Category Archives: Luke

²⁷ Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. ²⁸ They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. ²⁹ Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. ³⁰ So the second brother married the widow, but he also died. ³¹ Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, who died without children. ³² Finally, the woman also died. ³³ So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth. ³⁵ But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. ³⁶ And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.

³⁷ “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ So he is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to him.”

³⁹ “Well said, Teacher!” remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there. ⁴⁰ And then no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Luke 20:27-40

Dear God, I’ve come across this passage several times over the last few weeks. Are you trying to tell me something? I talk a lot about idols and trying to identify the idols in my life. How much is my wife an idol for me? How much do I look to her to provide what the Holy Spirit should be providing in my life? How much do I get my sense of worth from her instead of you.

I heard someone recently describe the relationship we will have with our spouse in the next life as a “special relationship.” Much like we will know our children, parents, and other special people there, we will know our spouse. But what Jesus is saying is that we will have moved beyond the human needs that are met through marriage and into a new angel-like existence That exists around you. I have to tell you, the idea of existing on that reality plain is very appealing to me. I’m good here. I’m happy to live the life you’ve given me here on earth. Frankly, mine is very easy compared to most of the world. I’m happy to try to hear what you’ve called me to do and then follow your calling. But I also have a great hope that this is nothing compared to a pure existence in the timeless reality of your presence.

It makes me think of a Rich Mullins song called “Land Of My Sojourn.” There’s a line in the song that says, “So I’ll call you my country, but I’ll be lonely for my home.” Yeah. I’m happy to be an American, but I don’t find my peace in that. I’m happy to live in my community. I’m happy to be the husband you need me to be for my wife. I’m happy to do whatever it takes to be the father you need me to be for my children (although it feels like I’ve been a failure on many levels there). I’m happy to serve my community. But it feels like the closer I get to you the more loosely I hold onto all of it.

Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus, show me even more today what it means to call you my God. Show me how to be my wife’s husband. Show me how to find my love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness faithfulness, kindness, self-control, etc. in you and not look to her to give me those things. Sharpen me through her. Make me into the man you need me to be through her and the other relationships in my life. Be glorified in all of this.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

⁹ “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” ¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; ¹¹ there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. ¹³ This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴ So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵ for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all because of my name. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Luke 21:9-18

Dear God, I was listening to the Bible in a Year podcast from Ascension Press this morning, and this was part of the reading. The part that caught my ear was verses 14 and 15: “So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand.”

I have a meeting later today that concerns me. I’m not entering it with any malice in my heart, but I am afraid that others might be coming with malice. I just want to help. I want to help people in our community. I want to bring your light and hope into the world, but from the ground up, not the top down. Hearts need to be changed. People are walking in a fog. Parents are overwhelmed. Teachers and school personnel are, for lack of a better phrase, charging hell with a water pistol. I want to be your presence in that room today. I want to show others how much you love them. I want to show others what the fruits of the Spirit look like by first attaching my branch to your vine as securely as I am capable and then allowing your Holy Spirit to do the rest.

Father, make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. And my the prayer of my heart always be, “Make me a servant, make me a servant, make me a servant today.”

I pray this through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, which allows me to come to you in prayer,

Amen

¹⁸ John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, ¹⁹ he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰ When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

Luke 7:18-20

Dear God, I think we tend to read over this passage too much, but there’s a reason Luke tells this story. John was probably getting a lot of questions about Jesus, and he was apparently starting to doubt. Everyone was looking for victory over Rome. Everyone was looking for the glory of Israel’s height under David and Solomon. Everyone wanted to have agency over their own lives again. They wanted to feel important again. They wanted to have power and influence. They wanted to restore the world to the way it “should be.”

Here is what Jesus wanted: So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ^{(Luke 7:22-23)} Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

I wonder how John interpreted this response. There’s nothing in here about revolution. The Messiah is apparently about nurturing the individual, not managing society. What is the “good news” he’s proclaiming to the poor? I think it’s that you love them too. Their lives matter to you. He’s going to them individually and bringing you to them. They have been put upon by society. They have been enslaved to pay debts. The have been shamed. Jesus’s words to them are, “No, you matter to the Father. And I am here to reconcile you to Him.”

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I want to be part of giving this message to the world as well. First, thank you for reconciling me to you. Thank you that I am a Gentile, and yet an heir to your realm. You accept me, even with my sin. I am…well, there is no way I can ever be grateful enough. Next, help me to be Jesus-like in my interactions with others. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth through my life and the lives of your church. Be glorified so that others might find their peace and hope in you.

I pray this through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,

Amen

²² Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

He replied, ²⁴ “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail. ²⁵ When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

²⁸ “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. ²⁹ And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south—to take their places in the Kingdom of God. ³⁰ And note this: Some who seem least important now will be the greatest then, and some who are the greatest now will be least important then.”

Luke 13:22-30

Dear God, Jesus represents this as being a much more stringent process than I would. You’re talking about locked doors and people pleading for it to be opened. In this case, he’s also talking in verse 27 about those who thought they were yours and yet still do evil.

I was telling someone earlier today that whenever there are people with whom I disagree it almost never happens that one side knows they are wrong or acting out of any negative or evil ambitions. Both sides think they are on the side of right. Now, there are exceptions to this rule, but I’m sure that even in the Ukraine/Russia situation, Russia feels totally justified in its actions which those of us on the other side see as reprehensible.

There is currently conflict in our community, and I am in it to some extent. In fact, today I am taking a pretty public stand through something I wrote that will probably be in the local newspaper. It did my best to make my opinion clear, delineate it from the opinions of others, but not assign motives to the other side’s actions. While I am not a fan of what they are doing or what they even believe, there is not a part of me that doubts why they are doing what they are doing. They think they are protecting others. They think they are defenders of the weak. I disagree with their conclusions as to what is right and wrong and how they are going about making their opinions known and trying to influence local policy, but I do not doubt their desire to do what they see as good.

So that brings me back to Jesus’s words here about not knowing people who thought they were known. I almost feel like one of the disciples sitting around the table at the Last Supper after Jesus said someone there would betray him. “Is it me, Lord?” “Surely it isn’t me.”

Father, help me to examine my heart. Help those with whom I disagree to examine their hearts. Help us to see where we are wrong. Where we are not loving you with all our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to see how we have assigned bad motives to actions with which we disagree and simply respond to the actions themselves. Help us to treat each other with as much love as possible. Fill me with your peace. Make me an instrument of your peace. Do it all for your glory. Help me to decrease so you can increase.

I pray this through the right Jesus’s life, death and resurrection gives me to come to you,

Amen

“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
Luke 12:49-52

Dear God, my first thought when I read this passage this morning was, “Mission accomplished!” It feels like it’s all burning right now. It feels like the division has happened.

I’ve always seen this as you/Jesus being the one to instigate the division. You were the provocateur. But I wonder if it isn’t the world that gets so frustrated with your disciples that they are the provocateurs and the disciples are simply living their lives in peace. It can be very frustrating for a person who is not at peace to encounter someone who is at peace. It’s as if they are asking, “Why are you not as bothered as I am?” “Why are you not as scared as I am?” “Why are you not as insecure as I am?” As a disciple, the trick is to keep my branch truly connected to you and be close enough to your Holy Spirit so that the moment I start to slip into a worldly perspective I can recognize it and cling to you even harder.

Holy Spirit, please be with me. Guide me. Comfort me. Counsel me. Teach me. Convict me. Live through me so that others will be drawn to you. Do it all for your glory so that I am giving my utmost to you for your highest.

I pray this through Jesus, my Lord,

Amen

Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Luke 12:13-21

Dear God, I had someone ask me an interesting question today: “How do you know if you are a Christian?” She had been discussing it in a Bible study with two other women. I returned her question with a question. I asked her, “What do you mean by your question? Do you mean, ‘How do I know I have my fire insurance [will get into Heaven]’, or do you mean, ‘How do I know if I am a Christian right now in my life?'” Then we talked a while about those two answers.

I’m thinking about that now because of the last line in verse 21: “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” My answer to the second question was that being a Christian happens in a few steps. Step 1 is to repent before you and ask Jesus life, death, and resurrection to cover my sins. There are other steps beyond that involving discipleship, prayer, Christian community, etc. Those are important to maintaining a Christian life that is as an ambassador for you in the world. No good ambassador ignores the will of that which she or he represents. And you have to know the will of the one you represent through relationship, study, and communication. So that’s all important. But none of it can happen unless I first submit to your Lordship, ask for your forgiveness through Jesus, and then turn from my selfish life and into you.

Father, I don’t know what kinds of stores I will have in this life. Right now, I have some equity in my home, retirement accounts and savings. I have life insurance to benefit my wife should I die. I have practically no debt. So, yes, I have stored up some treasures. And my goal isn’t so that I can one day retire into a life of luxury. Frankly, there isn’t enough there for that. But it is there for the day when I am too old to be of value doing work that will bring enough financial return to support my wife and me. I hope there’s enough for that. But I am comfortable that I’m at least in relationship with you. Sure, I don’t worship as much as I should. I realize that I miss the opportunities to be your ambassador all over the place. However, I’m here, giving you my utmost for your highest. And doing it as humbly as I can. Thank you for the grace I need so that you can be here to meet with me.

I pray this through the forgiveness afforded to me through Jesus,

Amen