STUDY
NOTES on previous study
The Key to Kingdom
Joy (Luke 7:1-50)
Chapter seven of Luke is an intriguing
study! We could easily spend a week on
each of these sections! The chapter
moves from a surprising demonstration of faith from one you would never expect,
to an amazing demonstration of compassion for one who is socially marginalized,
to a profound statement of kingdom joy, ending in one of the most
tender demonstrations of repentance and wonderful manifestations of
Jesus’ compassionate love.
The centurion, clearly the hero of this first
story, is so well liked that Jewish elders take a request to Jesus on his
behalf. There is much to admire in this
man of power. He loved the Jews under
his watch - he even built them a synagogue.
He loved his servants - in fact, it was to this end that he contacted
Jesus. He was also aware of Jewish laws
- not wanting to make Jesus unclean by coming to his house. But what is so astonishing about him is his
understanding of the power of Jesus. He
knew Jesus didn’t need to come to his house, this soldier knew it didn’t even
take Jesus’ touch to heal his servant.
After all, he knew how authority worked.
He knew Satan and his torturous demons were under Jesus’ control. “Just speak the word”, the centurion
beseeched Jesus. Jesus was amazed at
such demonstration of faith. Of course,
the servant was healed - and we find another hero of faith. Once again, we would have never expected it
to be a Gentile centurion!
The raising of the widow’s son is nothing more
than a demonstration of the incredible compassion of Jesus. He quickly saw the difficulty of the mother
of the dead man - she was widowed and without a son. She would have no way of caring for her
needs. Without being asked, moved by
compassion, Jesus spoke the man back to life and “gave him to his mother.” One who would be fully marginalized by a
culture that didn’t care much for the downtrodden immediately caught the eye of
Jesus. Do we
have the kind of heart that weeps for those who have nothing to give us in
return for our love and care?
Why did John the Baptist send his disciples to
ask Jesus if He was indeed Messiah? Some
would suggest John merely wanted his disciples to follow Jesus now. But the text does not indicate John was doing
anything other than asking a sincere question.
The disciples told John all these things - healing a servant, raising
the dead - all these demonstrations of grace - and John was confused. His ministry had been one of repentance - and
likely he expected the message of Jesus to be similar. But while John preached in the wilderness,
Jesus was often in the cities. While
John preached a stark and stern message of repentance, Jesus called for
repentance but spoke of joy and peace and the wonderful love of God. Jesus tells John’s messengers to tell John
what they had seen. He was clearly
fulfilling the job description prophesied of the Messiah by Isaiah.
As John’s disciples left, Jesus turned to the
crowd and challenged them to remember the important ministry of John. Of all who had lived up to that point, John
was the greatest. What an incredible
statement! John had faithfully and fully
performed his God given responsibility in ministry. But for all that he did, it is nothing to
compare to the profound shift occurring in the world by the introduction of the
The reference to the children’s game in verse
32 is very interesting. These people
were like children in a town square playing a game where one team enacts a
certain behavior and the other team is supposed to figure out what they are
doing and join it. So when they act like
they are playing a flute, the other team should have danced, or when they acted
like they were crying, the other team should have wailed - but as obvious as
these signs of the kingdom were - the calling to repentance and then to joy -
the people had missed the obvious cues of the kingdom.
The last episode in chapter seven is surely one
of the most tender in Scripture. And perhaps one of the most
convicting. I wonder who we would
be in this story?
Would we be the one full of grateful joy for the incredible grace of
God’s forgiveness, or the spiritual self-righteous one withholding full
acceptance of anyone we feel might not completely agree with our view of religion?
You know what is most amazing to me in
this story? How did the sinful woman
(read prostitute) know that if she could only get to the feet of Jesus, she
would find forgiveness and not condemnation?
Her breaking into Simon’s dinner party was an amazing demonstration of
courage and faith! The last place a
sinful woman would want to be would be at the table of a leading Pharisee in
town. This was indeed a huge risk!
Simon, apparently out of a sense of obligation
- or maybe just for the purpose of interrogating this “carpenter rabbi” - had
invited Jesus to eat at his table. He
wanted to make sure Jesus knew He wasn’t fully accepted - that he was still
subject to final approval which would be given when Jesus was determined to be
orthodox in His teaching. Simon
demonstrated this by not offering to wash Jesus’ feet, by not offering Him a
kiss of salutation, and by not anointing His head with oil. But this woman, with no fear, broke in on the
dinner scene in no subtle way! She was
standing over Jesus as He reclined at the table. She was so full of sorrow and joy that she
wept! She was full of sorrow for her sin, and full of joy for her Savior. Her tears flowed so freely they fell visibly
on the feet of Jesus, folded behind Him as He prepared to eat. You can see her falling on her knees - right
between Simon and Jesus - and she is using her hair to wash her now muddy tears
from Jesus’ dusty feet. She then begins
to kiss His feet as she tenderly anoints them with the precious oil of grateful
devotion from her alabaster jar. It must
be seen as the height of irony that in this moment of kingdom power, while the
angels were singing praises to God for His gracious forgiveness demonstrated in
releasing this woman from her sinful past, while this woman is clearly showing
the power of the gospel of the kingdom - it is in this very act that Simon is
convinced his suspicions of Jesus were exactly right! Jesus was no great prophet, no, He was not a prophet at all - for if He were, He would
never allow that woman to touch Him.
And so, Jesus patiently begins a story that
should pierce our hearts. He tells of two debtors - one who owed little and
another who had an unpayable debt. Both
debts were graciously forgiven. Who,
Jesus asked, loved the forgiver more? Simon
responded with the obvious answer, “The one who owed more.” Jesus then pointed
to the woman, referring to her wonderful devotion compared to the lack of love
and hospitality offered by Simon. He
then pronounces that her actions were motivated by the forgiveness she had
found, so her love could not be repressed!
We see in vivid clarity the dilemma of the Pharisees. Because they
refused to acknowledge their desperate need to repent, demonstrated in their
unwillingness to submit to the baptism of John, they could not find the joy of
forgiveness. Jesus was not suggesting there are those who are in little need of
forgiveness - only those who think so.
Until we confront the depth of our sins, and our inability to resolve
our debt, until we fall on our knees, repenting from our sinful past and
falling at the feet of Jesus, we simply cannot love God as we should. The joy of the kingdom is found in
acknowledging our desperate, sinful condition - repenting of our sins, and
appealing to the gracious mercy of God, we find a loving Father who fully
forgives! Have we fallen to the feet of
Jesus and anointed His feet with our tears of sorrow and joy? Have we washed the feet of those in desperate
need with the overflowing love of Jesus in our own hearts? Are we full of grateful devotion to the One
who has fully forgiven us of a debt we could never repay?
Do those full of sin risk much to find
themselves at our feet, knowing they will find forgiveness and not
condemnation?
The Key to Kingdom Joy (Luke
7:1-50)
After having read the study notes, answer the
following questions:
1. What
was so outstanding about the faith of the centurion?
2. What
does the raising of the widow of Nain’s son tell us about Jesus?
3. Why
was John the Baptist confused about the identity of Jesus?
4. What
does the incident involving the sinful woman and Simon the Pharisee tell about
the heart of Jesus?
5. Do
you think we are seen as approachable people to those who are living in sin and
seeking life in God’s kingdom? Why or
why not?
Parables and Power (Luke
8:1-56)
Read 8:1-15
1.
What was the content of Jesus’ preaching?
2.
Why do you think Luke includes the information about the women who were
following Jesus?
3. What are parables and why do you
think Jesus used them?
4. What soil would you be in the
parable of the sower? Why?
Read
1.
What is Jesus teaching in his illustration of the lamp?
2.
How do Jesus’ words about his true kindred impact you? Are you his brother by this definition?
3.
Were the disciples justified in their fear of the storm? Why or why not?
4.
If Jesus evaluated you life, would He be astonished by your faith, or
your lack of faith?
Read:
1.
What do you find most interesting about this event?
2.
Why were the demons able to see Jesus for who He truly was?
3.
Why do you think the demons, when released into the pigs, hurled
themselves into the sea?
4.
Who is the first commissioned evangelist in Luke?
Read:
1.
Why do you think Jesus stopped the crowd to identify the woman “who had
touched” Him?
2.
What made the woman well according to Jesus?
3.
What do you think Jesus was saying when He commented that the girl was
not dead, but only sleeping? Might He be
reflecting on his view that physical death is not the real problem?
4.
What has impressed you most about Jesus in our study of Luke to this
point?