Jesus and His followers come to Jericho, the last major stop before Jerusalem. The group traveling with Jesus likely grows as other pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for Passover join them. Since Jesus knows the disciples think He’s going to declare Himself or usher in the Kingdom once they reach Jerusalem (19:11), He warns […]
In the first 30 verses of Luke 18, Jesus discusses how believers should respond to His words about the end times and impending judgment from Chapter 17. The Son of Man will come back to judge the world and call His children to glory, so His people should live accordingly. We cannot live like those […]
This is the second of two lessons on Chapter 16. The message of the chapter, told in two parables and a showdown with the Pharisees, is that the disciple of Christ must use the temporary resources of this sinful world to affect eternity. The believer is a steward of what he has and knows the […]
The first 24 verses of this chapter all revolve around a meal. There are four vignettes in this passage, but all take place during a dinner at the house of a prominent Pharisee. Jesus uses the setting to point to a truth that’s repeated throughout Luke and all the gospels: self-righteousness and its associated spiritual […]
There is no reason to be a hypocrite. That’s the overarching message of the first twelve verses of Luke 12. Hypocrites are hypocrites because they care about themselves and the opinions of others more than they care about God, His love, or His judgment. And while there are dire ramifications to this kind of duplicity […]
This is the second awkward meal involving Jesus and a Pharisee that Luke records. Before (7:36-50), the meal was dinner. In this text, it’s lunch. Regardless of the time of day, it’s pretty much a given that planning a get-together around food for Jesus and a Pharisee is not going to end well. In both […]
In these three passages, Luke examines who gains entrance into the kingdom of God. Is it reserved for the ultra-religious, for the highly esteemed, for the rich and powerful? Or is it counterintuitively open only to those who understand they have no qualifications at all? In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, […]
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, […]
The story of Jesus healing the man born blind is an actual event that illustrates Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world (8:12, 9:5). It shows the stark contrast between those who accept and walk in His light and those who reject it (1:4-5). One who is born blind is made to see […]
