Skip to main content

PARABLE: The "lost" stories

 {PARABLES} The “lost” stories_ 

Luke 15:1-32 

 
“If people really knew me, they would reject me.” This is something I’m sure we’ve all thought / said before. So, to avoid this possibility, we often try to wear masks to help us ‘fit in’. We hide who we really are. We can often feel this same way about God. We can feel as if we are rejected and condemned, rather than accepted and loved. So we do our best to please God... but feel as if we never measure up. 

 
[Group activity starter] Make a collective list of descriptive words that paint an image of God as punitive and harsh. Now read aloud Luke 15:5 & 20. Make a contrasting list of descriptive words that illustrate this portrait of God. Think about the thoughts and feelings that you have as you look at these two contrasting images of God. 

 
In these three parables about lostness – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son – Jesus sets us straight about God’s attitude towards sinners. The result is a startling picture of God... 

 
[Read Luke 15:1-32] 

 
In these three parables, compare the way the Pharisees see “sinners” to the way that Jesus says that God sees them. 
 

 
Imagine yourself listening to these stories as a Pharisee. If you were able to hear Jesus, what thoughts and feelings might you have in response to these stories? 
 

 
Imagine yourself listening to these stories as one of the people the Pharisees called a “sinner”. If you were able to hear Jesus, what thoughts and feelings might you have in response to these stories? 
 

 
When reading stories or parables, it helps to imagine the sights, sounds, smells and feelings. What comes to mind when you read / hear the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (verses 4-10)? 
 
Who is represented by the central characters (or objects) in each three parables? 

 
 

How do you account for the intense reactions of the shepherd, woman, and father to both their losses and their discoveries? 
 

 
Describe a time when you lost / misplaced something valuable to you. 
How did you feel? 
 

 
Let’s look more closely at the third parable. 
How might the Pharisees and teachers of the law have felt about each of the actions of the younger son (verses 13-16)? 
 

 
How might the Pharisees have expected the father to respond when the younger son returned home? 
 

 
What do the details in verses 20-24 reveal about the feelings of our Father in heaven? 
 

 
How can this portrait of God help us to feel fully accepted by the Father – in spite of our sin? 
 

 
Instead of concluding the story in verse 24, Jesus goes on to describe the reaction of the older son (verses 25-32). What additional point do you think that Jesus wants to make to the Jewish leaders, and why? 
 

 
How can this parable motivate us to love those who are lost? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #1

  The Lord Who Speaks_   Revelation 1:9-20   We  don’t  tend to get many letters these days. We get emails, text messages,  WhatsApp  and other electronic messages, but rarely  a handwritten, pen-and-paper letter.    I tend to save any good ones I get... notes from when Leah was little. Letters that encourage or bless me.   I’ll keep them in my  bedside  drawer or  tucked  into books on our shelves. Then I get to read them again and feel loved and blessed by their words. ..     [Discussion starter]    Tell the group about a significant letter you have received and why it meant so much to you.     Revelation 2-3 records seven letters written by Jesus to seven churches.   It must have been a thrill for an early church congregation to receive a letter from the apostles Paul, Peter, or James... but here were letters from Jesus himself . And we all get to read everyone else’s ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more

PARABLE: the rich man and Lazarus

  {PARABLE} the rich man and Lazarus_   Luke 16:19-31   Have you ever heard someone say that religion is just  a ‘crutch’ or just a source of comfort for the weak?   Have you ever heard someone say that religious people pay no attention to those who are hungry or suffering?   Christianity doesn’t teach passive suffering in the face of injustice and oppression. Jesus calls us to serve those who are in need.     [Discussion starter] Have you ever been asked for money by someone homeless?   How did you react?     The final parable in this study reminds us that suffering in this life can be replaced by bliss in the next ...     [Read Luke 16:19-31]     In verses 19-21, how does the parable reveal the rich man’s lack of concern for Lazarus?       How would you account for the rich man’s indifference towards Lazarus?       What are some of the ways that you have heard people explain why ...
Post a Comment
Read more