Judges 9:22-10:18, Luke 24:13-53, Psalms 100:1-5, Proverbs 14:11-12
Today is the 29th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you as we turn a corner and make a final push in this month of April, this fourth month of the year and out push into a brand-new work week which is coming off of a busy wedding weekend for us but thankfully this rhythm goes on no matter what’s going on. We continue to follow the rhythm day by day through the Bible in a year. So, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week and we’ve spent the last several days reading the story of the judge, Gideon, and then after Gideon died, how one of his sons killed all of his brothers to try to take over leadership and has subsequently taken over leadership. And we’ll see how that story goes. Judges chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse eight.
Commentary:
Okay. So, as we finish…what…tomorrow’s the last day of this month, so, the second to the last day of this month of April we also concluded the book of Luke today. And, so, that concludes the synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And as we talked about before they’re called the synoptic Gospels because they share so much of the same material, so much of the same story. So, in today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, we walked the road to Emmaus. And the exact location of biblical Emmaus, that’s been a matter of scholarly conjecture for a long time. There are several places that date back into antiquity. So, like long-standing traditions. And there’s one that we visit back from the Byzantine era, old chapel there, opportunity to can walk around. And when we come to this story I think of that, those ruins of this this old church and we usually go there and just…it’s in the morning and just think about how these men were walking along the road to Emmaus. So, there going from Jerusalem to Emmaus and they’re just lamenting, right? It just…it’s the day…it's…it’s resurrection day. So, like for us, this is Easter that this is happening. And they’ve heard the rumors that the tombs empty and there’s kind of all of this confusion starting to swirl but they were still needing to go from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And, so, they walked those 7 miles on this, as it were Easter Sunday, like resurrection day and they’re dejected and downcast and confused when Jesus comes along and opens the Scriptures to them. And how once they’ve come to be with Jesus, after he kind of plays with them, right? He’s gonna go on he’s gonna keep going. And they’re like, “come stay with us” and He’s like, “I couldn’t do that”. They’re like, “come stay with us.” And, so, He does and then He breaks bread and disappears. And the response was weren’t our hearts on fire when He spoke to us along the road and when explained the Scriptures for us. And we just kind of explore how we can be walking along in our lives, walking with Jesus and unware that He is present and unpacking our lives for us and we can so often miss it. And then, of course, the gospel of Luke ends with the ascension of Jesus. So, they’re back near Jerusalem and he takes them to Bethany, which is ironically where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived where Jesus often went to stay, where Lazarus was raised from the dead. Jesus takes them back near Bethany and then He ascends to the Father, which is the way the book of Luke ends, the way the synoptic Gospels end and tomorrow we will begin the gospel of John, which is very different than the synoptic Gospels and we’ll talk about that when we get there.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for bringing us this far into Your word where we have now completed three of the Gospels. It is so easy for us to look back to New Year’s Day and realize how far we’ve come and how quickly we’ve gotten here, and we thank You for Your faithfulness every single day. And as we begin to turn the corner and move deeply into the changing of the seasons and move into new territory in the Bible we thank You that this rhythm continues, and he continues to pull us deeper and deeper and forward in our relationship with You and in our awareness of Your kingdom all around us. So, we thank You for bringing us to this moment. Come, Holy Spirit, seal the gospel of Luke in our hearts we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
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