1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
As Jesus begins his ministry on earth, he starts out with some shocking strategies. First, he calls together a group of disciples, men who were overlooked, rejected, or all that interested in the first place in following a Rabbi. It's not like Jesus picked the "Dream Team" from the religious Sanhedrin Counsel or anything. Besides that, he spent time with the crowds, teaching, preaching and healing. He even sat at the dinner table with tax collectors and "sinners". Even though these ministry strategies may not have come from the latest "Church Leadership" Best-Selling novel, Jesus was giving off the vibes that real community, despite shortcomings was vital in the kingdom of God. In a sense, we are better together than we could ever have dreamed of being on our own. We can lift each other up, support each other, encourage each other, correct each other, learn from each other, and more. But we need each other, and Christ modeled this with his life.
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?
The opening section of this chapter is about the calling of the first four disciples. The gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, also gives an account of this occurrence, but gives far less detail. In some ways, I always found it hard to believe that without any previous conversation or encounter, the four of them would "immediately" leave everything to follow him with the words "Come, follow me." Luke's account does not contradict Matthew's account, but rather gives it a little more clarity and detail to the situation surrounding the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John,
3. What does this mean for my life?While reading this, I had an unusual pull that drew me to the response of the paralyzed man after Jesus healed him. If it were me, I'd want to stay and learn from Jesus. But the man went home right away. At first it seems like he might be ungrateful or shy, but we can see that Jesus's own orders to him were to pick up his mat and go some. So what did the paralyzed man do? He picked up his mat and went home. I want to be in a place where I can seek Jesus and listen to him. When I hear him, I hope I have the same obedience as the disciples and this man.
4. What questions do I have about this passage?
I don't really understand Jesus's teaching about the wineskins in verses 33-39. I get the fasting and bridegroom part. But I can't tell which Jesus would prefer in the wineskin passage. Is he saying that the Pharisees are like the old wineskins who don't want to accept his new teaching? I just don't quite understand this.
Those are my thoughts for this chapter. I'd love to hear yours. God's blessings to you and KEEP DIGGING IN!
In Christ,
Dan
image from http://biblelessonsite.org/flash/images71/slides/p_0007.jpg
Yeah, I think I agree that the wineskins are about the Pharisees not being open to teaching they aren't familiar with. I think I fall into that trap a lot- I have my idea of what the character of God is, and when I'm encountered with something that stretches that understanding, my initial response is to reject it rather than having a teachable heart.
ReplyDeleteI also think that this chapter is great for those of us in ministry. A lot of times, we think that having a big "reach"- lots of Likes on Facebook, big numbers of participants- is the goal, but Jesus didn't minister that way. He chose and poured into a few men, and didn't seek out crowds as much as he sought relationships.
Ally, great thoughts about numbers and ministry. It's an easy trap to get caught in, measuring success solely by numbers. Jesus had ministry to large crowds, to medium sized groups (72 disciples), to small groups (12 disciples), to even a chosen few (Peter, James, and John seemed to be involved in quite a few things the others weren't).
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