Luke 5:1-11 Good morning, RTB’ers! In today’s first verse Luke refers to the Lake of Gennesaret. This lake is also known as the Sea of Galilee in Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels and as the Sea of Tiberius in John’s gospel. It is a prominent feature on the map that I posted yesterday and is referred …
Monthly Archives: January 2024
January 11 / Luke 4:31-44
Luke 4:31-44 Good morning, RTB’ers! Today we see Jesus leaving Nazareth and going “down” (in elevation) to Capernaum, some 40 miles to the northeast. I’ve imbedded a map below showing much of the Galilee region. (BTW, Galilee is a Jewish region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Samaria on the south and …
January 10 / Luke 4:14-30
Luke 4:14-30 Good morning, RTB’ers! Sorry for that delay. A hard, windy night slows things down in the morning here in the country. Verse 23b is confusing. Jesus is suggesting that the synagogue crowd was thinking, “…What we have heard You did at Capernaum, do here in Your hometown as well.” We have no record …
January 9 / Luke 3:23-4:13
Luke 3:23-4:13 Good morning, RTB’ers! Jesus’ genealogy and temptation in the wilderness. Luke’s genealogy is very different from Matthew’s. In fact, only a couple of ancestors are the same. To me the major difference is that Luke had Jesus descended through David’s son, Nathan, while Matthew has him descended through David’s son, Solomon. I’m sure …
January 8 / Luke 3:1-22
Luke 3:1-22 Good morning, RTB’ers! Today is John the Baptizer’s ministry and Jesus’ baptism, except that Jesus’ baptism takes up only two verses (21-22). Surprisingly, as happens infrequently with RTB readings, just yesterday Ben preached on Jesus’ baptism. So listen to his sermon if you want to hear more about Jesus’ baptism. Almost the whole …
January 7 / Luke 2:40-52
Good morning, RTB’ers! Today’s reading is another story with which most of us are familiar. It’s a story that children love – I guess, because Jesus is a young boy himself and children can relate to Him at this age. For adults, however, this story raises questions about Jesus’ divinity. How much did He know …
January 6 / Luke 2:21-39
Luke 2:21-39 Good morning, RTB’ers! Today’s reading is known as “The Presentation in the Temple”. Mary and Joseph were following an Old Testament custom for Jewish parents, passed on through the ages from the time when it was handed down by God to Moses, some 1,500 years before Jesus’ birth. The first STS note below …
January 5 / Luke 2:1-20
Luke 2:1-20 Good morning, RTB’ers! I mentioned a few days ago that we were reading a Scripture passage with which we were quite familiar. I daresay that for many (or most) of us, there is no passage in all of Scripture with which we are more familiar than today’s reading. Jesus’ birth is recounted for …
January 4 / Luke 1:57-80
Luke 1:57-80 Good morning, RTB’ers! Today we have a helpful explanatory note in STS prior to our readings. The note guides us a bit into the structure of Zechariah’s prayer/prophecy. What was intriguing to me in his prayer is that Zachariah’s words have little to do with his own son’s birth and more to do …
January 3 / Luke 1:39-56
Luke 1:39-56 Good morning, RTB’ers! I found myself answering elements of the STS’s first question this morning even before I read the question. As I read through Mary’s “Magnificat” I saw that she was referring to God’s relationship to herself in Luke 1:48-49 and then, pretty much to God’s relationship to the history of Israel …