The Narrow Door, The Great Banquet, Parables of the Lost, Faithfulness and Stewardship: Luke 13-26
Chapter 13: The Narrow Door
· Eugene Peterson, in The Message, renders vv. 23-25 this way:
A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”
He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life-to God! -is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’”
- How does he change the picture of “striving to enter by the narrow door” without changing Jesus’ message?
- How do vv. 29-30 describe the “Great Reversal”? What picture does this draw of God’s kingdom?
Chapter 14: The Great Banquet
- This chapter elaborates on that reversal in its description of the Great Banquet. Who is invited? How does this challenge the people at table with Jesus in this scene? How does it challenge those of us who gather at Jesus’ table today?
- In vv. 25-35, what does Jesus have to say about “figuring the cost” of following him? What is the cost?
Chapter 15: Stories of the Lost
- Thinking about parables as analogies traps us in one-to-one thinking that focuses on us. If we think of Jesus’ teaching in this chapter as stories, we can be drawn into the narrative, where things look more human and more focused on God. What does this story have to say about being “good enough”?
- What does being “lost” mean to you?
Chapter 16: Faithfulness and Stewardship
- How is the “crooked manager” of vv. 1-9 a positive example of how to behave as a follower of Jesus?
- Money is always a problem. The story of the rich man and Lazarus depicts the “divine economy.” How does it appear to work? What is the real problem with money for human beings, and how is it related to the teaching about the “narrow door” in chapter 13?