Creative Space for Wanderers
Read: If you read the title to this post and just keep going, perhaps you’ve been in the Christian bubble too long, but don’t be upset with yourself, you’re in good company! Our Daily Bread devotion this morning prompts us to read where Thomas admits he doesn’t understand and Philip is terribly confused. These two …
Continue reading “Luke: Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman”
Read: Just a short segue between stories, Luke adds some interesting detail about the preaching and teaching tour of Jesus. Back in the old days, even before my time, the idea of circuit-riders or itinerant preachers modeled their ministry based on this idea: Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the …
Read: Consider two phrases in the passage we read today: Lord if you are willing and when Jesus saw their faith. Both demonstrate an unusual faith in a man they hardly knew. They had heard about this preacher that was going from village to village, town to town, teaching good news, adding wisdom to wise …
Read: Rejected by His hometown, Jesus goes to Capernaum, some 40 miles (a 9-hour walk according to Google Maps). Luke surrounds these two miraculous interventions with observations about the spreading of Jesus’ ministry. Don’t miss the detail that Jesus is not only teaching on the Sabbath, but He is also “working” by casting out demons …
Continue reading “Luke: Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit, Heals Many”
Read: Tempting Jesus has always seemed like a moot point to me. Each time I read this passage, it seems there’s no way Jesus would actually be enticed by Satan’s offers. The highlight reel of this extended time of fasting includes three specific temptations: prove God is the ultimate provider bow down to Satan test …
Read: We fast-forward to somewhere between A.D. 25 and A.D. 26, when John the Baptist, and his cousin Jesus, were about 30 years old. John preaches the need for repentance through baptism and even baptizes Jesus. Luke covers the story of John the Baptist differently than the other Gospel accounts. His intentional process of identifying …
Read A remarkable meeting of Mary and Elizabeth followed by Mary’s Song, The Magnificat. The two women play such a significant part of the male dominated history of our ancestors. It seems fitting that Luke would take time and space to honor them by recording an exciting moment when they meet during pregnancy: Mary with …
Continue reading “Luke: Mary Visits Elizabeth; The Magnificat”
Read: One of the scenes portrayed frequently: Jesus and His disciples in the upper room to celebrate the Passover. This time, it’s quite different: the bread and wine were used to represent His body and blood. Our familiar “Lord’s Supper” begins not by eating the Seder meal, a tradition created after the time of Jesus …
Read: Yesterday we read the bookends to this story as a way of understanding their meaning. Today we’ll look at Jesus direct actions in the temple courts and try to process the entire scene, so many details in just a few verses! Prior to this chapter, we’ve read several times where Jesus performs a miracle …
Read: The way John Mark collected these stories, Jesus just told the disciples He would be arrested, tortured, crucified, and rise again — then two of His closest disciples ask about being seated on his left and right. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in …