Luke Chapter 15 - ACC NT Study

28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31 " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

In a few words:
May we celebrate when a brother comes home.

Mark Chapter 15 - ACC NT Study

(Versus 33, 34)
33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" —which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

When we feel as though God is far away, perhaps we begin to believe He has forgotten us, or stopped caring about us altogether. We are not alone. Even Jesus felt forsaken at His truest time of need. However we know God had a plan. Jesus would rise again and spend eternity with the Father.

In a few words:
Even though God's plans are not known to believers, they choose to trust in Him.

Matthew Chapter 15 - ACC NT Study

The Pharisees and teachers of the law must have had a very important meeting.
The #1 topic: Find something Jesus' disciples are doing wrong! My guess is after hours of debate and discussion, they settled on a topic with which they would confront Jesus and His disciples. My gosh they must have been empowered with the knowledge that Jesus' disciples were not washing their hands before they ate!

When I read the first couple of versus of this chapter I think "Are you kidding me?" Not washing their hands before they eat? That's the best the Pharisees and teachers of the law can come up with to incriminate them? Perhaps I do not realize the culture of the day and how serious that charge might have been.

However Jesus knew their hearts and their motives. While the hand washing issue seems somewhat frivolous, Jesus launches into a more serious matter in His response. Jesus responds to them asking "...and why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?"

Jesus reminds them that they practiced a tradition called "Corban." (Mark 7:11) This tradition was basically a vow of dedicating money to God (In lieu of helping parents financially) However the vow was in word only and had become an excuse to keep the money for themselves. Therefore their tradition broke the command of honoring the father and mother. While the Pharisees were attempting to accuse the disciples of being unclean physically, Jesus points out the Pharisees hearts is what was unclean.

Later in the this chapter the faith of the Canaanite woman is clearly evident. Her persistance is rewarded as she knew her daughter would benefit from the "crumbs" of the Lord. Following that, Jesus feeds thousands with a few crumbs of food.

In a few words:
The "crumbs" of the Lord are superior to the traditions of men.