Luke 5.33-6.16 – New Deal, New People

With Jesus present the old has gone and the new has come.  This is the new covenant spoken of long ago by Israel’s prophets.  This is the kingdom of God; the dawning of God’s new age.  And the people of this new age are to live new lives themselves.  Now is the time for feasting not fasting, the abundance of new wine, and a radical new life that bursts into Sabbath.  The mercy of God is alive and active.

• Are you living a radical new life?

• In what ways are you still living as if the new deal of the Gospel had never burst into your life?

• How can you celebrate this new deal today?

• In what ways do you need to ‘stretch out your hand’ to Jesus?  

Luke 5.1-32 – The Call of Jesus

Jesus draws out responses.  He wants people to leave their old securities behind and follow him.  He calls the ordinary and the excluded; fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots and lepers.  People respond - the disciples leave everything to become his followers; a leper falls at his feet; and some men dismantle a roof.  This is the first day of the rest of their lives; lives which forever would be changed.  The presence of Jesus transforms peoples’ priorities.

• ‘When Christ calls a person, he bids them come and die’ (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).  How does the call of Jesus make you feel?

• What does it mean for you to follow Jesus today?

• Is there anything you need to leave behind?

• What does it mean for you not to centre your world on your career or your brokenness?

Luke 4.31-44 – Powerful Words, Mighty Deeds

Demons and sickness are rebuked.  Exorcisms and healings take place.  The simple words of Jesus carry extraordinary authority and power.  They are part of the proclamation of the coming kingdom of God; the result of Jesus having been anointed by the Holy Spirit to do exactly what he said he had come to do at Nazareth – to release the oppressed, to give sight to the blind, and to set the prisoners free.

• Is there room in your understanding of the kingdom of God for remarkable healings and exorcisms?

• Do you believe in demons?

• Do you think you could rebuke a demon or a fever?

• What do you think these episodes tell us about Jesus?

Luke 4.15-30 – Straight to the Point

After years of silent preparation – prayer, thought, the study of scripture, baptism and testing – Jesus finally goes public.  But not in the way people were expecting; here, there is no talk of Israel’s political, military or theological liberation from her pagan enemies.  No, instead Jesus takes upon himself the description of the servant-Messiah from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61.1-2) who will do the Lord’s will.  This is Jesus’ personal manifesto.  This is the surprising news of God’s amazing grace.

• Are you ‘amazed’ by the gracious words of Jesus?

• What would happen in your world if you had a similar manifesto to Jesus?

• Is there any reason why you can’t take vs.18 and 19 to heart, and make them your own personal manifesto? 

• Are your expectations of what God ought to be doing your own or his own?

Luke 4.1-14 - Temptation in the Wilderness

The ‘sonship’ of Jesus is tested.  The true enemy is revealed as the devil who lies and tempts; three times seeking to lure Jesus to act independently of his Father.  The temptations are plausible, attractive and logical; there are echoes of Israel’s forty-year wandering in the wilderness all the while grumbling for bread, flirting with idolatry, and putting God continually to the test.  But where Israel failed, Jesus will succeed; he remains true to God the Father by holding to his word.

• In what ways are you acting independently of God?

• What temptations are most common to you?

• What helps you to resist?

• Have you learnt to distinguish the attractive lies of the devil from the voice of God? 

Luke 3.21-38 - This is my Son

The public ministry of Jesus begins; Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptised by John.  As John baptises him, Jesus receives the energising power of the Holy Spirit, and the Father in heaven affirms him as his son.  A fact that Luke then proves with a family tree; Jesus is not only a Jew and a descendent of David – and so part of the genuinely royal family – but ultimately the son of God.  Through him, the hopes of Israel and of creation will be realised.

• Can you hear the voice of God the Father affirming you today?

• Are you open to receiving the energising power of the Holy Spirit?

• What is it that Jesus is being prepared for?

• What is God preparing you for?

Luke 3.1-20 - The Warm Up Act

John the Baptist bursts onto the scene with one basic agenda – preparing the way for Jesus’ public ministry; calling people to ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’  John was doing what the prophet Isaiah had previously spoken of – making a pathway for the Lord to return to his people.  And this was now the time.  Salvation was at hand.  The people must return to God in word and deed.  Love and justice really do matter.

• What do you need to turn away from that’s currently hindering your obedience to God?

• How does the idea of Jesus being judge as well as saviour make you feel?

• Is your understanding of Jesus too tame?

• What situations of injustice, whether local or global, might you begin to confront?