Bible Reading Plan

Every encounter with Jesus brings transformation. At the very least, we see ourselves in a new light, in all our humanness. And we can either weep or laugh. When we weep, we might pull into ourselves and run away from the source of pain and shame. But if we can laugh, then we might be able to stay and find healing and a new way of being alive in the world. Through these encounters these face-to-face moments that individuals and groups had with Jesus her in the gospel of Luke, we can find a way to new life and new hope if we’re willing to be honest with ourselves and with him. We too here at the end of our liturgical year want to be face to face with Jesus.

What would it be like to encounter Jesus face to face? That’s the question this series sets out to help us answer. We can’t know, of course, but we can get a glimpse of what happened to those who did meet Jesus in the Gospel texts we examine here. It requires a holy imagination to put ourselves in the place of these characters. And we submit, it requires a sense of humor to see the beauty of these encounters and to hear how Jesus can take a simple question and turn it upside down or open it up to reveal something more significant than we realized.