Encountering Jesus in The Gospel of Luke
*This course is now available to take online at your own pace.
We are all familiar with some of the Bible’s most famous stories, such as the angel Gabriel’s visitation to Mary, Jesus born and laid in a manger, the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Road to Emmaus, and others. It would be difficult to imagine the life and liturgy of the Church without these treasured teachings. It may be surprising to learn that all of the stories just listed are only found and given to us in the masterpiece that is The Gospel of Luke. It is the Gospel of Luke that gives the Church many of her Scriptural treasures, and it is the Gospel of Luke that will be our focus of study for this ten week class.
Luke pierces to the heart of the biblical drama and shows how the God of Scripture and the salvation he offers in Jesus are not confined to the past or to a group of elites. For according to Luke, Jesus is the Son of Man who came to seek and to save all who are lost—past, present, and future, Jews and Gentiles, those in the center and those on the margins of society. This course will seek to read Luke faithfully and to receive that for which the book was intended: to “know the truth” about Jesus Christ and his Gospel (1:4), and to see him with open eyes and burning hearts (24:31-32).
This content of this course coincides with the beginning of the Liturgical Season of Advent. So I recommend it especially for those who may be seeking a spiritual renewal this Advent, since we will be preoccupied during the first three weeks with passages such as the Annunciation (1:26-38), the Visitation (1:39-56), the Nativity of Jesus (2:1-9, 16-20), and the Shepherds in the fields (2:8-20).
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