Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
PreachMarch 06, 2025
(iStock)

“What does it mean to be a prophet?” This is the challenge preachers must wrestle with and present to their congregations over and over, says Luke Timothy Johnson, a renowned Scripture scholar, particularly in Luke-Acts, and Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Christian prophetic witness lies at the heart of Luke’s Gospel. “The prophet is led by the Spirit of God; speaks God’s word; embodies God’s word; enacts God’s word; and bears witness even through persecution for God’s word,” Professor Johnson says. “And so in each of those categories, the church has room to examine itself.”

In this episode, released ahead of the First Sunday of Lent, Year C, “Preach” host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., first invites Professor Johnson to explore key themes in Luke’s Gospel. Then, they discuss the Gospel readings for the first four weeks of Lent—The Temptation of Jesus, The Transfiguration, and the parables of the barren fig tree and the prodigal son—and reflect on how these passages illuminate Jesus’s prophetic journey to Jerusalem and the church’s call to embody this same prophetic mission today.

[Listen now and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on your favorite podcast app.] 


Scripture Readings for the First Sunday of Lent

 

First Reading: Dt 26:4-10
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
Second Reading: Rm 10:8-13
Gospel: Lk 4:1-13

You can find the full text of the readings here.

Read more by Luke Timothy Johnson

More: Scripture

The latest from america

Francis has always been known as “the pope of surprises.”
Gerard O’ConnellApril 26, 2025
“Pope Francis is the pope of the people,” Rosa de los Ríos told America in Spanish before the funeral Mass. “He is very close to the people.... That’s why he was so loved. People felt he was very close to them.”
J.D. Long GarcíaApril 26, 2025
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met inside St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral for Pope Francis on the morning of April 26.
Associated PressApril 26, 2025
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily for the funeral of Pope Francis.
America StaffApril 26, 2025