The Gospel Comes with a House Key
The Jesus Paradox (2|5)
The Vitality of Hospitality
Pages 26-31
TOGETHER read the book (END READING AT: ...Christian values are seen as the enemy of compassion, care, and diversity.) and discuss the content below.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out (try to keep it brief).
Luke 5:12-16 (NIV) While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
In what ways are you afraid to draw close to hurting people?
How can you learn from Jesus’s example of healing the leper?
Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
John 14:15 (NIV) “If you love me, keep my commands.”
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your notes and pray.
It is vital to see what healing and salvation mean when they come from the hand of God. It is vital to have the eyes to see what Jesus did. It is also vital to see what Jesus did not do. He did not tell the leper that God loved and approved of him just as he was. Jesus did not say that the problem of leprosy was a social construction rooted only in the mind of the beholder, and now that ”grace” had arrived, “the law” was no longer binding. Jesus did not encourage the leper to develop greater self-esteem.
What is your reaction to this statement?
When Jesus walked the earth, he wasn’t afraid to touch hurting people. He drew people in close. He met them empty and left them full. Jesus turned everything upside down.
What is your reaction to this statement?
Susan Hunt explains, “When God’s grace changes our status from rebel to redeemed, we are empowered by his Spirit to obey him. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds into the likeness. Joyful obedience is the evidence of our love for Jesus.
What excuses do you make for not giving until it hurts? How does the knowledge of God’s generous, saving grace for you remove the power of those excuses?
EXTRA READING:
Genesius the Actor of Rome (unknown - 303) was once a famous comedian actor who performed in plays that mocked Christianity. Genesius had a conversion experience while mocking Christians before Emperor Diocletian and was martyred for his faith. He said, “There is no other Lord besides Him whom I have seen. Him I worship and serve, and to Him I will cling, though I should suffer a thousand deaths.”