Ever been in an awkward social situation? Ever felt unwelcome at a gathering? Ever eaten a meal at someone’s house only to have an immoral woman walk in and start washing your feet with her tears and anointing them with perfume? No? That’s what happens to Jesus in this story. He eats with a Pharisee, […]
We learn several things from this strange story in Luke 7. We learn that even God-ordained, miraculously-born heralds of the Messiah can doubt in the midst of trial. We learn that God can use the confusion of notable prophets to instruct and reassure His people. We learn that the greatness of John the Baptist doesn’t […]
Two amazing miracles. Two demonstrations of Jesus’ sovereignty over creation. Two signs of His divinity. Two victories in His continuing war against a fallen world. Two demonstrations of compassion and one amazing example of faith. Luke begins this chapter with two scenes from Jesus’ life that show we serve an omnipotent and merciful Redeemer who […]
After telling His followers to love their enemies – a revolutionary concept that turns every natural human impulse on its head – Jesus doesn’t let up. He now explores mercy and all its ramifications. Just as the citizen of the kingdom of God must treat his enemies as God does, so he must have the […]
Love your enemies. It’s a simple sentence, isn’t it? It’s an imperative made up of three words, none of which is hard to understand. It’s short, it’s easily definable, it’s easy to read and speak. There’s absolutely nothing about it that’s complicated at all. It even kind of rolls off the tongue. What we realize […]
Starting in verse 20 and lasting through the end of the chapter is what some call the Sermon on the Plain. Likely the same sermon as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, it is Jesus’ manifesto explaining how a citizen of the kingdom of God is to live. In a word, the godly […]
God instituted the Sabbath when He gave Israel the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment reads as follows: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, […]
Jesus continues to defy convention, especially for the religious leaders. He shockingly chooses a tax collector as one of His followers and then uses that choice to make a statement about who He is and what He’s here to begin. Jesus is unlike anything the scribes and Pharisees have seen, and His approach and goals […]
Jesus has shown His supremacy over temptation, over sickness and suffering (healing multitudes), over the powers of evil (casting out demons), and over nature (bringing boatloads of fish to fishermen). In this text, He shows His supremacy over the most feared disease of His time (leprosy) and – most impressively – over sin itself. Jesus […]
After what was by any reckoning a failed return to His hometown, Jesus moves on to Capernaum and makes it His home base (at least while He ministers in Galilee – ultimately, He has no permanent home – Lk 9:58). While there He teaches, heals, and casts out demons. In so doing He shows His […]
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