Being welcomed into a gathering makes all the difference in whether we feel comfortable or ill at ease. Imagine hearing someone say: “You’re not welcome here.” As a reporter attending various meetings over the years, I have been unceremoniously ejected from them occasionally, and when it happens, it’s a bit jarring.

Jesus restores life to the only son of a widow. The context: Jesus has just completed Luke’s version of teachings similar to those found in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mountain.

Even though the Pharisees get bad press in our four Gospels, Jesus had friends among them and table fellowship with them. It is unfortunate that the heated struggle between the leaders of Judaism (the “Pharisees”) and Christian scribes in the last third of the first century resulted in the negative depiction of these good pious men in the Gospels.