Living The Story of Jesus

In this episode I continue to trace parts of my own story and share with you a way to help you discover your own trajectory. Thanks for listening! 

In this episode I pause to share my story in the form of tracing my vocational narrative from childhood through college and how the story of Jesus was being revealed to me in my early discipleship journey.

Jesus invites 3 of his disciples into a mountaintop experience where he will listen and teach them to do the same. Meanwhile, we listen in on the failures of disciples to reach their true potential and to grasp what it means to follow Jesus. 

Jesus takes his disciples to an unlikely place and asks them two very important questions. Who do the crowds say I am? Who do you say I am? Both are important. But the second question changed their lives forever. It just might do the same for us today. 

Jesus sends out his disciples by stripping away what they think they need in order to give them what they truly need. But not just for themselves. For the sake of the world.

A twelve year old girl on the verge of death. A woman who has been sick for twelve years. Jesus brings life to both. And restores their role in His story as beloved daughters.

Jesus says our hearts are like a field.  God provides the seed and produces the growth. In the midst of rocks and thorns, what is our role? Cultivate. 

Have you ever noticed what seems to impress Jesus most? Faith. Faith that transcends logic or circumstances. Luke 7 offers us an incredible glimpse of faith from 4 very different perspectives. A Roman centurion. A widow. John the Baptist from his jail cell. And a woman who is simply described as having lived a "sinful life." What do they all have in common? Amazing faith.

The kingdom ethic that Jesus offers in Luke 6 turns the religious order upside down. What kind of ethic would ask us to love our enemies? To lend to those who can't repay us? To see what we think on the surface is a blessing as actually being a potential "woe." This ethic was shocking then. It is equally shocking today. What would happen if followers of Jesus actually embraced it? Maybe this upside down ethic would help turn the world right-side up. 

A paralyzed man is lowered through a roof and a net is lowered into a lake and both are symbols of what Jesus has come to do in turning the world right-side up.

In this vital part of the narrative Jesus  travels to his hometown of Nazareth where he pulls back the veil on his Messiahship by declaring Jubilee in the synagogue. It’s good news for ALL!  Or was it?

The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness where he overcomes temptation. A deeper contextual look just might surprise us when we see what and how Jesus is resisting. 

John has a message in the wilderness to prepare the way for Jesus.  The Spirit hovers. God speaks. New creation bursts forth.

Listen to the songs of Mary and Zechariah and witness the story of God arriving in flesh.

In this episode we begin our dive into the Gospel of Luke as God speaks hope to Israel.

To best understand the story of Jesus we begin with an understanding of his Hebrew roots, Jewish context, rabbinic school system,  the rabbi/disciple model, and the teaching methods of rabbis.

Welcome to the first episode of The Story of Jesus podcast!