Category: 5c

There are plenty similes in Luke’s account of an admonishment which Jesus explained to the crowds of people who were gathering ’round him, but not committing themselves to be his disciples. The similes are so simple they make sense even when uttered by a child. The well read christian and scholar in your group will have no doubt studied Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book of the same title. Though by Jesus, child or theologian its imperative that we ourselves take this passage to heart and transform any lackadaisical behavior or attitude we might have if we fancy ourselves to be his disciples.

Section 115 | Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-35
25 Now great multitudes¹ were going with him. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me,² and doesn’t disregard³ his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.⁴   27 Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross,⁵   and come after me, can’t be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?⁶ 29 Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. 33 So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all⁷ that he has, he can’t be my disciple. 34 Salt is good,⁸ but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out.⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Group Dialog:

1. Why do you suppose Jesus said this to the crowds who were fascinated, curious and gathering around him?
2. Does Jesus offer any comfort in this teaching to those with the conviction to follow him?
3. What have you had to give up, set aside, change on account of your own commitment to being a disciple of Christ? How about to achieve any other goal you’ve had for yourself (music instrument, sports, success, income, recovery from an illness, retirement)? How are they similar?
4. What kind of Christians do you need around you to do that which you think God has called you to do as a minister of the Gospel?  What can you do if you can’t find them? What would you do if the people with the talents that you gathered didn’t care enough to do the work?
5. Is there any benefit in having halfhearted Christians attending your church/group?
6. How can loving God above all else empower you to love others, empower you for ministry and go the distance – no matter what the cost?
7. What other priorities, changes, or complications in your life have distracted you from doing all that God has called you to do for the Kingdom of God?
8. What covenant are you willing to take as a disciple?

Learning Objectives: Be fully-devoted disciples, be committed to the mission of God, enlist others willing to invest all and keep the love of God and his mission as their first priority.

Notes:

Hospitality is one of the basic principles of creating real and lasting community. It was a cultural expectation and considered a virtue in the Holy Land, but even in this era heartfelt hospitality means much more than most any other gift or prayer that could be offered. It could be said that its even integral to being human by satisfying our physiological needs for love, belonging, respect, self-actualization and safety. As we study in today’s passage there is much that works against it, beginning with our biases and egocentric priorities.

Podcast: Coming soon

Section 114 | Healing of a Man with Dropsy while Eating with a Prominent Pharisee

Luke 14:1-24
1 When he went¹ into the house² of one of the rulers of the Pharisees³ on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.⁴ 2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy⁵ was in front of him.⁶  3 Jesus, answering,⁷ spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal⁸ on the Sabbath?” 4 But they were silent.⁹ He took him, and healed him, and let him go.¹⁰ 5 He answered them, “Which of you, if your son¹¹ or an ox fell into a well,¹² wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”¹³  6 They couldn’t answer¹⁴ him regarding these things. 7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats,¹⁵ and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable¹⁶ than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.¹⁷ 13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed,¹⁸ because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”¹⁹ 15 When one of those²⁰ who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!”²¹ 16 But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper,²² and he invited many people. 17 He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18 They all as one began to make excuses.²³ “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’ 20 “Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’ 21 “That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ 22 “The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’ 23 “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.²⁴ 24 For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’”²⁵

Group Dialog:

1. How adept are you at being hospitable at home, in the community, and in social media?
2. How do you practice the virtue of hospitality?
3. Why must humility be manifest for the virtue of hospitality to be at its best?
4. How has the virtue of Hospitality blessed you? …surprised you? …benefited you?
5. How has your hospitality improved the lives of those whom you have welcomed?
6. On a scale of 0-100, with 0 representing the worst listener imaginable, and 100 meaning that you listen better than anybody else, How well do you think you listen to people? (friends, spouse, family, coworkers, boss, God) How would they rate you?
7. Who does God want at His banquet table? How many people does he want to join Him? Who is invited and  who is excluded?

Study notes:

Perhaps no other passage in the Bible offers more hope and assurance to the souls of humanity than this one. Woven into today’s reading is the story of betrayal and faithfulness, captivity and freedom, suffering and hope, despair and mercy, darkness and light. The beloved John captures our imaginations while recounting the events of Jesus’ last Hanukkah celebration and offers to us a lesson we must never forget.

Podcast: Scheduled for 10/21/16

Section 111 | Another Attempt to Stone or Arrest Jesus for Blasphemy at the Feast of Dedication

John 10:22-39
22 It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.¹  23 It was winter,² and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.³  24 The Jews therefore⁴ came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.⁵ 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give eternal life to them.⁶ They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.⁷  29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” 31 Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), 36 do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ 37 If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. 38 But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.

Group Dialog:

1. What experiences of shame, failure, rejection, captivity have haunted your soul and troubled your mind?
2. There are some who feel they should not be embraced by the Love of God and the security of the finished work of Christ. Do you feel yourself to be one of His his sheep or more similar to those faithfully religious people gathered there at the Porch of Solomon?
3. How can someone whose salvation does not depend in the slightest upon human effort or merit, but entirely on the power of God and the merits of Christ, be lost by some human act, either by the mind or by the body?

Learning Objectives: Grace, I am my beloved’s, eternal security, redemption, Messiah.

Notes:

Week 98, Section 110 in the Harmony of the Gospels

As Jesus healed some on the Sabbath, some Pharisees accused Him of breaking the Sabbath. In today’s study we’ll explore further Jesus the Healer and His Miracles,¹ and also the rabbinical tradition called the Halakah (preserved in the Mishnah) that lay behind the Sabbath-breaking charges leveled against Jesus and His disciples.

Podcast: scheduled for October 14, 2016

Section 110 | Opposition from a Synagogue Ruler for Healing a Woman on the Sabbath

Luke 13:10-21
10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. She was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 He laid his hands on her,² and immediately she stood up straight and glorified God. 14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,³ said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days⁴ and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” 15 Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites!⁵Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water? 16 Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”⁶ 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.⁷ 18 He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.” 20 Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? 21 It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Group Dialogue: 

1. Why do you think that Luke might have been motivated to include this story when none of the other Gospel writers did so?
2. What are the words of the Fourth Commandment and the reasoning behind it (Exodus 20:8; 9-11)?
3. Was Jesus breaking the law, tradition or justifying his behavior by the guilt of the Pharisees?
4. How is it especially appropriate that the woman be healed on the Sabbath? (Luke 13:16)
5. If he had made mud to heal her rather than praying might it have been a violation of the law?
6. What do you know about the other healing stories, and any similarities?
7. Jesus referred to the woman as “a daughter of Abraham”.  As a “child of God” do you have any physical, emotional, spiritual need, illness, or oppression from which you’d like to be freed? Write it down and if you feel comfortable, share it with you group at the end of the study so that others may pray for your healing.

Notes:

Intro

Section 109 | Two Alternatives: Repent or Perish

Luke 13:1-9
1 Now there were some present at the same time some who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.¹ 2 Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?² 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.³ 4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?⁴ 5 I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.” 6 He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. 7 He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ 8 He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’ ”⁵

This is the third time in which Jesus provides certain clarity as to his imminent crucifixion, the resurrection and the eternal order of things.  Amidst a crowd of well over 10,000 people Jesus urges his disciples, followers, and all the hearers including Jews, Pharisees and most likely a few Romans to prepare themselves by opening their hearts and minds to place their faith and trust in Him.

Section 108c | Warning against being Unprepared for the Son of Man’s Coming

Luke 12:35-48
35 “Let your waist be dressed¹ and your lamps burning.² 36 Be like men watching for their lord,³ when he returns from the marriage feast; that when he comes and knocks,⁴ they may immediately open to him. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them.⁵ 38 They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch,⁶ and finds them so. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming,⁷ he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40 Therefore be ready⁸ also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.” 41 Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?” ⁹ 42 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.¹⁰ 44 Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’¹¹ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, 46 then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. 47 That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, 48 but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

Section 108d | Warning about the Coming Division

Luke 12:49-53
49 “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. 52 For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Section 108e| Warning against Failing to Discern the Present Time

Luke 12:54-59
54 He said to the multitudes also, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. 55 When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time? 57 Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny.”

Group Dialog:

Media: “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield (Lyrics+tab) sung by many my favorite version is sung by Eva Cassidy (Youtube).

Notes:

In today’s lesson Jesus continues his warning the multitudes and his disciples about hypocrisy and how to counter it through a life devoted to the Kingdom purpose. Covetousness has no place in the mind of disciples. Instead we should cultivate contentment, charity and invest to further the God’s Kingdom purpose.

Audio: coming soon

Section 108b | Warning about Greed and Trust in Wealth

Luke 12:13-34
13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 He said to them, “Beware!¹ Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.” 16 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. 17 He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ 18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” 22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25 Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? 26 If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies,² how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. 30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. 32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 33 Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Group Dialog:

1. Having more money could solve a whole lot of problems, but what problems might it create? What problems can be created by fantasizing or planning about having more money?
2.  Why would Jesus who accepted the gifts of others warn his disciples about the love of money?
3. Share your thoughts, experience and wisdom about: abundance, fear, contentment, priorities, money, charity, responsibility, faith.

Notes: