This week we will continue to study the Gospel of Luke.
(1) Recollect what we have considered about how the women spent the Sabbath. How might you describe the state of their minds and their emotions?
(2) What did the preparation of the spices indicate?
(3) What might be the first thought of the women when they saw the stone removed and the body of Jesus missing?
(4) To whom did the angels appear at the birth of Christ? To whom did they appear at Jesus’ resurrection? Why not to Jesus’ disciples first?
(5) Mull over these first words of the angels, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
a. Do you think the angels’ rebuke was a little harsh? Why or why not?
b. What was the error made by these women according to the angels?
c. In what way might we still make the same error these days?
d. How then should we approach our own death as disciples of Jesus?
e. How then should we approach the funeral of a true believer of Jesus Christ?
(6) “He is not here; He has risen.”
a. How much might the women understand by these words?
b. How did the angels help them understand these words in the rest of v. 7?
c. How would you describe the state of their minds and emotions now?
(7) Can you imagine how these women ran back to tell the disciples and how they could not hold their excitement? Why didn’t the disciples believe them; why did they think it was nonsense? If you were one of the Eleven Disciples, would you believe them? Why or why not?
(8) Peter (and John, see Note below) ran to the tomb to check it out:
a. What did he see?
b. Why did he go away still “wondering to himself what had happened”?
c. What did his disbelief point to? Was it due to slowness of mind? severe lack of faith? or the depth of his hurt, fear and devastation in the last few days?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Perhaps, it is helpful to set out the order of events on Easter morning, combing the accounts of the four Gospels:
- In the early morning, the women went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body. (Mk. 16:2-3, Lk. 24:1)
- The three women were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James) and Salome, followed by other women. (Mk. 16:1 and Lk. 24:10)
- The three women found the stone had been removed by an angel. (Matt. 28:2)
- Mary Magdalene hurried to tell Peter and John, who ran toward the tomb. (Jn. 20:2-4)
- Then, Mary (the mother of James), Salome and then the other women arrived at the tomb, entered it and saw angels who assured them Jesus had risen. They ran in joy and fear back to inform the disciples. (Matt. 28:8)
- Peter and John arrived and saw the empty tomb without understanding what happened and left. (Jn. 20:4-10)
- Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb (outrun by Peter and John) and stood there weeping, and Jesus revealed Himself to her. (Jn. 20:11-18)
- As the other women returned to tell the disciples, Jesus appeared to them. (Matt. 28:9-10)
The recounting by these two disciples gives us insight into the mindset of Jesus’ disciples concerning how they looked at the death and disappearance of Jesus’ body and how they viewed who Jesus is.
(1) While the Eleven Disciples remained hiding in Jerusalem, what did these two disciples do? What might be their plans for their lives?
(2) From v. 19, what do we know about whom they considered Jesus as?
(3) According to v. 21, what was their hope concerning Jesus? How was it dashed?
(4) What was their interpretation of the “empty tomb” of Jesus?
(5) If the view of these two disciples was representative of most, if not all, of Jesus’ disciples, what was wrong with their view in the following areas?
a. Who Jesus is
b. The purpose of His mission
c. The purpose and necessity of His death
d. The implication of His resurrection
(6) How did Jesus rebuke them? What was their core problem?
(7) V. 27 is a very significant statement:
a. What does it tell us about the Old Testament?
b. If Jesus had not come, how would you describe the Old Testament?
c. But Jesus has come. How should we look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament?
(8) What might be the significance of Jesus breaking bread with them and being recognized just as they were breaking bread together?
(9) How did they describe their experience of having the Scriptures explained to them by Jesus? Have you had a similar experience?
(10) What might be the purpose(s) of Jesus’ appearance to these two disciples?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) We are not sure if the Lord was in the habit of using the greeting “Peace be with you”. How significant was such a greeting at a time like that, and how much do you think it meant to the disciples?
(2) They had already heard from the women, from Simon and now from the two disciples, who said in their own words, “It is true! The Lord has risen” (24:34). Why would they be “startled and frightened”? In their minds, what was meant by “The Lord Has risen”?
(3) Jesus rebuked them for doubting (24:38). What might they still be doubting?
(4) How did Jesus prove to them that He is not a ghost?
(5) How then do you understand the meaning of Jesus’ “bodily resurrection”?
(6) With the showing of His hands and feet, the disciples still did not believe it “because of joy”. What does it mean?
(7) Have you ever desired something so intensely that when it comes true, you are afraid to believe it?
(8) Even with the presence of the Risen Christ, how were the disciples able to understand the Scriptures? What about us?
(9) In summarizing the talk by Jesus, Luke ends with the Great Commission in vv. 47-49:
a. What is the message?
b. What is the scope of the commission?
c. What is our role?
d. How can we carry out the Great Commission?
(10) Were the “eye-witnesses” the only ones who carried out the Great Commission in the first century? (What about Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos in Acts 18:1-4; 24-28?)
(11) Now Luke comes to the end of his account. Re-read Luke’s introduction in 1:1-4 and the closing account of this chapter. How has he affirmed the faith of Theophilus in these areas?
a. What the gospel is (according to what he has been taught)
b. Who Jesus is
c. Why He had to die
d. Where He is now
e. What the disciples of Jesus are to do from now on
(12) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?