What are the major differences between Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49)?
What is the relationship between the stories of Jesus’ healing activity, however we understand it, and his teachings?
What is the significance of the choice of a woman as the paradigm of a forgiven sinner in Luke 7? How does this woman relate to other female characters in the gospel?
Application Questions:
Do you identify more with Jesus as Healer or Jesus as Teacher? Is one more comforting, compelling, or challenging to you than the other? If you notice yourself drawn to one or the other, why do you think that is?
Which of the beatitudes (or the accompanying “woes”) speaks most to you in this moment in your life?
In his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus promises a world that looks very different than the one we live in today. How should we understand these prophecies? Is he talking about transformed human life, or a world we can expect in the afterlife—or something else?