Jacob & the Prodigal Quotes

“In the seventh century, Isaac the Syrian wrote about 'stillness,' which in his writings has been summarized as 'a deliberate denial of the gift of words for the sake of achieving inner silence, in the midst of which a person can hear the presence of God. It is standing unceasingly, silent, and prayerfully before God.”
― Kenneth Bailey, Jacob and the Prodigal : How Jesus Re-Told Israel's Story

“Jesus does not eat with sinners to celebrate their sin. He does so to celebrate his grace.”
― Kenneth E. Bailey, Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story

“the community developed what was called the kezazah ceremony (the cutting-off ceremony).8 Any Jewish boy who lost his inheritance among Gentiles faced the ceremony if he dared return to his home village. The ceremony itself was simple. Fellow villagers would fill a large earthenware pot with burned nuts and burned corn and break it in front of the guilty individual. While doing this, they would shout, "So-and-so is cut off from his people." From that point on, the village would have nothing to do with the hapless lad. As he leaves town, the prodigal knows he must not lose his money among the Gentiles.”
― Kenneth E. Bailey, Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story

“5. The kezazah ceremony. In the Jerusalem Talmud and elsewhere in the writings of the sages, we are told that at the time of Jesus the Jews had a method of punishing any Jewish boy who lost his family inheritance to Gentiles. Such a loss was considered particularly shameful, and the horror of that shame is reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
― Kenneth E. Bailey, Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story