Archive for the ‘suffering’ tag
March 28, 2010: The Lord’s Supper
The text for this lesson is Luke 22:1–23
Key Points
Discussion Points
1. What parts of the liturgy are closely connected with Palm Sunday and the Passion Narrative?
2. Today we study part of Jesus’ Passion Narrative. How is the term passion normally used today? What does it mean in the sense of the Passion of Jesus? How are these various definitions related? To what does the passive obedience of Jesus refer?
3. Keeping in mind the Passover theme, what do John 1:29; Isaiah 53:7; Revelation 5:12; and 1 Corinthians 5:7 teach us about Jesus and the Passover?
4. Read Exodus 12:12–13. How did the blood of the Passover lamb save the Israelites? What important event occurred after the Passover? Where would God later lead Israel? In what ways does Jesus’ work for us follow the pattern of the events in Exodus?
5. Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover feast (Luke 22:8–13). Since it was a festival, they reclined at the table (v. 14). The Passover meal involved both eating and teaching. Jesus taught them about how eager He was to eat this feast with them before He would suffer (v. 15), which brought to mind the numerous predictions He had made about His suffering and death. He taught them that He would not eat and drink again until the Passover meal was fulfilled in the kingdom of God (vv. 16–18). The fulfillment would be brought about through His death and resurrection, and afterwards He would eat and drink with them again to show them that the Kingdom had come (24:30, 41–43). But to this point in the meal, Jesus had followed the basic format of the Passover meal, and nothing too out of the ordinary had occurred. Then, with Jesus’ words in 22:19–20, the disciples heard a teaching that had never been given before. What teaching would have surprised the disciples? What now replaces the Passover meal?
6. What words in Luke 22:19–20 suggest that Jesus’ death will be a sacrifice? What similar language is used in Isaiah 53:12; Galatians 1:3–5; and 1 Timothy 2:5–6? What does Matthew 26:28 say specifically about Jesus’ blood? In what way do we participate in Jesus’ sacrificial death?
7. Question 5 discussed how “This is my body . . . this is my blood” would have surprised the disciples at the Passover meal. Yet the most shocking thing for them probably would have been Jesus’ instruction for them to drink blood. According to Leviticus 17:10–14, why was the consumption of blood prohibited under the old covenant? Why is the teaching of Leviticus about blood so helpful in understanding the value of the Lord’s Supper for us? See John 6:53–56 for further insight.
8. Where do we find the theme of Jesus as our Passover Lamb in the liturgy? In light of Revelation 19:9 and Isaiah 25:6–8, why is the Lord’s Supper sometimes called a foretaste of the feast to come?
9. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” He was directing His disciples to repeat the Lord’s Supper “until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). This phrase also could be translated “Do this for my remembrance,” in other words, so that Jesus would remember the promises He made at the Last Supper. It may seem silly—or even sacrilegious—to speak of reminding God, but this was common language in the Old Testament. Read Genesis 9:14–16 and Exodus 2:23–25. What things caused God to remember His promises? How would this concept fit with the Lord’s Supper?
January 31, 2010: Jesus Heals Many
The text for this lesson is Luke 4:31-44
Key Points
- Through many miracles, Jesus shows us His power over sin and the devil.
- Law: Because of sin, Satan has power and holds the world in bondage. Because of sin there is sickness in the world. I am lost in sin and death. God wants me and all others to know and believe in His Son.
- Gospel: Jesus is the Holy One of God who defeats Satan and frees me from his hold, granting me eternal life in paradise. Jesus has power over sin and sickness. Jesus was sent to preach and, through His own suffering and death, to save the lost. He speaks through His Word, and, in faith, grants me the opportunities to tell others this Good News about Jesus.
Discussion Points
1. In Luke 4:34, the unclean demon cried out to Jesus, “I know who You are—the Holy One of God.” Why does this demon cry out when he encounters Jesus? According to James 2:19, what does the knowledge of God cause demons to do? What do the demons in Luke 4:34 and 4:41 tell the reader of Luke’s Gospel about Jesus?
2. We see in Luke 4:35 and 4:41 that Jesus will not let the demons speak, “because they knew that He was the Christ.” Apparently, Jesus did not want to be revealed as the Christ from the lips of demons. What possible reasons would Jesus have not to be revealed to the world at that time as the Christ? Read Luke 9:18–22. To whom is Jesus revealed as the Christ here? What does Jesus tell them not to do? What event does Jesus predict but appears not yet ready to undergo? Read John 11:47–48 and Matthew 2:1–4. What do these passages reveal as possible reasons for Jesus to keep a low profile?
3. In Luke 4:43, Jesus says that He was sent to “preach the good news [Gospel] of the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God is an important theme in Luke’s Gospel. As Jesus preaches and performs miracles, He is showing that the kingdom of God has arrived. God is bringing about a new creation in Christ Jesus, giving new life to sinners. It is a kingdom of grace, a kingdom of the Gospel. In short, the kingdom of God is found wherever Jesus is King. Read Luke 10:8–12. When Jesus sent out His seventy-two messengers, what signs would accompany their message that the kingdom of God had come? What happens when people rejected that message? Read Luke 18:15–17. How must the kingdom of God be received?
4. Jesus revealed the breaking in of the kingdom of God by showing His great authority. In Luke 4:32, the people were astounded that His Word possessed such authority. He spoke as if He were God Himself, because He is! Then in Luke 4:36, the people were amazed at the authority He exercised over demons. Read Luke 5:17–26. What other authority did Jesus have and why was that so offensive to the scribes and Pharisees? According to John 20:19–23, what authority does Jesus give to the apostles, which is also given to those in the Office of the Holy Ministry?
5. According to Luke 4:36–37, Jesus’ authoritative preaching and miracles amazed the people, and “reports about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.” But Jesus had not yet revealed Himself as the Christ. What kind of faith, if any, could have been present among the people who witnessed these miracles? What warning does Jesus give us about faith healers and miracle workers (Mark 13:21–22)? In contrast, according to Luke 5:24, what is one reason that Jesus did miracles? Would modern faith healers and miracle workers have the same agenda as Jesus did? In what way can Jesus’ healing ministry be continued in the Church today?
6. In Luke 4:38–39, Jesus healed Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law of a high fever. After Jesus rebuked the fever and it left her, “immediately she rose and began to serve them.” How does Peter’s mother-in-law provide a wonderful example for Christian faith and life? How is this same attitude reflected in the Collect of Thanksgiving that is traditionally used after Holy Communion (LW p. 174)?
7. What is one reason so many people reject the Gospel? Why is it that many people do not go to church or go to churches that focus on things other than the Gospel? See 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Luke 8:12. What is the ultimate source of unbelief? Of what must Christians also be constantly aware?
8. According to Luke 4:40, Jesus would lay His hands on people who were sick and heal them. Jesus comes to us with His true body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar, forgiving our sins and giving us life and salvation. Martin Luther says of the Sacrament of the Altar in the Large Catechism, “We must never think of the Sacrament as something harmful from which we had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort. It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved” (Large Catechism, Part 5, paragraph 68). According to Luther, what besides the soul can be helped by the Sacrament? How should we be careful in our understanding of this teaching? How does this teaching point to the final resurrection of our bodies?
