Learning Jesus | Week 30
Learning Jesus Week 30
All We Have to Live On
Key Word – woe >> Central Passage – See text box below.
You will best understand the big idea of this pivotal transition in Jesus’ last week if you read all of Matthew 23 and Luke 21:1-4 before coming to group. The Central Passage is Day 5, but the short story of the widow strongly connects to Jesus’ final and longest and most scathing rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees. Go to http://gracelaredo.org/learningjesus if you prefer to listen to these texts.
The questions in this lesson are different. They ask you to reflect then to pray. If you have never tried praying out loud or writing prayers in a notebook, try it! Praying these ways help you stay focused and also help you pray with greater boldness.
As your read and pray, consider why disciplemakers are to preach only the Word of God and to preach to their own minds and hearts first.
Day 1
Background Information – For the past three years of His public ministry, Jesus has criticized Israel’s supposed spiritual leaders for their failure to teach the Word and to live the Word. This week we shall read His final denouncement of their teaching, character, and practices. Even when He is speaking directly to the scribes and Pharisees, He is also warning the crowds and disciples that the path of these false teachers will lead their followers to a sure death.
In this text, Jesus references several Jewish practices that warrant explanation.
1. Moses Seat – Israel became a nation after escaping slavery in Egypt; Moses was this nation’s first judge. He sat on a literal seat while litigants stated their cases. The Pharisees sat on a “Moses seat,” to apply case law to various civil situations, and just like the judges in our courts today, their decisions had to be obeyed. Also, just like judges in our courts today do not have the authority to create new laws, Israel’s judges did not have the right to issue new laws.
2. Phylacteries – Deuteronomy 6:8 commands the Jews to bind the commands of God on their hands and foreheads as a sign of their allegiance to the word of God. To this day, Orthodox Jews wear phylacteries containing these verses: Exodus 13:3-16; Deuteronomy 6:5-9; and Deuteronomy 11:13-21.
3. Fringes – The wearing of tassles on the corners of men’s garments is commanded in Numbers 15:37-41. Seeing these tassles on every man in their nation was remind the Jews to obey God’s commands. Among the white threads of each tassle was one dark blue thread.
4. Seating Arrangements – The place of honor at a feast was next to the host who often sat in the center of a u-shaped table. The best seats in the synagogue were those closest to the ark.
Read Matthew 23:1-12.
1. Reflect on Jesus’ rebukes to Israel’s leaders below. Pray that we would not lead our church or community in this way.
o For they preach, but do not practice.
o They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
o They do all their deeds to be seen by others...they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
2. Reflect on Jesus’ commands below. Pray that we would mature in humility and service in our church and community.
o But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
o The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
3. Reflect on what motivates your service in your family, church, and community. Seek God in prayer for yourself as a servant leader.
Day 2
Background Information – Today and tomorrow we will be studying Jesus’ seven “woe’s” that directly denounce the leadership of the scribes and Pharisees. His purpose is to teach His disciples and the people not to follow their deeds. Again, Jesus references several Jewish practices that warrant explanation.
1. Proselyte – The Pharisees and scribes sought to convert others to follow their man-made laws. These proselytes, like many converts, became even more legalistic than the Pharisees and scribes who persuaded them. This is typical of all proselytes of man-made religions.
2. Swear by the Temple – The rabbis taught that if a person swore an oath by the temple or by the altar, then he was not obligated to fulfill his oath, but if he swore an oath by the gold of the temple or by the sacrifice on the altar, then he was obligated to keep his oath. Their law exalted the gold and sacrifice above the temple and the altar.
3. Tithing Herbs – Mint, dill, and cumin were the smallest of seeds in Israel. The Mosaic Law did command a tithing of the first fruits of the harvest, but not necessarily the smallest herbs. The Pharisees and scribes hyper-focused, however, on tithing these smallest herbs. Notice the contrast Jesus makes between three concrete light creations of God (mint, dill, and cumin) and three abstract weightycreations of God (justice, mercy, and faithfulness).
Read Matthew 23:13-24.
1. Jesus’ first and second woe (vs 13-15) reflects back to His accusation regarding the burdens the Pharisees have placed on the people’s shoulders by adding their man-made laws to God’s laws. Reflect on how the Jewish leaders kept themselves in power by placing these burdens on the people. Pray for the churches in our city that we would worship God and not power.
2. Jesus’ third woe (vs 16-22) rebukes the Pharisees’ hidden contempt for God in His temple and God in heaven on His throne. Reflect on that. Enjoy giving God praise worthy of Who He is.
3. Jesus’ fourth woe (vs 23-24) redirects the Pharisees’ focus back to God’s heart for justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Review your calendar this week or month. Do you see serving those in dark places anywhere on your home, church or work calendar? Or is your focus on your own priorities? Have a conversation with the Lord about aligning your heart with His and seek His favor in those dark places where you bring His light.
Day 3
Background Information – Jesus continues to denounce the Pharisees and scribes in today’s text with the last three of seven woes. Jesus references tombs twice in His denouncement. First He compares the Pharisees and scribes to tombs because each year the Jews whitewashed their tombs to make them stand out as clean and beautiful, but on the inside these tombs were unclean places because they contained dead bodies. Then He accuses them of building the tombs of the prophets and states they will be responsible for the blood of the prophets – from Abel to Zechariah. Cain killed his brother Abel because Abel’s sacrifice witnessed to the word of God, while Cain’s sacrifice did not. Abel is the first martyr, therefore, and his story is in Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures. Zechariah is the last martyr and his story is in 2 Chronicles, which is the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures. So Jesus props prophets Abel and Zechariah as book ends for Israel’s chronicle of murdering her prophets.
Read Matthew 23:25-36.
1. Jesus’ fifth woe (vs 25-26) connects the time and money the Pharisees invested in outward glory to greed and self-indulgence. Reflect on your own outward and inward investments. Repent with the Lord over any misplaced investment and ask Him to bear fruit where you have invested rightly.
2. Jesus’ sixth woe (vs 27-28) gives His final word on the sin of Pharisaical hypocrisy. Reflect on how an outward appearance of righteousness without an inward work of the Holy Spirit kills the soul of a person. Ask the Lord to reveal any false righteousness in you and seek His forgiveness. May the Holy Spirit clothe you in the living righteousness of Christ!
3. Jesus’ seventh woe (vs 29-36) is His most lengthy and evocative. Underline Jesus’ descriptive and figurative language that conveys His tone. A few are already underlined to get you started.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Jesus derides the scribes and Pharisees for possessing a dead deadly heart while professing innocence.
o Why would such a person want to murder a prophet of God? Pray that our people would speak God’s truth boldly in our community.
o Reflect on how you respond to those who speak the will of God to you. Repent of any murderous thoughts or spoken words. Pray for those who teach the Word of God to you.
Day 4
Background Information – In our last three readings this week, Jesus has denounced Israel’s leaders. Three years prior, He began His public ministry at the Temple by flipping money changing tables, and now He closes His public ministry with this lament and two prophecies spoken at the Temple.
Read Matthew 23:37-39.
Background Information – Israel’s Temple (house) was indeed left “desolate” when the Romans destroyed it in A.D. 70. So that prophecy has already been fulfilled. Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:26 when He states, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” These words convey Israel’s repentance and call for their Messiah to return. At the end of the tribulation, Israel will “look upon Him whom they have pierced” and realize they crucified their Messiah and mourn. See Zechariah 12:10.
1. Contrast what you see in this text in the heart of Jesus to the heart of the scribes and Pharisees. Consider how Jesus’ outward actions perfectly reflect His inward heart.
2. One Day Jesus will gather the children of Israel as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. Why does Jesus choose to delay what He so longs to do? Consider God’s discipline of Israel and His plan for the salvation of nations.
3. If you are in Christ, then you are already gathered under His wing. Praise God for His salvation and pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Day 5 — Central Passage
Background Information – Jesus began His ministry at the Temple, cleansing it of money-changers and reclaiming it as His Father’s house. Today’s reading and next week’s readings record Jesus’ teaching to His disciples as He leaves the Temple compound for the last time.
Read Luke 21:1-4.
Background Information – Jesus passed the treasury area where thirteen chests, shaped like horns or trumpets, collected funds; each chest’s funds were designated for a different purpose. For example, one chest collected the poor man’s offering of two turtledoves or pigeons, another collected donations to purchase the wood used to burn the sacrifices, another purchased sacrifices for lepers, another was designated for gold for the holy of holies. One contained funds left over after purchasing sacrificial pigeons from women in cleansing after menstrual or childbirth bleeding. Two were set aside to collect taxes for the current and the previous year.
Each question below has a “Group Prayer Point” that you will do with your group during the Reflection.
1. We don’t know which trumpet-shaped chest the poor widow placed her tithe, but we do know she placed in “all she had to live on.” Meditate on this widow’s love for God and others
Group Prayer Point . Praise God that He is worthy of our all.
2. Jesus notices the poor widow after He denounces the Pharisees and scribes with seven woes. Contrast those religious teachers to this one learner.
Group Prayer Point . Seek God’s forgiveness for our hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and pride. Ask Him to help us to be teachable and generous with all He gives us.
3. Jesus noticed the rich putting their gifts in the trumpets and He noticed the poor widow put in all she had. As disciples participating in Learning Jesus, we have opportunity to be rich learners and poor in the spirit teachers.
o We may not all have experienced true economic poverty, but we do all know spiritual poverty. How did you have and know nothing before the Father adopted you in Christ?
o What is one thing God has taught you even recently that is a priceless treasure to you?
o What would it look like in our church and community if each of us in this Learning Jesus community turned around and offered all this learned treasure to others?
o What would be an easy way for you to share with another person what you have learned or are learning? Think w’s (who, when, where, what, how).
Group Prayer Point – Praise God for His past work in your lives and seek His help for the disciplemaking work He has given you now to do.
Optional Memory Verses – And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. Luke 21:3-4
REFLECTION Questions
These questions along with the Central Passage will usually be the focus of your group’s discussion each week.
1. Go back to Day 5 and pray together using the prayer points for each question to guide you.
2. On October 13, 2024, Global Fingerprints is coming to Grace Bible Church.
Global Fingerprints is the EFCA child sponsorship program. I will be sharing with your leaders why we chose this particular organization to help us rescue children caught in spiritual, nutritional, medical, and educational poverty in some of the most unreached places in the world.
Praise God for this opportunity to give generously and ask Him to prepare all the communication details and volunteers and to prepare our hearts for this call.
Thank you, leaders and community group members, for your ministry of prayer for our church and community this week. We are trusting our God to provide. He is All We Have to Live on.
COMMUNITY GROUP TIME
• Discuss the Central Passages questions. (This week that is Luke 21:1-4.)
• 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.
• Is anyone able to recite all or part of Luke 21:3-4?
• Discuss Reflection Questions.
• Close in prayer.
God’s joy and strength to you,
kpaulson@gracelaredo.org