Luke 8:1-18

For fun: Marc referenced a game so just for fun let’s start with that (choose any or all or make up your own).

• If you were a muffin what kind of muffin would you be?
• If you were a car what kind of car would you be?
• If your spouse or best friend were a wall, what kind of wall would they be?
• If you were a book what genre would you be (poetry, mystery novel, biography, textbook, etc.?
  

1. Hearing, really hearing, requires listening. Is this something that comes easily to you? Discuss a time when you needed to be heard and felt you weren’t. Discuss a time when someone else needed you to hear them and you didn’t. How did either not being heard or not listening impact your life, situation, relationship?
2. Luke particularly, illuminates the role of women in the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke mentions women more than twice to 13 times more than the other gospels) and this story highlights some of their direct and essential contributions to Jesus’ ministry. Was this new to you? If so, how does it impact your understanding of the radical nature of Jesus’ ministry given the patriarchal cultural context of his day? How might it challenge our current systems of hierarchy and inclusiveness?
3. Share how you have understood “word of God” in your faith experience. (See below if you want to dig deeper into this). What have been the implications of your understanding of that phrase?
4. Discuss your understanding of the word “saved” or “salvation” as we read it in Scripture. Was it as broad as “healed, rescued, delivered?” How might this larger meaning impact how you understand familiar Bible passages? In your experience does the word “salvation” have more of a future or a present lean to it?
5. How has your life been changed, your worldview reoriented, your priorities re-prioritized since becoming a follower of Jesus (or is Jesus in a closet with a pile of knitting needles)?
6. In 1st century Roman occupied Israel, and many parts of the world today, declaring Jesus as Lord is suicidal — it may mean death. What things, practices, priorities, attitudes, might you need to die to, to prioritize Jesus as Lord?
7. This section closes with “Pay attention to how you listen” (Luke 8:18). How might you listen more to the Spirit? And if listening leads to hearing and hearing to acting, in what areas of your life might you need to listen more, hear more, or follow through on what you’re hearing?

1. Compare John 1:1 and Matthew 28:18. Discuss the implications of these statements in how we read Scripture.
2. In Jesus explanation of Soil #1 (Luke 8:12) he attributes blame to the enemy for snatching away the seed. What problems occur if our understanding of this parable is about ‘getting saved and going to heaven?’