We are looking this week at the Parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. These studies help us to grasp the significance of His life and give us a whole picture of who He was and is.
Before each time of study and reading, pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see in a fresh way the wonderful life and teaching of the Saviour.
Day 1 Read Luke 10:25-37
People were out to trap Jesus by asking him a difficult question and Jesus replies with an illustrating story [parable]. Look first of all at the question He was asked – Jesus answers the question with a question of His own – both a good teaching skill and an excellent way of dealing with difficult people. The man shows that he really does not want an answer to his question – see verse 28.
- Carefully read the Parable [remembering that the Samaritans and Jews were social and religious enemies] and try to get a modern day or personal equivalent.
- Finally, how does this passage challenge you?
Day 2 Read Luke 12:13-21
Are you a rich fool who is putting more store by your possessions and wealth than by your faith in Jesus?
The root of this man’s problem was greed – we need resources to survive and to thrive but not to store and rot! Jesus reminds us that life is about much more than possessions – it is about people and loving to the max. It is about possessing love and giving it away in volumes.
- What possesses us?
The illustration Jesus gives is of the Rich Fool. Think back to idols in the Old Testament – people made idols of silver and gold and worshipped them – is that any different from possessing silver and gold and deriving our meaning and security from these things?
Day 3 Read Luke 14:1-24
It is difficult to understand the Parable of the Banquet without understanding the tense situation Jesus was in when he told the parable – he was eating at table with His enemies. Jesus teaches them that the Kingdom of God is not for the elite but that God’s desire is to invite all to come and enter. The host in Jesus’ parable makes every effort to include even those that the world and the great and the good choose to ignore.
Finally, Jesus warns that it is possible for people to reject God’s invitation – and that there is never a good reason for rejecting His invitation to come to Him.
Day 4 Read Luke 15
Three stories about Lostness. The first two are about a lost coin and a lost sheep and are easy to understand. God cares about lost people and the whole of the ministry and ultimately the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus is a demonstration of that fact.
The story of the Prodigal Son is a different case altogether. It is about one person who wasted their life and squandered the good that God had given them, and another son who lived in the presence of goodness and never understood it – which son are you? I think I am both!!
Day 5 Read Luke 18:1-14
Jesus directs the Parable of the Persistent Widow at His followers and He uses a bit of humour. Our prayer for the right things is to be a work of persistence – we are not to weary in asking God for the right things!
The second Parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is one of hope and warning. To those of us who feel lost and in a bad place there is a God we can go to who will hear us ans forgive us. There is also a warning to the proud who have become very sure of their superiority and righteousness – YOU DON’T IMPRESS GOD!!!!