Gospel of Luke Archives

ST-John Ep 22 – John 10 The Good Shepherd part 2 – The Gospel of St. John – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 22 – John 10: The Good Shepherd part 2

In this next chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals two more “I am” statements: I am the gate, and I am the good shepherd. To help us better understand this beautiful imagery, Sharon teaches us about shepherding in Biblical times. Many of the great figures of the Bible were shepherds, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David. We recall the interesting story of Jacob who used his expertise in animal husbandry to breed a line of sheep that exists to this day.

Throughout scripture, we see a multitude of references to shepherds, and how a good shepherd protected his sheep, binding wounds, rescuing from danger, gathering together, seeking the lost. Psalm 23 is a wonderful example of imagery that describes the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep, a clear metaphor of our relationship with the Lord. The shepherd carried a rod to ward off predators or count sheep and staff to draw his sheep close. As our shepherds, the Bishops carry a crosier staff, which is a visual reminder of their duty to provide the proper teaching necessary to ward off sin. The shepherd carried a horn filled with oil to soothe wounds and ward off insidious diseases. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and at the Chrism Mass, the bishop breathes the Holy Spirit into the oil that will be used for anointing. Oil is also a reminder of the bishop’s duty to identify the prevalent sins of current times and treat these diseases quickly, preventing infection from spreading throughout his flock.

To help us understand Jesus as “the gate” Sharon teaches us more about the nature of shepherding. At night, the shepherd guided his flock into an enclosed pen and would sleep at the entrance, acting as the gate through which no predator or thief could enter. Jesus is the singular gate to the Kingdom, through which is the sure way to salvation. The shepherd would literally lay down his life to protect his flock, unlike the hireling who would abandon the sheep at the first sign of danger. The hirelings at the time of Christ were the corrupt Jewish leaders who conspired with the worldly powers to maintain their power and influence.

Sharon concludes with a history lesson that puts this in proper context. During the Greek occupation of Israel, a civil war broke out between Jews faithful to Mosaic law and the apostates who abandoned their faith to curry favor with the Greeks. Led by the Hasmonean’s, the faithful Jews were victorious over their unfaithful countrymen and also successfully drove out the Greeks. Building upon their success, the Hasmoneans forced conversion to Judaism upon the surrounding gentile nations. One of these nations was Edom, the descendants of Esau. A notable Edomite was Herod the Great, who married a Hasmonean princess, only to slaughter her remaining kinsmen, establishing a dynasty in servitude to the world power of Rome. The Sadducees, who followed only Torah and did not believe in the resurrection, came into existence during this period, and became a powerful influence at the time of Christ, only to fade into oblivion after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your everyday life.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

“Seeking Truth” is an in-depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to www.seekingtruth.net

ST-Luke-9 – The Genealogy of Jesus Christ – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 9 –

Luke’s Genealogy Traces Jesus Back to Universal Adam, not discrepancies but theological distinctions with Matthew. The Symbolism with St. Luke’s 77 Generations.

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ is recorded differently by Matthew and Luke. Each unique author has a particular theological meaning behind their genealogies of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God.

Matthew recognized three groups of 14 generations giving a total of 42 generations, which was also the number of Israel’s encampments as they exited Egypt for the promised land. Jesus was the new Moses, out of Egypt I have called my son.

In contrast, Luke is gentile by birth, writing to a more universal audience. He does not necessarily stress the Davidic line of Jesus nor does he begin with Abraham, the father of the Jewish faith. Rather, he traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam, who Luke describes as Jesus, the Son of God, is the New Adam. In addition, Luke lists 77 generations, which reminds us of the “seventy of sevens” or 490 years from Daniel to the arrival of Jesus, as predicted by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9. Seventy-seven also reminds us of the need to forgive: Jesus tells his apostles that they must forgive their brother “seventy times seven” times. Jesus is the New David, the New Moses, the New Adam. He is the perfection of forgiveness.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-8 – The Genealogy of Jesus Christ – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 8 –

The Messiah Must Come from King David’s Royal Lineage. The Genealogy of Jesus Christ: comparing Matthew’s version to Luke’s.

In our last episode, we learned of the head crushing women of the Bible, which raises the question: are there any head-crushing men in the Bible? This brings us to the story of David. We learn in 1 Samuel that through a miraculous conception, Hannah gives birth to Samuel, who she offers back to the Lord for service in the temple. The Israelites at that time clamor for a king and the Lord appeases them by having Samuel anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. Under the ineffective Saul, the Israelites are on the verge of being conquered by the Philistines. Samuel enters the picture once again, and at the Lord’s direction, anoints David. The spirit of the Lord comes upon the young David, who kills the Philistine giant Goliath with a single rock throw from his sling and then cuts off his head. The Philistines flee and Israel triumphs. Blessed be David, another head crusher of the enemy!

Before turning our attention to Luke’s genealogy of Jesus, we spend some time looking at Mary’s lineage. While scripture does not directly say that Mary was from the line of David, a number of clues are present that would lead us to believe she was. In response to the Roman census, Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem, which Luke calls the “City of David” indicating the birthplace of the famous king of Israel. Many of the Church fathers conclude that Mary is from David’s line, including Ignatius of Antioch and Justin Martyr.

We then move to the proclamation of John the Baptist, the new Elijah predicted in Malachi 4. John also fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” John preached a baptism of repentance, while Jesus baptizes into the Trinity. John’s purpose was to glorify Jesus, who in turn glorifies the Father. From Their perfection of love; the Holy Spirit flows as a unique person as well.

We then dig deeper into the genealogies of Luke and Matthew. How is it that they list different ancestors of Jesus? The answer is these genealogies are much theological as historical. Matthew is Jewish, speaks to a Jewish audience and stresses Jewish themes. He describes three separate groups of 14 generations leading to Jesus: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, the end of the exile to the birth of Jesus. In the Hebrew gematria, David corresponds to the number 14. In essence, by describing three groups of 14 generations, Matthew is proclaiming “David, David, David.” Jesus is the new David.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-7 – The Messiah Comes from King David’s Lineage – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 7 -The Messiah Must Come from King David’s Royal Lineage. The Genealogy of Jesus Christ: comparing Matthew’s version to Luke’s.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-6 – The presentation of Jesus in the Temple – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 6 – Mary the Ark of the Covenant and “Do Not Touch the Ark”. The presentation of Jesus in the Temple means the true presence of God is back in the temple again. Simeon and Anna rejoice.

We begin today’s podcast with St. John’s vision at Patmos in REV 11-12.

The contents of the ark are sacred and not to be touched. Everyone knew the rule; do not touch the ark. Recall how in Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, offered unauthorized fire and were struck dead. David’s man Uzzah was also struck dead when he touched the side of the Ark to steady it (2 Sam 6). We also recall when the Lord slew 70 men who looked into the Ark of the Covenant (1 Sam 6). We too become a tabernacle of meeting each time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

The episode continues with the circumcision of Jesus, and Presentation of Jesus in the temple. We remember from 2 Maccabees 2 that the true presence of God has been absent from the temple ever since Jeremiah sealed the Ark of the Covenant in a cave on the mountain of Moses. As Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus for the purification ceremony, the true presence of God has finally returned to the temple, an event long anticipated and recognized by Simeon and the prophetess Anna. The Holy Family returns to Nazareth for the “hidden” years of Jesus as he grows in strength and wisdom with the favor of God upon him. Luke 2 concludes with 12-year-old Jesus teaching in the temple: the true presence of God has returned to the temple yet again, “Why are you looking for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s House?” With the Eucharist present in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church, we have access to the true presence of God at all times.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-5 – The “Blessed” Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 5 – Mary, the Neck of the Mystical Body Gives Her Fiat. The Visitation of Blessed Mary to Elizabeth and Mary the Head Crushing Woman, and Ark of the New Covenant.

In this episode we turn our attention to the visitation of Mary to her elderly cousin Elizabeth, who is miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist. Upon seeing Mary, Elizabeth “cries out” (anaphōneō in the Greek): “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Anaphōneō, “to cry out” with shouts of joy, is only used in the Old Testament when the Ark of the Covenant is present. Furthermore, only two women other than Mary in Scripture are called “blessed.” The book of Judges tells the story of Jael, who kills the enemy Canaanite General Sisera by driving a tent peg into his head. In celebration of the defeat of Israel’s enemy, Deborah the judge declares: “Most blessed of women be Jael!” (Judges 5:24). In the book of Judith, another enemy of Israel falls at the hand of a blessed woman. Judith cuts off the head of the Assyrian General Holofernes. Upon seeing the severed head of Holofernes, King Uzziah proclaims: “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth!” (Judith 13:18). Both of these blessed women, Jael and Judith, help preserve the line of Messiah by crushing the head of the enemies of Israel. Likewise, the Blessed Virgin Mary bears the Messiah himself, Jesus, who crushes the head of Satan as predicted in Genesis 3:15.

There are striking similarities between the Old Ark of the Covenant and Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant. The Old Ark contained the stone tablets of the law (the word of God), manna (the bread of God) and Aaron’s rod (the authority of God’s High Priest). These contents prefigure Mary, the New Ark, whose womb contains Jesus, who IS the word of life, who IS the bread of life, who IS the authority of God on earth, the final High Priest of Israel.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-4 – Mary, the New Ark of the New Covenant – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 4 – Mary the New Tent of the Meeting and Mary the New Ark of a New Covenant

In this episode we look at Papal Infallibility and how it relates to Mary. Beginning with our first Pope, Peter, there has been an unbroken succession of apostolic authority. A dogma is declared infallible only when three criteria are met: the pronouncement must be made by the lawful successor of Peter; the subject matter must be in the area of faith and morals; the pope must speak ex-cathedra, that is from the office and seat of Peter. Papal infallibility has been invoked for only two dogmas of the Church: the immaculate conception of Mary (Pius IX in 1854) and the bodily assumption of Mary (Pius XII in 1950).

We return to Luke 1 and the story of the Annunciation to Mary. When the angel declares to Mary that she will conceive and bear a son, she wonders how this could be since she had no relations with a man. John Paull II explains her response by saying that Mary had the intention of forever being a virgin. The angel replies by saying that Mary will be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. The Greek for overshadow is “episkiasei.” This word is used only one other time in the New Testament in Matthew 17 when at the Transfiguration the when Jesus and the apostles were Moses and Elijah were overshadowed by a cloud from which the voice of God could be heard. “Episkiasei” implies the divine true presence of God, and in the Old Testament, this word is only used in reference to the tent of the meeting, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Tabernacle, where the true presence of God was kept. The Ark of the Covenant was powerful and could not be touched without dire consequences. Just as the old Ark of the Covenant could not be touched, neither could the new Ark of the Covenant, Mary. Mary was perpetually a virgin. Like the Ark of the Covenant, Mary housed the true presence of God in her Womb.

For more in this series visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page

ST-Luke-3 – The Angel Gabriel and Mary – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 3 – Angel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary and Protoevangelium of James’ Explanation of Mary’s Family History

Luke 1 continues with the Annunciation to Mary. The angel Gabriel again appears, this time to Mary, greeting her: “Hail, full of grace!” The Greek word for this phrase is “kecharitomene” which means that Mary was full of grace, is full of grace and will be full of grace, which is a reference to her life-long sinless nature. The angel tells Mary, “Be not afraid.” These words of encouragement were given to Joshua, Gideon and Moses as they prepared for battle, indicating that while Gabriel was comforting Mary, he was also preparing her for the battle yet to come.

We explore a glimpse into the early life of Mary, drawing from the extra-biblical source “The Protoevangelium of James.” While not part of the canon of inspired scripture, this text tells us of the early years of Mary. From this text, we learn the names of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna. According to “The Protoevangelium of James,” Joachim and Anna were childless and advanced in years when an angel appears in a vision, announcing that they will have a child. In a singular act of grace, Mary is conceived without the stain of original sin.

ST-Luke-2 – John the Fore-runner to Messiah – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 2 – “John the Fore-runner to Messiah” – The Gospel of Luke

Luke 1 begins with an address to “Most excellent Theophilus,” who may be a specific high ranking official. “Theophilus” also means beloved of God, and Luke might instead be writing an open letter the entire Christian community. Luke provides the historical detail that Herod is king at the time Jesus’ birth. Herod the Great, an Edomite, was not the legitimate ruler of Israel. Rather, he was a puppet king propped up by the occupying Romans. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau and the Israelites were the descendants of Jacob. The two nations were forever in conflict ever since Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew and Jacob deceived his blind father, obtaining the blessing that was rightfully due to Esau.

ST-Luke-1 – Introduction to Mary – The Gospel of St. Luke – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 1 – An Overview of Mary – The Gospel of Luke

The Virgin Mary is at the center of the beginning of this episode covering Luke 1. The church fathers, including Ambrose and Augustine, realized that Mary’s perpetual virginity was anticipated by the Old Testament prophets. In Ezekiel 44, we read about the locked eastern gate of the sanctuary, which could only be entered by the messianic prince. Mary is ever inviolate, even while giving birth to Jesus: like light passing through glass, Jesus was born of Mary, whose virginal integrity remained preserved. Mary serves as the gateway to heaven, through which passes Jesus.