This week we
will continue to study the Gospel of Luke.
You may want to take a look at Matthew 11:20-24 to get a sense of what kind of a city Capernaum was. (Also see note below.)
(1) Luke 4:32 says that the people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because His message had authority:
a. What does that mean?
b. Is authority the same as preaching with confidence, with a sure voice or with words of severity? Why or why not?
(2) Where did Jesus meet the man possessed by an evil spirit? What does it say about the spiritual condition of the time?
(3) As this section still marks the early period of Jesus’ ministry, why would Jesus stop the evil spirit who appeared to be testifying for Him, calling Him “the Holy One of God”? (The people would understand its meaning from Isaiah 49:7 as referring to the Redeemer.)
(4) Read a similar account in Acts 16:16-18 where Paul also refused to be associated with the demon and would not accept their testimony. What can you learn from both accounts? (Refer to 2 Cor. 6:14-18.)
(5) Mark 1:27 clarifies that the people hearing His preaching and witnessing the driving out of the demon remarked that it was “a new teaching”.
a. In what sense was it a “new” teaching?
b. Why did they call it a new “teaching”?
c. Is it “new” also to today’s generation?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Capernaum, together with Bethsaida and Korazin, were kind of like a “tri-city” to the west and northwest of the Sea of Galilee in which most of the miracles of Jesus were performed.
(1) If you compare this miracle of the healing Peter’s mother-in-law with the driving out of the demon in vv. 33-35, which is the more spectacular? Which is a greater miracle? Why?
(2) Of all the disciples, we know at least that Peter was married; and when he was first called by Jesus in Mark 1:18, he “at once” left his nets and followed Jesus. What really has Peter left behind? What might his family think of his decision?
(3) Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever appeared to be quite severe.What did this “small” miracle mean to his family? What did she do after being healed?
(4) The gospel writer paints a very human picture of a small working-class town where people all had to work in the daytime, and they all flocked to Jesus that evening in Peter’s house, probably with their lanterns or lamps. Read Isaiah 9:1-2 and soak in what was happening that night.
(4) V. 4:42 gives us a picture of Jesus’ “devotional life”. How does Luke, in a few words, give us Jesus’ example of what a prayer-life should be?
(5) When everyone was trying to keep Him from leaving, Jesus decided to go somewhere else. Why? And what can we learn about the priority of Jesus’ ministry?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) This was not the first time Jesus called Peter. Take a look at John 1:35-42 and get a sense of what preceded this calling by Jesus.
(2) While many people were crowding around Jesus, was it an accident that Jesus chose to the use Peter’s boat for His preaching?
(3) What was Peter’s profession even after being called by Jesus earlier? What might have happened to Peter and Andrew after their first encounter with Jesus in John 1?
(4) Peter had already seen Jesus perform many miracles and of course he heard His preaching as well. Why did he seem to object to Jesus’ suggestion when He said “put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch”?
(5) What was the result of his reluctant obedience?
(6) What lesson(s) can we learn from Peter’s experience?
(7) At the sight of the catch, what possible reactions could Peter have?
(8) Why did he react with asking Jesus to go away, instead of wanting to follow Him as he had resolved to do once?
(9) Instead of leaving Peter alone as requested, what did Jesus do?
(10) How much did Peter understand about “catching men”?
(11) Is the phrase, “fishers of men”, an appropriate analogy of the calling that Jesus gave them? How so?
(12) What had the four given up in following Christ? What might be the toughest thing to give up?
(13) What about you?
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What did the leper’s falling with his face to the ground signify?
(2) What did he ask for?
(3) What might it say about him as a person with leprosy, physically (health, possession, work etc.), emotionally (relationally - family, friends, dignity, companionship etc.) and spiritually (attitude toward God)?
(4) Did the leper have faith when he said, “If you are willing"? What should faith in God entail?
(5) How did Jesus heal him? Was there any other ways with which He could have healed him? Why did He choose this particular method?
(6) While Jesus told him not to tell anyone, would not the presentation of his healed body be a form of telling others?
a. Why did Jesus ask him not to give a verbal testimony at this point?
b. What might be the significance of asking the healed leper to follow the practice of the law “as a testimony to them”?
(7) Compare 4:37 and 5:15. What is the point that Luke is trying to make?
(8) How does v. 16 speak to you and how may you emulate Him?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
(1) Why did the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have to come all the way from Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem to sit before Jesus?
(2) How did “they”, meaning the friends and the paralytic, demonstrate their faith to the point that Jesus could see their faith (5:20)? Apart from faith, what else did the friends demonstrate?
(3) Instead of saying “Be clean” as He did to the leper, why did He say, “Your sins are forgiven”?
(4) What is the basis for forgiveness of sin according to 1 John 1:9?
(5) Compare the two acts — The healing of the paralytic and the forgiving of his sin:
a. Which is easier to “say”?
b. Which is easier to actually “perform”? (Can God forgive just anyone?)
(6) The Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
a. In what sense they were absolutely right?
b. In what sense they were absolutely wrong?
(7) What does Luke aim to tell us about Jesus in this incident?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Can you describe the kind of life a tax collector might have?
(2) Take time to think of someone that you know who might live a life quite similar to that of Levi (who is Matthew)? How hard might it be for that person to become a Christian? Why?
(3) Why then would Matthew follow Jesus immediately upon being called?
(4) What did Matthew do right after he became Jesus’ disciple? Why did he not cut off all ties with friends of his former circle? (Many commentators tell us that the term, sinners, refers to prostitutes.)
(5) Ask yourself, if you were one of the Pharisees, would you feel comfortable about Matthew and his circle of friends and their lifestyle? Would you also wonder why Jesus would willingly be part of such a dinner?
(6) As a Christian, what might be the kind of people that you would not feel comfortable associating with?
(7) Mull over the reply Jesus gave in vv. 31-32. How should it affect your attitude toward reaching people who might make Christians uncomfortable?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
All three synoptic Gospels put this parable right behind the banquet thrown by Levi, and thus, it is logical to assume that it is tied to a dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees over His befriending sinners and the lack of fasting by His disciples:
(1) Would you tear a patch from a new garment and set it on an old one?
(2) In v. 36, Jesus gave two reasons for why one will never tear a patch from a new garment. What are they?
(3) Under normal circumstances, what would a person do when an old garment is worn or damaged, especially beyond repair?
(4) In other words, what is the purpose of securing a new garment?
(5) What is the reason that one will never pour new wine into old wineskins?
(6) What conclusion does Jesus draw in v.38?
(7) What then do an old garment and old wine represent?
(8) What then do a new garment and new wine represent?
(9) What then do old wineskins and new wineskins represent respectively?
(10) Based on the opposition of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law over Levi’s banquet, can you understand Jesus’ lament, “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better’ ”?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?