Key Texts:    Matthew 14:14; Luke 7:36-50

Key Ideas:    This week is the summary lesson for the whole quarter.  In it we are invited to trace the effects of discipleship, the ways in which discipleship is done, the concerns and methodologies that are used.

1. Matthew 14:14 is a moving text that points to the compassion Jesus had when he saw the multitudes.   It was that compassion that brought about the feeding of the 5,000.  Something similar took place in Matthew 15 when he fed the 4,000.  What can be said, then, of disciples and compassion.  How might that play out in living?  What does the absence of compassion suggest?  What role does/should  compassion play in the lives of modern disciples?

2. There is, in Luke 7, the story of the woman who came and anointed Jesus feet with expensive ointment.  What do you make of that story?   What might such extravagance have to say about being a follower of Jesus?  What do you make of Jesus’ response to those criticizing the happening?  Is there such a thing as extravagance in serving God?

3. Luke 18:9-14 has the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector.  What do you make of the one who went home justified?

4. What might we make of Jesus many run-ins with the religious establishment of his day?  What cautions might we draw from those interchanges even today?  Who do you think the modern counterparts of the establishment are now?

5. What shall we make of Jesus and the marginalized  people of his day?  How is it that he so fearlessly ignored the status quo?  What were the costs with his contravening the status quo of his day?  What might be some of the costs for doing the same today?

6. Discipleship is something that is played out in community, the Church.  What shall we say about the church as an entity of value today?  What can be said about the nature of the church, a human/divine entity?  What should our expectations about the existence of a perfect church be?

Department of Theology - Walla Walla College

Dave Thomas, Larry Veverka, and Darold Bigger