Irmela

1. What two things do the "days of Noah" have in common with the "days of Lot"? What point is Jesus making by comparing his coming to those events? (17:26-30). People were going about their daily tasks/business as usual as if nothing was going to happen. Destruction from God occurred suddenly. People were not ready. Warnings had not been heeded. (They had seen the ark being built, for many years. They noticed righteous Lot. Abram had saved them when the other kings had captured them. They saw a different lifestyle. Yet wickedness continued). Jesus coming will be the same. Some will not heed the warnings and will perish in spite of.

5. There's been a lot of speculation in our own day about the coming of Christ. Witness the huge mainstream popularity of Tim LeHay's "Left Behind" series. What are the problems this creates for disciples? What are the strengths this offers disciples? Now with the Pandemic even more is said about the second coming. Lots of speculation and guessing and "calendar" set up. This in a way causes problems in that sceptics pose the question critisizingly "when is this big event to be", and it can easily bring discontent. In fact it should bring even greater excitement in that we do not know the time or the hour but we do know it is real. It is coming. OUR MESSIAH IS COMING BACK

4. Why was it so difficult for the disciples to comprehend that Jesus had to suffer? They had the idea or hope, as so many did, that the Messiah would be there to overthrow the oppressors there and then in their life-time and set up the "kingdom" and reign on David's Throne. The parts of Scripture where the prophets had foretold of the Suffering Servant as being the Messiah was pushed into the background. So it was very hard for them to understand or accept that their beloved Teacher would have to suffer. They did not yet understand the full picture.

3. According to 17:24, will Jesus' coming be secret or public? It will not be secret but be an event seen by all. In Revelation 1:7 we are also clearly told that "every eye shall see Him".

2. How do we know for certain that the real messiah won't be the subject of messiah-sightings in the next decade or two? (17:22-23) The real Messiah won't just be revealed to a few. The false ones cannot reveal themselves all-over at the same time. So when one does hear of them to apparently be the real-deal. We do not need to believe it for further on we read that He will come visible to all. It will not just be a few and that we will not need to go looking for Him. We will all be able to see Him.

1. How could the Kingdom be in or in the midst of the Pharisees? (17:20-21). I understand that to be that the Kingdom of God (i.e. GOD'S REIGN) is present in the Person and ministry of Jesus.

7. Why is it so easy to forget to thank God for his blessings? They can so easily be taken for granted. Sometimes they are blessing in disguises and then we tend to thank Him belatedly for having answered in the way He did. I pray that I would truly show gratitude and thankfulness for His blessings at all times.

6. In the phrase "Your faith has saved you" (17:19b) is Jesus speaking of the leper's physical healing, or his spiritual salvation, or both? Were the nine lepers saved or healed spiritually? Why or why not? I think He refers to both. He is given peace and reassurance also. The other nine were healed in their bodies only. They did not acknowledge God in the whole situation, so they lost out on a further blessing involving their whole being as such (term it their salvation).

5. What was Jesus' attitude toward the thankful leper? Toward the other nine lepers? (17:17-18) The thankful leper had thrown himself at Jesus's feet in humility and gratitude. The immediate response recounted from Jesus was, Where not all ten cleansed? There was a group that were healed at the same time. It was not a one by one account. They had sought Him together. They had been given an instruction together. They were following this instruction together. They had all discovered that they were healed together. Yet now came the sad part only one came back to give thanks. Jesus noticed that it was a "foreigner" that came and gave thanks. He reassured him and acknowledged him also. He did not recoil from him. In the following verse we find that Jesus acknowledged that the healed leper's faith had made him well, and he was sent on his way, indeed more blessed than the others. There was an expectancy for all of the ten lepers to return and give thanks. Nine did not. The healing was taken for granted. Jesus disappointedly pointed out that God was not acknowledged by the other nine, but only by the foreigner.

4. What about the thankful leper's actions showed his thankfulness? (17:15-16) Samaritans did not under normal circumstances easily mix with Jews. This healed leper had no inhibitions of showing all and sundry his thankfulness to the Jewish Teacher, who had healed him. He praised God in a loud voice and threw himself down at Jesus's feet and thanked Him.

3. Why does Luke make the point that the lepers weren't healed until they started to obey Jesus' command? (17:14b) Jesus does not follow a ritual. Sometimes healing takes place without hands being laid on the person. Luke points out that the lepers needed to have faith and obey the command given by Jesus. Only after they followed His command did the visible signs of healing manifest themselves. (Faith without works is dead)

2. What is the significance of the lepers showing themselves to the priests? (17:14a) By this Jesus shows that He is not working against what the Law said. For the lepers to return into society, the priest had to examine them to see if there were signs of the disease. Jesus would not have sent them to the priest if He did not believe that they were indeed healed. The lepers in turn had faith in Him and turned around to follow His instructions, before they were healed. In doing this, they obeyed and suddenly realized that they were indeed healed.

1. What do you think the lepers expected when they called out to Jesus for mercy? (17:13) Food, shelter, clothing, or actual healing? I personally do think they expected Him to heal them. Food and clothing they could get from family and friends. Shelter they got on the outskirts of town somewhere as was available to them, be it in caves or elsewhere in the vicinity. Isolated, none the less from family and friends. Healing was not something they could expect from family and friends. In fact it seemed it was out of reach. They must have heard of the healings having taken place with Jesus's ministry and so they called out for Him to have mercy on them also. The fact that they turned and went to do as Jesus commanded them to, viz., to show themselves to the priest, shows that they were expectant of healing to take place somehow.

5. Why is "duty" such a bad word in our culture? Duty seems so formidable. There seems to no longer be a choice. Now it almost becomes a command. Duty is something you cannot dodge, you have to fulfill it. You cannot pass the buck as it were. It is your responsibility to get it done. This all seems to go against your personal "rights". It is maybe not something you would like to do. So by having to do it you are violating your personal "rights."

4. In what ways do we citizens of the twenty-first century take God for granted, expect him to do our bidding, and become petulant when he doesn't grant our wishes? Our prayers tend to be demanding "gimme" prayers. No longer humble requesting prayers. We put aside the fact that we are actually nothing. It is grace and grace alone that we can even bring our requests before God. So many times we get agitated because the answer to our request was not what we hoped for. We forget we are servants requesting from our Master, slaves requesting from our Savior, children asking from our Heavenly Father.

3. What does this parable say to the Pharisees, who expected God's special favor towards them because of their strict observance of the law? The Pharisees felt that they deserved to be praised for the way they lived. This parable points out that it is our duty to live obedient lives. It is our duty to serve. Not the other way round i.e. to be served. It is not by works that we are saved but by grace and grace alone. The Pharisees seemed to think that their pious lifestyles was the right way to be saved. I am reminded of the song ... Make me like You, Lord make me like You. You were a Servant, make me one too. Lord I am willing, do what You must do, to make me a servant, to make me like You.

2. In the parable, the slave should not expect thanks for fixing the family dinner. Why? The fixing of the dinner was part of the "job". It was part of that slaves lifestyle. To keep the job and not be punished, obedience was expected. No thanks was expected for being obedient and doing one's duty. If one was faithful in the seeming unimportant duties, only then could one possibly be given other responsibilities.

1. In Jesus' parable, should a slave expect his master to prepare dinner for him, or should the slave expect to prepare dinner for his master after doing his other chores? The slave should prepare dinner for his master after doing his other chores, as doing that was also one of his chores.

9. Why do the disciples balk at this by asking for more faith? What does Jesus' answer about the mustard seed and the mulberry tree mean? What is his point? They felt they needed more faith to be able to truly live in this way, i.e. to be able to forgive over and over again. Faith does not have to be much to be able to forgive. Jesus illustrated this by the use of the hyperbole of the tiny mustard seed being needed to uproot a mulberry tree, whose roots are very deep. Come to think of it as a parent or a friend, one seems to do the forgiving automatically without much thought to it. Also so often it is for a wrong often repeated. I think sometimes it is because of that, that the wrongs/sins are committed without thinking. To help the person the time comes when confrontation is needed and the wrong needs to be exposed as sin so it can be dealt with properly and overcome. (It needs to be uprooted)

8.Why does Jesus add the "7 times" and the "7 times 70" part of his teaching? What is his intent? I think he adds it to show there is no need to keep tabs on how often the person does something against you. It is not for us to hold back forgiveness. Forgive anyway, this will prevent roots of bitterness or anger etc to sprout. He intends to have us forgive so we too can approach the Throne of Grace and also humbly request forgiveness of our thoughts an actions.

7. Isn't there a danger in forgiving a person who isn't "truly" repentant? How repentant is repentant enough for us? Enough for God? If there isn't true repentance, it will show soon enough by the sin being repeated. It does not help holding back forgiveness because we cannot see what goes on in the heart. Only God can see that. In this passage we are admonished to forgive over again and again and again. It could be a stronghold in the person's life that needs to be broken down, which causes the person to commit the same sin again and again. Only in showing love, mercy and kindness can one help the person overcome. Be prepared to help, though and point it out in love. Don't blab it out to all and sundry. Pray for God to help you both in this situation.

6. What does it mean to forgive a Christian brother or sister who has repented of a sin against you? It basically means the relationship is ready to go on as before. The slate is clean. There is no longer a hindrance between you. That is of course if the repentance is real, which will be seen by the works that follow. (i.e. the fruit of repentance will be seen). Is it possible to maintain a meaningful relationship with a person who is unwilling to repent of sin? Why or why not? Not really. Because the trust is broken. For bitterness not to creep into your life, you forgive from your side, but all along there will be some kind of blockage to allow the relationship to blossom fully and reach its full potential. The forgiveness is not accepted as there is no acknowledgement of the need of it. It's like a gift being presented and not being of any use, as it hasn't been opened yet. Only once opened and put to use is it of any use to the receiver of the gift.

5. What kind of repentance is necessary for us to forgive our brother or sister? What are the things we're looking for in their repentance? Why is it so difficult for us to confess to our brother or sister that we have sinned against them? It needs real conviction of sin for repentance to be genuine. Only when the deed is seen as sin, by the one who committed it, can it really be forgiven in sincerity and only then can true reconciliation take place. It is difficult to acknowledge that we have sinned against someone because of pride. That too needs to be repented from. We need to be transparent.

4. Why is it important for every Christian to be regular part of a congregation? If churches are filled with such sinners, why bother? It is important to be part of a congregation as we weren't meant to live a hermit type of existence. Only when we are part of a group can our "differences" come to the fore and can they get ironed out as it were, or be dealt with. In these days I was sent an interesting video clip of someone who decided she was not going to come to church anymore. (The church was filled with hypocrites, they were on their cellphones, gossiping etc) The minister said, it was fine by him, could she just fulfill one task before staying away. She agreed. He gave her a glass of water and asked her to walk twice around the church without spilling any of the water. When she did this, he asked her if she saw anyone on their cellphones or gossipping. She said she never noticed as she was concentrating on not spilling the water. He suggested to her that instead of focusing attention on those in church her focus should be on Christ (as when she had placed her focus on not spilling the water she had not noticed the faults of others).

3. Why are we tempted to keep silent in the face of the sins of our Christian brothers and sisters against us? Why do we disrupt God's redemptive process when we fail to rebuke them when they sin against us? It is much easier to keep silent than to confront a brother or sister. It is almost a discomfort which can fall under fear that causes one to keep silent. Then the excuses that maybe I misunderstood them (it wasn't meant like it came across etc.) Meanwhile if we did confront them in a loving manner, it could very likely forestall future embarrassment or deeper sin. (The person could be inadvertently hurting someone) It could stop or hinder what God is doing in their lives if we are not honest with them. Unintentionally they could just be so "bossy". Allowing them to see this action could be a healing of a "flaw" in their "nature".