Being Clearfour studies from Luke’s Gospel

Being Clear about JesusLuke 5:17-26

Consider the passage

1. What were people coming to Jesus for? 5:15

2. What was Jesus priority? What did he often do? 5:16

3. Who was listening to Jesus’ teaching? 5:17

4. How far is it from Jerusalem to Galilee? Get someone to use Google maps (or even an atlas – it’s a book full of maps) to see how far apart they are.

5. Why do you think Luke mentions that Jesus has the power/ authority to heal?

6. (5:17) After all, 4:14 has already told us he has power …

7. Whose faith impressed Jesus? (5:20) Does this come as a surprise to you?

8. Why? Why not?

9. Why is Jesus declaration of forgiveness a ‘blasphemy’? 5:20

10. We’ve already seen that Jesus has authority/power to heal. Why was this man healed? What was being demonstrated? 5:24

Consider the implications

Jesus is clearly concerned to proclaim the Kingdom. (See 4:43). How does this event proclaim the Kingdom?

Can I take it from the story that a demonstration of my faith can help my friends who are in need? How does that work? Is their faith the issue or mine?

How much faith is needed for the healing? Is it a matter of how much faith I have or what is the object of my faith is? Discuss the difference …

It seems the priority here is the Kingdom and not the man’s immediate physical needs. In fact, his physical needs are only met to show Jesus’ authority to meet his spiritual need (5:24). How do we maintain this Kingdom priority:

o In our home groupo In our church

“One ‘impossible application’ of this story to our lives is that our physical needsoutweigh our spiritual needs.”Do you agree with this? Why/why not …

How might this shape your prayers and your actions?

Being Clear about “Self”Luke 10:25-37

Consider the passage

The section we now turn to highlights an important gospel truth we all need: keeping the law is a way of life; it is not a way to life. Going his ‘way’ takes precedence over everything else. In Luke 10 there is an explanation of this to the ‘insiders’ who were following Jesus (10:1-24) and then to an ‘outsider’ who wanted to trap him (10:25-37).

1. After the mission the disciples are (understandably) joyful at seeing the power of the kingdom at work (10:17). But what does Jesus say is even more remarkable in 10:20?

2. What important truth are we taught in 10:22?

‘The seventy returned with joy' (10:17); they had had a successful mission. But was this response to the good news something which had been brought about by their efforts? No. They realise that their power comes from him alone – ‘l have given you authority’ (10:17-20). It is much less important that they should rush out doing the things they believe he wants, than that they should let him make of them the kind of people who inevitably will do such things. It’s more about being than doing.

3. Who posed a question to Jesus in 10:25?

4. What was his intention 10:25 (and 10:29)?

5. Look carefully at what he asks. What is ‘wrong’ with his question?

6. What does he get ‘right’ in 10:27-28?

7. Is it possible to do what Jesus says in 10:37? See also Romans 3:20 and Romans 10:5.

Listen to this quote from Michael Wilcock’s commentary: ‘… where eternal life is concerned, if there is one thing more than another about which the whole of Scripture speaks with one voice, it is that ‘no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law' (Romans 3:20). It is theoretically true that ‘the man who practises the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it' (Romans 10:5); the trouble is that no-one ever succeeds in doing so. If the lawyer thinks eternal life can be obtained by doing what the law demands, he will have to learn how extreme those demands are. And in this lies the barbed point of the story of the good Samaritan. For the thing is impossible. We are so used to thinking of the victim and his rescuer as 'neighbours' that we forget this was Jesus' scandalous twist to the story; he deliberately wove it around the representatives of two groups of people whom his hearers knew to be not good neighbours at all, but inveterate enemies.’

Consider the implications

Where does your joy come from? A job well done by you or … (Consider 10:20 and 10:22)

Wilcock imagines Jesus to ask: ‘Suppose I were to lead you towards work in which your income would be lower, your prospects (humanly speaking) more uncertain, and your accustomed standard of living non-existent? Would you even then come my way? God regularly tests the earnestness of our hearts by bringing us to this fork in the road. When it becomes necessary to choose between two ways, which do we follow? Comfort or convention or custom - or Christ?’

How do we know we are following Christ and not just following comfort or convention or custom? How do we encourage each other to do this?

Being Clear about “Priorities”Luke 12:22-34

Consider the passage

Look at the passage that comes immediately before our reading for this study. It is a parable that only appears in Luke’s Gospel. Read through the parable together and answer these questions:

1. What was Jesus warning them about in 12:15?

2. Summarise the story …

3. Who are we to be ‘rich towards’ in 12:21?

4. What are the disciples told they should not worry about in 12:22?

5. What is life more than in 12:23?

6. Why consider the ravens in 12:24?

7. What answer would you give to Jesus – if he asked you what he asked his disciples in 12:26?

8. Who runs after food in 12:30?

9. Where is your heart? Answer from 12:34 (rather than your personal answer).

Consider the implications

Is worrying a ‘sin’?

What is worrying a sign of? (Make a list)

Can we overcome worrying? How?

What gives God pleasure (12:32)? Discuss in the group what this means.

The rich man in the parable is sensible according to his own priorities. He has secured the necessities for his future by producing ample goods. He has chased after and gained what he will eat and what he will drink. The snag is he has not considered the life of the world to come. Jesus teaches clearly that while food and clothing are a necessary part of life (12:30) your main concern should be storing up treasure in heaven.

How do we do that? Do we need to sell everything we own? If not, what do we keep? What are your priorities?

Being Clear about “Listening”Luke 16:19-31

Consider the passage

This parable concerns the life of the ‘world to come’ by highlighting the importance of what we are willing to listen to ‘here and now’. Abraham’s side (16:22). In Jewish tradition, Abraham’s side (his ‘bosom’ KJV) is the home of the righteous. Hell (16:23). Hades is the Greek name for the place where the wicked who have died go before they face the final judgement.

1. What was the rich man’s name? How did he live (16:19)?

2. What was the poor man’s name (16:20)? How did he live (16:21)?

3. Where did Lazarus go when he died (16:22)?

4. Where did the rich man go when he died (16:23)?

5. Who was with Lazarus? What did the rich man want Lazarus to do for him? (16:24)

6. What was the purpose of the gap between Lazarus and the rich man? (16:26)

7. What did the rich man want Lazarus to do for him? (16:27-28)

8. To whom should people listen in order to know about God? (16:29)

9. How will people who do not want to believe God act as a result of the resurrection? (16:31)

10. Why will some people not even believe the miracle of resurrection? (16:33)

Consider the implications

There is another parable in Luke 16 known as the parable of the shrewd manager. In that story the main character, the manager, uses his ‘wealth’ to secure his future. In the second parable the rich man fails to use his wealth to secure his future and even assumes he is entitled to some relief in the midst of his punishment. Many commentaries (understandably) labour the point of money, wealth and the future but then they leave Abraham’s statement in 16:29 without comment. Jeremias, in his book Parables, helpfully points out that the parable does speak about the use of wealth but it also teaches us that no sign will be given to this generation to lead it to repentance if it refuses to hear the word of God. If you are to be prepared for the world to come you must heed God’s word.

What do you find are the biggest hindrances to reading the Bible? What have you found helpful?

How do you/ can you help others to hear the word? Your family? People at Church? Neighbours?

In Michael Wilcock’s commentary he says, “… the story could equally well have featured a politician with his power, or an academic with his brains, or even a preacher with his eloquence - indeed anyone with any kind of resources or skills. Everybody possesses something of the sort, be it no more than a heart and a hand and a span of life; and to everyone is given some ‘Lazarus at the door’, a test case as to whether they will use those possessions rightly or wrongly, with love or with

self indulgence. Will we or won't we bring into time the considerations of eternity? That is the question.”

Can you identify the ‘riches’ that you possess that may be stopping you from listening to (heeding) the word of God? What can you do about these things? What will you do?

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