Appendix A: What Jesus Said: Key Texts on the Major Issues

On the Vulnerable and Excluded

• Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
• Mark 10:14 - "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them."
• Matthew 18:6 - "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck."
• Luke 19:10 - "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

On Religious Leaders Who Abuse Their Position

• Matthew 23:13-39 - The Seven Woes. Jesus's most severe condemnation in the Gospels, directed entirely at religious leaders who exploited their position.

"They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them."

-- Matthew 23:4 (NET)

• Luke 20:47 - "They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."

On Love as the Identifying Mark

"Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples - if you have love for one another."

-- John 13:35 (NET)

• Matthew 5:43-44 - "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
• Matthew 22:37-39 - The Two Greatest Commandments: love God and love your neighbor.

On the Standard Held in Love

"I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more."

-- John 8:11 (NET)

• Matthew 5:17 - "I have not come to abolish [the Law] but to fulfill it."
• Matthew 19:4-6 - On marriage: "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female... What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them."

-- Matthew 5:3 (NET)

On Salt and Light

• Matthew 5:13-16 - "You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world... let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
• John 17:15-16 - "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

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