Bible Discussion — Luke 13

March 26, 2008, 1:00 pm; posted by
Filed under Bible, Chloe, Connie, David, Josh J, Steve  | No Comments

This week, Bweinh.com looks at the next chapter of Luke, Luke 13.

Genesis: 1-4 | 5-9 | 10-14 | 15-18 | 19-22 | 23-26
27-29 | 30-32 | 33-36 | 37-39 | 40-43 | 44-46 | 47-50
Exodus: 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-11 | 12-14 | 15-18
19-22 | 23-26 | 27-30 | 31-34 | 35-40
Romans: Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 (I)
Ch. 8 (II) | Ch. 9 | Ch. 10 | Ch. 11 | Ch. 12 | Ch. 13 | Ch. 14 | Ch. 15-16
Luke: 1:1-38 | 1:39-2:40 | 2:41-3:38 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

 
INTRODUCTION:
Connie:
The red words continue to abound in this chapter, although this time they include some warnings we should heed…

David:
This section starts with two narratives showing the wrong and right attitudes about judgment. In the first one, people gloated about God\’s judgment falling on others, and Jesus rebuked them. He followed that up with a story about a man interposing himself to save a tree from judgment, saying, “Wait! Give me some more time! Maybe I can turn this around!”

 
SOMETHING YOU’D NEVER NOTICED BEFORE:
Connie:
Galilean blood was shed as a sacrifice by Pilate (v. 1). Was that to get back at Jesus through His countrymen?

Steve:
Pharisees came and warned Jesus that Herod wanted him dead.

David:
Many will seek to enter by the straight gate, but won’t be able to.

Josh:
In this passage, the synagogue ruler does not directly rebuke Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, but rather the people, for coming to be healed on that day.

At any rate, based on the description provided here — merely a touch and a word — it\’s hard to fathom how anyone could consider this healing “work.”

 
BEST BAND NAME FROM THE PASSAGE:
Josh: Fallen Tower; Gathering Brood
David: DIG IT/DUNG IT
Steve: Ox or Donkey
Connie: Fruit on the Fig
Chloe: Third Day (shhh, don’t tell anyone, but it really is one!)

 
STORY IT REMINDS YOU OF::
David:
The people gloating about God\’s judgment reminded me of Katrina hitting New Orleans and Biloxi.

Steve:
The worst sermon I ever heard taught that those who died in car accidents had been punished for their sinful lives. I have heard echoes of this same attitude in the horrifying Westboro Baptist Church, but it seems from verses 4 and 5 that it’s been around far longer. And Jesus clearly rebukes the idea there: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Josh:
Karate Kid Part II — “Live or die, man?”

 
DEEP THEOLOGICAL MEANING:
Chloe:
At the beginning of the passage, Jesus brings up the point that rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous, a point the teachers of the law didn\’t understand back then, and a lot of Christians don\’t understand now. What comes immediately to my mind is the people who said the New Orleans or 9/11 events were an act of God.

Any number of tragedies can be attributed to God’s just retribution. But that\’s not how He works. These horrible things that happen are caused by our sin alone, just as the Galileans\’ suffering was caused by Pilate\’s sin. Blaming it on God is a cop-out, passing off the blame to Someone else when it\’s our own fault.

David:
In vv. 18-30, while listening to Jesus explain the Kingdom of God, it is hard to avoid the fact that a lot of people will be disappointed when they don’t make it in.

Steve:
Nothing Jesus did made sense to the religious people of His time. To them, it was obvious — given the commands of God — that the other six days of the week were for traveling to the synagogue for healing. To Him, bringing freedom was right, whenever it took place. To them, a threat on one’s life from the ruling authorities was dangerous. How were they to know that death was His goal?

If everything you do makes sense to the world, maybe you’re not doing everything you should.

 
RANDOM THOUGHT:
Josh:
Yeast pulls double duty as a metaphor, here for the Kingdom of God (13:21), while in the previous chapter it represented the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (12:1). No wonder the disciples got confused by parables.

Steve:
I remember my father using verse 34, where Jesus compares Himself to a mother hen, to make some sort of brilliant argument about the Bible in youth group, but I don’t exactly recall what that argument was. It was before my time, but I remember people talking about it…

David:
Jesus calls Herod a fox.

Chloe:
I love v. 17: “All his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.” It sounds like one of those high school dramas where justice is served, the underdog is glorified, and the bullies are shamed.

 
VERSE TO REMEMBER:
David:
13:34 — “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!”

Steve:
13:5 — “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Josh:
13:29 — “They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.”

Chloe:
13:24 — “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

 
PORTION YOU WOULD MOST LIKE EXPLAINED IN HEAVEN:
Chloe:
The passage says it was a spirit that crippled the woman. Was it really? Or was it some disease we could diagnose and maybe even treat now? If that\’s so, which stories throughout the gospels are really spirits/demons, and which were diseases they didn\’t understand back then? And most importantly, am I being heretical?

Steve:
How is that going to work, the people asking to get into heaven, and gnashing their teeth at the sight of the feasting prophets? What does this mean?

I suppose this wouldn’t be a good question for heaven, seeing as how the answer would be self-evident, but it’s a good question for now.

 
LESSON TO TAKE AWAY:
Connie:
In the introduction, I referred to lessons we need to heed today, and I meant vv. 25-27. We need to be careful not to get too blase about our walk, leaving Jesus out of the equation. Do you figure Him into your plans every day? Do you confer with Him or just inform Him later?

Do You know Him; more importantly, does He know you?

Josh:
I\’m not sure exactly what it is, but there has to be a lesson for today\’s church in the parable of the fig tree. I think there are a lot of folks who have soaked up perfectly good soil for years with no signs of any fruit. I\’m not really comfortable with the idea of ever giving up on someone, but I think sometimes we just need to start focusing more of our resources and attention on new trees.

David:
vv. 15-16: As Jesus taught in Mark 2:27, the Sabbath was made for man — not man for the Sabbath.

 
GENERAL RESPONSE TO THE PASSAGE:
Josh:
In Matthew (5:35), Jesus referred to Jerusalem as the city of the Great King. But in this chapter, He basically told them their time was up. They were all guilty, and the world would now inherit their blessing. Intended to be God\’s city, they instead became the city where His Word came to die.

David:
This section goes a long way toward challenging us about hypocrisy.

 
CONCLUSION:
Steve:
Jesus says goodbye to Jerusalem for now, but uses some classic foreshadowing (v. 33-35) to point toward his eventual return. “Surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”

But for now, we’re going back to a few chapters of straight parables.


Comments

Leave a comment!