JESUS: Parables from Luke's Gospel
Welcome to the season of Lent! On the Church calendar, Lent is a season of preparation that leads us to the great celebration of Easter. During Lent, we are invited to examine our lives honestly, to repent of sin, to fast and pray, and to remember the sacrifice and suffering that Jesus willingly made for us and for our salvation. In short, Lent is a time in which we hear clearly the invitation to draw near to our God, trusting that He will draw near to us!
For the majority of the Lenten season, we will continue our study of Luke’s Gospel account. We have been examining different events and episodes from the Gospel that paint for us a portrait of Jesus. Now, we will let Jesus’ words do the “painting” for us. One of the most common teaching tools that Jesus used was to tell parables. Parables are simply stories that could have happened in everyday life in first-century Israel, which also reveal some deeper spiritual or theological truth. Over the month of March, we’ll look at four of these parables—one about a good Samaritan, one about a rich fool, one about a couple of prodigal sons, and one about a religious Pharisee and a repentant Tax Collector. As we allow Jesus to paint these portraits for us through his parables, we will hear some pivotal lessons concerning how we are to relate properly to our God and to one another.