Micah 6:8

Confession time: I didn't post last week on Chapters 16-20 because I ran out of time. So I want to apologize and I hope you will forgive me. I also hope that reading through Luke has been a blessing to you, as it has to me. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Luke 21-25. A Poor Widow's Offering and the Temple's Fate Luke 21:1-28 We often hear about the widows offering in stewardship sermons, but there is another side to this other than her incredible generosity. A woman gives to the temple but yet there is more going on here than at first glance. This is where our chapter and verse systems actually hamper our understanding. In the previous chapter, during the same conversation, Jesus talks about legal experts who cheat widows out of their homes and then we have the story about a widow giving everything to the temple. Part of the point is that the whole system is flawed and rather than drawing people to God it is being used to exploit others. Then Jesus beg...

Continuing our journey through the book of Luke! Jesus teaches us how to pray, verses 1-13 Luke shares his version of the Lord's prayer, and it's pretty similar to the one we find in Mathew. The focus is still the same: 1. God is both father, yet is holy and other than this world. It is important to remember that God can be both of these things, because, well God is God. 2. We need to trust God with our past, present, and future: forgive our sins - past. Give us each day, our daily bread - present. Lead us not into temptation - future. 3. We are told we need to ask for forgiveness and to forgive! This is a key part of God's design for the world. The Sign of Jonah, verses 29-32 This seems like an odd story, what is the sign of Jonah that Jesus is talking about? Jonah was in the belly of some sea beast for three days and nights. This part is foreshadowing Jesus death and resurrection. It is also a condemnation of the Pharisees who will not repent and turn to God bec...

Shall we continue our journey through the gospel of Luke? Luke 6:1-11 Jesus Stirs Up Trouble This is a quite remarkable passage as Jesus, a Jewish man, challenging the law about the Sabbath, "Why are you breaking the Sabbath law?" Is what the Pharisees ask him (Pharisees were not an official part of the priesthood but were focused on keeping the law. They believed that the reason the Roman's were oppressing them is that certain folks were ignoring the laws. This is one reason that Jesus makes them really angry). The point here is that Jesus cares more following God and having a heart for God than the law itself. Our cautionary tale today is that we need to focus more on following Jesus than on fulfilling what we think is 'religious.' Luke 6:12-16 Jesus Choose the disciples Just want to take a moment that before Jesus makes a big decision before he chooses his team, he spent the whole day in prayer! We should definitely model this practice of going to God bef...