Lesson 8: the Gospel of Luke Chapter 10-11

Lesson 8: The Gospel of Luke Chapter 10-11 ⓵ Day 1--Read Luke 10: 1-24 Best to start by a quick reading of the whole chapter. 1. Pick four of the following verses and find applications or principles that apply to today’s disciples of Christ who are in the work of the harvest of souls, like missionaries or LDS women who are trying to be member-missionaries. Pick any verse from 1 to 17.

Verse ___:

2. What emotions are expressed by Jesus and his disciples as they report their missions? What does that mean for your own ministry and service?

3. Jesus breaks into a prayer of gratitude, thanking God his Father for revealing truth to “babes.” (babies) This reflects a common theme in scripture. See D&C 50:40 and D&C 1:18 in the Scripture List. a. What does it mean to you that Christ considers us to be “babies,” “little children” and “weak and simple”?

b. We sometimes put leaders on such pedestals that we forget that we are all in this position of childlike weakness before the Lord. What harm is there in saying or thinking that someone is so good or righteous that they never make mistakes or couldn’t misunderstand something? Or, put in another way, considering D& C 1:19 above, are there some people on this earth whose arm of flesh we can trust in?

⓶ Day 2 Read Luke 10:25-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan A lawyer in Jesus’ day was highly trained in the Mosaic Law. The scripture says (v 25) the lawyer “tempted” him, meaning tested in Greek. The man may have been genuinely curious. Jesus turned the question back to the man and asked how he would answer. The lawyer quotes Deut. 6:5: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, etc,” and Lev.19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” the two most important commandments and Jesus told him so. But his second question revealed his faulty thinking, for he assumed he had fulfilled the first commandment. Pharisees commonly thought that their meticulous rule keeping was proof of their love of God. Getting the next part right depended on the definition of “neighbor.” The Good Samaritan Parable is the answer to the question—“who is my neighbor?” 5. The Jews taught that one should love one’s neighbor but also, that one should hate one’s enemies. Given that mind-set, how do you suppose the Pharisees defined “neighbor”? 6. Name some possible “good excuses” the Levite and priest may have mentally used as they passed the wounded man. 2Sisters at the Well: Study of the Gospel of Luke Lesson 6: Luke 7-8

7. Who is our neighbor?

⓷ Day 3 Luke 10: 38-42 through Luke 11:1-13 8. How would you describe the inner motivation of each of the women, Mary and Martha?

9. What is “that good part”?

10. What were Martha’s strengths and weaknesses?

Teachings on Prayer 11. Luke’s version of the Lord’s teachings on prayer is slightly different than the familiar one in Matthew, which comes as part of the Sermon on the Mount. What is in Luke’s account that shows what motivated the apostles to ask the Lord to teach them about prayer?

12. What is the condition, from both Luke and Matthew’s version (Matt 6:9-13), upon which we may receive forgiveness for our sins?

b) What are the spiritual consequences of holding on to un-forgiveness? Of finally letting it go?

13. a) Verses 7 & 8 describe a situation that might not make much sense unless you know the way a typical home was set up in that day. A sleeping area was often a platform above or a room next to where the household animals were kept at night. The family slept together, so getting up in the night to answer a request for bread would mean waking the entire family and animals. No small inconvenience! Yet even this obstacle could be overcome if the neighbor did what?

b) What do you think the Lord was trying to tell his disciples about how they should pray in order to get their prayers answered?

⓸ Day 4 Luke 11:14-26 14.Jesus cast a devil out of a mute man. There were many claiming to be exorcists in that pre-scientific culture. It was universally held that in order to gain the mastery over an evil spirit you had to know its name. The people would have thought this a particularly impressive display of Christ’s power since, as the man was mute, he couldn’t tell the demon’s name. The Pharisees thought they had to counter this miracle in the minds of the people so they said that the only reason Jesus cast out the devil was by using the power of the devil himself to do it. How did Jesus show their faulty logic?

15. CHALLENGE QUESTION: The “strong man” of verse 21 Is Satan. The “stronger man” of verse 22 is Jesus. How is Jesus using this mini-parable to prove that “the kingdom of God is come upon you”?

16. The human heart is like a vacuum. It can’t stay empty. What will happen if you clean your heart of evil things but do not replace them with good thoughts, desires and motivations?

⓸ Day 5 Luke 11:27-36 17. See Jonah 1:17 in Scripture List. What was “the sign of Jonah” that Jesus said he would give the people to prove that he was indeed who he said he was—the Messiah and Son of God?

The section about light, lamps and eyes applies to what came just before—the Pharisees saying Jesus worked by the power of Satan and demanding a sign—and to what comes after it—Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees for apostasy and hypocrisy. Jesus says a light should be put on a candlestick so all can see it. That’s why Jesus did his works in the open, for all to see. Still the leaders rejected him! Their problem was blindness. This is the meaning of the strange sounding words about the light of the body is the eye. If there is light around you, but you are blind and can’t see it, then you are “in the dark” and it’s the fault of your own eyes, not the fault of the shining light. 18. Jesus warns (v.35) that “the light which is in thee be not darkness.” This seems like a logical impossibility. Yet in the verses that follow, in which Jesus criticizes the Pharisees, we see an example of what Jesus was talking about. How had “the light” in the Pharisees become darkness?

19. What particularly spoke to you from these chapters of Luke and how might you apply them to your life?

Scripture List

©2015 Poet & Wilson email: [email protected] www.sistersatthewell.org 4Sisters at the Well: Study of the Gospel of Luke Lesson 6: Luke 7-8 D&C 50:40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. 41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me. D&C 1:18-19; 23 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets— 19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh…. 23 That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.

JONAH 1:17 ¶ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

D&C 50:23 “And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness. 24 That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. 25 And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you.” ( Check out the dictionary for edify.)