OCTOBER 18-19 LUKE 7-9

October 18-19, 2014

Luke 7-9

 

Although Luke retells a number of the accounts of Mark and Matthew (He may have had them as some of his sources!), Luke uncovered a number of things we don’t read about in the first two gospels. Here’s a sampling from today’s readings:

 

• Only Luke tells us of the Widow of Nain, and how Jesus raised her son from the dead! (7:11-17)
• Only Luke tells us of how Jesus was anointed by a sinful woman (7:36-50; This is not to be confused with a later, grateful anointing at the hands of Mary, the sister of Martha.)
• Only Luke gives special mention of the women who followed Jesus (8:1-3).
• Only Luke tells us of the Samaritan opposition to Jesus, and the disciples’ offer to call down fire from heaven on those Samaritans (9:51-56)
• And only Luke records Jesus famous but troubling words in Luke 9:62, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

I thank the Lord for Luke’s careful research, without which, we’d had lost these, and many other glorious details. Here are some of the parables only Luke records: The Rich Fool (12:13-21), the Lost Coin (15:8-10), the Prodigal Son (15:11-31), the Shrewd Manager (16:1-15), and one of my favorites: The Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31). All these we’ll read next week!

 

Your fellow pilgrim through the New Testament,

 

Pastor Gary