Luke Chapters 6-10
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 before decisions.
Luke 6:20-26 Blessed and Doomed
Again Luke's gospel tracks Jesus intense love for the poor: Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who weep. God is with us in our difficult hour, but Jesus also wants us to come alongside those who are hurting.
Then he lists some things that are terrible: those who are rich, those who have plenty, those who laugh, those who are spoken well of. Each of these things is not bad in of themselves, but it is a terrible thing to be rich, have plenty and enjoy life while ignoring the needs of those that don't have anything. This is what Jesus is talking about.
Luke 6:27-46 Jesus Teaches
So Jesus begins teaching and it is radical!
Luke 7:18-35 Jesus and John the Baptist
A lot of stuff going on here, but at the end of this section, Jesus talks about how the people of this day are just missing this incredible thing started by John and now continued by Jesus. This is a cautionary tale for us that we don't miss what God is doing right in front of us.
Luke 7:36-50 Pharisees Miss the Point, Again
Jesus heads over to a Pharisee's house when a woman bursts in and anoints him with oil (interestingly here is a woman performing a priestly function! Luke is so subversive for his time). The Pharisees miss this incredible act of forgiveness because a sinner is touching Jesus (remember, they blame sinners for their current predicament). Jesus tells a story reminding him that those who are forgiven much fall for God easier than those that do not. We must always remember the great debt that has been forgiven on our behalf by Jesus' death on a cross.
Luke 8:1-3 Women!
Again Luke is challenging boundaries of his day by talking about the women with Jesus! We learn about Mary Magdalene, Susanna, and Joanna who were disciples of Jesus along with the twelve and other women. This may not seem like a big deal to us, we are used to equality between men and women, however, for both the Jewish and Roman culture this is a major clue about what Jesus is doing: changing the world so that all people are valued especially the marginalized. I love that Luke includes these details
Luke 8:40-54 Jesus Gets Distracted Again
Jesus has compassion for Jairus and his daughter who is dying and decides to go heal her. On the way, a woman comes us simply touches the hem of his clothes and is healed! Jesus feels the power leave him as she is healed. They have this incredible interplay where Jesus says that it is her faith that has healed her. While all this is going on, Jairus finds out that his daughter has died, but Jesus knows he can still heal her and says she is 'sleeping.' It is again an example that Jesus allows his compassion to change his plans.
Luke 9
This chapter is so action packed there is so much to say about it! A few highlights
Luke 10:1-24 Jesus Sends the 72
So first he sends the twelve, but now 72 more! This probably included the women that we heard about earlier and others. The go out and heal, cast out demons, and teach people about Jesus. The key scripture is that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few! Only 20 percent of people today are in churches are Sunday mornings in America. That means that 80 percent of the people in our neighborhoods and cities are the harvest! Get out and start inviting!
Luke 10:25-37 Love of God and Love of Neighbor
A legal expert tries to test Jesus, by asking him what he must do to gain eternal life. This is to test knowledge of the law and prophets. Jesus isn't having it and asks the expert to tell him what the law says. He responds with love of God and love of neighbor! Of course, then the expert asks him who is my neighbor and we get the story of the good Samaritan. Samaritans are an interesting group because they followed some of the beliefs of the Jewish people but not all of them. The Jewish people looked down on the Samaritans, so it's fascinating that Jesus, the Jewish messiah makes the hero of the story the Samaratin! Again Luke being subversive.
Luke 10:38-42 Mary and Martha
This story is usually told that Martha is the worker bee and Mary gets that Jesus is special so she is spending time with him. This makes Martha mad because she is doing the work. Jesus affirms Mary's choice. There is another more powerful interpretation: Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet and that is the term used by learning from Jesus as a rabbi! Women were not allowed to do that at that time and Martha is concerned about the propriety. Jesus, however, affirms that Mary can learn from him, be his disciple, which means that she too could be a religious leader. This is one of the strongest affirmations of Women in ministry! Luke is such a subversive writer.
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 before decisions.
Luke 6:20-26 Blessed and Doomed
Again Luke's gospel tracks Jesus intense love for the poor: Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who weep. God is with us in our difficult hour, but Jesus also wants us to come alongside those who are hurting.
Then he lists some things that are terrible: those who are rich, those who have plenty, those who laugh, those who are spoken well of. Each of these things is not bad in of themselves, but it is a terrible thing to be rich, have plenty and enjoy life while ignoring the needs of those that don't have anything. This is what Jesus is talking about.
Luke 6:27-46 Jesus Teaches
So Jesus begins teaching and it is radical!
- Love your enemy
- Don't judge
- Don't just love those who love you, love your enemies, do good and lend expecting nothing in return
- Don't just call Jesus Lord, but actually do what he says!
This is a shorter version of the sermon on the mount in Matthew but it is potent. If you struggle with these teaching, with living them, don't worry so do I. We must try to live by them and not simply give lip service to 'Jesus is Lord.'
Luke 7 Jesus Does Some Miracles, More Teaching
Jesus goes out of his way to heal, it is fascinating that Jesus who is on an important mission still allows himself 'Holy Distraction,' to find where God is moving and be there.
Luke 7:18-35 Jesus and John the Baptist
A lot of stuff going on here, but at the end of this section, Jesus talks about how the people of this day are just missing this incredible thing started by John and now continued by Jesus. This is a cautionary tale for us that we don't miss what God is doing right in front of us.
Luke 7:36-50 Pharisees Miss the Point, Again
Jesus heads over to a Pharisee's house when a woman bursts in and anoints him with oil (interestingly here is a woman performing a priestly function! Luke is so subversive for his time). The Pharisees miss this incredible act of forgiveness because a sinner is touching Jesus (remember, they blame sinners for their current predicament). Jesus tells a story reminding him that those who are forgiven much fall for God easier than those that do not. We must always remember the great debt that has been forgiven on our behalf by Jesus' death on a cross.
Luke 8:1-3 Women!
Again Luke is challenging boundaries of his day by talking about the women with Jesus! We learn about Mary Magdalene, Susanna, and Joanna who were disciples of Jesus along with the twelve and other women. This may not seem like a big deal to us, we are used to equality between men and women, however, for both the Jewish and Roman culture this is a major clue about what Jesus is doing: changing the world so that all people are valued especially the marginalized. I love that Luke includes these details
Luke 8:40-54 Jesus Gets Distracted Again
Jesus has compassion for Jairus and his daughter who is dying and decides to go heal her. On the way, a woman comes us simply touches the hem of his clothes and is healed! Jesus feels the power leave him as she is healed. They have this incredible interplay where Jesus says that it is her faith that has healed her. While all this is going on, Jairus finds out that his daughter has died, but Jesus knows he can still heal her and says she is 'sleeping.' It is again an example that Jesus allows his compassion to change his plans.
Luke 9
This chapter is so action packed there is so much to say about it! A few highlights
- Jesus sends the 12 - they take nothing and trust in God.
- Jesus feeds 5000
- Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is, Peter responds his the Christ sent from God (Christ means messiah or the promised king). Then Jesus tells them his messianic mission to die on the cross and be resurrected on the 3rd day. The followers of Jesus are to pick up their cross!
- Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, the disciples want to stay but Jesus has things to do
- Jesus heals again
- Disciples argue about who is the greatest, and of course, Jesus rebukes them. It's good to remember that even the disciples forget about what following Jesus is all about. We do the same thing
Luke 10:1-24 Jesus Sends the 72
So first he sends the twelve, but now 72 more! This probably included the women that we heard about earlier and others. The go out and heal, cast out demons, and teach people about Jesus. The key scripture is that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few! Only 20 percent of people today are in churches are Sunday mornings in America. That means that 80 percent of the people in our neighborhoods and cities are the harvest! Get out and start inviting!
Luke 10:25-37 Love of God and Love of Neighbor
A legal expert tries to test Jesus, by asking him what he must do to gain eternal life. This is to test knowledge of the law and prophets. Jesus isn't having it and asks the expert to tell him what the law says. He responds with love of God and love of neighbor! Of course, then the expert asks him who is my neighbor and we get the story of the good Samaritan. Samaritans are an interesting group because they followed some of the beliefs of the Jewish people but not all of them. The Jewish people looked down on the Samaritans, so it's fascinating that Jesus, the Jewish messiah makes the hero of the story the Samaratin! Again Luke being subversive.
Luke 10:38-42 Mary and Martha
This story is usually told that Martha is the worker bee and Mary gets that Jesus is special so she is spending time with him. This makes Martha mad because she is doing the work. Jesus affirms Mary's choice. There is another more powerful interpretation: Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet and that is the term used by learning from Jesus as a rabbi! Women were not allowed to do that at that time and Martha is concerned about the propriety. Jesus, however, affirms that Mary can learn from him, be his disciple, which means that she too could be a religious leader. This is one of the strongest affirmations of Women in ministry! Luke is such a subversive writer.
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