Like Ezekiel's River; Luke 8:16-18

Delivered during the Sunday morning worship service, 10/23/2022. As we return to the Gospel of Luke, we pick up Jesus' teaching directly after the parable of the Sower and the soils. Luke expertly weaves together three seemingly disconnected proverbs (of sorts) as an in-depth commentary on the parable and particularly on the growth of seeds that fall in the good soil. Luke will mix metaphors, adding the idea of Light in a dark room to illustrate the spread of the Gospel in a dark world as well as the day of judgment when all will become clear. We will grapple with the "upside-down" nature of the Kingdom of God, where spiritual gifts and blessings are taken away from those who will not use them and given to those who will. Bringing all this together, we will add our own metaphor to the mix, using Ezekiel's magnificent prophecy of a river that flows from the Temple in Jerusalem, growing ever stronger until it brings life and healing to all that is in its path. We will see this as an illustration of the way both disciples and churches should be growing ever deeper, stronger and more impactful to the dark world around us-- just like Ezekiel's river.