In this first parable about prayer, a man goes to a neighbor in the middle of the night to borrow bread to entertain an unexpected guest. The point of the parable is that, just as a friend would not refuse such a request, God would also bestir Himself to help those who need it.

The Lord's Prayer, or as some call it, the model prayer sets up the parables of the friend at midnight and the unjust judge. In this, it is a straight-forward compilation of the content of prayer. The prayer also highlights a difference between Hebrew thought and contemporary Christian thought on the purpose of prayer.

Continuing the answer to the question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Y'shua speaks with a young man of substantial means. His answer begins with instruction to follow Moses. When the young man says that he already does that, Y'shua sees through to the real impediment; the young man is too bound up with wealth and the world.

In the travel narrative, Y'shua is twice asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" In both cases the answer begins with, "Follow Moses." In this case, there is a follow on question, "Who is my neighbor?" In setting up the parable, Y'shua sets up the robbery victim as a generic human being. He is unconscious and so has no accent. He is naked and is not wearing distinctive clothing. In setting up the hero of the story as a Samaritan, He makes the parable applicable to all people, not just the Jews.

As Y'shua traveled to Jerusalem for the last time, He told a series of parables which lay out his mission and what will happen at the end of the age. The parables form a chiasm. This file is a general introduction and the first part of the chiasm, whch is "Follow Me". The outline is taken from the book, "Poet and Peasant" by Kenneth Bailey.

Torah portion Acharei Mot (Lev 16-18) emphasizes that there is only one standard for the native born and for gentiles who join themselves to Israel. So when the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 tells gentiles to avoid idols, abstain from sexual immorality, things strangled and blood, they are simply quoting the Torah's requirements that apply to both Jew and gentile. When they say that gentiles need not be circumcised, they are quoting the law of the Passover from Exodus. In their ruling, the council was simply applying Torah correctly to the gentiles. They were not changing the standards.

Echoing Matthew 13 and Revelation 2, Paul explains that mixing in works as a vehicle for justification is like adding a small amount of leaven to dough - it eventually corrupts everything. Doing good works as a response to the grace of God is admirable. Doing them as a way of obligating God is an error.

Paul uses two metaphors to describe the effect of the Torah: that of an heir under a guardian and that of the son of Hagar, Sarah's slave. These examples are often cited as evidence that the Torah is done away with. This is a misunderstanding. Just as the two sets of tablets given to Moses were identical, the conditions of the New Covenant are the same as the Old. The difference is where God's law is written: on tablets of stone or on the human heart. Once the Torah is written on the heart one does its precepts because he wants to, not because he is told to.

In making the case that salvation is by faith and not by works of the law, Paul refers to the call of Abraham. When he believed God it was accounted to him as righteousness. Since the covenant between God and Abraham was prior to the giving of the Torah, it is not possible that the law would change the terms or the conditions for salvation.

The letter to the Galatians correlates with the Kingdom Parable of the woman and the leaven and with the Revelation letter to the church at Thyatira. All are concerned with sin coming into the church through strange doctrine. Paul begins the letter by establishing his credentials.