In a couple of week's time, the Lectionary gospel reading will be Luke 7:11-17:
Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out – the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’
Jesus said: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Luke 18:17)
There's much debate as to exactly what that means. Jesus couldn't mean that adults have to be like children in every sense, as we could never be short enough. (Well, most of us couldn't — you know who you are.) In what sense “like a child”?
Jesus... born in a manger.
From Peter Leithart's blog post entitled "Oxen and Mangers"
Every Christian believer will, at times in their life, feel the weight of the fact they are a sinner. Perhaps they have just done something that proves to them, and they fear proves to others, that they are a failure before God and before others in the church.
People sometimes worry that the 4 Gospels don't tell the resurrection story in exactly the same way. This is to worry needlessly. If the 4 Gospels told the resurrection story in contradictory ways, that would be a different matter. As it is, we simply have a difference in perspective. Look at the story from different angles, you include different details and stress different things. It couldn't be otherwise. The four Gospels are not an assortment of favourite deeds of Jesus, thrown together haphazardly.
G B Caird is helpful, as ever, in his comments on Luke's account of the birth of Jesus:
Just spotted this for the first time: Luke 17:6-10 and Luke 17:11-19 are deliberately juxtaposed.
17:6-10 establishes that the right way to relate to God is as his servants. When we serve him, he doesn't “thank” us, because we recognise that we are merely giving him (a tiny part of) what he is due. As the commentaries point out, this is really about the fact that God does not owe us anything because of the service we have given him. Our service never puts us in his debt.
Why have I not seen this before? 2 men, in white, asking the disciples why they look for Jesus in the wrong place, but telling him where they will see him.
“While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”“ (Luke 24:4-7)
