The Gospel of Luke: Lesson 5The Jesus Portrait in Luke: Another View

Day One

IntroductionIn this lesson we will continue to look at the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. The lesson is

divided into two sections. The first deals with Jesus as a man of prayer, the second surveys Jesus’ role as a healer.

Praying with Jesus in the Gospel of LukeThe Gospels, both explicitly and implicitly, refer to the fact that Jesus prayed.

For Jews in Jesus’ day, prayer was a normal practice of everyday life. There were set prayers in the synagogue, grace before meals, and saying personal prayers in the morning, afternoon, and in the evening. Because Jesus did everything that was expected of an observant Jew, he prayed.

Prayer and the Gospel of LukeYet of all the gospels, Luke emphasizes Jesus at prayer more than any other. His Gospel has more

material on prayer than either Mark or Matthew. The third evangelist was consciously aware of the significance of prayer in Jesus’ life and ministry.

Jesus at Prayer in the Gospel of LukeThere are a variety of passages in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus prays. As his purpose, Luke

presents Jesus as a model pray-er, that is, Jesus prays at every decision point in his life and the author of Luke wants his audience, and all subsequent audiences, to do likewise.

In the Gospel of Luke, prayer does not necessarily mean intercessory prayer but communication with God or conversation with Him. Jesus is open to receive God’s revelation and, in turn, communicated it to others. And Jesus does this in word and in deed. Since what God the Father communicates to Jesus in prayer is salvific, Jesus at prayer in the Gospel of Luke is to be seen as the mediation of salvation.

Jesus at Prayer at His BaptismRead Luke, 3:21-22

Since Jesus’ baptism is when he launches his public ministry, it is a major decision point in his life and requires prayer. In Luke, whenever Jesus prays, something about Jesus is revealed. When Jesus prays at the time of his baptism, we learn that the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven says: “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (3:22). Jesus does not petition God at the time of his baptism, but rather his prayer is the context in which God reveals something about Jesus. In Luke, prayer is often the context in which God reveals.

Personal reflection question: Has God revealed to you something about yourself in prayer?

Jesus Withdraws to PrayRead Luke, 5:16

In Luke 5:16, we read: “But he [Jesus] would withdraw to deserted places and pray.” To understand this text, we need to realize that just before it Jesus had cured a leper, which reveals that he is a healer and miracle worker. In addition, going to “deserted places” could be a metaphor for the wilderness or desert, the place in which the ancient Near Eastern world often felt it encountered God. As, for example, when the ancient Israelites, as narrated in the book of Exodus, encountered God in the

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wilderness—a deserted place—and entered into a covenant with God. Luke wants his audience and all subsequent audiences of disciples to be like Jesus and to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of daily life in order to pray.

Personal reflection question: How, when and where do you break away from the “busyness” of life to pray?

Jesus Prays Before Selecting the TwelveRead Luke, 6:12-16

The text states: “Now during those days he [Jesus] went out to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer.” Right after this he chooses the twelve. What this text reveals to the original twelve and to us is that our choice, our vocation from Jesus, is not only the result of prayer but it can be discerned in the context of prayer. Luke is trying to reveal that vocations—ministries—faith lifestyles—come within prayer-filled contexts. Whenever we wrestle with making a life-changing choice, like getting married, finding a new job, retiring, choosing to have a child, prayer is needed. Whenever we decide who should be part of our inner circle of intimates, prayer is needed.

Personal reflection question: What was it like to pray at a major decision point in your own life?

Jesus Prays Before Asking the Apostles Who They Think He IsRead Luke, 9:18-20

Jesus prays and asks the disciples who the crowd says he is. Peter, representing the entire Lucan community, answers: “You are the messiah [Christ] of God.” Jesus prays, and those who are with him receive new insight into who he really is—the messiah—the anointed one of God. So, once again, prayer is a context for revelation in the Gospel of Luke. Prayer is a time when we receive new insights about ourselves and about our relationship with others. Prayer is a time in which we receive feedback, most especially from our intimates, on just who God and others think we are or see us to be.

Personal reflection question: Have you ever prayed before you asked people who they think you are and what you do?

Jesus Prays At the Beginning of His TransfigurationRead Luke, 9:28-36

Only the Gospel of Luke mentions that Jesus prays at his transfiguration. The result of his prayer is that Peter, John, and James learn something new about Jesus. There is a revelation! There is a theophany! The voice from the cloud says: “This is my son, my chosen, listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). Yes, listen to Jesus, for Jesus is in communion with his Father and receives confirmation of and encouragement for his ministry journey at his transfiguration. But his transfiguration is not just a private gift, it is also a revelation to Peter, John, and James—and ultimately for all of us. Prayer is a time to listen, just as the disciples are called to listen. Prayer is a time to develop listening skills. Prayer is not a time to build shrines, as Peter wanted to do on Mount Tabor.

Personal reflection question: How have you listened to God and Jesus and been transfigured by prayer?

Small group questions for Day One1. How important is prayer in your life?

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2. What are some of the major transition points in your life when you prayed? Did prayer help you through the transition?

3. How do you relate to Peter’s reaction at Jesus’ transfiguration?

Day Two

Lord Teach Us To PrayRead Luke, 11:1-4

Only two of the four gospels narrate the prayer known as the “Our Father.” They are the gospels of Matthew (6:9-13) and Luke. In Luke’s gospel, the disciples have seen how important prayer is to Jesus, so when they find Jesus in prayer they approach him with the request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Jesus responds by giving them a form of words which Christian tradition calls the Lord’s Prayer. The Gospel of Luke provides a more concise form of the Lord’s Prayer than the version found in the Gospel of Matthew (see Matthew 6:9-13), which liturgical usage has rendered so familiar to Catholics. The basic content, however, in both Gospels is the same.

The prayer begins by invoking God as “Father” (verse 2). Up to this point in the Gospel of Luke, only Jesus had used the title “Father” for God; now he tells the disciples that they too can use this intimate and familiar term when addressing God. The disciples speak as members of the “household” or “family” of God into which they have been introduced by Jesus (see Luke 8:19-21). The disciples have heard Jesus thanking the “Lord of heaven and earth” as “Father” (Luke 10:21-22), and have been assured of the blessedness they enjoy in the relationship with God that is now theirs (10:23-24). In this scene, the disciples are being taught to pray out of that relationship, calling God “Father” in their own turn. Of course, the idea is that prayer sets up a relationship between the pray-er—the person at prayer—and God as intimate as that of child to a parent.

The whole prayer—known as the Our Father—is in the plural throughout, reminding us of the community dimensions of our prayer. The disciple prays for bread (sustenance), forgiveness, and protection from evil. The only part of the prayer that gives responsibility to the individual disciple is mutual forgiveness: “Father . . . forgive us our sins, as we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us.”

The petitions in this prayer are quite strong. In effect, telling God to bring about what the petitions propose. As such, the petitions follow a distinct logic: from a focus solely upon God (“bring it about that your name is hallowed [sanctified]”), to what God ought to achieve in the world (“make your kingdom come”), to what the community needs from God—sustenance (“…give us each day our daily bread”), forgiveness (“ …and forgive us our sins as we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us”), the community needs rescue from overwhelming tribulation (“and do not bring us to the time of trial”). The community that prays the “Our Father” prayer looks to God for sustenance—that God will provide day by day the food needed for life, both physical life and food for the life of the spirit (verse 3). Likewise, because it is a community not yet arrived at the perfection of the kingdom, it is a community (church) that

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needs continual forgiveness (both from God and mutually among its members) (see verse 4a). The sense is not that God waits to see whether humans forgive before offering forgiveness, but that human beings block the flow of God’s forgiveness if they do not themselves lead forgiving lives. The final petition acknowledges that the world in which the community (church) lives is very frequently a place of trial, persecution, and temptation. The community—the church—prays that such troubles—such trials—will not prove overwhelming, causing it to fall away from its high vocation (verse 4b).

The community of faith (the church) that prays the Lord’s Prayer is, then, a community that is very conscious of its privileged closeness to God. But it prays the prayer in the world, as part of the world, on behalf of the world to which it testifies the onset of the reign of God (kingdom). It is a community that is praying for food, for reconciliation, for deliverance from evil, not just for itself but for the entire human family, whose dignity and destiny as children of God it tries to model and proclaim. This is what it means for the entire church to pray the prayer known as the “Our Father.”

Personal reflection question: What is it like for you to ask the Lord to teach you to pray?

Small Group Questions For Day Two1. What thoughts go through your mind when you pray the “Our Father” prayer?

2. What is the relationship of forgiveness to prayer?

3. What does it mean for you to sanctify or hallow God’s name?

Day Three

Jesus and the Agony in the Garden(Note to reader: This scene is also treated in a different fashion in lesson eleven of this commentary.)Read Luke, 22:39-46

Luke points out that it was Jesus’ custom to go to the Mount of Olives. Luke does not focus on the failure of Peter, James, and John to keep watch with Jesus, as the other Synoptic gospels do, but places the emphasis on Jesus’ withdrawal from all his disciples.

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Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial,” occurs at both the beginning and end of the scene, forming a frame—an inclusion—for his own prayer. It is the same petition Jesus taught the disciples in the “Our Father:” “Do not bring us to the time of trial” (Luke 11:4b). Jesus’ passion will be the test of the disciples’ fidelity and perseverance. Again, the disciples are being tempted, and Jesus urges them to pray so that the trial will not lead them to either abandon or deny the faith.

In Luke, the central focus of the scene in the garden is Jesus’ prayer. His prayer is directed to God and becomes a model for the prayer of his disciples. Luke portrays Jesus in prayer, wrestling with the thought of what lies before him. Jesus longs that “this cup” (a metaphor for his suffering and death) should be removed, yet prays that the Father’s will, not his, be done.

The “angel” who appears only in the Gospel of Luke, is an indication that the Father has heard Jesus’ prayer. The angel strengthens Jesus, though the struggle belongs to Jesus himself.

Luke uses the word “agony” (22:44)—a telling Greek term agonia. It does not simply mean intense pain but comes from the world of sports or combat and means an extraordinarily difficult but victorious struggle, as Luke’s readers would have known (the noun agonia is a word used for athletes competing in the Olympics). Agonia is a word that denotes working up a real sweat. The kind of sweat a person gets from a vigorous game of racquetball or a vigorous run. In the agonia, then, we see Jesus’ struggle for victory over his own desire not to suffer and die. What Luke depicts in this scene is a mighty contest, a struggle to the death, as in a gladiatorial contest. Here, prayer for Jesus requires an Olympian effort. Prayer means working up a real sweat with God. In Jesus’ case, according to the Gospel of Luke, the sweat turned into blood. Prayer requires an Olympian effort of both Jesus and any disciple of Jesus.

At the Mount of Olives, Jesus admits his resistance to death. In this moment, Jesus is fully aware of his freedom to say: “No,” to the passion. Jesus chooses God’s will, because that is what he wants more than he wants his own safety.

Jesus is energized by prayer before the crowd arrives to arrest him. The disciples were, if anything, in worse shape by that time, because they had been sleeping instead of praying. This was their way of coping with the impending death of Jesus. The disciples simply could not face what was happening. Either they do not fully believe it, understand it, or they deny it in some way. We all use sleep from time to time as a way of coping with the unpleasant or unacceptable.

The scene of the agony in the garden concludes by contrasting Jesus and the disciples. Jesus “got up from prayer” energized, while the disciples were “sleeping because of grief” (Luke 22:45). Jesus rises because his prayer has made him ready to enter the trial, while the disciples are overcome with fear and distress.

In the Gospel of Luke, what the agony in the garden scene teaches all would-be pray-ers is that the endeavor is worth it, for if one is energized by prayer as Jesus was to face even death, once energized by prayer, we too can also face death.

Personal reflection question: What is it like for you to work up a real sweat in prayer?

Jesus’ Prayers from the Cross

(Note to reader: This scene is also treated in a different fashion in lesson 11 of this commentary.)

Read Luke, 23:34 and 23:46

The last two prayers that Jesus offers in the Gospel of Luke are offered from the cross. Jesus prayed for those responsible for his death, asking: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This prayer points backwards in the gospel to where Jesus taught: “love your enemies, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28); and when he taught: “forgive and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Once again, Jesus fulfills the petition of the Our Father—“and forgive us our

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debts as we forgive everyone indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). Likewise, Jesus’ disciples of every age are called to forgive their enemies and those who mistreat them. Prayer becomes the context in which one develops a forgiving attitude toward all who harm us. Jesus’ final prayer in Luke, taken from Psalm 31:5: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). The Greek word for “spirit” is pneuma, it means “breath” or “wind.” In this prayer on the cross, Jesus is returning his breath to God the creator who breathed breath into all human life at the dawn of creation (see Genesis 2:6-7). At the point of death, Jesus entrusts himself into God’s hands. Those same hands that formed humankind out of the clay now receive Jesus, raising him from death to eternal life. We too need to embrace this final prayer of Jesus as our own. We are called to have the same confidence in Jesus that God had. Like Jesus, we are called to believe that God will draw us into God’s self through the doorway of death and give us eternal life.

Personal reflection question: How can prayer help you forgive someone who has harmed you?

Small Group Questions for Day Three

1. Can you think of times in your life when prayer has been an Olympian effort on your part?

2. Do you feel energized by prayer the way Jesus felt after praying in the garden?

3. What would it be like for you to forgive your enemies and persecutors as Jesus did?

Day Four

Luke’s Parables on PrayerOverview

The three parables on prayer in Luke are: the parable of the friend at midnight (11:5-8), the parable of the persistent widow (18:1-8), and the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9-14). They are masterfully told by Jesus and are profoundly challenging to anyone who encounters them. They provide in story form “meditations” on prayer.

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The Parable of the Friend at Midnight and Connected Parabolic Sayings Read Luke, 11:5-13

Structure of Luke Chapter 11Luke has set this parable in the context of an extended presentation on prayer in chapter 11. The

emphasis is on the nature of the God to whom Christians pray. The first part in chapter 11 verses 1-4 contains the Lord’s Prayer, which addresses God as Father. The portrayal of God in the second part of this section of chapter 11, in verses 5-8, is the parable itself. The third part of this chapter 11 in verses 9-10 calls for action on the part of the petitioner: asking, seeking, and knocking. But still the focus is not on the petitioner; rather, it is on God who is faithful and consistent in his response. The petitioner could not be guaranteed an answer if God were not faithful. The fourth part in chapter 11:11-13 portrays the wisdom and kindness of a father who gives good gifts to his children.

The emphasis throughout this section, therefore, is on God who receives petitions in prayer and who will surely hear and answer. The first component, the Lord’s Prayer, and the last, the wise father, are linked by references to a father. The second component, the parable, and the third invitation to ask, seek, and knock, have in common references to the petitioner taking the initiative — and doing so with an expectation of an answer. Finally, the context of the parable in 11:5-8 probably stems from the petition for daily bread (verse 3) in the Lord’s Prayer.

The parable unfolds in one long question: “Which of you?” and it expects a negative answer: “No one. It would be unthinkable.” The repetition of the word for friend, in Greek philos, four times makes friendship the underlying premise of the parable. The two central characters in the parable can be designated as the petitioner and the sleeper. The petitioner has received a guest and is obliged to provide him with a meal. Presumably, there was other food in the house, but not the essential ingredient of the meal — bread — the staff of life. The parable then asks whether anyone could imagine the situation in which one would go to a friend in the middle of the night and be told by him that he could not get up to give his friend the bread the petitioner needed because he and his family were asleep. To get up in the middle of the night, get the bread, draw the bolt on the door would awaken the whole family. Would a neighbor turn away a friend in the middle of the night and allow him to be shamed because he would not provide hospitality for a guest? Such a thing would be unimaginable in the Galilean village. The situation is unthinkable, not because of the petitioner’s persistence but because honor demanded that a neighbor get up, awaken his whole family if necessary, and supply his friend’s need.

The parable requires us to compare our expectations of a neighbor with our assumptions about God. If a neighbor would help us, will God be slow to answer an urgent request? Luke is implying here that we may pray confidently, therefore, not because we trust in our own persistence but because we know that in a time of need God is even more trustworthy than any human neighbor.

By means of this parable of the friend at midnight, Jesus teaches persistence in prayer not because we have to convince God to answer us or to wear down God’s resistance. Jesus teaches persistence, rather, to overcome our tendency to give up on prayer too easily or to pray too sporadically.

Personal reflection question: When have I prayed with confidence that God the Father would answer me?

The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Note to reader: Another treatment of this parable in a slightly different fashion is in lesson seven of this commentary.)

Read Luke, 18:1-8With prayer and praying mentioned over thirty times in Luke’s Gospel and Acts of the Apostles,

the parable of the persistent widow highlights the central feature of Luke’s Gospel by emphasizing the 7

necessity and efficacy of constant prayer. Moreover, because widows and orphans who were at risk, were to be special recipients of charity according to Jewish law (Deut 24:17-22), the early Christians would have been particularly attentive to the parable.

The story appears only in Luke and there are at least two different ways to read it. The first is to see the unjust judge as the protagonist bearing the lesson for the reader. The intent of the parable comes through the comparison of who is “greater.” As an unjust judge grants a petition solely for self-serving purposes, how much greater will a loving God grant the desires of his beloved petitioner.

A second interpretation, on the other hand, sees the wisdom as the protagonist and thus the vehicle for the lesson. In this case, she, in her weakness, combats evil and injustice on behalf of the poor and neglected. She is unswerving in her efforts, and the unjust judge, the symbol of oppression, is clearly afraid of her, as is seen by the use of the Greek verb “to strike,” or “to punch.” It also has the connotation of treating someone roughly, or to strike them under the eye. It is not too far of a stretch to say the widow was about to give the judge a black eye. What surfaces through the analogy is, as persistent as a widow is to secure her rights, so is God in securing the rights of those who are petitioning him in prayer.

Personal reflection question: How do you remain persistent in prayer?

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector Read Luke, 18:9-14

Luke now adds the humble prayer of the tax collector who knows his need for God’s compassion (mercy). A tax collector, despised by others and expected to be likewise despised by God, exemplifies the healthy posture of prayer.

Luke says that Jesus told the parable “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt” (verse 18). Both facets of this description anticipate the characterization of the Pharisee in the following verses. Moreover, while the parable may be intended as a rebuke of the Pharisees in the present context, Luke does not say that Jesus addressed the Pharisees. Thus the parable probably has a much wider application. Disciples and believers are just as vulnerable to pride and self-righteousness as the Pharisees. Such an interpretation avoids anti-Semitism. The conclusion disallows the limitation of the parable to any one group: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (18:14).

Valuable as the introduction and conclusion may be, they may rob the parable of much of its subtlety and reduce its characters to stereotypes. The parable itself characterizes the Pharisee and the tax collector only indirectly; it does not tell us what to think of them. The parable leaves it to the hearer to decide why one was justified and the other was not. The open ended nature of the parable requires the hearer/reader to make a judgment.

With great literary ability, Luke reports both the position and prayer of the Pharisee and that of the tax collector, and the reader learns who these two are by the way they pray. The Pharisees separated themselves from others to maintain their purity before God, so this Pharisee takes a position that reflects his identity — standing by himself. The Pharisee’s prayer, however, continues immediately in the first person. The narrator’s initial characterization of the Pharisee as regarding others with contempt is confirmed by his own words. His prayer is one of thanksgiving but it is a self-serving prayer, thanking God that he is not like other people. By “other people” he means sinners: “thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (18:11). The last member of this list links the two characters of the parable. The Pharisee is aware of the presence of the tax collector in the temple, but the only link between them is the Pharisee’s contempt for the tax collector.

As the Pharisee’s prayer continues, so does his absorption in his own virtue. Fasting and tithing are the proofs of his piety that he offers to God. The Pharisee does not just offer a tithe on those foods and animals for which a tithe is specifically required but tithes all of his income.

The Pharisee asks nothing of God. He presumes, rather, that he is not a sinner and that his fasting and tithing are ample evidence of his piety. The Pharisee gives no evidence of either humility or

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contrition before God. By contrast, the tax collector stands “far off,” a position that anticipates his confession of unworthiness before God.

The common posture for prayer in Jesus’ day and at the time of the writing of Luke’s gospel was not on one’s knees with head bowed and hands folded, but rather standing upright and looking up to God with hands raised.

While the parable makes it clear that in 18:13 the Pharisee asks nothing of God. The tax collector boasts nothing before God. The tax collector’s prayer echoes the opening words of Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, oh God.” The crucial addition to the words of Psalm 51, however, is the tax collector’s self-designation: “a sinner.” Nothing more is reported of the tax collector’s prayer. It is complete as it stands, and nothing more needs to be said of his character.

The parable leaves it to the reader to consider the contrast between the two characters. It is not merely a study in contrasts but ends up with a dramatic call to examine one’s own conscience.

Instinctively readers despise the Pharisee, who is seen as despising all other human beings. But wonder if the parable invites us to see how in the very act of judging the Pharisee, we ourselves are exemplifying the attitude we despise in him. From this position, there is no smugness of superiority toward any other; all are seen as brothers and sisters of the same gracious God.

Luke’s parables on prayer are a veritable examination of conscience, for they require the reader to ponder how the behaviors of the various characters impinge on the reader. What remains constant throughout is that God is always open to hear prayer. Further, prayer requires work and effort on the part of the believer; it requires persistence and excludes presumption.

Personal reflection question: In prayer how do I see myself before God?

Small Group Questions For Day Four

1. Which one of the parables on prayer do you find most helpful for your own prayer life?

2. What does persistence in prayer look like for you?

3. Are there times when you are like the Pharisee as well as the tax collector in the parable?

Day Five

Jesus the HealerJesus, the healer, brings wholeness and healing to human life. Each healing story in Luke involves

Jesus meeting with people who are in some way on the margins of society, either because of their

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affliction or because they bear the stigma of public sinner. Also, often Jesus’ healings include tactility, the physical touching of the one to be healed.

Jesus Cures Simon’s Mother-in LawRead Luke 4:38-39

This story reveals two kinds of mighty works done by Jesus---healing and exorcism. There is a conflict between Jesus and a demonic force that oppresses stunts and seeks to control Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus is employing here his messianic power to reclaim for God not just Peter’s mother-in-law physically and spiritually, but also all of humanity. Personal reflection question: What are the forces in your life that stunt your growth toward God? Jesus Cures a LeperRead Luke, 5:12-16

This healing scene shows the outreach of God’s hospitality dramatically. Prevailing Jewish law could only banish lepers to the margins of society (see Leviticus chapters 13-14, especially 13:44-45). This man, “covered with leprosy,” does not hesitate to approach Jesus. His request is: “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean” (verse 12). With an affirmation “I do choose. Be made clean.” Jesus stretches out his hand and touches the untouchable one. In light of the social and religious stigma attached to leprosy, the gesture is remarkable. But along with Jesus breaking conventional boundaries, he tells the man to show himself to the priest and make an offering as the law required (verse 15). Jesus works of compassion are not meant to overthrow the Law of Moses but to fulfill it.Question For Reflection: How do I mediate the healing power of Jesus to the marginal ones in my life?

Jesus Cures a ParalyticRead Luke 5:17-26

In this episode, it is not only illness that marginalizes this man but the added problem of gaining access to Jesus. This he does with the assistance of others. These people take extraordinary steps; they clamber up to the roof, displace the tiles and lower the man down in front of Jesus. All of this effort Jesus reads as an expression of faith (“Seeing their faith…” [Verse 12]). They carry the paralyzed man as much by their faith as by their physical strength, and this small circle of faith, creates the context for healing.

But something more than physical healing is called for. Jesus assures the paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven (verse 20) ---an assurance that provokes a negative response from Pharisees and teachers of the Law who are also present at the scene. Jesus does not argue his right to forgive sin. He simply makes his capacity to work a physical cure proof of his authority to pronounce forgiveness. At Jesus’ command the man on the pallet rises, picks up his pallet, and unaided, in contrast to his arrival, goes off to his house. Luke is meticulous about the fact that the cured man takes his pallet with him. He no longer needs it why take it along? Even when you are cured by Jesus your past goes with you. For it is only by remembering your past situation that you can appreciate your current state of being cured.

Modern readers of this healing story may find the blend of the two issues---healing and forgiveness---disturbing. But there is no necessary suggestion that the man’s paralysis is a consequence or punishment of his sin. For Jesus, bodily healing and spiritual healing go together. The paralyzed man and his associates had to break through a physical barrier to get the physical healing. Jesus had to confront a more resist barrier namely, the “thoughts” of the religious authorities to communicate forgiveness as also a form of healing.

Personal reflection question: When has the faith of others strengthened your faith?

Jesus Heals the Centurion’s Slave Read Luke 7:1-10

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In this story the person who seeks Jesus’ help is a foreigner whose case is argued before Jesus by a Jewish delegation (vv.3-5). The centurion realizes that Jesus has power similar to his own; he gets things done by those subservient to him because of the higher authority invested in him. Jesus, does not, then, need to come to the centurion’s house, something which for Jews would involve a measure of defilement.

The episode invites Gentile hearers of the Gospel to identify with the centurion and his commendable faith. Like the centurion, they do not enjoy physical contact with Jesus, but faith helps them to access the hospitality of God reaching out to them and their households. Jesus’ concluding comment, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” (v.9). Those on the margins of Israel---in this case a Gentile centurion respond more readily to the good news.

Personal reflection question: When have you reached out to God and felt God reached back to you?

Small Group Questions For Day Five

1. Who are your friends who have helped you gain access to Jesus’ healing?

2. What are some of your own paralyses for which you need Jesus’ healing touch?

3. What is the relationship of faith to healing?

Day Six

Jesus Cures the Daughter of Jairus and a Woman with a Hemorrhage(Note to reader: this story is also dealt with in Lesson 7 of this commentary.)Read Luke 8:40-56

In this story we have another example of the Gospel of Luke’s inclusivity in both a man and a woman seeking a cure from Jesus. Desperate for the life of his daughter, the synagogue ruler Jairus approaches Jesus in faith and persuades him to come immediately to his house (vv.41-42). He then has to stand by helplessly while Jesus stops to attend to the woman (vv.43-48). Finally, Jairus is told it is too late: his daughter in the meantime has died, why trouble the master further? First the delay, now death. Jairus’ faith has to leap to an entirely new level as Jesus assures him, “Do not fear. Only believe and she will be saved.” (v50). At the very end of this long journey of faith and in the context it provides, Jesus overcomes death, restoring the little girl to her father and mother (vv.54-55). Very humanly, Jesus suggests they resume their parental duties by giving her something to eat.

In contrast to the influential ruler of the synagogue, how different the situation of the nameless woman is (vv43-48). As far as the community and its taboo mentality, she is as good as dead; according to Leviticus 15:25-31, her condition renders her permanently unclean and she in turn renders unclean any person or object she touches. It is scarcely possible to grasp the loneliness and isolation of her situation---

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accentuated now by poverty, since she had spent all she had on physicians (v43). She is one of the most marginalized persons in the Gospel.

She then has to break through a vast barrier to gain access to Jesus. To touch him publicly would render him unclean. So, amidst the press of the crowd, she contrives to touch secretly the fringe of his clothes. (Most likely the tassels she touched are those that hang down from his prayer shawl). The crowds press in upon Jesus, but she touches him with faith. And her faith becomes a conduit for his healing power to take effect.

We might ask why Jesus brings the whole matter out in the open: because healing is never a private matter in the Gospel. Salvation includes restoring this person to the community, making her faith and her healing a community experience as well. So Jesus calls her forward to acknowledge what has happened. He publicly commends her faith and sends her away, a living witness to both Jesus’ healing power and the dawn of salvation (v.48).

Personal reflection question: Do I risk exposure of my own weaknesses and in so doing discover God?

Jesus Heals an Epileptic childRead Luke 9:37-43

In this story, what would almost certainly be recognized as epilepsy today, the biblical narrative presents as demonic possession. Jesus rebukes the spirit, heals the boy, and in a typical Lucan touch, gives him back to his father. Once again a family finds healing.

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman and a Man with Dropsy on the SabbathRead Luke 13:10-17; 14: 1-6

The woman bent over for eighteen years stands up straight at Jesus’ touch and begins to praise God. The beautiful moment of restoration, the leader of the synagogue can see only as an offense against the Sabbath (v.14). Jesus does not conceal his scorn. How hypocritical, that religious leaders do not hesitate to work for the benefit of their animals on the Sabbath (v. 15) will not will not allow Jesus to free this human being, a member of God’s people ( “daughter of Abraham”), from the power of Satan on the Sabbath . (The ancient perception was that physical illnesses are attributable to demonic forces without any suggestion of moral failing on the part of the sufferer.).

What the Sabbath is all about for Jesus is the enhancement of obedience to God’s will, not simply resting and refraining from work. The compassion of Jesus for suffering humanity (“eighteen long years”), his outrage at the limited sense of God projected by the complaint, rings through the whole story. The rejoicing crowd (v.17), in contrast to the discomfiture of the leaders, illustrates once more the divided response to Jesus’ public ministry.

In the story of Jesus healing a man with dropsy (the swollen condition now medically identified as edema) happens within the context of a meal and on the Sabbath. Jesus once again reclaims the Sabbath as an occasion for healing and the fullness of life.

Personal reflection question: When have attitudes in my life caused me to block the healing presence of Jesus?

Jesus Heals Ten LepersRead Luke, 17:11-19

The scene opens on the border between Samaria and Galilee with ten lepers, keeping their distance as they were obliged to do, crying out to Jesus for mercy. All ten are made clean when they follow Jesus’ instructions to go and show themselves to the priest (see Leviticus 13:49). For nine, that is the end of the matter. But the tenth, who happens to be a Samaritan, toward whom Jews had great animosity, returns, loudly praising God. He prostrates himself before Jesus in gratitude and receives the assurance: “Your faith has saved you” (v 19). All ten receive physical healing. However it is only the one on the margins

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(“this foreigner,” as Jesus calls him [v.18]) who fully experiences salvation. Beyond physical healing, salvation means praising and thanking the God who has set you free.

Personal reflection question: For whom or for what do you need to praise and thank God?

Jesus Heals a Blind ManRead Luke, 18: 35-43

The last cure Jesus works in the Gospel is to restore sight to a blind person. This is truly ironic since the apostles continue to display blindness toward Jesus’ fate of suffering and dying. As Jesus approaches Jericho, a blind beggar correctly hailing him by his messianic title, “Son of David,” cries out for help. The disciples, Jesus’ “handlers,” try to silence the beggar. But the beggar, another of those marginalized ones who truly know their need for salvation, has the faith to break through barriers to obtain what he wants. As Jesus observes, the man’s faith brings him salvation. His sight restored, he follows Jesus, glorifying God, while all the people praise God for what they have seen. The healing brought about by Jesus of an individual becomes a communal experience of salvation.

Personal reflection question: To whom or what have you been blind? What do you need to ask Jesus to help you see?

Small Group Questions For Day Six

1. What were the issues surrounding Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath?

2. How do Jesus’ healings overcome ethnic and gender barriers?

3. Of the various healing stories of Jesus presented in this chapter which one is your favorite and why?

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Small Group Call to Prayer(Place an open Bible on a table in the room with a lighted candle next to it.)

Leader: My friends let us pause as we prepare to hear the Word of God proclaimed in the Gospel. [Lead all in the Sign of the Cross] + In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Leader: Come Holy and Compassionate God, be with us here.

All: Dwell in our hearts minds and souls.

Leader: Help us to experience your presence revealed in the Sacred Scriptures.All: May our time together help us to grow in wisdom and knowledge and grace before God and humankind.

All: Amen.

Closing Prayer

Leader: We thank you God for this time spent together experiencing your revelation through the Gospel.

All: May we continue to be informed and formed by your word in Sacred Scripture.

Leader: Let us go forth to live our faith.

All: Thanks be to God.

Exchange a gesture of peace

For Further Reading

Johnson, Elizabeth A. Consider Jesus. New York: Crossroad, 1992.

Nolan, Albert. Jesus Before Christianity (Revised Edition). Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2001.

Senior, Donald. Jesus: A Gospel Portrait. (Revised Edition) New York: Paulist Press, 1992.

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