Inside out. Upside down. Back to front.

Read carefully and Luke's gospel is a profoundly disturbing experience, both for the first century readers and for us twenty centuries later. Luke is the first gospel to be written primarily for a non-Jewish audience. This gives Luke's Jesus story a very different feel to Matthew and Mark. While sharing much of the same material, Luke casts new light on the significance of this man Jesus, uncovering new dimensions and illuminating previously darkened corners.

As we travel with Luke, one of the main things to look out for is the theme of 'reversal'. Luke seems hell-bent on terrorizing long held assumptions: women over men, poor over rich, outsider over insider, powerless over powerful.

Luke describes a strange new world. He bids his readers to forget the things we thought we knew and be prepared to be disorientated, confused, and deeply challenged.

May we have the courage to be open and the imagination to live differently...