Rescuing Jesus, week 2

One of the things that gets lost in the tug of war between jesus being "nothing more than a good man" and "being the virgin born, incarnate God" is the fact that he was a brilliant teacher. One worth trusting with every facet of life.

This week can be confrontational, because if you concede that Jesus was in fact brilliant in his teaching, you must also ask difficult questions in every area of your life that you are not submitted to him. Why not surrender every area of our lives to what we know to be beautiful and true? The alternative is to say that you have a spiritual respect for him, but do not think he was smart enough to be followed. He should be kept in his appropriate column, for use when real life needs some spiritual guidance.

Again....difficulty and confrontation on both sides. So, as you lead your group, be mindful that this shouldn't mean mere discussion. It's a summons for surrender. It's a line in the sand without even having to draw it- it draws itself. Leaders need only to help the group see what it means to step across.

Thaw

• Who was your favorite school teacher as a kid/college student? Why?
• Who was your least favorite? Why?

• What stuck with you the most from Sunday's message?
• What was something you had not heard before, and what impact is it having on you?
• Why do you think God decided to step into history as a teacher (Rabbi) teaching students (Talmidim)?

Read

• Luke 2:41-47
• Thoughts?

Leader note: A few things to note about this passage as you discuss it. 1. They traveled back from Jerusalem with relatives and friends. This large caravan of pilgrims kept many similar-aged children in clusters, so it would be easy to make assumptions about who was with who for days at a time. 2. Jesus is "sitting". The teacher sits, and the students stand in the Rabbinical tradition. This was a common practice in the first century, and you see it other places in the scripture (Luke 4:20). 3. The boy Jesus is not only sitting, but asking questions and amazing people with his insights and answers. At first, this seems strange (asking questions, yet amazing people with answers)- but again, the context helps. Rabbi's teach with questions, to create discussion and draw out greater meaning, and the question is responded to with a question, so that a theological volley is created. This is Jesus, at age 12, very plainly being portrayed as a potent teacher, or a Rabbi with "Chutzpa" ("KHOOTS pah". Authority and command of teaching)

• What does Luke want us to know about Jesus, even from an early age?
• Why is this important to the rest of the Gospel?
• Is there any significance to Jesus being seen as a teacher at 12, rather than him being shown a miracle worker?

Read

• John 6:60-68
• John 7:16-17
• John 8:31-32
• Thoughts?
• How would you describe to someone living outside of our current culture what the purpose of a teacher, and his or her teachings, were for?
• Jesus is asking for trust in him, and obedience to the content of his instruction. What are the difficulties that come with this?
• When does it seem easier?
• How do people decide, whether consciously or unconsciously, what parts of Jesus' teachings to follow, and which ones to reject?

Discuss

• The two main points from Sunday are:

Recognize Jesus has wisdom to offer for every aspect of your life.

Learn to trust the teacher rather than debate the content of the teaching.

• Share a time when Jesus' wisdom proved, practically, to be best (even if it was difficult).
• What are the areas of life that you consistently struggle with obedience to Christ's teaching?

Apply

• How can the group help you with some specific areas of trusting Jesus and obedience to his teaching?
• How can this group be a stronger source of discovery in what it is Jesus is actually instructing?

Leader note: This may require some humility on the part of the leader, as it may serve a s a review. You may discover in the group's answer to this question a desire to study the scripture more, or more meaningfully. If this is the case, try and have a specific plan of study (versus a generic "let's study the Bible more"- try and be specific: "let's study the Book of Luke for the next 8 weeks") proposed before you leave. Also note that we will be providing help for exactly this in the months to come, so that we as leaders will be more confident navigating the Bible with those we lead.

• How can our personal, daily/weekly disciplines better reflect that we actually believe Jesus is a brilliant teacher?
• How can the group help you step into your answer to the last question?

Prayer

• Spend a few moments praying over the group and their adherence to the teachings of Rabbi Jesus. May we each, and collectively, be good students of Messiah.