This Sunday will be our fourth reading service in the Gospel of Luke, which will cover the remainder of Jesus’ ministry as his face is set toward Jerusalem (Luke 15:1-19:44). As we’ll see, this section is almost entirely “red letters” which means this Sunday, our preacher will be Jesus himself.

Through many parables and object lessons, Jesus’ teaching will bounce back and forth between training his slow-to-learn disciples in what it means to follow him, and rebuking his hard-hearted-and-stiff-necked opponents for their blindness to the grace of God that had arrived and was standing in their very midst. And along the way his “mighty works and wonders and signs (Acts 2:22)” will continue to attest to his identity as “both the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36)” whom his enemies would soon crucify.

In preparation for Sunday, you might make some time to sit and read through this next section yourself. At one point in Luke 17 as Jesus is teaching them, the apostles interject, “Lord, increase our faith.” What a great and simple prayer to pray for one another as we return to the gospel of Luke this week.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!

 

Song Link of the Week

Only the Sick Need a Physician by Caroline Cobb

Who is this man who sits with the sinners,
Who dines with the drunkards,
And loves the unclean?
Who is this man who won’t cast a stone,
But honors the harlot
Who washes his feet?

Come, scarlet letters
You outcasts and debtors
I will call you my friends
I’ll sit at your table
You broken and fatal
‘Cause only the sick need a physician