Jesus and Zacchaeus

The Centurions Servant

Luke 7: 1-10

7 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant[a] who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion[b] heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

The woman given peace

Luke 7: 36-50

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Stereotypes

A stereotype is a specific belief or assumption (thoughts) about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and when overgeneralised are applied to all members of a group. For example, the model minority stereotype of Asian Americans as highly intelligent, diligent and good at math can be damaging professionally, academically. These beliefs are overgeneralised to all members of the group, even though many of the individual group members may in fact be struggle academically and professionally.

Another example of a well-known stereotype involves beliefs about racial differences among athletes. As Hodge, Burden, Robinson, and Bennett (2008) point out, black male athletes are often believed to be more athletic, yet less intelligent, than their white male counterparts. These beliefs persist despite a number of high profile examples to the contrary. Sadly, such beliefs often influence how these athletes are treated by others and how they view themselves and their own capabilities. Stereotypes are universal. Whether or not you agree with a stereotype the content of stereotypes is generally well-known within in a given culture (Devine, 1989).

Prejudice

Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are members of an unfamiliar cultural group. An example of prejudice is having a negative attitude toward people who are not born in the United States. Although people holding this prejudiced attitude do not know all people who were not born in the United States, they dislike them due to their status as foreigners.

Discrimination

When someone acts on prejudiced attitudes toward a group of people this is known as discrimination. Discrimination is negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group (Allport, 1954; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004). As a result of holding negative beliefs (stereotypes) and negative attitudes (prejudice) about a particular group, people often treat the target of prejudice poorly. Discrimination can extend to institutions or social and political systems.

Garden of Gethsemane

On this occasion Jesus’ human nature and his divine nature are clearly seen.

Jesus goes with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, an olive tree plantation.

Jesus takes Peter, James and John (his inner circle of disciples) further into the garden with him.

Jesus is deeply distressed about what lays ahead. He says, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me.”

He instructs Peter, James and John to keep watch. Even though they are aware of his distress and realise that something important is about to happen, they cannot stay awake.

Jesus’ human nature is shown in that he asked that the cup of suffering be taken away from him. Perhaps he was asking God to bring about the Kingdom of God without him having to suffer.

However, Jesus showed his divine nature as he accepted God’s will, even though it meant his suffering and death, “Yet not what I want but what you want.”

The disciples did not appreciate the seriousness of what Jesus was going through. This meant that he had to cope with the mental suffering on his own. He asked them three times to stay awake and keep watch, but they were unable to do so. Jesus questions Peter, asking could he not even stay awake for one hour. He warns them not to fall into temptation, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.

Jesus can see the arrival of Judas with the chief priests, elders and the armed crowd. They are coming to arrest him. He says to the disciples, “The hour has come! Look the Son of Man is now being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

Judas showed the crowd who Jesus was by kissing him on the cheek, a common way to greet a friend. He said “Peace be with you, teacher.”

Jesus replied, “Be quick about it friend.”

The crowd arrested Jesus. One of the people with Jesus drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Jesus allowed himself to be arrested and demanded that the violence stop. The disciples were so afraid and shocked at what had happened that they all ran away.

Two trails of Jesus

The events of the Crucifixion

Easter Sunday Morning

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was an Arab, born around the year 570 AD, in a place called Mecca which is now in Saudi Arabia. He was raised by his grandfather and uncle, as his father passed away before he was born. His family had little money but they were respectable and part of the Quraysh tribe.

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) worked for his uncle during his early teens and gained experience in commercial trade, working in a camel caravan. He travelled between Syria and Yemen and gained a reputation as an honest and sincere man, even gaining the nickname "al-Amin", which meant faithful or trustworthy.

By the time he reached his early 20s, the ProphetMuhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was doing well enough to begin working for a wealthy merchant, a woman 15 years older than him called Khadijah. As he was so accomplished, she became attracted to him and eventually proposed. They were happily married and had a few children together.

Mecca was known mainly for two things, trading and as a religious centre. Tribes around this time usually traded goods as they crossed the desert. It also had lots of temples and worship sites where people would pray to idols of different Gods. The God considered the greatest was Allah and he didn't have an idol. The ProphetMuhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) grew up very spiritual and would take journeys down to sacred sites near Mecca.

The six beliefs are:

• Belief in one God (Tawhid) – This means having absolute faith in the oneness of God. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God and is not the name of any other being. Muslims believe that nothing can be likened to Allah. It is important to note that Allah has no plural in Arabic, showing the belief in the oneness of God.

• Belief in angels (malaikah) – Muslims believe that God’s greatness means he cannot communicate directly with humans. Instead, God passed messages to his prophets via malaikah, angels, who were God’s first creation and who always obey him.

• Belief in holy books (kutub) – The holy books of Islam should be respected. This is especially true of the Qur’an, which is the direct and unchanged word of God, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

• Belief in the prophets (nubuwwah) – Allah is believed to have communicated with the prophets through the angels. Muslims believe the prophets should be respected but never worshipped.

• Belief in the Day of Judgement and the afterlife (Akhirah) – All Muslims believe that this life is a test. When they die, they will be judged by God and sent to either Paradise or Hell.

• Belief in predestination (Al-Qadr) – This means that everything in the universe is following a divine masterplan, which shows the importance of God’s will. Muslims believe that Allah knows or decides everything that will happen: In all things the master-planning is God’s (Qur’an 13:42).