Welcome to “Red Letter Bible Study”

Each week we provide this on-line Bible Study designed to help us focus on the teachings and words of Jesus and what they mean for our lives. The lesson is the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday.   After completing the study if you have questions feel free to email me at pastorvicki@gloriadei-nky.org.  Be open to the Holy Spirit and enjoy! Join us at 10:00 Sunday morning for discussion of this text and the worship experience of the day.

Many thanks for the insights of the following commentators; Robert Kysar, "John", David L. Tiede, "Luke", Robert H. Smith, "Matthew", Donald H. Juel, "Mark", Clinton Arnold, "Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary", and for the brilliant teaching of Dr. David Allen Powell and Dr. Walter Taylor, professors at Trinity Seminary.  Their thinking helps to shape mine.  I suggest their works for all who would like to dig deeper. 

Pastor Vicki

Click here to Read Luke 15:1-32 (Opens in a new window)

Study for the week of March 8-14, 2010 

Read Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

• What strikes you about the reading?  Is there a particular word or phrase that stands out or makes you feel challenged?
• What do you not understand?

Consider the following concepts:

            When trying to understand a parable it is important to recognize either who the God character is or what the Kingdom of God is doing.  This parable is rich in both.  In the parable the God character is the Father.  We are like one or the other of the sons.  At certain times we behave like both of the sons.  The wayward son is lost in things that are not pleasing to the father.  When he is away in the far country (which is any place that the Father is not) the Father doesn’t go and force him to return.  Eventually living away from the Father brings destruction of not only his moral fiber but also of his very life.  The stay at home son on the other hand has the delight of the Father all of the time but his jealously and lack of grace keeps him from fully basking in the love and company of his father.  He is about keeping the rules.

            In the end, the wayward son is received back into the embrace of the Father… before he cleans up from being away.  It is his Fathers embrace that makes him worthy of the party, not his cleanliness.  And in the end, the stay at home son, who is perfectly cleaned up for the party is the one who chooses to stay out of the party.

Re-read the lesson and contemplate the following questions:

• When are you the wayward child?
• In the times that you have been away from God, what happened to your life?
• Do you think of those times as squandering the gifts of God?
• When are you the stay at home child?
• How has being jealous of others or not wanting certain other people to be in the presence of God hurt your relationship with God?
• What do you think it means that the Father embraces the wayward child while the child is still filthy from living with the pigs and traveling?
• What does the fact that the Father sees the son’s return from a distance mean?
• What do you learn about God from the parable?
• What do you learn about yourself?

Re-read the lesson

• Now what does the passage mean to you?
• What do you think the Lord is telling you to do?
• How will these words about and of Jesus change your life?

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