – Day 29 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Year of Growing Opposition
Read Sections 4.58 through 4.60 (pages 115-119)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
Jesus is telling these awesome parables while the tax collectors and sinners, and even the Pharisees are listening. The prodigal son wanted to be free and live as he pleased and had to hit rock bottom before he came to his senses. For many people, it takes great tragedy to look to the only one who can help them. The stories of the lost coin and the sheep is minor in comparison to a human being as the father loved for his son is constant, annd patient and welcoming. God does not force us to come to him, but God waits patiently for us to come to our senses. The older brother is just like the Pharisees, angry and resentful. They thought they had sacrifice and done so much for God that it would be easy for them to enter into heaven. Now Jesus speaks of the love of money and we cannot serve God and money. The Pharisees considered wealth to be proof of a person’s righteousness, but Jesus tells them a story of the rich man who went to hell not because of his wealth but because he was selfish. Do we hoard our possessions or do we use them to help others? Money is nothing but a barometer to see what our attitude is towards helping others. What an incredible analogy Jesus uses, that the rich man speaks of someone that has risen from the dead so his five brothers would believe, but just like the Pharisees listening to this, Jesus would raise from the dead, forgiving them of their sins welcoming them into eternity and nope even that could undo their religious chains!
Advent 2025 – Day 29
Psalm 58; Jeremiah 35; The Life of Jesus 4.38-4.60
Jesus tells three stories about lost things, but the story of the lost son is unique that the additional character of the older brother is given. We so appreciate the lavish nature of the Father’s love and how he overlooks the flagrant sin of the younger son (especially when we recognize at times we ARE the younger son), but we also understand the older brother who thinks grace just doesn’t seem fair. So Jesus wants to express the truth of the Father’s heart and challenge that part of all of us, and more in some than others, that judges God for it. It is best to let God sift such things out and make sure we are having the right heart toward others that His love and forgiveness of us should foster. And the parable of the dishonest manager is unique because Jesus is describing how things in the world can go and not expressing how they should go. In fact as we see worldly people operate in that way, we need to understand as spiritual people that we don’t act that way. But it is also true that worldly possessions have their place, so we can use them as God sees fit to position ourselves in a world that we do have to live in, and we can learn valuable things in it that can translate to God’s work. But we have to watch out for the trap the world gets into where they love money too much and as God’s people, we serve Him and not money. And so the account now is given of Lazarus and the rich man to show it is more often the poor that seek and are dependent on God than the rich who learn to be independent of Him. And those who are dependent on God will be blessed in the afterlife and those who are independent of Him will be punished. And there is nothing that can be done about it once the decision is made and God will not do anything more to draw people to Him than what has already been done. So it places a great burden on man as far as what they need to do to seek and learn the things of God that are readily available to them rather than expecting that God is going to do more to draw them to Him.