Reading Plan for July 12 - 18

July 12, 2026 | Luke 3:15-38
Reflection:
Notice what Luke tells us about John: he provokes the powers that be until he himself is imprisoned. Before all that happens, John points beyond himself, saying, “Look folks, I’m not the Anointed One. What I am saying and doing is getting you ready for him. He is coming.” John gives them a prelude to two parts of Jesus’ ministry: the movement of the Holy Spirit and the immediacy of the approaching kingdom, which will come upon the world like the shifting of tectonic plates. It won’t exactly be easy for everyone. The foundations of all they knew will be shaken. Then comes the baptismal scene. With it, we have the movement of the Spirit again, and we see how things will begin to be shaken: God announces that powerful things will happen in and through the one God calls ‘beloved.’ Luke provides us with the context not only for the beginning of Jesus’ ministry but also for Jesus' lineage. What does it mean that Luke places this lineage after the baptism, where Matthew places it before the birth of Jesus? What does it mean that Luke takes us all the way back to Adam, where Matthew stops with Abraham? Notice the ways that Luke’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry shows us how the kingdom reaches beyond Jesus’ own people to all the people of the earth. In Luke, Jesus is God’s Anointed One for all humanity. Yes, he’s descended from David and Abraham (which shows his Jewish context), but he is also descended from the primal human: Adam. Jesus is connected to all of humanity. Notice, as we read Luke’s gospel, how Jesus’ “reach” goes out beyond Israel to “all the world.”

July 13, 2026 | Luke 4:1-13
Reflection:
We have encountered this scene in both Mark and Matthew: Jesus is questioned and tempted by the devil. Mark’s account is brief. We get no details. Matthew’s account looks very similar to Luke’s rendition. That said, read this “temptation” scene with fresh eyes. What stands out? Notice the three kinds of temptations. Do these three encompass all the kinds of temptations for power that any one of us might encounter? Are these temptations germane only to the Messiah? Notice how Jesus goes to the core of scripture. Jesus models for us how to embody the central voice of the good news of God that can help us address the “temptations” we face. The word “devil” is derived from the Greek word diabolos, which means “one who speaks contrarily.” It is a translation of the Hebrew word satan, which basically means the same thing. Notice how in this temptation scene, the one who speaks contrarily has a primary job of "gaslighting" Jesus. We have multiple examples of modern-day “gaslighters” who seem to function primarily to obfuscate our understanding of reality, only so that they may retain power. What are our resources for discovering truth in the midst of the overabundance of those “who speak contrarily"? Think about how Jesus turns to the core of scripture to discern God’s voice in such circumstances.

July 14, 2026 | Luke 4:14-30
Reflection:
It is good to be reminded that the beginning of Jesus’ ministry is marked by these movements: 1) John the Baptizer preparing the way; 2) Jesus was baptized; 3) Jesus is driven out into the desert for 40 days by the Spirit, where he faces temptations; 4) filled with Spirit, Jesus begins teaching and preaching; 5) immediately Jesus faces opposition to the work and teaching he does. Luke gives us a key interpretation of Jesus' ministry: Isaiah’s words of prophecy that outline the identity of the Anointed One’s role. These words of Isaiah are also an expanding on the name of Jesus, which means “God is liberator, savior, deliverer, and healer.” As Jesus reads Isaiah’s words, we hear how the Messiah is: 1) anointed, 2) a preacher of good news, 3) sides with the poor, 4) releases captives, heals the blind, 5) sets the oppressed free. Jesus speaks with such authority that folks are astounded at how he seems to embody the very words he proclaims. When do they turn on him? When he challenges their national, religious, and social identity. By saying that God is bigger than their sectarian commitments, they turn quickly on the one they esteemed shortly before. What might Jesus ask you to question about yourself, in order to see God’s bigger and more inclusive kingdom, that might upset you?

July 15, 2026 | Luke 4:31-44
Reflection:
Notice how the preaching of the kingdom is always accompanied by healing and resistance. What about Jesus’ ministry causes the most resistance? Those who resist Jesus’ healing seem to be those who hold to strict observance of a narrow interpretation of Sabbath regulations. Also, those identified as the cause of illness and disease also resist Jesus, that is, the demons. Notice too that folks resist Jesus’ travelling on to other locales and other people to heal and proclaim good news. After Jesus’ resurrection, he tells the disciples not to cling to him. They have to let him go. Something similar is going on early in Jesus’ ministry. Everyone is trying to hold onto him or to keep him in a box. There are all kinds of resistance in these stories. What do you think you might resist about Jesus in your own life? How would you feel if Jesus said, “You have to let me go; I have other work to do”? Think of a story that comes at the very end of Luke’s gospel, where on the very day of Jesus’ resurrection, he is found walking with a couple of disciples, who do not recognize him. At certain points, these disciples try to compel Jesus to stay with them. He does for a time, but ultimately he must move on. How are we holding too tightly to our understanding of Jesus, not letting him go freely to other people and nations, so that the good news might include more and more and more of those whom God has made?

July 16, 2026 | Luke 5:1-11
Reflection:
Two details jump out at me as I read this familiar passage: 1) the crowd presses in on Jesus to “hear the word of God,” and 2) Peter refers to himself as “a sinner.” We often hear that the crowds gather around Jesus to get something from him, usually healing…or food. Notice, however, how the crowds seem to be hungry for the “word of God.” We know quite a bit about what Jesus preached, mostly parables about the kingdom or ethical lessons such as the Sermon on the Mount. In a world without media of any kind…no books even…imagine what kind of stimulation the preaching of Jesus provided. He spoke vividly, with authority and wisdom. He got people thinking, feeling, and imagining a bigger world. What do we fill our days with now that we might miss the “word of God” in our midst? For what do you hunger that you are willing to take time and listen to God in our midst? In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus calls the first disciples, Peter is silent; we don’t hear how he responds. In Matthew’s account, it is the same. Peter, Andrew, James, and John say nothing when they drop everything and follow after Jesus. Why then does Luke include Peter’s exclamation, “Go away from me; I am a sinner!” What could possibly have been Peter’s sins at this point? No other gospel account records Peter’s previous life that we might consider him a sinner (not like the apostle Paul). I have always imagined Peter as a decent guy, who at times in his following Jesus shows more of his humanity than any profound sinfulness. Like all of us, he at times lacks faith. Perhaps his hesitation comes from the perceived holiness and other-worldliness of Jesus. Perhaps it’s about awe because his eyes have been opened to a bigger world than he knew. What would cause you to say to Jesus, “Don’t come near to me. I am not worthy?” How would Jesus respond?

July 17, 2026 | Luke 5:12-26
Reflection:
Jesus does a lot of healing in his ministry. In the stories we have Jesus never seems to heal in the same way twice. In our first story, the man with a skin disease comes to Jesus. He shows humility. The man appears to show some form of faith that Jesus can heal him. Here Jesus heals and tells the man, “Tell no one; rather, go to the priest. Show him. Make an offering.” And somehow, people hear that it was Jesus who healed him. Pay attention to the details of the story. They do not make a formula for healing. We do not take from this account the following: 1) Ask Jesus directly for your healing, 2) show humility, 3) trust that Jesus has the power to heal you, 4) make an offering to God in response to your healing. Now your own healing story may unfold just like this, and the next healing story will be different. Put them all together and see that there isn’t one way that Jesus healed. Read the next story. Jesus responds not to the paralyzed person’s faith, but to the faith of those who carried the man. While reading all four gospels, take note of all the circumstances that surround healings that occur in and around Jesus.

July 18, 2026 | Luke 5:27-39
Reflection:
In today’s reading, we encountered repeated themes: Jesus eats and socializes with “sinners” - those deemed unworthy of a holy person’s attention - and Jesus calls us to see how old traditions and old ways of thinking can keep us from experiencing the new thing God is doing. Read these passages and pray to see with “new eyes” the life scripture is calling us to. Whom does the church most marginalize today? In what ways might we find Jesus there among those folks? What metaphors could you come up with to go along with Jesus’ two - now, cloth not fitting with old and new wine in old wineskins? That new software is not compatible with the old hardware. Can you come up with your own?