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Lord of the Sabbath: What the Conflict Was About
The Pharisees were not a secret police and had no authority to enforce anything. Understanding what they actually were changes every scene they appear in.
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Clean and Unclean: Why Jesus Was Cryptic
People had been tortured to death for refusing unclean food. Saying what he said plainly would have told a nation its martyrs died in the wrong ditch.
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The Paralytic and the Authority to Forgive
Four men dig through a roof, and it was probably Jesus's own. What he says to the man on the mat starts the argument that ends at the high priest's house.
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The Calling of Levi and the Party That Followed
He sat at a border post collecting a toll people remembered not having to pay. Who he actually worked for, and why the meal afterward caused the trouble.
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Beelzebul and Who Counts as Family
His own relatives think he is out of his mind and the scribes think he is possessed. Mark puts the two verdicts in one scene, and the answer redefines family.
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The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod
Two rival visions of the kingdom, both of them diluted, and the disciples think he is talking about sandwiches. What each party wanted God to do for them.