Among the reasons why the Lord twins these commandments is surely that together they are the way of heaven, the way things are in heaven. Yes, there were the early debates among thorny scholars about the greatest commandment: whether it is God, our parents, or our neighbour who came first is indeed behind the interlocutors' question. The Lord ends that speculation by providing not one but two commandments. And yet, the end of that speculation identifies a new way of living

The celebrated reply of Jesus to the Pharisees and Herodians, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and to God what belongs to God”, is often understood as a lesson about the respective responsibilities of religion and the state. Yet there is something far more profound in our Lord's answer. It concerns not simply what we must give, but to whom we ultimately belong. The question put to Jesus was carefully contrived. The Pharisees and Herodians, otherwise unlikely alli

You can almost see the feast in Isaiah’s description, the table laden with food, and wine, rich, expensive and delicious food and wine. This is quite usual for a wedding feast in most cultures, like the feast in today’s Gospel parable. There are oxen and fat calves, and much more, as befits a wedding feast flowing with rich wine lasting for many days. After all, it is the wedding feast of a king’s son. The mystery is why the guests turned away. Did they think they could have