Faith is one of the great spiritual themes in Luke’s Gospel, and in this passage the disciples faith is being called upon in three different ways. First, they are asked to expose themselves to the vulnerability of the indigent and propertyless. “Take nothing for your journey,” they’re told. I’ve known several people who have undertaken … Continue reading Luke 9:1-27 Faith & Discipleship
Now we arrive at three tales of resurrection, although only one of them is a literal resurrection. The Christian life may be said to involve two major movements, the via crucis or Way of the Cross and the via lucis or Way of Light. The via crucis is that depth of despair that is experienced … Continue reading Luke 8:26-56 – The Way of Light
The Parable of the Sower is the first parable in Luke’s Gospel, and includes a handy teaching on the very nature of parables and what we can expect from them in v. 10. Richard Rohr compares parables to Zen koans. They’re meant to split apart our normal ways of thinking about things and help us … Continue reading Luke 8:1-25 Being the Good Soil
Jesus doesn’t condemn people for their sins because everyone has flaws. Only God is perfect, and while we strive to imitate God (and sometimes even succeed) we remain flawed, temporal beings. The secret to peace and joy is not getting too upset about it, not punishing ourselves or others for not being perfect, while, obviously, … Continue reading Luke 7:36-50 Forgiveness and Gratitude
The centurion is a man of faith. He is able to trust, and trust blindly. He hasn’t even met Jesus, but he trusts that this new figure, this new healer and preacher, can help his beloved servant. And he trusts in his own actions, that they will get results, even though he describes himself as … Continue reading Luke 7:1-35 Faith and Repentance
KPB Stevens 