“Then [Jesus] said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” Luke 9:23 When someone in the ancient […]
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Meditate On This: A Feast for the Forgotten
Luke 14:7 starts with Jesus discussing where people at a banquet sit and why. Jesus lived in an honor driven society. Status, standing, and in this case, seating near the host, […]
Read moreNot Entitled, but Expectant
In Luke 17:7-10 and Luke 12:37-38, we get two interesting, juxtaposing passages about a master and servant. In chapter 17, Jesus paints the image of a servant finishing a task […]
Read moreMeditate On This: Easy To Miss
Throughout Luke’s gospel we read stories of the unlikely elevation and inclusion of people that would have stood out as significant to early hearers of the gospel, but 2,000 years […]
Read moreA Generous Measure of Mercy
Not all judgment and condemnation come from the same place. It’s true that sometimes we judge because of feelings of superiority—moral, intellectual, spiritual. And sometimes we judge because of the […]
Read moreMeditate On This: Rethinking Ritual
On four different occasions in Luke’s gospel, Jesus clashes with religious leaders over his “work” on the Sabbath (healing and feeding). Jesus doesn’t set out to start something with religious […]
Read moreMeditate On This: There’s Got To Be Another Way
There is no question that walking in the way of Jesus can be extraordinarily difficult, especially in extraordinarily divided and volatile times. Look again at the instructions Jesus gives in […]
Read moreMeditate On This: Untapped Potential
If you asked most people about the story of Jesus’ calling of Peter, James, and John in Luke 5, they would say that what is remarkable in the story is […]
Read moreMeditate On This: Waiting
The book of Jonah tells the story of a prophet who is called to preach to a nation that he hates. And because of this hate, Jonah does everything imaginable […]
Read moreMeditate On This: Calling All Misfits
While it doesn’t quote any bible verses that I recall, the Christmas Claymation classic, Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer, has a very Luke 4 message. The majority of special is about the nobody’s […]
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