Episode notes
Passages: Luke 17:20-37; Luke 18:1-14; Luke 18:15-30; John 11:1-44
Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, Jesus tells them it isn't coming with things that can be observed — then warns his own disciples that the day of the Son of Man will come as suddenly as lightning, and as unexpectedly as the flood came for Noah. He tells the parable of a persistent widow who wears down an unjust judge simply by refusing to give up, and of a Pharisee and a tax collector who pray very differently in the temple, only one of them going home justified. Parents bring their infants for Jesus to touch, and when a rich young ruler asks what he still lacks for eternal life, he goes away sorrowful at the answer. Word then reaches Jesus that his friend Lazarus, in Bethany, is sick — and he waits two more days before going, arriving only after Lazarus has been in the tomb four days, to do the one thing no one there expected.
We are in a Luke-John Harmony. Today's episode covers: Luke 17:20-37; Luke 18:1-14; Luke 18:15-30; John 11:1-44 (The Coming of the Kingdom; The Persistent Widow and the Pharisee and Tax Collector; Little Children and the Rich Young Man; Jesus Raises Lazarus).