As we work our way through the Gospels we find ourselves confronted with tiny oases of spiritual light and life.  They occur when Jesus passes through a region, and in His wake the diseases are healed, the dead are raised and those oppressed by impure spirits are liberated.  Jesus, the Priest is driving back all that is unclean.  It’s as close to experiencing the New Creation as I suspect this old fallen world has ever been.  It isn’t difficult to imagine the joy and delight of those who have tasted the goodness of the Lord.

It must have awakened a deep – almost forgotten – longing for ‘home’.  There are so many stories, books and films that hang around this most elemental plot line.  The protagonist ventures forth on a quest, or is driven from home, and after a period of exile returns, equipped from their travels and adventures and able to face the rigours of new responsibilities and usually the weight of glory.  Whether it is Simba from the Lion King, or Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (or in their own way, Merry and Pippin), or Odysseus, such stories have a near universal and enduring appeal because they resonate so profoundly with the ‘story’ that we are all part of.  Exiled from Eden, being transformed in that exile and made ready for a future glory. 

But the prospect of that future Kingdom proves intensely divisive.  Incredible though it may seem, there are many who choose not to live for it, or even to entertain its possibility.  They throw their lot in with this old, passing, fallen creation, seeking all they can gain from it.  The live without reference to the New Creation.  Jesus says to such: Woe...

Others know the kingdom of God awaits.  And they are willing to sacrifice and suffer now, to mourn and be marginalised now, if only they can know that on that Day they will be welcomed by their Lord into a renewed world.  Such people are called disciples by Jesus.  They are a complicated bunch – from different rungs on the socio-economic ladder; different points on the political spectrum.  But they are bound together by the fact that they are called by Jesus to this amazing future.

Questions:

Why does Jesus need to spend a night in prayer before choosing twelve of His disciples to become apostles?   How does Jesus’ example shape your own commitment to prayer? 

How do you account for Judas’ inclusion in this band? 

What is the difference between being a disciple and being an apostle?  What changes in their relationship with Jesus from this point on?

It seems that Jesus indiscriminately heals all who even touch Him (6:18-19).  What is Jesus seeking to achieve here? 

Do you think that such a display of curative and cleansing power in the Church today would advance the Church’s mission?  Why / Why not?

What does Jesus mean when he designates people ‘Blessed’?  What about when He pronounces ‘Woe’?  What do these words mean? 

If you aren’t poor, hungry, weeping or hated because of the Son of Man, are you blessed?

Is it possible to be rich, well-fed, and well-spoken of, but not be under ‘woe’?

Why are the states of these two groups presented in such a binary way? ... and why is it that their experience is so fundamentally reversed between old and new creations?  Do you think it is such a stark alternative, or are thing on more of a spectrum?

Do you feel encouraged, or unsettled by Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:20-26?