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Category Archives: Luke

Luke 22:39-46

18 Mar

39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

41 He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

Luke 22:39-46

Dear God, while I was preparing last night for my talk this evening about prayers of desperation, I was looking at this passage and something occurred to me: You were teaching us to pray. Yes, you taught us “the Lord’s Prayer,” but this was unique. This was how to pray in desperation. You modeled it. And you did it with the lesson it took Job until the end of the book to learn with the words, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” I think probably the best part of suffering is if it can develop this spirit and attitude in us. If I can get myself to where I want your will above my own.

I have a friend who came to me yesterday and told me about a troubling medical diagnosis. I don’t know what his treatments will do to him, but I’m concerned. What really concerns me is that he is his wife’s caregiver since she has a myriad of health issues. I know what I want for them and him. I selfishly want both of them to live pain-free and live forever. But of course that can’t happen. What is your will for them? Oh, Father, please be very present to them and give them a peaceful and straight path forward.

I was talking with another friend yesterday who has struggles with her family, and I mean all of her family. There are struggles with the generation before her, her own generation, and then the next generation. But she is faithful and loving to all of the generations around her. Comfort and guide her and her husband as they serve and pray. Help them to want what you want and to know what you want.

There are so many to pray for, but I want to mention one more specifically. A really good man and his girlfriend lost their home to a fire three nights ago. They lost it all, and because it was an old mobile home there was no insurance on it. He is now trying to figure out how to make sense of all of this. He is mourning. He is comforting his girlfriend. He is searching. I happen to know he has done a lot to help others. Help him, now, please, Father. Show me what I can do.

Father, thank you for teaching us to pray. I offer all of me to you. I want your will. Let it be done.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 18, 2026 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:14-23

12 Mar

14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

Luke 11:14-23

Dear God, in the midst of great national division I can’t help but wonder about the United States in relation to Jesus’s words about a kingdom divided against itself being doomed. Yes, right now, it feels like we are doomed. And I’m ready for that because while my citizenship is in this earthly kingdom of the United States, and I want to do my part to make it as successful as it can be for those around me, I know that my real identity is in you and beyond this earthly life. My eternity with you will be so, so, so much longer than my 55+ years (I’m 55 now) on this earth. I am but a speck of dust, but I will be at least a part of your kingdom after my life here is done, even if I am the least in the kingdom, I’d rather serve there than reign in hell.

The other thing about this passage is that I need some good teaching on demon possession and exorcisms from teachers I trust. Should I be praying about this more? Should I be calling out demons more? Should I be giving credit where credit is due with demons? Am I totally underestimating demonic activity among those around me who are struggling or even in my own life? Help me to find some good teaching on this that I might understand.

Father, my family is feuding and has fallen apart, and I still don’t understand it. Please heal and unite. My community is divided. My country. My world. Don’t let this pain be wasted. Help us to use it for your glory. And guide me as I learn more and more about you and the realm of the unseen that is around me. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to discern.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 12, 2026 in Luke

 

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Luke 11:1-13

26 Feb

11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

“Father, may your name be kept holy.
    May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us each day the food we need,
4 and forgive us our sins,
    as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.”

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Luke 11:1-13

Dear God, I think there might be a Bible Project series on the Lord’s Prayer. At least, I am pretty sure one of the podcasts I listen to–Bible Project, Voxology, or Slow Theology–did a series on it, looking at it slowly. A church has asked me to do a talk on prayer at one of their Lenten services in a few weeks, so I thought I’d take a look at how you taught us to pray this morning.

My biggest weakness in prayer is intercessory prayer. Praying for my friends who are ailing physically, struggling through life’s trials like divorce or losing a loved one or money, or who are just struggling with emotional pain. Then I noticed something about the Lord’s Prayer when I read it here in Luke this morning. As far as the prayer goes, Jesus doesn’t have praying for my neighbor as part of it. Hmm. That’s weird. The prayer is pretty self-centered (and not in a bad way). It’s about my worship of you. It’s about my wish for your kingdom here, in the present. It’s about my repentance and my temptations. It’s about my daily bread. Or is it?

I think I’ve been doing something wrong when I pray this prayer. I’ve intentionally personalized it and changed the “us” to “me.” “Give me this day my daily bread.” I’ve tried to make this an intentional prayer, but maybe the collective “us” was intentional on Jesus’s part. Both Matthew and Luke say it that way in the different English translations. And maybe that’s where the prayers for others comes in. For example, I have a friend in a physical rehab facility after a car accident. When I pray the collective “us,” maybe I’m praying for her provision for daily bread as well. And that’s part of her daily bread. Her healing–both physical and emotionally after the trauma of the accident and the road to recovery she’s facing.

Father, you are in heaven and you are glorious. You have left the world your Holy Spirit through Jesus. You are everything. You are powerful. You are God. Your name is to amazing, so I can only use words like Father or add a capital G to God to reference you. I do pray that they kingdom you designed us to be will come today on this earth. I pray that in the areas of the world, our country, and our community that are far from you will experience your light, love, joy, and peace. I pray for the daily bread–physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually–for my family, friends, and me. And I pray that you will forgive all of us, and help us know what it means to forgive and to give that forgiveness freely, for our own sake as well as for the forgiven. And protect us from Satan and his plans to tempt us in the wrong direction. To lead us into selfishness, idolatry, and away from you and your best for us. Father, the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2026 in Luke

 

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Jonah 3; Luke 11: 27-32

25 Feb

3 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 3

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

29 As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.

31 “The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 32 The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.

Luke 11:27-32

Dear God, I was with a group of men last night and one of them posed a question while we were talking. What would happen if there were all of a sudden undeniable, definitive proof that everything in the heavenly realm was real. That the UFO sightings over the years were really angels. That Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection was real. That who he is as your son is real. That you are real. That everything in the Nicene Creed is true. What would be the outcome?

My answer was negative. I said I can imagine that Christians would use it as an excuse to grab as much power as possible and command those who choose not to follow you to yield. We would be emboldened to demand our neighbors walk under you. Taking it father than I did last night, after we got control of the government to a sufficient level, we would then start taking it to the other nations. We would go to war over it. We would insist that anyone not serving you be destroyed. It would be the Crusades.

Looking at the story of Nineveh and Jonah and then Jesus’s usage of it in his day, reminds me of a couple of things. The power to destroy should be yours and yours alone. You didn’t tell Jonah to threaten Nineveh with an opposing army. You didn’t tell Jonah to command the people of Nineveh to serve you. No one was compelled to do anything. You gave him a warning to deliver. You gave him a message of rebuke. But the power to administer any justice when it came to serving or not serving you, being evil and doing evil, remained with you. The Assyrians were doing some really reprehensible things, and you called them on it. But it was only Jonah’s job to deliver the message, not to lead a force that made people behave.

Then for Jesus using this story, he simply told the Israelites at the time, who were seemingly in no way doing the obvious evil stuff the Assyrians of Jonah’s day were doing, that they were just as bad in God’s sight. Why? Because they simply wouldn’t, basically, choose to walk through the narrow gate. This is coming off the story of Jesus casting out a demon, and their response was to claim he was of Satan. Their hearts were hard against your message of peace.

Father, I want to start with a humble heart for myself. I don’t want to be like an Israelite who chided, mocked, and accused Jesus of evil. I don’t want to be a fool. I want to be your humble servant. At the same time, I want to take my job as your messenger seriously, which I don’t think I do enough. I want to let people know who amazing your are and how it’s worth it to walk through the narrow gate. Repentance. Submission. Worship. Love of neighbor. These are all liberating and the path to joy. I want to be more bold about it. I want to be your messenger, but I want to do it in exactly the loving way Jesus did it. The apostles after the resurrection had all the evidence they needed that you were real and Jesus was the Messiah, but their path forward was to invite people into the truth and not compel them into it. Help me to know exactly what I’m inviting people into, and then invite them with great enthusiasm.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2026 in Jonah, Luke

 

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Luke 5:12-16

09 Jan

In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Luke 5:12-16

Dear God, I was listening to a Bible Project podcast yesterday introducing the book of Jude. They’re about to do a series on it, and this week’s episode was just setting up the background and context. Jude was thought to be Jesus’s “brother.” But what did brother mean? It could have meant everything from a subsequent child born to Mary and Joseph to a step brother from Joseph’s life before Mary, to a cousin. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. What is clear is that there were relatives of some sort who knew Jesus as a boy and saw him grow up. Jesus is clear that he had strained relationships with his earthly family (Mark 6:4) and there’s the story of Jesus’s brothers trying to goad him into showing off at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2-5). So these relationships are definitely there. And they are hard. And they don’t believe in him. But then, post-resurrection, they are believers and leaders in the church. They are also writing letters like James and Jude.

So what was their issue before the resurrection? That brings me back to stories like this. The Jesus of this sorry in Luke 5 is a celebrity on the rise, but these “brothers” knew him when he was just a boy learning and discerning who he was. It must have been so hard for their egos to have Jesus as a—I’m going to keep saying brother with the understanding it could mean one of the three options I mentioned above. What was it like to interact with him. I have a half-brother and half-sister. I am closer to one than the other, but I’m not in open conflict with either. We are all in our 50s and 60s now and we’ve figured out who we are apart from each other, but there was a time when our differences in personality was a great source of conflict. Well, I can’t even imagine the animosity the would grow in me if my brother was literally “holier than thou.”

Father, as I sit here this morning and think about takeaways from this prayer, I think my big one is to appreciate the complexities of my ego and dangers of comparing myself with other people. I’m not competing with anyone for your love. I don’t have to be more mature, wise, pious, etc. than anyone else. All I have to be is present to you. So I’m here to offer my presence to you this morning, today, and this weekend. I love you, Lord. Here am I. Break me. Melt me. Mold me. Fill me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit.

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2026 in Luke

 

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Luke 4:14-28

08 Jan

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. 15 He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23 Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ 24 But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

28 When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:14-28

Dear God, we are so predictable. It kind of makes me wonder why Jesus even went back to Nazareth in the first place. And he certainly poked the bear intentionally when he started saying that the Kingdom of Heaven that was at hand included Gentiles too.

I think it was about a year ago that I heard someone point out that it wasn’t the fact that he was claiming the be chosen one Isaiah spoke of, but that he was also going to be bringing in the Gentiles. Our selfishness can’t handle this.

I have to admit that I’m incredibly disturbed by what our country is doing internationally right now. It feels like we aren’t only trying to weaken the other nations around us, but that we also wanting to take advantage of them to strengthen ourselves. We are the people that morning sitting in front of Jesus, incensed that he would claim that our neighbors deserve healing more than we do. If Jesus were to come today and say, “I’m here for the people who live south of this country and I’m calling you to help them,” we would throw him out and try to kill him.

Father, I need to have eyes for others and not myself. I need to be who you call me to be. I need to be willing to take a step back so that someone else might take a step forward. I’m about to receive a community service award in a couple of months, and I feel completely inadequate to receive it. Give me a clear head today. Give me a clear head this weekend on the retreat. Going back to yesterday’s prayer, teach me to pray. I love you, Lord.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2026 in Luke

 

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Luke 2:22-40

31 Dec

22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
    as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
    and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

39 When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. 40 There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

Luke 2:22-40

Dear God, I want to spend some time with Simeon and Anna this morning. Why them? Why did you lead them in this way? Why did you promise Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Messiah? Why Anna in this moment?

It’s so interesting to me that Simeon was right and wrong at the same time. He was right in that he could foresee how Jesus would be a stumbling block to others. How he would be divisive. How Mary’s own soul would be pierced. But he was wrong because he still had the idea that the Messiah was coming to make Israel great again (MIGA). His preconceived notions of your plans for Israel and the world through Israel’s power were not big enough to include the truth. That you would be reconciling the entire world to yourself through Jesus. He got words of truth, but they were still tainted by his human conflict of interest that longed for security, power, and certainty for Israel and himself.

When it comes to Anna, I think of her as a fixture of the temple that had been there for over 60 years, worshipping you, praying, and fasting. I like to think that Mary had seen her when she was a little girl and her family visited the temple for Passover. So now Mary and her new baby were the center of Anna’s attention, and Anna was saying remarkable things about Mary’s baby. But back to Anna. She was widowed young, and it seems to me the way she survived was by making her home at the temple and throwing herself into worshipping you. That’s how she used her life. Almost like a nun before there were nuns. It’s seemingly how she processed her pain. By just dedicating her life to worshipping and loving you.

I wonder what the Pharisees of the day thought of all of this. I’m sure they must have gotten some wind of what Simeon and Anna were saying about this baby. Did they question it? Did they question Mary and Joseph? Did they ignore it? It’s difficult to say.

Just as a side note, I think it’s interesting that Luke and Matthew tell two different stories of what happened with Jesus from here. Matthew tells us that they stayed in Bethlehem for a while, fled to Egypt, and then finally settled in Nazareth several years later. Luke indicates they went straight home to Nazareth. The discrepancy doesn’t invalidate any of Jesus’s story or the fact that he is your son and our Messiah. But it does remind me that nothing is really giving me a complete picture of what happened all those years ago.

Father, I have a small life to live. I’m one of 7 billion-ish people on this planet and one of over 100 billion that have lived on it at one point. But if my life can positively impact just ten people, and then each of those ten impacts five, and even of those five impacts two, and each of those two impacts one then all of a sudden my life has touched a lot of others. And who knows where it ends? So I offer this day to you. I’m going to get to see my niece and her husband and their friends. Help my wife and me to simply be your messengers today. Help us to be your examples. Your love. Your glory. And help me to love our donors today. Do it all for your glory, Lord.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 1:57-66

23 Dec

57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.

59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”

61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” 62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.

65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.

Luke 1:57-66

Dear God, the question in verse 66: “What will this child turn out to be?” How long did it follow John? How old was he before people stopped asking it? Or did they never stop and it followed him for the next 30 years until he started doing his thing at the Jordan? I wonder what John was like as a child. I wonder how old he was when his parents died.

But I guess we all look at our children and wonder what they will turn out to be. Of course, we don’t even know what we ourselves will turn out to be. I’m 55, and I don’t even know what I’ll be at 56. I don’t know what the rest of even today hold. I don’t even know what I’ll do for lunch.

But I think with our children we often make the mistake of overlaying our expectations on them (and maybe even their parents). I remember when our daughter was picking her major in college and I saw something different for her. Of course she did what her heart felt led to do.

Father, I confess that I have greatly sinned. In my thoughts and in my words. In what I have done and what I have failed to do. through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask blessed Mary, all the angels and the saints, and for my brothers and sisters to pray for me to you. And please give my children they grace the need to have to live out everything you have for them whether it includes me or not.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 1:26-38

20 Dec

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38

Dear God, I’ve read this passage and journaled on this passage so many times that it’s hard for me to look at it in a fresh way. But when I looked at it this morning, I thought of Gabriel and these jobs he was given by you. Now I want to be clear that there is no way I can even pretend to see anything from Gabriel’s perspective. Nor should I be able to. He is an archangel. I am at the bottom of the creation food chain. It’s like my dog understanding how to get to Europe by leaving our home and traveling by plane. She just has no frame of reference for that. And I have no frame of reference for what Gabriel saw and knew at that point.

However, I can observe what I have the benefit of knowing that he left out of his speech to Mary (and Zechariah and Joseph for that matter). In fact, before I go down this road, let me just consider that he was the messenger to all three of them in this. From heaven’s standpoint, this must have been an amazing inflection point in the space/time continuum.

But back to what he left out, he left out the difficult physical circumstances when Mary gave birth. He left out the flight to Egypt, the boys in Bethlehem being murdered, the difficulty in raising a perfect child, the conflict between Jesus and his siblings and hometown, the doubts about his sanity, the brutal death, and the ultimate losing of Jesus to the ascension. This was not an easy path for Mary to walk. It didn’t lead to power and wealth in her earthly life. It didn’t lead to ease. Simeon was the first one to tell her that her soul would be pierced through this child’s life. That he would cause people in Israel to stumble. Gabriel left all of that out here. Why? Because she was on a need-to-know basis, and it would not have blessed her to know that path ahead.

Father, I’m on a need-to-know basis too. Help me stay in the moment. Help me to look for you in the moment. Help me to be at peace. You know what my hopes are. You know the desires of my heart. But I know that my desires and your plans might not overlap, and I am willing to lay my desires at the foot of your cross and say, “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I just ask for my daily bread and that you will forgive me and help me to forgive others. Please keep me from temptation and give me the strength to walk away from it.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 20, 2025 in Luke

 

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Luke 1:5-25

19 Dec

5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.

8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.

11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”

19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”

21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.

23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. 24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”

Luke 1:5-25

Dear God, this is the New Testament reading of the day, but I have to admit I stopped reading at verse 7. I just want to sit with Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s infertility. I listed Zechariah’s name first because it was assumed back then that it was the female’s fault they couldn’t have children, but it could have been Zechariah’s issue. But this reminds me of the disciples, after seeing a man who had been born blind, who had sinned, the man or his parents, to cause the man to be blind. Jesus replied that none of them had sinned, but the blindness was for your glory. (John 9:1-3) Of course, Elizabeth’s soon-to-be child was for your glory too. But they had no way of knowing that.

What if you hadn’t had Elizabeth be barren before John? What if John had had older siblings or younger parents? How might that have impacted or changed his trajectory? I think we can get a look at that with the stories of Mary and his brothers and sisters coming to try to get him after they thought he was going ’round the bend. How much more so would John have had to endure influence from siblings or parents when we was much more provocatively out there than Jesus was?

So Elizabeth had to live in lament because she was barren and judged for it. She had a longing for a child. I’ve seen couples who suffer with infertility, and the stress of it is difficult. They will spend tens of thousands of dollars on infertility treatments. They will read books on ways to enhance the chances of conception. They will cry and lament.

But there are parts of our lives–of my life–that are like that too. There are things I lament. There are things others judge me for. There are people who look at my wife and me and some of our circumstances and wonder how we sinned to end up where we are. And there are times when we ask ourselves the same questions. Which of us sinned so that this happened? Or did both of us sin?

Father, Elizabeth and Zechariah were found faithful when Gabriel showed up to encourage them. I hope that you will find me faithful today. I love you. I worship you. I trust you. I heard someone say recently that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt but certainty. That plays nicely with the idea that we want to make an idol out of certainty. So I will put my faith in you and walk away from the certainty in my life.

I pray and offer this in the name of Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2025 in Luke

 

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