These questions are connected to the message, “” from October 31, 2021
Dive In: Read this passage slowly (Luke 8:22-39) in an unfamiliar translation of the Bible (e.g. New Living Translation or The Message). When you soak in this passage, is there a word, phrase, idea that grabs you?
Reflect:
- As you read and listened to the above passage, what was the power in the text for you?What was the takeaway for your life today in 21st century southern Ontario?
- Marc explained that we don’t have conclusive answers on all the details of the demoniac story (e.g. why did Jesus allow the demons to terrorize the pigs? Or why did the pigs plunge themselves into the sea?). How do you handle uncertainty in a scripture passage or text particularly when there is a variety of scholarship on the issue?
- What difference do the possible answers to the above uncertainties make to the impact of this account, if any?
- How does these unanswered questions and enigmas impact your understanding of Scripture as a whole?
- In verse 29 Luke says that the demon had driven this man into solitary places. Have you ever experienced the vulnerability of complete isolation and imposed solitude? If so, describe the impact of that on your emotional, mental, spiritual, and possibly, physical self. How were you more fragile? Did you sense an increased vulnerability to the enemy?
- A man has been cured — set free — and the people ask Jesus to leave them (vv 36-37)!Reflect on this for a moment. Why would they want this powerful healer to leave them? What might be going on here?
- In verses 38-39 the man begs to follow Jesus and Jesus turns him down! Have you ever had a situation where you so wanted to do something for God/Jesus and you felt turned down? Describe that time. How did it challenge your understanding of God or your faith? Have you gained insight since then?
- Notice Jesus instructs the man to tell everyone what “God” had done for him, not what he, Jesus, had done. What is Jesus doing here? How might this impact your image of God?
Digging Deeper:
We have two power stories here: Jesus calms a storm and Jesus delivers a man from the clutches of the demonic realm. Luke portrays both as challenges to the demonic realm using the same word “rebuked” for both the storm and the demons. Though we wouldn’t ascribe demonic forces to meteorological events, what might be going on here with the storm preceding the demonic encounter with the man?
We have two power stories here: Jesus calms a storm and Jesus delivers a man from the clutches of the demonic realm. Luke portrays both as challenges to the demonic realm using the same word “rebuked” for both the storm and the demons. Though we wouldn’t ascribe demonic forces to meteorological events, what might be going on here with the storm preceding the demonic encounter with the man?
To Ponder:
Though the townspeople ask Jesus to leave, Jesus doesn’t leave them without a witness. Even in a town as hostile to Jesus as this one, a place where Jesus is rejected, there is a witness. Take heart. (Consider Psalm 139:7-12)
Though the townspeople ask Jesus to leave, Jesus doesn’t leave them without a witness. Even in a town as hostile to Jesus as this one, a place where Jesus is rejected, there is a witness. Take heart. (Consider Psalm 139:7-12)
Act on it:
What impact might this account and teaching have on the way you think, see, and live this week?
What impact might this account and teaching have on the way you think, see, and live this week?