This week we will continue to study the Gospel of Luke.
After recording the three parables of the lost, Luke now turns to another parable that Jesus told his disciples:
(1) It may be helpful to first read the comment by Jesus to understand the reason why He told this parable in the first place:
a. In v.8, what are the two kinds of people that Jesus contrasts?
b. In “commending” the shrewdness of the people of the world, Jesus mentioned about eternal dwellings. Apart from heaven, what is the other eternal dwelling for men? (See Matt. 25:41)
(2) In the parable, is the manager trustworthy? He was hoping to be welcomed into the homes of the people he helped with his dishonesty (16:4). Which eternal home then would he end up being welcomed into (16:9)?
(3) In giving His conclusion to the parable, which two kinds of wealth did Jesus contrast? What is meant by “true riches"?
(4) How then does our attitude towards earthly wealth determine how God will entrust us with “true riches”?
(5) According to v. 13, what is the true reason for us not being trustworthy in the handling of "worldly wealth”?
(6) Why did their love of money cause the Pharisees to sneer at Jesus’ teaching in this respect?
(7) In v. 15, Jesus commented that “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight”. How does this comment echo what is being said in v. 8 of this parable?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
16:16-18—Luke, apparently without any context, simply adds, at this point, some of Jesus’ teachings which He likely gave on His way to Jerusalem:
(1) According to v. 16, what has been the impact of the ministry of John the Baptist?
(2) Whom does the “good news” of the kingdom ultimately point to?
(3) What is the relationship between Jesus and the Law of Moses? (See Matt. 5:17)
(4) Because Luke records v.18 without a context, it is perhaps, helpful to read Matthew 5:31-32, 19:3-9 and Mark 10:11-12 as well. What additional insight have you gained from these additional readings? What might be the reason that Luke chooses to simply cite here such a short statement about divorce? What does it say about the practice of divorce at the time?
16:19-31—It is important to remember that a parable always has a main theme, while the rest of the parable may not be meant to be applied as part of the teaching of the main theme:
(5) What then is the main theme of the parable, as expressly emphasized by Jesus in v. 31?
(6) How then can it be applied to the consequence of His own resurrection?
(7) Which of the following was the rich man guilty of that sent him to hell?
a. His being rich
b. His receiving good things during his life time
c. Or…? (Rom. 3:23)
(8) For which of the following was the beggar carried to the side of Abraham?
a. He was poor.
b. His received bad things during his life time.
c. Or…? (Rom. 6:23)
(9) What then determines one’s eternal destiny? (See Jn. 3:16-18)
(10) What other teachings might we derive from this parable?
a. What the condition in hell is (16:23-24)
b. The finality of one’s fate in hell (16:26)
c. What ultimately affects one’s decision to repent and believe (16:29)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
17:1-4—The Lord warns the disciples to “watch yourselves”:
(1) What might be the things that we should watch against lest we cause others to sin? Can you think of at least one time you did cause others to sin?
(2) Can you also think of the three most common examples?
(3) Why did Jesus call the ones being led to sin “little ones”?
(4) What is meant by throwing the offender “into the sea with a millstone tied around the neck?” Why did Jesus use such a strong metaphor?
(5) Do you find it hard to obey Jesus’ command to forgive 7 times in a day?
(6) What would your objection be?
(7) Does God forgive you any differently depending on the number of times you sin?
17:5-6—Faith
(8) Do you think you have enough faith? How would you know?
(9) What might the disciples have in mind when they thought they did not have enough faith?
(10) Did Jesus agree with them?
(11) What did Jesus see as their problem concerning faith?
17:7-10—Attitude of serving
(12) Do you agree with Jesus’ supposition? Why or why not?
(13) Is that your attitude in serving in the church?
(14) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
Of the ten lepers, only one was a Samaritan. This seems to indicate that the village was on the side of Galilee, and not of Samaria:
(1) Though you may be familiar with one's plight as a leper in those days, it is still helpful to jot down what it meant to have leprosy then and how fitting leprosy describes the sinful condition of men.
(2) A Samaritan was considered more than a “foreigner” by the Jews (see Jn. 4:9). What caused this barrier to be temporarily suspended?
(3) Can you recall how Jesus normally healed lepers? (See Mk. 1:41)
(4) What did Jesus ask these lepers to do instead?
a. What hurdles would they have to overcome in order to do as Jesus said?
b. When do you think they discovered when they were healed?
(5) While one of them went back to Jesus, where did the rest go?
(6) If you were one of them, and you hadn’t seen your children, parents or your wife for many years, what would you do right away?
(7) Why did this Samaritan choose to go back to Jesus right away (i.e. in non-Samaritan territory)?
(8) Read vv. 15-16 carefully. What did he do? What did these actions represent?
(9) To him, Jesus was a Jew. How special was this Samaritan?
(10) We have already seen that “he was healed” (17:17). What then is the meaning of these words of Jesus, “your faith made you well”? (“It is literally ‘has saved you’ ”, Morris, 283)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
17:20-21—Addressing the Pharisees
(1) What do you understand as the “kingdom of God” in terms of:
a. Who will have complete reign?
b. Over what?
c. Who will be part of the Kingdom?
(You may want to look up Ps. 9:7; 47:8; 146:10; Isa. 9:7; Col. 1:12-13; Rev. 11:15 etc.)
(2) While the Pharisees asked “when”, Jesus did not address the timing. What did He address? Why?
17:22-37—Addressing the disciples
(3) When Jesus comes again, why do we not need to run to some place to see Him? What was His emphasis in v. 24?
(4) While the disciples might be caught up with the excitement of the coming of Jesus again, what was Jesus’ emphasis in v. 25 and why?
(5) Jesus likened the days of His coming to both the days of Noah and those of Lot:
a. In what ways were the two historical times or days similar?
b. How similar is our time to that of Noah and that of Lot?
(6) What is the emphasis in vv. 30-31, given the example of Lot’s wife?
(7) What is the emphasis in vv. 33-35? What do “taken” and “left” suggest?
(8) Instead of asking “when”, the disciples asked, “where”. Why did they want to know?
(9) Did Jesus really answer their question? Why or why not?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Luke chooses to tell us the meanings of these two parables upfront:
18:1-8—We should always pray and not give up
(1) Why did Jesus use a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men as an example?
(2) Why did He choose a widow as the petitioner?
(3) Jesus asked us to “listen to what the unjust judge says”. What did this judge say in vv. 4-5?
(4) How is God unlike this judge?
(5) How is God like this judge?
(6) How relevant is this parable to you?
(7) However, apart from what Luke makes plain about the meaning of this parable, its theme is on the seeking of justice (18:3, 5, 6 and 8), and the application is to the “chosen ones”. Some commentators relate this parable to the preceding teaching about the long time that Jesus’ return will take. If this is the case,
a. How then should we pray as we see injustice prevail and the people of God mocked?
b. What does the concluding question of Jesus mean in v. 8?
18:9-14—The parable of two praying men
(8) How will you look upon a Christian who prays and fasts regularly and is faithful in his tithes? Do you fit the profile of such a Christian?
(9) Why did Jesus say as good as such a person is, he may not be “justified before God?”
(10) Examine yourself to see if you have any sign of “self-righteousness”?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Why did people bring babies to be “touched” by Jesus? What were they thinking?
(2) Did the disciples have any good reason for turning children away?
(3) What is the entrance requirement for the kingdom of God? (See Jn. 3:3,16)
(4) Why does the kingdom of God belong to such as these (meaning the babies)?
(5) How should you treat children, especially in the church?
(6) From parallel passages in the other synoptic gospels (Matt. 19:16-24; Mk. 10:17-25), we understand that this man was young and rich, and was a ruler too. Based on what he asked, what outcome would you have expected from his sincere search for eternal life?
(7) What was the purpose of pointing out that “No one is good except God alone” to the man while (in the passage in Mark) accepting his kneeling before Him?
(8) Do you think the man’s answer (that he had kept all these things — the six commandments — since he was a boy) was a truthful answer? Why? (Note Jesus’ immediate emotional response to his answer in Mk. 10:21)
(9) There are Ten Commandments (see Exod. 20). Why did Jesus only quote the last six and leave out the first four?
(10) What was the “one thing” that he lacked in terms of having eternal life and what did it entail? What has “the one thing” that the man lacked have to do with these missing four commandments?
(11) In His encounter with people, Jesus did not ask everyone to physically follow Him (Zaccheus was a case in point in Lk. 19:1-10). They would still be disciples and did not have to follow Him physically like the Twelve. But here, Jesus asked the man to follow Him, and that also necessitated him giving up all he had (like the Twelve). What does this tell you about being a disciple of Jesus Christ?
(12) Why did the young man become sad? Did he know the consequence of his choice?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?