Learning Jesus | Week 4
Learning Jesus Week 4
See the Author-ity
Key Word – Authority >> Central Passage John 4:5-26
Open your Bible. In your hand pinch the pages of the first five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy. These books contained all 613 commandments given to Moses. During the 400 years of silence between the prophet Malachi and John the Baptizer, the rabbis continually added laws to each of God’s laws in order to build a fence protecting any Israelite from possibly violating God’s Law. Although these oral laws were not the word of God, in time rabbis esteemed them as a higher authority than the law of Moses. Therefore, you will see that Jesus purposefully violates these rabbinic laws to show these additions were not part of God’s plan. Eventually these rabbinic laws were written to form the Mishna. In contrast to the maybe half inch of pages of God’s Law you pinched between your fingers, the books of man’s laws in the Mishna were as wide as an encyclopedia set. (Some of you may need to search Wikipedia to see what a physical encyclopedia set looks like.)
Day 1 -- John 4:5-26 Central Passage of the Week
When the Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon beginning in 605 B.C., the poorest were left behind. These inter-married with the occupying Assyrians and combined their worship of God with the worship of the gods of their spouse. When the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem, they would not allow these “Samaritans” to re-build the temple with them.
In response, the Samaritans moved their worship to Mt. Gerizim, rewriting Jerusalem out of the books of Moses. They also rejected all prophets beyond Moses while waiting for the Prophet Messiah. A Jew traveling away from the Temple in Jerusalem was allowed to pass through, but a Jew passing through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem, might be killed. Although by this time, the Samaritans were monotheistic, rabbinic law did not allow a Jew to either receive anything or give anything to a Samaritan free of charge.
1. Creator of water, Jesus asks to receive free water before He offers to give free living water. Why do you think He does this? It might be helpful to circle the titles the woman uses to address Jesus. They evolve!
2. Nicodemus thought he was born again in every way he could be until Jesus moved him from physical to spiritual thinking. How does Jesus move the woman from physical to the spiritual thinking?
3. At Jesus’ baptism the three eternal, co-equal Persons of the Godhead who are same in their essence but distinct in their subsistence were on mission. Review your chart. How is the Trinity working together to do something new in this sinner?
Day 2 -- John 4:27-45
1. According to rabbinic law a Samaritan woman was unclean from the moment of her birth until her death. Jewish men, therefore, had no dealings with Samaritan women. Jesus absolutely engaged in dealings with a Samaritan woman to the point of accepting water from her hand.
Compare the woman’s invitation (v.27-30) and the men’s response (v.39-42) to Philip’s invitation and Nathanael’s response in John 1:45-51.
2. Jesus’ disciples have traveled with Him for four months. So now Jesus moves them as well from physical to spiritual thinking. What “food” is Jesus willing to share with His disciples (v.34)?
3. When Jesus states “Others have labored....” He is referring to the Old Testament prophets. John the Baptizer is the last of these. What type of work is He inviting them to invest their lives in?
(Optional) John 4:35 is the suggested memory verse for this week.
Day 3 – Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14b-15; Luke 4:14-15
We are shifting from our unit “Beginnings” to the unit “Jesus’ Galilean ministry,” where Jesus is establishing His authority as the Messiah. Take the time to read or listen to each story in this unit so that you can see how Jesus progresses in revealing His authority. Each revelation builds upon another and will build your trust in Him. As you read, note how Jesus pushes who HE IS and how people respond to His authority.
In our second week’s lessons we read how Satan tempted Jesus to announce Himself as Messiah by jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple. As Scripture promised, the angels would have saved Him. Then all Jerusalem would have proclaimed Him as Messiah, but not in the way the Father wanted Him to be proclaimed. In last week’s lessons, we saw that Jesus announced His public ministry at the Temple in Jerusalem by cleansing His Father’s House. While this set Him against Jewish leadership, it authenticated His authority as the Messiah, but not in the way Satan proposed. Now Jesus is traveling from city to city and preaching in synagogues as a teacher of the Word, as a rabbi with disciples, and as the long-awaited Prophet offering the Messianic Kingdom to Israel.
Use the verses below to answer questions 1-3.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt 4:17
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14b-15
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. Luke 4:14-15
1. What steps to salvation is Jesus preaching? This is Jesus’ soteriological content, His gospel “good news” at this stage in revealing God’s will at this point in history. The gospel we preach is that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), but this could not be preached until Jesus completed His mission.
2. What does Jesus mean that the kingdom of God is at hand? This is Jesus’ eschatological or “end times” content; the Old Testament prophesied a Messianic Kingdom and King.
3. According to Luke 4:14-15, what characterized Jesus’ offer of the Messianic Kingdom to Israel?
Day 4 – John 4:46-54
The father of the sick boy traveled 20 miles uphill from Capernaum to Cana (the site of Jesus’ first sign) to ask Jesus to come down to heal his son. Jesus tests the father by stating a generality about mankind: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe” (v.48).
1. Describe the father’s faith.
2. What are the results for his son and family?
3. Summarize this story focusing on the authority of Jesus and how He wields it.
Day 5 – Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:16-31
Jesus follows many Jewish customs in Luke 4: He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. He stood to read the Scriptures. He sat down to teach. But He violates one Jewish custom when He read from Isaiah 61. The custom was to read a minimum of three verses before teaching: Jesus read a verse and a half. Why does He do this?
Some prophecy foretells a near future, and some foretells a distant future. In the Old Testament, Messianic prophecy can juxtapose the first coming of the Messiah right next to the second coming of the Messiah without indicating in any way a gap of time between them. This is what happens here. Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1-2a because that is the Scripture that He will fulfill in His first coming. The rest of Isaiah 61:2 and 3 will be fulfilled at Jesus’ second coming. Read Isaiah 61:1-3 now so that you will better understand the story.
1. Jesus states that Isaiah 61:1-2a has been fulfilled in their hearing. What will be the purpose of Jesus’ ministry according to Luke 4:18-19?
2. How does His hometown respond? (v.20-22)
To address His hometown’s concerns about His Messiahship, Jesus does NOT share how He has fulfilled prophecies -- descendant of David apart from Jeconiah, born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin -- instead, He pushes the envelope. Prophet Jesus compares Himself to Elijah and Elisha, who both ministered to an unbelieving generation of Jews and were rejected. His listeners knew these two stories, but perhaps never noticed their commonality -- In both, God sends His prophets to free Gentiles*, not Jews, from death (I Kings 17; II Kings 5). Salvation is from the Jews as Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, but salvation is not only for the Jews as He explained to Nicodemus.
3. Understanding Humanity’s Nature and Need for Jesus
o Take time to reflect on the angry & prideful response of Jesus’ hometown.
What is it about the nature of man that would resent God giving life whether it is physical or spiritual to a fellow human being?
o Last week we discussed how Jesus came in real time to real people in the real world. In part this means He had a dysfunctional family and a hometown whom He loved just as we all do.
Re-read Luke 4:18-19 with that in mind. Write a prayer of praise.
*Our gospel writer here is Luke who traveled extensively with Paul ministering to both Jews and Gentiles. You will see throughout the book of Luke that he has an especial interest in Gentiles.
re-jesus space
This re-jesus space is where we will take time as a Christ community to ensure we are applying the truth we know to our lives in real time. Not just talking about what we will do, but doing it now and together.
Our son-in-law Peter was giving Tseganesh, our daughter, a lesson in water color painting. They decided to paint the story of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman. In the left corner Peter captured the mouth of a stone well with a water jar perched on its right. From the jar dangled a rope that fell onto the desert floor in loops but then evolved into footsteps that end at the farthest right with the black shadow of a woman’s back. Set in the vast sweep of sky and desert what looms large is the water jar left at the well.
Peter gave Tseganesh not only a lesson in the science of water painting but in the art of seeing.
In a homiletics class you learn that preaching is both science and art. Studying the Word to find the main truth of the passage is science, but then how you convey that main truth and teach others to live it out, that is art. Jesus demonstrates this in every conversation whether He speaks with one person or a crowd. In this story we see the result of His science and art. The Samaritan woman learned from Jesus and applied the truth she knew in real time with real people in her real world. And she does this with amazing science and art of her own.
A good place to start with application is prayer because the Spirit helps us to see as we pray. Pray through Jesus’ words to His disciples who have traveled with Him now for four months as He preached the good news –
Do you not say, “There are yet four months and then comes the harvest?” Look I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. John 4:35
Popcorn prayer with your group. Popcorn prayer means that you pray in any order around the circle; no one dominates by praying extensively; any person can pray more than once. Everyone is praying as the Spirit puts praise, confession, requests on his or her heart. It is a conversation with your group and with the Lord.
So that you do not spend more time talking about prayer than praying, I’m going to start you off with some ideas for prayer. I’m sure God will give you more. Read them silently. Then begin.
Praise
for the good news we are learning and remembering. For the giver of such news. For each Person in the Trinity’s work for our salvation....
Confess
forgetting the joy of our salvation, our hard hearts for those in our circle & city, not focusing on the main truth, not leaving our water pots behind....
Request
learning Jesus’ ways to share, using our time wisely, seeing the harvest, loving the Nicodemus & Samaritan, seeing the people with so many needs, loving our city with truth....
COMMUNITY GROUP TIME
• Discuss the Central Passages questions. (This week that is Day 1—John 4:5-26)
• Open Share Time -- Allow time for each to share “starred” insights or questions from Days 1-5. Allow others to respond to the shared insight.
• Time allowing read the remainder of John 4 and maybe Day 5 passage ?
• Is anyone able to recite all or part of John 4:35?
• re-jesus space