Right after his baptism, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. We read about this in Luke 4:1-13. Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and near the end of that time, the devil tempts him. Today I’m looking at one aspect of this journey—the commitment to a complete incarnation. One aspect…
Luke records the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:17-26. This discourse parallels the Sermon on the Mount found in the Gospel of Matthew. The teaching is so similar and yet very different. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount hits hard on morality, but Luke’s Sermon on the Plain hits hard on lived experience. Jesus elevates the…
When the ministry of Jesus started to grow, he went back to his hometown and visited the synagogue. Returning home carries with it a lot of expectations. In Luke 4:14-30, we see that it’s no different for Jesus. They’ve known him his whole life, and they’ve heard the stories about his work in Capernaum. Talk about…
I’ve heard the story in Luke 5:1-11 most of my life, as far back as pre-K, in Sunday School. This is where Jesus tells Peter to put his nets back in the water after a night of unsuccessful fishing. Peter then gets the biggest catch he’s ever pulled in. At the end of this interaction, Jesus…
Luke’s retelling of the baptism of Jesus is so succinct, it allows us to see something very basic. While John was proclaiming, prophesying, and leading the people to follow the will of God. Jesus was in line with all the ordinary people to obey and get baptized by John. Now as the people were in…
Luke tells us about the time Mary and Joseph lost Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover time. There’s a lot in this text. The theme I see today is the similarities between Jesus and Samuel. This is probably around the age Samuel was when God called him. Samuel answered, “send me.” His parents went to Jerusalem every year…
Luke records part of the visit between Mary and Elizabeth including Mary’s song. There are many themes in this text. Here I’m looking at the extraordinary experience they share in their pregnancy. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud…
