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 be raised” (Luke 9:22). Yet […]
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 gospel, speaking to the crowds […]
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 to our compassionate Savior and what it […]
“Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:25). Having just witnessed Jesus rebuke the wind and the waves, the disciples posed this question among themselves. They knew that controlling the forces of nature and calming the raging seas are activities that only God himself could do (see Psalm 107:28-29). But […]
“A sower went out to sow his seed”—so begins one of the most familiar parables of Jesus, a profound teaching found in all three Synoptic gospels (Matt. 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). Jesus frequently would illustrate kingdom truths and spiritual realities with images, stories, and experiences from everyday life that would relate to his hearers. Yet the purpose […]
In preparing the way for the Messiah, John the Baptist made known that God’s judgment on the unrepentant was imminent. He had proclaimed: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17). Yet when Jesus finally came, he came […]
All throughout Scripture, we are given glimpses the promise that one day sin and death will be no more. In the Old Testament, we see hints of this future hope through different characters, prophets, and events, all of which point to God’s final answer to the sting of death and the power of sin: Jesus Christ, the […]
The healing of the centurion’s servant—like the many other miracle accounts in the Gospels—is often understood to be highlighting the faith or belief of the centurion. Indeed, he is an admirable character, one to whom Jesus marvels and says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” (Luke 7:9). However, while his posture […]
The story of the wise and foolish builders, found at the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, is a familiar one to most. Having taught on living the life of the kingdom and what it means to be an authentic disciple, Jesus warns those who would presume to call him ‘Lord’ yet fail to do what […]
