In the Epiphany to the Magi, Jesus was accepted by foreigners and rejected by his own people. The same resistance occurs when Jesus returns to Nazareth. Likely, an over-familiarity with Jesus breeds a kind of contempt for him when the ministry begins. Jealousy, pride, and indignation rob the hometown people’s hearts from being able to listen. They refuse to rejoice at the Messiah coming from among them. Sense the freedom that Jesus has to “call it as it is.” You might reread the Old Testament stories alluded to by Jesus in 1 Kings 17:9 and 2 Kings 5.

Reflect upon yourself. Do you live according to others’ images of you, or of God’s? Conversely, is there someone in your life who finds it difficult to fulfill God’s plan because you lack faith in God’s vision for him or her?

Luke 4:21–30

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Examples: Jesus at home in my heart v. 23

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, we generally read from the Gospel of Luke.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

A phone call came from our daughter one day in 1993, with fears that she had just miscarried twins. My wife and I prayed, turning to a Bible calendar for that particular day which had the verses from today’s reading. We claimed these promises. The crisis passed. Beautiful twin girls were born a few months later. We rejoiced in the fidelity of the Lord.

The reading continues in verse 27 stating that terror from the Lord will go before the people, driving back the enemies coming against God’s beloved. So it is with us. Those who resist the love of God coming inside them will find the power of God against them.

St. John affirms: “Perfect loves casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Those who cast out the Lord are the ones who need to be afraid!

Exodus 23:20—24:18

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: “I will take sickness away.” v. 25

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information

The scholarly word for a story in the Gospels is pericope. The word literally means a “cutting around.” Just as we take a newspaper article and clip it out, so do the evangelists stand before the immense possibilities of stories about Jesus and make their selections under the inspiration of the Spirit.

Today there are five of these pericopes—three miracle stories and two debates. I suggest that you take one for each of the quarter parts of the day and evening. Take a spiritual “coffee break” and launch out into the depths of the Spirit. Catch the openness of Peter, the joy of the leper, the inventiveness of the paralyzed man who went down the roof for Jesus. Are you as desperate as he is for your healing?

Ask the Holy Spirit to make your spiritual skin new so that you can receive the power of Jesus without breaking apart at the seams!

Luke 5

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Dropping my nets in the deep v. 4

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In Advent through Epiphany this year we read Luke chapters 1 to 8.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.