Luke

Luke 7: The Healing of the Centurion Servant v1-10: Healing Of The Centurion Servant (Matt 8:5-10) Jesus went to Capernaum. A centurion servant, who was dear to the centurion was sick and about to die. The centurion sent elders of the Jews to Jesus, pleading to Him to come and heal his servant. The Jews told Jesus that this centurion loves Israel and had built a synagogue for them, and so he deserve the visit. (v1-5) A centurion is an officer of the Roman army who commanded a "centuria", that is 100 legionaries. He reports to a senior centurion who looks after a cohort. Each cohort has six centurias.  Note that in the parallel story in Matthew 8:5-6, it said:  "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”   In Mathew account, it says the centurion came and ask Jesus personally, while Luke said that he asked the Jewish elders to meet Jesus. Please see appe...

 Luke 6: Lord Of The Sabbath v1-11  Jesus the Lord of Sabbath (Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28) On the second Sabbath, Jesus went through the grainfields. His disciples plucked the heads of the grain, and ate them after rubbing off the chaff.  The pharisees said to them why did they do something that is not lawful for Sabbath.  To the pharisees was citing a traditional rule that plucking is like reaping and rubbing them is like threshing. Since these are considered "works", they are not allowed to do them on Sabbath.  Jesus answered them that David and his men, when they were hungry, went into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, which is not lawful for them to eat and was reserved for the priests only. (v1-4_  This story of David eating consecrated bread was found in 1 Samuel 21:6. In this story, David asked for five loaves of bread from Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek did not have normal bread and offered David the consecrated bread to them, provided...

 Luke 5: Jesus Called His Disciples v1-11 Jesus's First Disciples As many people were following Jesus to hear Him speak the word of God, he onboarded himself on a fishing boat at Lake Gennesaret. The boat belongs to Simon (Peter) and Jesus ask him to put the boat a little out from the shore. He sat down and thought the multitudes from the boat. The fact that many people followed Jesus, means that he had made a reputation as a good speaker and teacher around the region, and many are there to be healed. They would be pushing themselves to be closer to him and "pressed about Him". For him to preach properly, he has to get off the land so that he is further away from the crowd. In fact, Jesus - the one who designed earth - knows that water reflects sound better than the earth, and will help the people to hear what he said.  Lake of Gennesaret is also called Sea of Galilee, as well as Sea of Tiberias after the resort city of Tiberias that Herod the Great built on its western s...

Luke 4: Temptation of Jesus  v1-15 :  Jesus tempted by the Devil After His baptism, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was filled with the Holy Spirit and was led into the wilderness. He was tempted for forty days by the devil, and he fasted all that time. (v1-2) The devil knows He is hungry, and challenged him to convert the stone to bread, since He said He is the son of God. Jesus replied "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"  (Deut 8:3) Then the devil took him up a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and told him that if He worship him, he will give all the kingdoms' authority and glory. In order to Jesus to see all the kingdoms, it must be a supernatural phenomena, such as a vision.  Satan is the ruler of the world (John 12:31) and has the authority to give the kingdoms to Jesus. Satan knows Jesus wants all the nations to be saved, but He must go through suffering and crucifixion. Satan is offering a ...

  Luke 3: Jesus Baptised v1-20  Ministry of John and The Baptism of Jesus  Luke went ahead 18 years later, when Jesus was 30 years old. At this time, it was the fifteen year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, who succeeded his stepfather Augustus, who we saw in Luke 2.  Tiberius rules from AD 14 to 37. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea and Herod was the tetrarch of Galilee. The Herod mentioned here is not Herod the Great, who ordered the killing of 2 year old male infants in Bethlehem during the time when Jesus was born, for the wise men told him a king had been born. and he felt threatened. Herod the Great was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37BC to 4BC. After he died, he divided his kingdom among his three sons, Herod, Philip, and Lysanias.  Herod was the governor of Galilee. When Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests, the word of God came to John in the wilderness. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas. Note that in the Torah, there can be only ...

  Luke 2 - The Birth Of The Messiah v1-7 Birth of Jesus In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken for the whole empire. This is the first census while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Joseph was staying at Nazareth, and went back with Mary to Bethlehem for he belongs to the house of David. Mary was pledged to marry him and she was expecting a child.  (v1-5) Mary and Joseph likely traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem on foot. The journey was approximately 128 kilometers. They would have navigated through the Judean mountains, which made the trip more challenging. Some speculate that they might have used a donkey, but even with a donkey, the journey would have taken several days. While they were there, Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and placed him in a manger. because there was no guest room in the inn. (v6-7) In Matthew 1, it gives more detail about Joseph and Mary's journey. At first Joseph tho...