The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 318: The Narrow Gate, the Lost Sheep, and the Prodigal Son (2024)
13 Nov 2024
Fr. Mike confronts the hard truth Jesus preaches in today's readings: Many people will ultimately choose hell over heaven. While this can be deeply distressing, Fr. Mike reminds us to focus on Jesus's directive to each one of us: "[You] Strive to enter through the narrow gate." In the second part of today's commentary, Fr. Mike reflects on two of Jesus' most well-known parables: the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Prodigal Son. Today's readings are Luke 13-16 and Proverbs 26:10-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Full Episode
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 318. We are reading from Luke chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16, four chapters today. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 26, verses 10 through 12.
As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. Today is day 318.
We're reading Luke 13 through 16, Proverbs 26, 10 through 12. The Gospel According to Luke, chapter 13. Repent or perish. There were some present at that very time, who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, no.
But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree And he told this parable.
A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure.
And if it bears fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you can cut it down. Jesus heals a crippled woman. Now, he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.
And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, There are six days on which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. Then the Lord answered him, You hypocrites!
Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
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