Ecclesia: Church at the Chip Podcast (New)

For two years, we have studied the story of Jesus as it appears in Luke’s gospel. What will follow in the next two chapters is the greatest act of love and sacrifice the word has ever known. To prepare our hearts for this, let us take a look at the Psalm with which we began our worship today.

The Jewish temple was a magnificent building, decades in the making. It was the center-piece of Jewish identity, the assurance of God’s presence in their midst. You can imagine the disciples’ horror when Jesus predicted its utter destruction. Incredulous, they asked, “When will these things be?” Jesus gave them an answer which people have been talking about ever since.

The Jewish temple was a magnificent building, decades in the making. It was the center-piece of Jewish identity, the assurance of God’s presence in their midst. You can imagine the disciples’ horror when Jesus predicted its utter destruction. Incredulous, they asked, “When will these things be?” Jesus gave them an answer which people have been talking about ever since.

When Jesus saw a poor widow put two coins into the offering box, he praised her sacrificial gift. Likewise, when the apostle Paul learned of the sacrificial giving of the Macedonian church, he said, “their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.” What is it that motivates such selfless behavior? In a word, “Grace.”

In a chapter filled with confrontational questions by the religious elite, Jesus asked a final question of his own. This, along with a scathing observation, demonstrated both the scriptural ignorance and the spiritual hypocrisy of his opponents. What does this have to do with us?Let’s find out....