Here in Luke’s narrative, once again, we find Jesus in prayer. But this time, something prompts a disciple to ask: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Prayer is one of the most vital spiritual disciplines, but it is also one of the most neglected. By failing to be devoted...
The parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus’ visit to the home of Mary and Martha are related in a couple of significant ways. First, here we find both the command to show mercy to our neighbors and do good works (Luke 10:37), but also the preliminary and gracious invitation...
The successful mission of the seventy-two signified that Satan’s kingdom was beginning to collapse (Luke 10:17-18). The captives and the oppressed were finding liberty, the poor were hearing the good news of the kingdom, the blind were receiving their sight—and it was all pointing ahead to the cross where Jesus...
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Following Jesus is a full-time occupation, and the demands of the kingdom supersede all earthly loyalties. To be a disciple of Jesus involves being sent out as laborers into the...
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Jesus has just clearly announced his departure—the exodus that he came to accomplish. He is going to be delivered into the hands of men, suffer, die, and rise again. This was the fixed path...
Throughout Luke, we’ve seen glimpses of Jesus’ divinity in his supernatural authority over sickness, demons, nature, and even death; he’s was not just a prophet or a good teacher but Immanuel, God with us. But in the event of his transfiguration, his humanity was peeled back enough for his divine...
Chapter 9 in Luke’s gospel is profound. After Peter makes the monumental confession that Jesus is “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20), Jesus responds by saying: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day...
The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. This sign not only shows us Jesus’ compassion towards the crowds and his divine power to multiply the food, but—like every other miracle Jesus performed—points us to why he was sent into the world. In John’s...
What are we to do when faced with trials, suffering, hardship, sickness, or death? How are we to respond when God’s timing and purposes seem to be the complete opposite of what we expect from him? The interweaving stories of Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood both point us...