August 1, 2008

Bible Study, Chapter 3

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Presidential candidate John McCain recently made an unannounced stop at a Bethlehem-area grocery store.  Although intended to appear spontaneous, the event was hardly unplanned.  For hours prior to his appearance, employees and shoppers were ‘wand-ed’ and screened by security personnel.  McCain walked the aisles with Renee Gould, mother of two and an active Republican.  Renee had been carefully pre-selected as McCain’s shopping cart companion.  A whole lot of preparation is involved when a Presidential candidate makes an appearance.

      Still, other than those few in-the-know, most shoppers were taken by surprise when they encountered candidate McCain pushing a shopping cart in a King’s Market.

      When God intends to make an appearance, there’s a similar mix of careful preparation and surprise.  Chapter 3 focuses on the preparation God used to prepare people for the ministry of Jesus. 

      Read through chapter 3 and then peruse the appropriate verses as you study each section.   

Verses 1 – 6

Luke includes more historical time references in his Gospel than any other.  Tiberius & Pilate were Roman.  The 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar was 28 to 29 AD.  Pilate was the Roman representative in Israel for the government of Tiberius.  Herod Antipas and Philip were sons of Herod the Great (the Herod who was ruling when Jesus was born) & each ruled ¼ of the territory of Herod the Great.  The Herods had some Jewish genes & therefore provided a kind of illusion of self-government for the Jews.  We know little about Lysanias.  Annas was high priest from 6 to 15 AD.  Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, was the current high priest though his retired father-in-law was still quite active and involved. Into this complex and intertwined system of religious and political power, God is going to invade.

- Imagine that you are God and you are going to begin preparing the population for the arrival of your son.  To whom would you go to get this message of preparation rolling? 

- To whom does God go?  What thoughts do you have when you understand that in the midst of all the accumulated power mentioned in these opening verses, it seems that God goes first to an obscure guy living in the desert?  Does this tell you anything about God?

- The Old Testament books of Exodus through Deuteronomy reveal that God formed the Jews into his ‘covenant people’ while they were wandering in the desert. Apparently deserts are significant places for God to do business with the Jews! What is it about deserts that might make this to be so?  If the Jews traced their origins to a time in the desert, why might God ‘go to the desert’ once again? What significance do you see in this connection between what God did then & now (‘now’ is in Luke 3)? 

Verses 7 - 14 & 19 – 20

These verses provide a representative sample of the message preached by John the Baptist.  Verses 7 - 9 summarize his preaching.  The ‘brood of snakes’ image is a picture of snakes fleeing a burning brush fire.

      - In your own words, what is the message John is preaching?

      - Remember that John is the preparer.  He knows his job is to prepare people for what is about to

happen.  So, what is that John believes is about to happen? 

Verses 10 – 14 provide a very practical and specific application of John’s general message. 

      - Note the 3 groups of people to whom John responds…who are they?

      - What counsel does John provide to each particular group of people? 

Jump ahead just a bit to verses 19 & 20.  This is a 4^th ‘people-group’ to whom John speaks.  Both Herod Antipas & Herodias left spouses to marry each other.  Herodias was actually a half-sister of Herod Antipas and she had been married to Antipas’ half-brother!  The dysfunctional family dynamics are too numerous to review… it would take Dr. Phil weeks to unravel this mess.

- What is the response of Herod Antipas to John’s preaching?  How does this compare to the 3 groups mentioned above?

- Imagine that John is going to speak to the group of people to whom you most closely identify.  He is going to counsel you to prepare for the invasion of God by ‘turning from your sins & turning back to God’ (v. 8).  What specific, practical advice would God give to you and your group of people?  What would he tell you to turn away from and what would he tell you to start doing?  When you hear John’s advice, are you going to respond like those in verses 10 to 14 or like the Herods? 

Verses 15 – 18

These are important verses in which John summarizes what he expects from Jesus.

      - What is John’s general attitude towards Jesus?

- John expects Jesus to ‘baptize’ with the Spirit & with fire.  The word ‘spirit’ is the same as the word for ‘wind.’  Read Acts 2:1-4.  What two ‘signs’ of the presence of God’s Spirit appear in Acts 2?  Any significance to this?

John clearly expected Jesus to initiate God’s judgment (verses 7 & 9).  He uses two symbols to explain what this judgment involved: Fire (vv. 9, 16, 17) & the harvesting of grain (v. 17).  In the bible, fire doesn’t just destroy, it purifies.  To separate the grain kernels from the garbage chaff, farmers used a large wooden ‘fork’ to throw threshed (beaten) grain in the air.  The good kernels dropped to the ground.  The garbage chaff, which was much lighter, was blown a few feet away by the wind and accumulated in a pile where it could be collected & burned.  Hence, for John, judgment both separates the good from the bad & it purifies.

      - When you usually think of ‘judgment,’ what ideas or images come to your mind?

-  John imagines that God’s judgment will both separate good & bad and purify by getting rid of the bad and leaving the good.  How do your images of judgment compare with John’s images of ‘purifying’ and ‘separating?’

- Verse 18 seems to indicate that this is ‘good news!’  Odd, isn’t it, that judgment is good?  However, what might be good about judgment… if it purifies & separates?  Think about the world in which we live.  Apply this ‘purifying & separating’ kind of judgment to our world.  How would it be a different place if this kind of judgment took place now? 

Verse 21 – 38

What Jesus experienced at his baptism was most likely private, experienced by Jesus alone.

      - What might this encounter mean to Jesus as his ministry is just about to begin? 

A Jewish person’s whole identity was determined by his/her family tree.  Jesus’ family tree connects him to David (and a right to the throne), to Abraham (and a right to be the ‘hope of Israel’), and to Adam (the potential to be the hope of all humankind).  Verse 23 is the only specific reference to Jesus’ age as an adult.  

- The baptism & genealogy are a transition for Luke.  It’s as if Luke is saying, “Now you  know all you need to know about this man.  Let’s start talking about what he did.”  Are there important ideas you gain from his baptism & genealogy? 

Summary

What are some of the big ideas you’ve learned in chapter 3?

In light of what you’ve learned, is there any God-business you need to take care of in the immediate future?