The story of the blind beggar in Luke 18:31-43 is most often considered as being just another miracle story: Jesus gives a blind man physical sight. However, in our sermon series through Luke’s gospel we have seen over and over again how there’s more to Jesus’ miracle-working ministry than just physical healing. What we see […]
“And a ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'” (Luke 18:18). This rich, young man could not have asked Jesus a more important question. However, he was unprepared to hear the answer, for when he heard it, “he became very sad” (Luke 18:23), and ” went away sorrowful” (Mark […]
The kingdom of God—his reign over all creatures, kingdoms, and history— is one of the central themes of the Bible. Scripture is filled with promises concerning God’s future, everlasting, unchallenged, and glorious rule. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14), was the sign that God himself had come in the flesh to inaugurate the […]
The story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is one of contrasts. It is the story of the King who came as a lowly servant, on a donkey rather than a prancing steed, not to conquer nations by force but to conquer hearts by love. Yet this is also a tragic story: though his very […]
At the end of chapter 14, Luke records Jesus proclaiming: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35). Then, as chapter 15 begins, we read that “tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him,” but “the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled” (Luke 15:1-2). This is the context for the […]
“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11). Here is the tragedy of Christmas: the Word was made flesh, but the creation failed to know its very own Creator. […]
The scene described in Revelation 5 is one of cosmic significance. Here we see, in the right hand of him seated on the throne, a scroll sealed with seven seals (Rev. 5:1). This scroll is a symbol of the sovereign purposes of God for all creation. But the question the angel poses (Rev. 5:2) is […]
The religious elite in Jesus’ day were guilty of many sins—hypocrisy, self-righteousness, pride, and so on—but one of the most deadly was the sin of presumption (Rom. 2:4). Claiming to be the physical descendants of Abraham, they presumed that they belonged to the people, the kingdom, of God; this is why the call to repentance […]
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of both love and wrath, of holiness and mercy, of righteousness and grace. Though all have sinned and are rightfully deserving of God’s judgment, God sent his Son into the world not to bring condemnation but salvation. Now, because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put […]
