Paul's Final Days - Chapter 30

As you read this week, allow yourself to experience the emotions, situations, and responses within the text. From Paul’s farewell to the elders in Ephesus to his final instructions to Timothy, Paul has to spend some time in reflection over his ministry. When he looks back to the church in Corinth, did he build in vain? God is the one who makes things grow, but will what he built withstand the test of fire (1 Cor 3:14-15). Paul’s care and concern for the church throughout his life and especially at the end is inspiring.

What are some things you admire about Paul’s character through these different scenes in our reading this week? One of the biggest things for me was how he acted on the ship. He is a prisoner who has appealed to Caesar. Throughout most of this scene, I picture Paul standing tall (though he apparently was quite short) above everyone on the ship. Everyone has given their attention to Paul as he confidently speaks hope into their desperate situation. The peace he carries with him is one of a man who is connected with God intimately. Where does your peace come from?

Paul’s goal was to literally take the gospel to the ends of the earth. In his day, that would be Spain. There are towns in Britain who claim that Paul made it all the way to their Island but we have no way of knowing for sure. Paul’s desire was that the whole world would know Jesus. When we think of mission, we often think of a location we arrive to in order to do mission work. Paul didn’t see it this way. Wherever he was, that was his mission field. Mission work was as he went and interestingly, whoever he was chained to. One of my favorite passages in Paul’s writing is Philippians 4:22, “All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.”

Can you imagine the changing of the guard with Paul? How do you think he approached these conversations? My guess would be he asked them about their kids, their spouse, what it is like to be in the Roman Army, etc. You know…life. Paul probably built relationships with the guards and shared Jesus with them through natural conversation. Jesus permeated everything Paul did so Jesus would naturally come up in everything Paul was doing. Over time, Paul seemed to have converted many in Caesar’s household. Paul ministered to the person in front of him. Who is in front of you today? How are you going to share peace and love with them that can only come from Jesus Christ?  

Paul’s journey as an Apostle began with Barnabas putting his arm around him and guiding him in their first missionary journey and ended with Paul putting his arm around Timothy. Faith is passed through intentionality of more mature Christians guiding younger Christians in the faith. That’s what family looks like. Who is speaking into your walk with Christ to help you grow? If you don’t have someone, I would love to help connect you with someone who can walk with you. Who is the Timothy in your life, whom you encourage in their walk with Christ and help them grow? If you don’t have someone, I would love to help connect you.

Take a moment to pretend with me: Imagine that you are at the end of your Christian walk and you want to say one final bit of encouragement to a younger Christian. What would you tell that person? What would you emphasize about the Christian walk? About God? About Jesus? About Spiritual Disciplines? What is important to remember? Where should their focus be? What should they not get distracted by? If you are willing to share this letter with me, I’d love to read them!  

Paul's Mission - Chapter 29

Saul of Tarsus was born around 5 AD in Tarsus in Cilicia, in what is modern day Turkey. His parents were Jewish who possessed Roman citizenship. After moving to Jerusalem, Saul studied Hebrew Scriptures under Rabbi Gamaliel sometime between 15-20 AD. He was from the strictest sect of the Pharisees and simply better than his contemporaries. By all measures of our time, he was an up and coming citizen who was reaching the pinnacle of existence. Then…Jesus messed his life up.

There are so many different stories we could focus on in this week’s reading but I want to draw your attention to what drove Paul at the core of his being. Jesus messed up his life and then Paul went through the worst of sufferings (2 Cor. 11:23-28) before finally being beheaded by Nero sometime between 64 and 68 AD. When Paul lists his sufferings in 2 Cor. 11, we must ask where his faith came from that brought about that kind of perseverance.

Before Jesus goes to the cross, he is in the Garden of Gethsemane and desires that the Father would take this cup away from him. What faith did Jesus have that gave him the courage to go to the cross? He believed that death would have no hold on him. He believed that he would be resurrected.

Jesus’ resurrection changed everything. We receive the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we will join Christ in his resurrection. The Holy Spirit transformed Peter into one of the pillars of the early Church till his martyrdom around the same time of Paul. I received a note from Cindy Leone last week saying, “There is such a HUGE difference in Peter once he has the Holy Spirit and that reminds me how strong the Holy Spirit can be in me also.” We need that kind of reminder daily!

When we look at the crazy life of Paul, we see a man convicted by the Holy Spirit that everything he had gained in life is considered rubbish for the sake of Christ (Phil 3:8). Paul’s greatest desire for his life was to “know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:10-11).

Paul was willing to stand tall in the face of death because he knew what was ahead of him. Death did not have the last word. Death had no victory over him (1 Cor. 15:31, 54-57)! What drive you each day? What motivates you in the decisions you make? As you read through this section of Acts, allow Paul to become a model for what it looks like to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ with every ounce of your being.

I love how The Story weaves Paul’s letters into the narrative of Acts to give a glimpse of what all was going on when Paul wrote to these Churches. What are some of the major themes you see in these letters? What do we need to hear today? One of the major writings that is highlighted in this chapter that I’d like to point to for a moment is found on page 425. Paul spends a lot of time focusing on sexual ethics in his writings. Christianity stood out in the Greco-Roman world in regards to sexual ethics because they ethics were same for the men as they were for the women. There is a major issue of sexual ethics taking place in the church in Corinth and Paul writes to address it. The reason I want to focus on this particular writing is because there is a message we need to be reminded of today.

Paul called them to not associate with the sexually immoral. He clarifies that he meant the sexually immoral people in the church. Paul says that we are to let God worry about those outside the church. This passage is very freeing but also comes with a heavy weight. We as Christians have spent a lot of time sorting out sexual immorality in the world while often ignoring the immorality in our own churches. This is freeing because God doesn’t need my help sorting out who are sinners outside of the church. This adds a heavy weight because we are called to address sexual immorality in those who are in the church. When we leave sin unaddressed it plagues the church and hurts our Family. The purpose of addressing these sins is to restore the person back to God and to the Family of believers. Otherwise the Image of God, the church, is tarnished. We’ve often showed a lot of grace to those in the church while casting judgement on those outside, who incidentally don’t adhere to the same ethics we do. Paul calls the church to change this around.

Paul spends a lot of time in his writings calling for unity. Where are some areas where we need to address unity and equality amongst believers? How does the lack of equality displayed in the church tarnish our witness to the world around us? What other principles do you see Paul calling for as he addresses issues in the church?

New Beginnings - Chapter 28

Jesus’ resurrection is the moment in history where everything changed. This week in The Story, we look at the beginnings of what we now know as “Christianity.” There are major questions that have bounced around my head for years with the beginning of Christianity. One major one is: Why would a group of Jews who regularly kept the Sabbath (Saturday) all of a sudden shift their holy day focus to Sunday? The resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection is central to life and practices of the early church. The Followers of the Way, as they were called early on, used to gather on the first day of the week at sunrise to celebrate the rising of the Son. Their whole reason for coming together was the celebrate that Jesus was resurrected and encourage one another to live out the resurrection in their lives. Baptism is participation in the death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6). Receiving the Holy Spirit in Baptism is receiving the first parts of the resurrection (2 Cor. 5:1-5). They gathered around the Table for the Lord’s Supper on the first day because it was a celebration of the liberation they received from slavery in the resurrection of Jesus. This is a re-appropriation of the Passover (Matthew 26). Jesus’ death on the cross cleanses us and creates space for the Holy Spirit to take up residence in us. We participate in his death through baptism and in his resurrection through being raised out of the water and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts is written as an epic and covers roughly three decades but it isn’t solely to be read as “Early Church History.” There are a lot of questions unanswered in Acts like: What happens to Peter after ch. 12? What all is James doing in Jerusalem? What happens in the expansion of the church in the east and the south? Luke focuses mainly on the expansion of the Kingdom of God, the Church, under Paul. Why is that? Rome was the center point of the known world. Caesar was the ruler of all things Rome touched. In this small corner of the empire, a king was born, lived, died, and was resurrected. With the resurrection, Thomas gives the proclamation of all Christians since, “My Lord and my God!” When the early Christians say, “Jesus is Lord!” they are controversially declaring that Caesar is not! The life they lived in community were lived in demonstration that the ways the world was structured was not Lord but that Jesus is. They broke convention by meeting together in their homes, breaking bread together in fellowship, and shared all things in common. Luke’s Epic, we call Acts, traces the counter cultural movement from its little corner of the empire to Paul ready to stand before the emperor himself. What an incredible story!

Watch for how the Kingdom looks early on in Acts and the issues they quickly face as diverse groups of people begin to come together and try to be Family. How do they work through these issues? What does it take to function and live like Family? What do you see in individuals who lived lives transformed by receiving the Holy Spirit? When you look at Barnabas, who are you taking under your wing to guide them in the faith? Who are you allowing to be Barnabas to you? What group of people do you need God to come to you in a vision for and lower a sheet for you to make a point? How has the Holy Spirit made you bold? Has the Holy Spirit made you bold? Why/why not? What does it mean to rejoice because you had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name?  

The Resurrection - Chapter 27

I’m going to break away from The Story a little bit today to provide context for the importance of the Resurrection. In class Sunday, we talked about the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and how this is often where we focus in Christianity. More is going on than just the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and I think it is pertinent to study the Resurrection of Jesus. Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17).

What is central to Christian belief? I once drew a large target on the board of one of my college classes and wrote “Gospel” in the middle. I then read off a list of “debates” that break out in churches that often lead to divisions and asked the class what is central to the “Gospel.” In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul begins by saying, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…” When we see a verse like this, we need to pay attention. Sometimes we place more emphasis on things that are not central to the Gospel than we do the things that are. I plant that as a seed of thought for future discussions and to lay a foundation of importance for this week’s reading. Paul says he wants to remind them of the gospel he preached and then writes a long discourse on the resurrection of the dead. Take a moment to think about what you imagine when you think of the resurrection.

Take some time to read all of 1 Corinthians 15. What will be resurrected when the Resurrection comes? What will we be like? I remember watching cartoons that depicted death where the character was a ghostly looking being wearing a white robe with a halo and wings. These scenes depict a spirit leaving the body to go to heaven. While this may not be false, does something more happen at the Resurrection? One of my favorite authors/scholars that I read, N.T. Wright, is known for saying, “I want to talk about life after, life after death.” We’ve talked a lot in Christianity about what happens when we die but he, and others, want to focus more on what happens in the Resurrection. What is our final existence? Why does it matter?

Philippians 3:20-21 – “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

1 John 3:1-3 – “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

2 Peter 3:13 – “But in keeping with his promises we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

1 Thess 4:13-18 – “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Greeks, based in the Philosophy of Plato and Plotinus, saw the body as evil and the spirit as good. The thought that we would receive a resurrected body was foolishness to them. The Greeks taught that it is our spirits that leave our bodies to go sit on a cloud for the rest of eternity. These ideas were battled in the early church but crept their way back into Christian teaching in the Middle Ages.

As you read The Story this week, what do you notice about Jesus’ resurrected body? If it is his soul that is resurrected, why is the tomb empty? Think about your current body. Is this what God intended when he created humanity in the Garden?

Why does this matter? We have received the first parts of the resurrection as we anticipate the full Resurrection to come. We live out what God intended His creation to look like. We don’t “do good” in order to receive a reward. We “do good” because we see the brokenness of the world and work towards reconciling it!

Romans 6:3-4 – “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

There is a lot more to be said on this topic, looking back to the prophets (Isaiah 11 specifically) and looking forward to the end of Revelation (20-22) but I mostly want to plant these seeds of thought to start the dialogue. We've focused a lot in Christianity on things that are not central to the Gospel and I want to advocate that we focus more on what it means to live out the resurrected life. I want us to be able to say with confidence what Paul says in Philippians 3:10-11, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

The Hour of Darkness - Chapter 26

When asked why Jesus had to die, we often jump to an explanation called “Penal Substitution” which basically says that sin requires death and Jesus stepped in and took on the punishment in himself. The basis for this view of “atonement” is found in Romans 8:1-4. There is more going on at the cross than this. Penal Substitution isn’t wrong but it isn’t the full picture, though we’ve often forced everything we say about the cross into this view. What do the Gospels say about the atonement? Think back to the sermon series this summer about the four speakers in the surround sound system (no I don’t expect you to remember them!). My purpose for that series was to help us see that so much more is going on in the gospels than just build up to “Jesus dying on the cross to save me from my sins.”

There are a number of things in The Story where I haven’t been 100% with the commentator in their abridged parts of the narrative. I think it is healthy to have differences of beliefs and views. I can ignore most things. This week, I feel the need to make two comments on what the commentator says on page 379: “So Jesus waited that day…for death to overcome him.” And “God poured out humanity’s rightful punishment for sin upon his Son.”

First, Jesus is depicted on the cross as giving up his spirit. I believe the gospel writers are communicating loudly that Jesus’ spirit was not taken from him but that he gave it up. Even in his last moments, he was in control. Mark is the only one that doesn’t point to this control and simply says, “He breathed his last.” Spend some time focusing on how Jesus dies in each of the gospels: Matt 27:50, Luke 23:46, and John 19:30.

Second, the picture of “God pouring out humanity’s rightful punishment…” is a picture I keep trying to come back to. A lot of my atheist friends have asked questions about this wrathful God who so desperately wants to destroy us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When we present only the Penal Substitution view of atonement, we unintentionally present God more like the pagan gods who need their wrath subdued. I heard a scholar speak on this once, who said we talk about God and Jesus in a way that says, “For God so hated the world that he murdered his one and only Son.” The gods of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome all were angry gods demanding sacrifice. The God of the Jews, the God of Jesus, was a God of love who created the world out of love. We need to be careful that we aren’t turning the one true God into another god in the Pantheon. There is a lot more to be talked about on this topic in regards to what the sacrificial system was for Israel and how Jesus plays into that. Maybe we can talk about that in class on Sunday if you are interested. For now, I want to encourage you to remember the story of Creation, Israel, and what God is accomplishing in this world as you think about Jesus on the cross. What is Jesus accomplishing?

In the Gospels, when Jesus wanted to explain what his death would mean, he didn’t give them a theory of atonement, he gave them a meal and a dramatic action. The Lord’s Supper and the washing of the disciples’ feet become the lens through which we see everything else. The Lord’s Supper connects us back to the Exodus story. There is an oppressor who needs to be conquered for God’s people to find freedom. Jesus’ death on the cross conquered the oppressor, the dark powers of this world whom he allowed to do their worst to him. He came as the perfect Man, the New Adam, and redeemed the creation for what God intended it to be. In his resurrection, we are given New Life (We’ll talk more about this next week). In the foot washing action, Jesus demonstrates all of his teachings for how we are to live in the Kingdom. Those who aspire to be great in the Kingdom will be a servant to all. This two-fold action points not only to the type of life lived but also to the reality that he has made them clean to go and live a Kingdom Life.

Christ has made you clean to receive the Kingdom of God. The Spirit has come to you in your baptism. You gather around the Lord’s Table to remember the Exodus that we took part in when we were liberated from sin. God loves this world. He has always loved this world and he has not given up on what he intended for this world. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ our Lord for conquering death so that we might find Life. 

Jesus, the Son of God - Chapter 25

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” – This question is asked by all of us at some point or another. Do Wednesday Nights count? How many Sundays can I miss in a year? How often do I need to volunteer for God to notice and let me into the Kingdom? If God notices how big of a jerk that guy is, he’ll understand why I don’t help him, right? We often end up asking what is required of us to make it in. When the man runs up to Jesus and asks this pressing question, he lets Jesus know that he has kept all of the commands since he was a boy. This guy is an exemplar of moral living. Jesus then tells him to go sell everything and give it to the poor and then to come follow him. Many in my generation look to this story as license to point a condemning finger to people in the church who have money. Ironically, their blogs are written on $1500 computers, while drinking a $5 latte, in a country that places you within the 1% of the top income in the world’s population. When we talk about riches and Kingdom living, we should be careful where fingers are pointed.

With that being said, I think the discussion of rich people and the Kingdom of God is missing the point of what Jesus is getting at. What we do with our money is an important discussion but I don’t think that’s the point of this passage. When the man walks away sad, the disciples ask, “Who then can be saved?!” Jesus’ response here is key, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

How does one gain eternal life? Through Jesus. That’s all. There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more. There’s nothing you can do to make God love you less. God’s love is perfect and perfectly displayed and embodied in and through Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. There is no way to earn your way. If there was a way, Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21).

Peter says that they have left everything to follow Jesus. What does it mean that they will receive a hundred times as much in this present age? What does this say about the church? How should we as a church function to where this statement is true? The age to come, they will receive eternal life. We focus a lot more on the age to come than we do on the “present age.” What does it mean that we become family to those who have left family? How does living this out in the “present age” shape how we view the “age to come”?

There are so many great stories to talk about in “The Story” this week. I chose this one because it positioned in the middle of a number of stories pointing to the Resurrection and it focuses on what is possible through the right means of power. When Jesus’s soul is troubled before going to the cross, his resolve is, “Father, glorify your name!” Jesus knows the power of the Resurrection and stares death in the face and allows the Father’s name to be glorified. When we know the power of the Resurrection, everything changes. When we know the power of the Resurrection, we are no longer concerned with power or position for ourselves. When we know the power of the Resurrection, we join with Jesus and say, “Father, glorify your name!”

Find the truth and allow the truth to set you free. When you find yourself in a mountaintop experience, don’t look for yourself to be glorified. All mountaintop experiences point to Jesus being glorified. There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more and there’s nothing you can do to make God love you less. All things are possible with God because his love is perfect for you.  

No Ordinary Man - Chapter 24

This week’s reading, chapter 24, is largely focused on the teachings of Jesus. Over the years, I’ve found myself reading these stories and teachings and doing a few things with them. I rationalize how if Jesus knew my situation he would teach something different. I justify my own convictions into the text. And I often see myself as the best character in the story and thank God that I’m not like that terrible Pharisee. While I am overstating this on some level, the sentiment of what I’m saying probably holds true for many of us. Jesus gives many hard teachings of radical submission and radical forms of love. While we’ve read many of these lessons plenty of times again, I want to challenge us to be open to the Spirit’s conviction in our lives to transform us through the words of Jesus. Simon Peter says it best, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Here are some comments and questions to wrestle with while you read this chapter:

Page 337-340

-       These three parables go together and each have a common focus, “Rejoice with me…” when sinners come into the Kingdom. Who are people in this world that you struggle to rejoice for if they were to come into the Kingdom of God? It is easy to say we will rejoice when we know we won’t have to interact with them. Can we say we want someone in the Kingdom whom we are unwilling to interact with in this life? This entire discussion originates with criticism over who Jesus is hanging out with. What if the only way we are going to truly welcome people into the Kingdom is if we spend time with them outside of the Kingdom? Take a moment to examine your friendships. How many nonChristians do you have genuine relationships with?

-       In the story of the prodigal son, read it a few times and place yourself in each characters’ position in the story. When was the last time you allowed yourself to feel the warm embrace of the Father? Who do you have your eyes on the road for to return home from their departure? What emotions does the father have? When was a time when you felt self-pity when someone else was receiving the attention?

-       When the man asks, “Who is my neighbor?” He asked for clarification of “who” and Jesus responded with a call to action. What does it mean to be neighbor to others?

Pages 340-343

-       Jesus begins his sermon on the mount with words of blessing. He then has a few “you are…” statements affirming their role and identity as being salt and light. How do words of affirmation help you better accomplish hard things? Wake up every day this week, look in the mirror, and say, “You are a child of God. You are loved and God is very pleased with you.” If you believed that at your core, what areas of your life would change?

-       Take the Lord’s Prayer on 341 and use it as a framework for your prayer life this week. Use each line of the prayer to focus what you pray.

-       Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In what way is giving a spiritual discipline? How does giving money as an offering draw you closer to God?

-       When I’ve herd teachings about the eyes being a lamp to the body, I’ve often heard it applied to issues of lust or watching rated R movies, “Be careful little eyes what you see.” In what other areas of life can this verse be applied?

-       What do you worry about most? How does seeking the Kingdom offset that worry?

-       There are a lot of hard teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. How seriously are we supposed to take these teachings? At the end of it, Jesus says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” I believe the church as a whole would be a better light to the world if we took this sermon seriously.

Pages 343-351

-       Jesus is asleep on a boat in the middle of a storm. When they woke him he rebuked the storm and questioned their faith. Remember who you have with you. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you as you navigate this storm called life. I’m hesitant with where to take this because how people will receive it. Jesus won’t always calm the storms in our life but when we know who is with us we will have a peace about us amongst the chaos of the storms swirling around us.

-       The power that is within Jesus is greater than the storms and it is also greater than the Legion of demons possessing this naked-bleeding-crazy guy who lives in a cemetery. When the people find him seated and in his right mind at the feet of Jesus, they are terrified of Jesus. Why does Jesus not let the guy come with him on his journey?

-       In the stories to follow, there are different examples of Jesus’ power. What strikes you about these stories? How does Jesus respond to these different people? What tone do you hear in his voice when you read it? Is this the same way you interact with people on a daily basis?

-       The line that struck me the hardest in the reading is when Jesus looks out over the crowd and his emotion is “compassion” because they were like sheep without a shepherd. There are groups of people I see on a daily basis that my first reaction hasn’t always been compassion. I’m praying for that transformation in my view of people. Who are people that you need to see with compassion?

-       Food is fuel. If you eat bad food you’re going to get sluggish. If you eat healthy food, you’re going to have more energy. If you need to know more about this, ask Pat Fuller and she’ll fill you in. The question I want to leave with us is this hard teaching of Jesus. What does a body look like that has a diet of eating the bread and blood of Christ? What does the individual look like? More importantly, we are called to give up our self to be the body of Christ. What does the body of Christ look like based on this diet? Maybe other questions to explore here could fall in the lines of, what junk have we been feeding the body of Christ that is making it sluggish?

Jesus' Ministry Begins - Chapter 23

Chapter 23 begins and ends with John the Baptist. At the end, John is sitting in prison awaiting his pending death. He wants to know if Jesus is in fact the Messiah because he hasn’t acted as many think the Messiah should act. With his pending death looming, John wants to know if his life’s work has been focused in the right direction. This is a fair question of doubt that gives me some comfort. Jesus responds with a reference to Isaiah 35:5-6 (and Isaiah 61) and points to what he has done: blind receive sight, lame walk, leprosy cleansed, deaf hear, dead raised, good news proclaimed to the poor.

As you read chapter 23 this week, pay attention to how Jesus treats people. Ephesians 4:15 reminds us that truth is to be spoken in love. I’m continually disheartened when I see our Brothers and Sisters in Christ beating people up because of their sins. We need to know the words of Jesus but it is essential that we also pay attention to the actions of Jesus. When he sees people in their brokenness, he sees them with compassion and has a message of peace and grace for them. When he sees the religious leaders, who assume they are not broken, he has a more critical eye and tone. I fear our tendency is to hear the voice of Jesus with a tone of grace and love in our own lives and fail to extend the same tone of grace and love to others.

Questions to consider while reading this chapter:

-       What does Satan seem to be attacking when he questions Jesus in the wilderness? In what ways is your identity attacked when you struggle with temptation? Where does your identity come from?

-       The Samaritan Woman – When she realizes that Jesus is from God, she asks him what seems like a really random question. The question of location of worship is essential for her. It has been a debate for centuries between the Jews and Samaritans. If you got to ask Jesus one question, what would you ask? I’d love to hear your responses on this. Please send them my way! In a question about location of worship, what does it mean to “worship in Spirit and in truth”?

-       Why is Jesus “indignant” when the man with leprosy came to him and said, “if you’re willing, you can make me clean”?

-       When Jesus saw the faith of the men who lowered their friend through the roof, he forgave the sins of the paralyzed man. How influential is your faith in the salvation of others? Who do you need to faithfully bring to Jesus for healing?

-       The Gospel writer takes time to list off women who are helping Jesus financially. It was not uncommon for women to give financial support to Rabbis during that time but it was completely unusual for women to travel with the Rabbis they supported. Why does the Gospel writer draw attention to these women who traveled with Jesus? What does this say about Jesus’ ministry in contrast to his culture? What does this say about his view of these women as disciples?

I look forward to our discussion this coming Sunday! 

The Birth of the King - Chapter 22

Have you ever spent time thinking about the situation surrounding your birth? I was born at a really early age so I don’t remember much about my birth. I didn’t get to choose where I was born, to whom I was born, or into what situation I was born. Thankfully, I was born to modest parents who worked hard to provide for their small family. I was born in the biggest small town in Texas, far from political upheaval and abusive tyrants. I was the second boy born to a mom who wanted a girl and a dad who only wanted one. I say that jokingly because my parents adored me and there was never a time I didn’t know and deeply feel their love.

God, the Word, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He was called Immanuel, “God with us,” and given the name Jesus (Joshua, in Hebrew), which means, “God saves.” God had the ability to choose how, to whom, and where he would be born into this world. He chose a teenage refugee virgin living under an oppressive government who couldn’t secure a room to give birth in. This is far from a “noble birth.”

What does this birth tell you about God?

As you read “The Story” this week, spend some time focusing on the characters, their responses, and their positions in society. Ask questions as to what the Gospel writers are trying to communicate when each person is mentioned. Example: Who comes to visit baby Jesus? Shepherds and Magi (Wise Men). The birth of the Messiah is revealed to two groups: the “nobodies” of society and foreigner from a far-off land. What does this tell us about Jesus’ ministry and who he came for?

Who is anxious in this story? Why?

In your personal devotion time this week, spend some time reflecting on what it means that God became flesh. What do these humble beginnings mean for you and the life you live in proximity to the world around you? Take some time to reflect on Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi where he quotes a song that the early church was familiar with (Phil 2:5-11). Here are more passages for your reflection this week as we look at the birth of Jesus: Colossians 1:15-23, 2:6-15, 3:1-17 and Hebrews chapters 1-2. I’d love to hear your questions and thoughts about the readings this week. I really look forward to our discussion in bible class on Sunday. Find ways to be the incarnation to the world around you this week.