And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
In the first-century Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern worlds, children occupied the lowest rung of the social ladder. They possessed no legal rights, social status, or economic utility. Because infant mortality rates were exceptionally high, children were often not fully integrated into social calculations until they reached maturity. Therefore, the people bringing children to Jesus were seeking a traditional blessing from a respected rabbi, but the disciples viewed this as a waste of the Messiah’s highly sought-after time and energy.
On their arrival in Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?”
Jezreel (Yizre’el): Means “God sows” or “God will sow,” referencing the fertile valley and symbolically representing God spreading or scattering the people.[1]
In the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri began to reign over Israel; Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him.
“No,” Jesus said, “I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home.
There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
Then opened he up their understanding to understand the Writings, and he said to them—‘All that has been written, and now it was necessary the Christ to suffer, and to rise out of the dead the third day, and reformation and remission of sins to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem: and you—you are witnesses of these things. And, wait, I do send the promise of my Father upon you, but wait—abide you in the city of Jerusalem till you be clothed with power from on high.’
On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’