What to Expect in the Gospels & Wrap-Up in Monroe

The Gospels introduce us to a world perishing under the weight and burden of sin, only to engulf us in a new world where righteousness and hope prevail.

To study the Gospels is to study the first-century context in depth. To read the first four books that shape the main corpus of Jesus's story is to inundate ourselves with a world that is foreign to our eyes, our ears, and our taste. We are called to experience the dusty days of Jerusalem and the rain of God's mercies among stubborn people.

         When Matthew and Luke offer us the genealogy of Jesus, we are considering a long line of characters from Abraham to Mary that connects the Scriptures in all its covenant unity. It traces the lineage of our forefathers with the precision of a scalpel surgically tuned to its purpose. Far from tedious, it vividly reveals the precipitous fall of every attempt to break the sacred line. The Gospels stir the imagination to see the unfolding drama of the sacred violence of old and the new sacred peace in Jesus Christ.