Full Description
2024 Association of Catholic Publishers Third Place Award, Scripture
What Jesus taught through his preaching made an unforgettable impression upon his disciples. But it was the many succinctly formulated sayings of Jesus that stood out from the start because of their clear structure and vividness. In The Most Important Words of Jesus, renowned scholar Gerhard Lohfink focuses on the power, beauty, and seriousness of these seventy central sayings of the Lord.
When the Church confesses that Jesus is not only truly human but also truly God, that means he is the perfect image of God, God's definitive word. It rests on the majestic claim that revealed itself, modestly, discreetly, and yet clearly, in every one of the seventy "sayings" or logia of Jesus. In this book, Lohfink helps us to understand what Jesus is talking about in these sharply defined words.
Contents
Contents
Preface xi
Opening Remarks xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Part One: The Coming of the Reign of God
1. The Proclamation of the Reign of God (Mark 1:15) 5
2. The Least Is Greater Than the Greatest (Luke 7:28) 10
3. Blessed Are Those Who See What You See (Luke 10:23-24) 13
4. The Miracles of the Time of Salvation (Luke 7:22-23) 17
5. Expelling the Demons (Luke 11:20) 21
6. The Fall of the Adversary (Luke 10:18) 25
7. Blessed Are You Poor! (Luke 6:20-21) 28
8. New Wine in New Wineskins (Mark 2:21-22) 32
9. Fasting at a Wedding? (Mark 2:19) 35
10. The "Violent" in the Reign of God (Matt 11:12-13) 37
Part Two: The Mission of the Twelve
11. Like Lambs in the Midst of Wolves (Luke 10:3) 48
12. Take Nothing for Your Journey! (Luke 9:3) 50
13. Greet No One on the Way! (Luke 10:4) 53
14. When You Enter a House (Luke 10:5-12) 57
15. Bread for the Day to Come (Matt 6:11) 62
16. Whoever Listens to You Listens to Me (Luke 10:16) 65
Part Three: A Disciple's Existence
17. Foxes Have Holes (Luke 9:57-58) 73
18. Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead! (Luke 9:59-60) 76
19. Whoever Puts a Hand to the Plow (Luke 9:61-62) 79
20. Jesus' Single Life (Matt 19:12) 81
21. Without Concern for One's Own Family (Luke 14:26) 83
22. Already a Hundredfold (Mark 10:29-30) 86
23. Only One Is Your Father (Matt 23:9) 89
24. Whoever among You Wants to Be First (Mark 10:43-44) 91
25. Taking Up One's Cross (Luke 14:27 // Matt 10:38) 95
26. Those Who Lose Their Life Will Save It (Mark 8:35) 97
27. When the Salt Loses Its Savor (Luke 14:34-35) 100
28. The Millstone around the Neck (Luke 17:1-2) 102
29. A Cup of Cold Water (Matt 10:42) 105
Part Four: Living in Light of the Reign of God
30. If You Are Angry with a Brother or Sister (Matt 5:21-22) 117
31. No Reconciliation, No Liturgy (Matt 5:23-24) 121
32. Adultery with the Eyes (Matt 5:27-28) 123
33. Divorce: A Capital Crime (Matt 5:31-32) 125
34. Better to Cut Off Your Hand (Mark 9:43-48) 130
35. You Shall Not Swear At All (Matt 5:33-37) 132
36. Nonviolence (Matt 5:38-42) 135
37. Love of Enemies (Luke 6:27-28) 141
38. God Knows What You Need (Matt 6:7-8) 150
39. Stone, Not Bread? (Matt 7:9-11) 153
40. Do Not Judge! (Matt 7:1) 157
41. Speck and Log (Matt 7:3) 159
42. No One Can Serve Two Masters (Matt 6:24) 162
43. Camel and Needle's Eye (Mark 10:25) 164
44. What Makes People Unclean (Mark 7:15) 167
45. Give the Emperor What Belongs to the Emperor! (Mark 12:17) 172
46. Like a Child (Mark 10:15) 176
47. Seek First the Reign of God! (Luke 12:31) 180
Part Five: Jesus' Exalted Claim
48. Your Sins Are Forgiven You (Mark 2:5) 189
49. Amen, I Tell You (Matt 8:10) 193
50. More Than Solomon Is Here (Luke 11:31-32) 196
51. Not Peace, but a Sword (Matt 10:34-36) 199
52. Everyone Who Acknowledges Me (Luke 12:8-9) 203
53. I Am (Mark 14:62) 212
Part Six: Israel's Crisis
54. You Strain out Gnats (Matt 23:24) 225
55. Woe to You, Lawyers! (Luke 11:52) 227
56. For Those Outside, Everything Comes in Riddles (Mark 4:11) 231
57. When You See a Cloud Rising in the West (Luke 12:54-56) 235
58. Not through Observation (Luke 17:20-21) 239
59. No Sign from Heaven (Luke 11:29) 242
60. Whoever Does Not Gather with Me (Luke 11:23) 247
61. But You Were Not Willing (Luke 13:34-35) 250
62. Woe to You, Chorazin! (Luke 10:13-15) 253
63. Shut Out of the Eschatological Banquet (Luke 13:28-29) 256
Part Seven: In View of Death
64. With a Baptism Must I Be Baptized (Luke 12:49-50) 270
65. On the Third Day I Will Be Finished (Luke 13:31-32) 274
66. Fear Not, Little Flock! (Luke 12:32) 276
67. Judges Over the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28) 279
68. Ransom for Many (Mark 10:45) 285
69. The Words at the Last Supper (Mark 14:22-24 ) 291
70. Toward the Eschatological Feast (Mark 14:25) 303
Closing Reflections 309
Acknowledgments 317
Works Cited 319
Index of Important Topics 327
Index of Scriptural Passages 329
Liturgical Table 339
