Reading the Gospels for Lent

 

Read ~ Luke 5-7

 

An overview of these three chapters: Jesus is walking along with a crowd of people wanting to hear him preach and teach, he gets into a boat ~ which becomes a make-shift pulpit ~ and out of this moment he calls Simon Peter.  After healing two people and calling Levi, Jesus talks about the new ways of life ~ that you don’t put new wine into an old wine skin.  Chapter 6 continues these themes of healing, calling, sending, preaching, and teaching.  In Luke, Jesus is on the move ~ which many can relate to amid the hustle and bustle of life today.  In verse 20, we get the Sermon on the Plain ~ which is an echo of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  You may want to compare the two sermons.  Luke sometimes subtracts a word ~ as in the very first Beatitude in Luke, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor” (6:20), whereas Matthew says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3).  These subtle shifts help us notice the perspective from which the Gospel writer comes from, as well as a glimpse into the audience to whom the Gospel writer is penning the words.  Perhaps for Luke, his community to which he was writing didn’t have a large balance in the bank or a 401K plan; and for Matthew maybe he is ministering to people who are feeling spiritually depleted and drained.  Is there room in our faith for people who find themselves in both camps?  Maybe there are people who feel both financially and spiritually worn out and hanging by a thread. Chapter 7 takes the form of healing ~ exploring and expanding that word in many different directions.  Literal healing of a centurion’s (that is a Roman guard ~ the enemy) slave!  Then, from interacting with a person of power, Jesus goes to the other economic extreme of a widow’s son ~ just as Elijah ministered to the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17). Finally, I love how chapter 7 ends with John the Baptist’s disciples questioning Jesus.  Notice Jesus’ response in verse 22.  I wonder if John’s disciples got it.  Because immediately, we meet an unnamed woman who washes Jesus’ feet and dries with her hair ~ she senses God’s presence in Jesus.  Hold this tension between these two stories.

 

Three questions to ponder prayerfully: Is there a new patch you are trying to sew onto the garment of your life right now?  Perhaps it is reading the gospels or volunteering or trying to be more mindful/prayerful/present.  What is that new patch of clothe in your life right now?  What stood out for you most in Jesus’ sermon of chapter 6?  At the end of chapter 7, John’s disciples come with the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait/expect someone else?”  I love this question because it is our question.  Does Jesus conform to the categories of our expectations?  Do we have a mold Jesus needs to fit into?  On Ash Wednesday we heard Jesus ask the question to the disciples, “Who do you say I am?”  Hold that question, who is this Jesus you’ve encountered over the last month of reading the gospels?  What words would you use to describe Christ?

 

A few comments on the chapters: I love in Luke 6, how the Pharisees are just waiting ~ I guess hiding behind a stock of grain/wheat ~ for the disciples to make a mistake.  How they jump out and say, “Gotcha!”  How do we do this to others in our life, on the look out for a person to step out of line?  I encourage you to read prayerfully chapter 6, Jesus’ sermon on a level/plain place.  I think these words are at the heart of who Luke knows Jesus to be.  Finally, the intimate scene of washing Jesus’ feet, reminds us that we pour out our lives (our energy, finances, care, and love) on others.  Who is a person you are ministering to today?  And who is ministering to you?  May our journey deeper into the gospel of Luke reveal God’s love in the most peculiar and less-than-perfect moments of life.  Amen.