On the first Sunday of Lent we take a step backward in the flow of Luke’s narrative to look at a very lenten issue: temptation. The Gospel text is Luke 4:1-13, the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Luke 4:1-13 Jesus’ three big temptations get all the attention, but a tiny little moment in the […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year C, Transfiguration, Luke 9:28-36
This Sunday Western Christianity celebrates the “Transfiguration.” The Revised Common Lectionary gives us the story from Luke 9:28-36, because it is “Year C” when Luke’s Gospel is the focus. Just Luke 9:28-36 for Me Please The lectionary includes an optional extension of the reading, Luke 9:37-43a. I’m not going to discuss it. In Luke’s chronology […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year C, 7th Sunday after Epiphany, Luke 6:27-38
The Gospel for the 7th Sunday after Epiphany (Luke 6:27-38) continues Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” It is the parallel to the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew but the two are different in content as well as in location. The one thing they have pretty much in common is that while a crowd, a multitude […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year C, 6th Sunday after Epiphany, Luke 6:17-26
The Gospel text for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany (Luke 6:17-26) is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The heart of it is the “Beatitudes,” the seemingly winsome but then difficult and paradoxical declarations by Jesus of what makes a person “blessed” or, in some translations, “happy.” Matthew’s version is much more prominent in […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year C, 5th Sunday after Epiphany, Luke 5:1-11
On the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, the lectionary skips forward to a new chapter. Maybe they were aiming to keep Jesus from a tiny bit of embarrassment: Luke 4:31-44 recorded the wonders Jesus did in Capernaum, which back in 4:23 he seemed to say were already in the past. Luke 5:1-11 records the calling of […]