SAMPLE OF STUDIES WITH DRAMATIZATIONS

OUR COMPASSIONATE SAVIOR

Study and Discussion of the Gospel of Luke using New Media Bible Videos

Study Four: A Taste of New Wine – Luke 5:1 - 6:16

According to the Jewish custom of Jesus' day, teachers sat to teach. That was their position of authority. Here we find Jesus sitting in a boat a little way from the shore, using that setting to teach without the crowed pressing too close and blocking out those behind them. Many of the video's scenes do not carry out this custom, but have Jesus teaching "on the move." This, no doubt, was to get more movement and variety into the dramatizations of the longer sections of teaching in Luke.

The Calling of the First Disciples – 5:1-11

1. Did Simon and Andrew and James and John already know something about Jesus before he came to them at the seashore and called them to follow him? What does Jesus' calling of uneducated fishermen to become his fishers of men say about the work they – and we – would someday do for him?

Jesus' Healing Ministry – 5:12-26

The crowds of Galileans reacted eagerly to Jesus' ministry – especially as he displayed his power to heal. As his reputation spread through the area they sought him out and brought the sick to him for healing. Jesus surely must have rejoiced at their response and served them happily, but he also withdrew from them at times to be alone in prayer with his heavenly Father.

2. What was the device that Jesus wrapped around his head and his arm as he prayed alone on the hillside? (See Deuteronomy 6:8-9) What kind of devotional aids do we Christians sometimes use in our prayers?

3. What benefit is there in having some pattern to follow in your prayers? What dangers may be involved in following such patterns?

Luke tells us that as Jesus was teaching "there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem." They evidently had gathered in Capernaum to check out this uncertified rabbi in the course of his ministering.

Jesus first blessed the paralyzed man who had been brought to him by friends with the assurance that his sins were forgiven. The Pharisees complained to each other that such a statement was blasphemous because it claimed to offer what is only God's prerogative. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus then healing the paralyzed man to demonstrate who he is and that he, as the Son of Man, has God's own authority to forgive sins.

4. What does it say to us that Jesus first gave the paralyzed man what he needed most?

The Calling of Levi – 5:27-28

Levi was a publican, a tax collector. The Romans' approach to taxing their subjugated peoples was to get some of them to serve as tax collectors. Jews who agreed to work for the hated Romans as tax collectors became social and religious outcasts in Jewish society. They were not allowed to participate in the study and worship in the synagogues. Yet Jesus called Levi (Matthew) to become one of his disciples.

5. What does Jesus' calling a tax collector to be one of the Twelve say to his disciples his call to discipleship?

Criticisms by the Pharisees – 5:29-6:11

6. Why were the Pharisees indignant when Jesus went to eat with Levi and his friends? How did Jesus explain his being with Levi and his friends? What would be a comparable situation in our society today?

The Pharisees were one of the two major religious parties of the Jews in Jesus' day. They had entered the scene during the centuries before Christ, a time when there was great pressure on Jewish society to Hellenize – adopt the outlook and ways of Greek culture. The Pharisees were defenders of the Jewish faith and the rabbinical traditions, and are credited with saving Judaism. Their name, Pharisees, means "the separated ones". Against the tide of modernism and change in their society they emphasized strict observance of the ceremonial laws and traditions – and carried it to the point where outward observance became the important thing, and inner attitudes of faith were neglected. Pharisees were often very self-righteous because of their meticulous obedience to the 613 detailed rules that had been developed as a "hedge" to surround and protect the great principles of the Law. The Pharisees valued the sacred Scriptures, and accepted the Prophets and the Writings along with the Torah as the Word of the Lord. The scribes were their theologians – copying and studying the Scriptures and the rabbinical traditions. The legalism of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law led to continual conflict with Jesus.

Wineskins were the skins of goats which had carefully been removed in one piece. The leg holes and other holes were then tied off and the neck was fixed around a spout. New skins were used when making new wine because they would be flexible and strong enough to withstand the pressure created by fermentation. Old skins became brittle and cracked and might burst under the pressure.

7. What was Jesus referring to when he said that no one patches an old garment with a piece from a new garment and that new wine requires new wineskins? Who were the ones who were enjoying "new wine" in their contacts with Jesus? What was Jesus saying to his antagonists with his "No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says 'The old is better.'"?

8. In helping themselves to heads of grain as they walked on the path through the grain field, were the disciples stealing? (See Deuteronomy 23:24-25) Since the Pharisees knew this principle well, what were they really complaining about?

9. What was Jesus saying with his "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath"?

When Jesus is shown at prayer in the video he has his head covered with his loose outer garment. This was a tradition among the Jews, by which they intended to show respect for the Lord. Still today, Jewish men cover their heads with a yarmulke when they go into their synagogues or temples for worship.

10. What customs do we follow that are similarly intended to show our respect for God when we pray together in church?

The Twelve Apostles – 6:12-16

The custom of the day was for young men to select a teacher, a master, so they could prepare themselves for a meaningful life by acquiring his wisdom and catching his spirit. Many who followed Jesus as their Master no doubt did so with that in mind. But we are told that he chose the Twelve who would be his disciples.

11. Why twelve disciples?

12. What does the fact that Jesus did the choosing say to us about our Christian discipleship? What does it mean that Jesus designated the twelve to be his apostles?

13. When Luke and the other evangelists later wrote their accounts of Jesus' ministry, why did they carefully list the names of the men who were designated by Jesus to be his apostles.

OUR COMPASSIONATE SAVIOR

THOUGHTS FOR THE LEADER

Study Four: A Taste of New Wine – Luke 5:1 - 6:16 Video time: 12:40

Note: This video cassette is not clearly divided into segments, as was the first cassette. Use the Bible text to determine the portion of the video to be viewed in class, so you can have it ready to begin and can be ready to stop it at the appropriate points.

The Calling of the First Disciples

1. Simon and Andrew and James and John surely knew something about Jesus before this incident. Andrew and John were with John the Baptist when he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. They spent the rest of that day in conversation with Jesus. (See John 1:35-39) This incident followed that one by some time. / Jesus' calling uneducated men to follow him and minister in his name indicates that building the Kingdom of God does not depend on human abilities but on the power of God. This does not mean that intelligence and education are unimportant. The Apostle Paul was an intellectual giant who had had the best education his day could afford him. Finally, however, it is the Spirit of Jesus who builds the Kingdom.

Jesus' Healing Ministry

2. The device Jesus used is called a phylactery. Phylacteries were leather boxes with long straps, which were wrapped around the arms (strength) and placed on the head (mind). The practice was a literal application of part of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Inside the boxes were small scrolls of Scripture – including the Hebrew Shema or creed, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Pious Jewish men used phylacteries in morning and evening prayer. / Roman Catholics use rosaries; other Christians may use crosses, light candles, bow the head, fold the hands, kneel, etc.

3. There may be benefits in having regular times for prayer, in assuming devotional positions in places we associate with prayer, and using objects which will help to focus concentration. All may help to make prayer a central part of life. / The danger in devotional aids and patterns is that they become such a major concern that they finally might limit or even interfere with real communication. (See Matthew 23:5 and Mark 12:38-40)

4. Forgiveness of sins is Jesus' basic gift. It's what the Son of God came to procure for mankind . It's what we need the most. Healing of our physical illnesses or disabilities may not be his will for us, but assurance of forgiveness is always his gracious will for us. It provides the eternal healing that all of us need.

The Calling of Levi

5. Jesus' calling a tax collector to be one of the Twelve emphasizes the gracious nature of Jesus call. No one is beyond the reach of his grace – and we, too, are part of his kingdom only on the same basis.

Criticisms by the Pharisees

6. In the view of the Pharisees, good religious people do not associate with sinners. They saw Jesus' eating with Levi and his friends in Levi's home as evidence that he was not really a prophet at all. / Jesus explained that he had come to those who need him – and know it. A modern translation has it: "I have not come to congratulate the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance." / In today's society, a Christian ministry to prisoners in jail, to alcoholics, to prostitutes, to homeless street people, to gang members, to AIDS victims, etc., is comparable. You get the feeling that Jesus might have spent more time in our inner cities than in our suburban churches.

7. Jesus was referring to the frequent disparity between the old and the new, which is often so radical that the two cannot be made to just accommodate each other. At that point there has to be an either/or decision. / The "new wine" was being drunk and enjoyed by those who acknowledged their personal need and saw in Jesus the one who filled that need – notably, the four fishermen, the leper, the paralyzed man, Levi and his friends. / We do not easily discard the old in favor of the new. The old often has become so comfortable. Jesus was concerned here about ways of looking at life and especially about ways of looking at relationship with God. For the "religiously correct" Pharisees, their legalistic approach to Judaism tended to confirm their own "righteousness" and made them look down on those who were not as good as they. (See Luke 18:9-14) Jesus used this analogy to say to his antagonists, "You hang on to your old, comfortable legalism – and as a result you are missing out on the new wine of the Gospel." We, too, sometimes hang onto old attitudes and traditions, but when new understanding and new insights show us that the old ways are inadequate and even misleading it is time for us to adopt the new, even if we feel uncomfortable with it for a time. We must always take care that "our way of saying and doing things" does not become a legalism in which we place our confidence instead of trusting only in Christ and enjoying the freedom he provides. (How many LCMS members does it take to change a light bulb? Eight. One to change the bulb; seven to talk about how good the old bulb was.)

8. The disciples were not stealing the kernels of wheat, for the Law allowed this casual plucking and eating. Landowners were even required to leave grain at the edges of the field for others. / The Pharisees were complaining that the disciples were "harvesting" on the Sabbath day. The rabbinical rules had proscribed this casual activity on the Sabbath.

9. Rest on the Sabbath Day had always been intended by the Lord as a practice by which his people would identify themselves as his people as they imitated his own pattern in Creation – different from their neighbors. As the system of laws hardened into legalism the Sabbath was given a central position. Activities were carefully regulated as to whether they were permissible or not. The "Sabbath mile" is a case in point. A permitted distance had been specified, beyond which you were violating the Sabbath. Jesus resisted this legalism because of what it did to the spirit of one's relationship with God. He reminded the Pharisees that the Sabbath had been commanded as a blessing to man; it was not a case of man being created just to observe and perpetuate the Sabbath law. (See Mark 2:27) With his "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" Jesus asserted that he had God's own authority to emphasize the spirit rather than the letter in doing his good works also on the Sabbath.

10. Many Christians kneel or stand for prayer in their worship services to show reverence for God.

The Twelve Apostles

11. There were twelve tribes in Israel; Jesus' choosing of the Twelve surely was related to that – calling attention to the New Israel that would come into being through his fulfilling the covenant.

12. Hearing the call and responding to the call to Christian discipleship is always the result of God's grace reaching out to rescue and renew. (See John 6:44 and 1 Corinthians 12:3) Disciples are students. Apostles are those sent out on a mission.

13. The evangelists carefully listed the apostles because by the time they wrote their Gospels it was vital for the church to recognize the special authority and inspiration given to the apostles by Jesus. (See John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:12-13) The writings of the apostles became the source and norm of the church's doctrine. That's why Paul, though not one of the Twelve, argued so strongly about his having been made an apostle by Jesus himself. (See Galatians 1:1,11-12) Apostolic authority was a decisive factor in determining the canon of the New Testament at the Council of Carthage toward the end of the fourth century.

A Taste of New Wine has allowed us again to see Jesus as the authoritative Son of God in his ministry as the Son of Man – devoting himself to prayer, teaching the crowds the Good News of the Kingdom, acting out God's love through his healing ministry, forgiving sins and backing up his authority to forgive, including surprising selections in his choice of apostles, and standing firm against the Pharisees and their legalism. All have application to our Christian faith and life.

According to Stephen, as he began his lengthy summary of the history of the chosen people when he was being tried by the Jewish Council, "the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said, 'Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.'" (Acts 7:2-3) This is not recorded in Genesis, but must have been part of the accepted tradition regarding Abram. Abram remained with Terah, his father, in the move to Haran – and possibly this move itself was part of Abram's response to the Lord. When Terah died, the Lord's call moved Abram to full obedience.

1. Why was Abram required to move away from familiar settings and associations into totally new circumstances?

You may not have noticed the little incident in the dark tent during the mourning for Terah. The video showed Abram packing away little clay figures – the household gods of Terah. Abram closed the chest rather definitely, with a look of resolve on his face. This dramatized his committed turning from the gods of that society to Yahweh.

2. How have you been asked to break with past situations as you have heard God's call in your life?

The Lord (Yahweh) was the initiator of the covenant. It wasn't Abram who decided to have Yahweh as his God. It was Yahweh reaching out to claim Abram as a key person in his plan and purpose.

A land – something a nomad, even a wealthy nomad, might dream of: a place he could call his own. Abram was to go to a land "I will show you." Later, when Abram had shown his obedience, the lord repeated his promise and identified the land that would belong to Abram and his descendants. (Genesis 13:14-17)

A seed – Abram, a descendant of the Sethite line through Noah and Shem, was promised that he would indeed be the father of a great nation. ("Abram" means "exalted father." Later God called him Abraham, which means "father of a multitude.") The promise was especially significant because Abram had reached 75 years of age and his wife, Sarai, was 65 – and they had no children. This was a promise that required some clinging to in faith – and was also repeated by the Lord to encourage Abram's faith. (See Genesis 15:1-6 and 17:1-6)

A blessing – for Abram and, ultimately, for all the families of the earth. The Lord's blessing of Abram materially was evident already as he left Haran, and it continued throughout his life. But the greatest blessing was his steadfast faithfulness to the Lord even through difficult tests. Abram was not a perfect man. His decisions at times to do things his own way brought difficulties to him and to those around him. But the covenant the Lord made with him was a covenant of grace, received in faith, responded to in obedient love. Through that grace, faith, and love, Abram became the father of the nation who were the Lord's chosen people, and one of his descendants was the Man through whom the blessing would come to all the families of the earth.

When Abram came to the land of Canaan, to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, it is mentioned that "the Canaanites were in the land." Canaanite worship of their pagan deities often took place on hilltops where a grove of trees or a single great tree flourished. It featured gross sexual immorality in the name of "worship" of their fertility gods and goddesses – and offering their children as sacrifices.

4. What did Abram do at Shechem and again at Bethel? What does the phrase "called on the name of the Lord" imply?

The area was vitally dependent on annual rainfall. Famine quickly accompanied years of drought. Famine came to test also Abram. He moved his household temporarily to Egypt.

5. What is conspicuous by its absence in the account of Abram's going down to Egypt to escape the famine?

In Egypt Abram practiced a deception out of fear for his life. It ended up causing much trouble for Pharaoh and his household – but Abram came out of the test and out of Egypt wealthier than ever.

Abram returned to Bethel, which means "House of God." A later event in the life of Abram's grandson made Bethel especially significant. (See Genesis 28:10-22) Abram's return to Bethel indicates it was a significant place also in his life. We are told again, "There Abram called on the name of the Lord."

7. What is the significance of this same phrase being used again – and its happening at the same place Abram had left before the time in Egypt?

Abram's great wealth became a mixed blessing – as it often does. It led to strife between Abram's herdsmen and those of his nephew, Lot.

8. What does it say about Abram and his faith that he was able to be so magnanimous toward his nephew as to give him the choice of where to settle? What does it say about Lot that he chose the fertile Jordan Valley and moved near Sodom? The phrase "looking up" and "lifting up the eyes" is used in connection with both Lot and Abram. What contrasts do you find in them?

9. Which elements of the covenant of grace and blessing were repeated by the Lord at this time? Why did the Lord continually reassure Abram in this way? What does it say to us about our systematic review of the Good News of Jesus each Lord's Day?

The split between Abram and Lot prompted Abram's move to Hebron. Hebron is 19 miles south and west of Jerusalem in the hill country. Springs of water and large wells made Hebron a good place to live – away from the immoral society of the Jordan Valley cities. Hebron was prominent throughout Old Testament history. Today it is called el-Khalil. It is one of the oldest towns in the world which is still inhabited instead of being simply a ruin.

10. What was Abram's first act when he moved his home to Hebron? What does this say to us in our life in our mobile society?

Study Five: God's Covenant of Grace and Blessing – Genesis 12 – 13 Video Time: 17:30

Note: The videos are not divided into segments relating to these studies. Use the RSV text and the voice-over reading to determine where you are to begin and end the section of the video for this class.

1. God called Abram away from his familiar setting into a new setting as a test of his faith – and to have him "burn his bridges" in his break with the pagan society in which he had lived. This stressed his new life of commitment.

2. God's call is always "away from" as well as "to." Tell your experience of this and your group may, too.

3. The Covenant of Grace and Blessing is stated in the first paragraph of chapter 12, verses 1-3. The three elements of the promise are: a land, a seed (descendants), a blessing. The three elements are elaborated on in the three related paragraphs on the Study Guide. Read them carefully – and use the following to stimulate understanding.

The land. What was the extent of the area the Lord gave to Abram and his descendants? Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is described as extending from the Great Sea (Mediterranean) beyond the Jordan and from the mountains in the north to the desert in the south – so the whole area we call Palestine was included. Is the promise still valid today – and is the State of Israel a fulfillment of it? The faithlessness of the people of Judah led to their being conquered and carried off into captivity. Though a small group of Jews returned to "their land" they never again were an independent nation with a land of their own. Today's State of Israel is a secular, political entity rather than a covenant entity – though it includes a good number of orthodox Jews. The New Testament speaks of a spiritual Israel, those who find the covenant fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It says to us: "Our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20) and "Here we have no enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." (Hebrews 13:14) We do not look for God's Kingdom to be established in the Holy Land with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem – though the Bible does use that symbolism.

The seed. Are the Jews still God's chosen people under the covenant he made with Abram? The Jews are a gifted race of people, but the true blessing of God's covenant rests on those who receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Fulfiller of the covenant. Faithless Israel forsook the Lord and his covenant, but some, the Lord's "remnant," continued in faith. In Romans 11 Paul applied that to his own day and the general rejection by the Jews of Jesus as the Messiah. He wrote, "So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." (11:5) He said that "because of their (the majority of Jews) transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles." (11:11) He described the Gentile Christians as "wild olive shoots, grafted into and sharing the rich root of the (Jewish) olive tree." (11:17) He said that Jews who turn to the Lord Jesus in faith "will be grafted in" again. (11:23) He taught that the true descendants of Abraham are Christians: "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)

The blessing. Ask your group: Why should we rejoice in Abraham's faith and the Lord's faithfulness to his covenant? Because the blessing of the Lord on those who become Abraham's seed by sharing his faith is that we are "born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3) Like our "father" Abraham, we have been given a new direction in life. Our Lord commands us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness," and he assures us that "all these things (our earthly needs) shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33)

4. At Shechem and again at Bethel Abram built an altar to the Lord. This obviously set him apart from those who were worshiping the local pagan gods. Though a stranger in their midst, Abram was ready to risk their suspicion and their opposition for the sake of acknowledging and worshiping Yahweh as God. / "Called on the name of the Lord" implies a regular pattern of worship. Abram's commitment to his covenant Lord was displayed in a commitment to worship him by offering sacrifices to him on the altar he had built.

5. The Bible account simply tells of Abram going down to Egypt. There is no mention of his praying to the Lord for guidance in this decision. He was acting "on his own" instead of seeking the will of the Lord in a time of crisis.

6. Abram acted in self-determination, and in Egypt fear for his life led him to resort to a half-truth deception. These reveal Abram's human weakness. But the Lord was faithful and led him through this period and even blessed him in it. Our weaknesses and failings do not keep the Lord from blessing us and guiding us, either. The covenant is one of grace, of undeserved love. Only our willful rejection of the Lord will remove us from his hand of blessing.

7. When Abram returned from Egypt he, as it were, took up his life at the very point at which he had left it without the Lord's guidance. There is an unspoken admission of his foolishness in acting on his own – and a pointed renewal of his covenant faith and resumption of his worship of the Lord.

8. Abram trusted God's promise of blessing to the point where he could count on it regardless of where he was living – so he let Lot do the choosing. / Lot's choice evidently was motivated by his greedy desire to have the best for himself instead of deferring to his uncle – regardless of the spiritual dangers involved in associating closely with the people of Sodom. / Lot "lifted up his eyes" (looked up) himself in his selfish concern that he get the best for himself. Abram, as a result of his display of confidence in God's blessing anywhere he might be living, was told by God to "lift up his eyes" to see the land that would be his.

9. In this connection the Lord repeated the promises of a land and a seed. Abram's display of confidence in the Lord's continued blessing made it unnecessary for the Lord to repeat that element of the promise – but the other two were intrinsic to the blessing the Lord would give Abram, and through Abram to all. / The promises were repeated by the Lord to confirm and renew Abram's faith – for Abram was still childless after 19 years had passed by, and he knew that he really was living in the promised land only by permission of the Canaanites. / Our systematic review and application to our lives of the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection serve the same purpose of strengthening our faith. Though we have heard it all before, hearing it again gives the Holy Spirit opportunity to place its assurances deeper into our consciousness and to move us to implement its guidance more fully in our lives.

10. Once again, Abram's first act on moving to Hebron was to build an altar for the worship of Yahweh. / When we move it is essential to our lives and our faith that we establish ourselves immediately as part of a new worshiping fellowship around Word and Sacrament.

Through this study of God's Covenant of Grace and Blessing we have been reminded that we are indeed saved by grace. God is the initiator of our life in him through Christ. He calls us to faith and empowers our faith and our responsive love and obedience – essential to our having our life in him become a bilateral covenant. Abram encourages us to trust God's promises for our own lives just as he did, and is an example to us of the importance of regular worship.