Luke 9-24: Part 2: The Way to Jerusalem

By Ada Lum

Good news! It was good news not only of Jesus' birth but of what he offered to men, women and children throughout his ministry. To the sick he offered healing. To the hurting, comfort. To the outcast, acceptance. In this fifteen session LifeGuide® Bible Study Ada Lum leads you to discover that this message of hope and joy is for you as well! This LifeGuide Bible Study in IVP's revised format features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a new "Now or Later" section following each session to help you act on what you learn. For over three decades LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions—making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 130 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies. PDF download with a single-user license; available from InterVarsity Press and other resellers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP Bible Studies
• Release date: Oct 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9780830862054

Ada Lum

Lum teaches at the Bible Institute of Hawaii. Though retired as a staff member with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, she still visits various countries to do Bible study training. Her other books include Jesus the Disciplemaker and How to Begin an Evangelistic Bible Study.

Book preview

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LUKE

New Hope, New Joy

26 STUDIES FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

Part 2: The Way to Jerusalem

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Contents

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LUKE

PART 2: THE WAY TO JERUSALEM

LUKE 9:51—24:53

Leader's Notes

About the Author

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

Getting the Most Out of Luke

As kids, when we said, I hope so, we would cross our fingers or knock on wood, as though the outcome depended on luck. That is our human dilemma. We have an instinct that life can be better than it is in the present. We hope and work for that goal. But there lurks within us a feeling that maybe it isn’t going to happen. Security and happiness seem like morning mists.

Scripture tells us that hope does not have to be an illusion. It is God’s pure intent that we should be secure and happy. The problem is that we work for it in our limited ways instead of living and working with God in his liberating ways.

Time and again I’ve seen that people discover new hope and new joy as they personally relate to the real Jesus of the Gospels.

An Interview with Dr. Luke

The following imaginary interview of Luke, the writer, by Lydia, a merchant of Philippi, is based on Acts 16:6-40; 20:5—28:31 (the we passages where the writer of Acts includes himself in Paul the apostle’s missionary team); Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24.

Ms. Lydia: Congratulations on the publication of your Gospel, Dr. Luke! The first thing our Philippian church observed was its length—just about twice Mark’s Gospel. You fill up the curiosity gaps in his account of Jesus’ life, like Jesus’ birth and childhood and that third-year trip to Jerusalem in chapters 9 to 19. Were you familiar with Mark’s Gospel when you wrote yours?

Dr. Luke: Oh yes. Mark was a great help in my research. He wrote for Romans, and you know how they like fast-moving action, not too much abstract teaching. I wrote for Theophilus and his friends. Some are high-ranking government officials who are new or not-yet believers. They want to see the big picture, lots of concrete evidence, human relevance. By the way, that’s why in both my Gospel and the book of Acts, I include prominent people who were attracted to Jesus. My friends can identify with them in one way or another.

Ms. Lydia: We Philippians appreciate your including many foreigners, social outcasts and unique women. It’s clever how you begin your Gospel with a couple (1:5-25) and end with another couple (24:13-35). And we love your humor that pops up every now and then, for instance, in the Zacchaeus story (19:1-10).

Dr. Luke: Humor? Ah, yes. Jesus’ pleasant sense of the unexpected rubbed off on me. Peter and the other disciples used to recount funny stories Jesus told in their evening relaxation. They also would point out in his teachings how he described human nature with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. And children loved him! He knew how to be playful with them.

Ms. Lydia: You amaze me. You’re the only one of the Gospel writers who did not meet Jesus in the flesh. Yet he seems so personally real to you.

Dr. Luke: Initially I was first intrigued with Jesus as the ideal Philosopher King that our Greek philosophers have been searching for. But the longer I researched his history, the more I met men and women who had personally known him and were transformed by him. I also met people who never met him physically but were also transformed! Could Jesus be more than an ideal man?

Ms. Lydia: When did you begin such thorough research about Jesus?

Dr. Luke: Just before I met you women in your prayer meeting at the river Gangites. I had met the apostle Paul and his missionary team in Troas, where I was purchasing medical supplies. Paul saw that I was interested in the new religion turning the world upside down. So he spent hours—days!—telling me about Jesus and the vast implications of his life, death and resurrection. When it was time for my ship to leave for Macedonia, I persuaded him and his team that a great mission field lay in our region and the rest of Europe. Rather, the Holy Spirit persuaded them.

Ms. Lydia: You learned fast about the Way. We were delighted that Paul left you behind to pastor our new church in Philippi. Why, you were the key to opening up Europe to Christianity! We were sad when you later left to rejoin him and the team. But that’s the nature of our faith, isn’t it? Keep spreading the good news of Jesus. Your Gospel will go a long way to do that too. What is the aim in your version of the Jesus story?

Dr. Luke: My prayer is that Theophilus, his friends and other readers will be drawn to Jesus as a strong, compassionate friend and a person who speaks across cultural boundaries. Jesus is the kind of person they themselves long to be—fully alive, fully human.

Two General Tips on Reading Luke’s Gospel

The first tip is to get into the picture yourself. It’s the you-are-there principle of imagining you are part of the crowd listening to Jesus, the new preacher in town. Or you’re Simon Peter resisting Jesus’ foolish instructions. Or the widow whose only son has died.