is understand who qualifies (Luke 13-17)

I know I am going too quickly, but I want to finish Luke in the next three days so I am going to comment on some of the more interesting aspects of Luke rather than (re)tell the stories.

Pilate had killed some Galileans who were sacrificing to God.  A tower had fallen in Jerusalem, killing 18 more Galileans.  Jesus says they did not sin any more than the people who were not killed.  In other words, when people are killed in random events or “acts of God”, they are not being punished for something they had done.   He adds, however, that people need to turn away from sin or they will die just as surely as the Galileans did.  I am still curious about the definition of sin.

Jesus also says that people who do not follow the correct way will gnash their teeth when they see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom while the door is barred to them.  This surprised me.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were devout Jews and they are in the Kingdom.  Does this mean that devout Jews who do not accept Jesus can enter the Kingdom?

Jesus talks about inviting the poor, the lame and the blind to feasts because while they cannot pay you back, God will pay you back when the good are raised from the dead.  I am not sure if this is the first time that Jesus makes reference to the good being resurrected as opposed to just entering the Kingdom.

Then Jesus says that a disciple must love Jesus more than any family member including himself.   A disciple must give up everything.  What would happen if everybody gave up everything?  And how do I love somebody more than somebody else?  

Next is the parable of the prodigal son, the one who returns after a life of sin.  The father throws a party for him, rejoicing at his return.  The older son is jealous but the father tells him that he has always been with him and now they must be happy for something that they thought was lost and now has been found.  It’s not a bad story, but it seems to contradict the story of the foolish girls (in Matthew) who were not allowed into the kingdom because they had not saved enough oil.  Why does the prodigal son get the last minute stay of execution and the foolish girls don’t.

Jesus says if you have enough faith you could tell a tree to pull itself up by the roots and plant itself in the sea and it would obey.  I am pretty sure that nobody would want to do that, but I guess it means that if you have enough faith anything is possible.   I am not sure about that either.