Grow Guide | February 2, 2025

Text Study for Sunday, February 2, 2025

Series Theme: Unexpected

Reading: Luke 6:1-11 

Connecting Question

What do you do or not do to rest?

Do you have a Sabbath practice? why or why not?

Prayer for Illumination

Holy and Unexpected God, meet us as we open your word. Help us gather your promises so we can love you and our neighbor. Thank you for the gift of faith and for this next breath. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

CONTEXT

This week begins our next sermon series that will bring us to Ash Wednesday, along the way we’ll learn the ways Jesus and his followers did the UNEXPECTED, they often didn’t do the lawful or typical thing. Jesus’ followers often went the wrong direction, yet they were never lost, it took them multiple tries to get it right! How can we learn from their mis-steps? Continue to follow even when we mess up! Remember Jesus doesn’t always follow rules, He is always working in service of God’s promises fulfilled.

From Dr Matt Skinner at EntertheBible.org:

Although Luke’s Gospel describes Jesus encountering opposition from a wide array of people, it offers more clarity about which people are involved in Jesus’ arrest and prosecution. When Jesus predicts his death in Luke 9:21-22, he names members of the Jerusalem elite–specifically, the elders, chief priests, and scribes–as the ones who will reject him. Also, Herod Antipas’s violent intentions become clear in Luke 13:31. Once Jesus reaches Jerusalem, Luke consistently names the chief priests, scribes, and sometimes the elders as those who oppose Jesus most vehemently. Pharisees are not named as part of the opposition in Jerusalem. Indeed, the last time Luke mentions any Pharisees is in Luke 19:39, just before Jesus enters Jerusalem. All of these observations reveal that Jesus was hardly rebelling against or condemning Judaism. Rather, Luke presents Jesus as obedient to Jewish law and seen as an irritant only by some religious leaders, most notably those who held significant political power centered in Jerusalem and in league with the interests of their Roman occupiers.

Discussion Questions

• Context often matters in the gospels. Look at chapter 5 quickly. We see stories of calling disciples, healing others, and discussing fasting. How might that affect the stories we hear today?

• What is God up to in the story? ¿Qué está haciendo Dios en la historia?

• What do you hear God saying to you in the story? ¿Qué te está diciendo Dios en la historia? ¿Qué escuchas?

• What do you hear God saying to us as a church community? ¿Qué nos está diciendo Dios?

• What should we do about it? 

• What would you like to talk about that we have not yet?

Taking it home

We have a team in Guatemala right now take time to pray for them this week, Kim, Robert, Sarah B, David, Pastor Kevin, Sarah W, Al and Laura.

God of the promise, you call your people together into your one mission in Christ’s name. Make us brave, grant us peace, challenge our expectations, and empower us to truly follow your Spirit’s lead. You are our one God who calls us together as one people, and we thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.