7 | The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

These passages trace the upside-down nature of the kingdom through Jesus’ parables, His predictions of suffering, and His call to servant leadership. Encounters with the blind, the desperate, and the despised—culminating in Zacchaeus’ transformation—reveal a Messiah who seeks the lost and overturns human assumptions about worth, power, and status. Everything builds toward the triumphal entry, where hopes run high but expectations run in the wrong direction.