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The Gospel According to Luke – Mission and Prayer
At the start of Chapter 10, Jesus sends out 70 missionaries to minister to the towns of Galilee. He sends them in pairs in order that they may be a microcosm of the Church, and also because Torah establishes the validity of a claim by the testimony of two witnesses. Making no specific provisions for…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Continuing the Ministry in Galilee
Beginning in Chapter 8, our study continues Luke’s account of Jesus’ active ministry. Accompanied by "the twelve […], some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary, called Magdalene […] and many others," Jesus draws large crowds when he preaches (v. 2-3). To one great crowd, Jesus delivers the parable of the…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Chapters 6 and 7
At the start of Chapter 6, the scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus on two occasions regarding how He and His disciples observe the sabbath. Jesus implies that while the law of the Lord is perfect and provides guidance, the law is not an end in and of itself, but a means to the end –…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Chapter 5
In Luke 4:31 Jesus teaches at the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. For the first time, Jesus publicly commands an unclean spirit to listen to Him, and instantly it comes out of the man. This very important event along with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law are the first episodes that bring Jesus into the…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Beginning of the Gospel Proper
At the start of the Gospel proper, Luke focuses on John the Baptist: his ministry and his message. It seems Christians today often shrink the role of John the Baptist and the roles other Prophets in the history of salvation, and instead embrace a "let’s cut to the chase" mentality. The fact that John is…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Presentation and Finding in the Temple
Following the Presentation Luke omits the flight into Egypt and focuses on Jesus’ upbringing in Nazareth. He emphasizes that throughout this time "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man". The childhood of Jesus has serious Christological implications. The Gnostic Gospels show Jesus acting on a whim but the…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – The Census and the Nativity
The study begins with the controversy regarding the census that sent Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the dating of the birth of Christ. The historical reading of the historian Josephus is that Herod died in 4 B.C. and thus it is logical for Christ’s birth to be sometime before that. Although some favor 6…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Annunciation, Canticles and God’s Preparation
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sends the mighty Archangel Gabriel to Mary, announcing that this "virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David," will conceive and bear a son, Jesus (LK 1:26-28). He specifically chooses this Holy Virgin for an absolutely amazing vocation: to be the mother of…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – John the Baptist
Starting at Luke 1:5, this session focuses on the man God destined to "prepare the way of the Lord," John the Baptist (Is 40:3). He is the long-awaited son of the Zechariah the priest of Abijah and the barren Elizabeth, an elderly couple who were "blameless before the Lord, following all this commandments and ordinances"…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to Luke – Introduction continued
Part 2 of the introduction to Luke. See last week’s (updated) show notes for a full description. Download MP3 (22:53; 15 MB)
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