Jesus Again Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Mark 9    30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

OLD TESTAMENT WISDOM FOR THE U.S. SENATE HEARINGS
Ecclesiastes Qoh.1 [1] The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. [2] Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. [3] What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? [4] A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. [5] The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. [6] The wind blows to the south and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. [7] All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. [8] All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. [9] What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. [10] Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us. [11] There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after. [12] I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. [13] And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. [14] I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. [15] What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. [16] I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge." [17] And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. [18] For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Luke.9
[1]
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
[2] and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.
[3] And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
[4] And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.
[5] And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them."
[6] And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

LUKE 7    [31] “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?  [32] They are like children sitting in the shopping place and calling to one another, `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.' [33] For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, `He has a demon.'  [34] The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'  [35] Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."  [36] One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house, and took his place at table.  [37] And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment,  [38] and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.  [39] Now when the Pharisee who had invited him to see it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."  [40] And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"  [41] "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  [42] When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?"  [43] Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

LOVE IS NOT FOR DISCUSSION; LOVE DEMANDS ACTION.
Luke 6 [27] “But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  [29] To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.  [30] Give to everyone who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again.  [31] And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.  [32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  [33] And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  [34] And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.  [35] But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.  [36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  [37] “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; [38] give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." 

LUKE 5    And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them.  [30] And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  [31] And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; [32] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."  [33] And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."  [34] And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?  [35] The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."  [36] He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.  [37] And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.  [38] But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.  [39] And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, `The old is good.'"

Mark 7

The Tradition of the Elders

7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ 6 He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

“This people honors me with their lips,

   but their hearts are far from me;

7 in vain do they worship me,

   teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

8 you abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’

9 Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” 11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God)— 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’