If you remember, in the last chapter, Jesus sent his disciples out to heal people, raise the dead, and announce that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. And Jesus Himself went out teaching and preaching.

John the Baptist, sitting in his prison cell, heard about Him and sent a message asking if Jesus was the Messiah.

Jesus sent messengers back to John and then began to speak to those who gathered about John and how John fit into the prophecies.

Then He denounced all the places where he had healed people and still not repented.

And finally, he prays to God and then invites people to come to Him and He would help them with their burdens.

Here’s my only question for you: Which part of this chapter “speaks” to you, and why? Or if not why, then can you explain what you like about it?

In this chapter, Jesus informs his disciples that they have the power and authority to heal all diseases, and to cast out demons and other “unclean spirits.”

He gave them these specific instructions:

Don’t take the road leading to other nations, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. 

Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons. You have received free of charge; give free of charge. 

Don’t take along gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a walking stick, for the worker is worthy of his food.

When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. Greet a household when you enter it,and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it. But if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you. 

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. 

Jesus then predicted persecution, specifically (in part):

Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.Because people will hand you over to sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues, beware of them. 

You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations.But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you should speak. 

And the last section, He gives a parable.

For you will be given what to say at that hour,because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.

The rest of the chapter is full of advice he gave them, who to fear and who not to, and what people will have to do about Jesus if we want to claim Him.

And then He says something that shocked me the first time I read it. In verses 34 through 39, He said:

Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 

For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be
the members of his household.

The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 

And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.

And in the last part of this chapter, He talks about those the disciples were about to go out and talk to.

Possible talking points:

• Do you think that Jesus was talking just about the disciples when he predicted the persecutions?
• Did anything strike you as different from how people usually talk about Jesus and His teachings?
• What do you think He meant when he said, “It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”?
• What did He mean by this: “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”?
• Verses 37 through 39 are somewhat cryptic. What do you think He meant there?

This chapter begins when Christ came down from the mountain after his Sermon on the Mount.

He was followed by a throng of people who had heard Him speak. Immediately a man with leprosy asked Him to heal him, or “clean” him of his disease.

Jesus touched him, commanding him to be made clean, and immediately, the leper’s disease was gone.

He then told the healed man not to tell anyone of his healing, but instead he go to the priest and offer to the priest the gift that Moses prescribed. This gift is a reference to what Moses talked about in  Leviticus 14:2-9 about what a person should offer when he is healed of leprosy.

When He got into the town of Capernaum, a Roman centurion came to Him, asking for his servant to be healed. When Jesus said that He would go there and heal him, the centurion said, essentially, that he believed that if Jesus commanded the healing, it would be done, whether He was at the house or not.

Jesus told the centurion that he had more faith than anyone in Israel, and then He healed the servant remotely.

Then He goes to his disciple Peter’s house and heals Peter’s mother-in-law. He indicates that He is fulfilling a prophecy when he quotes Isaiah.

While He is surrounded by huge crowds, He is approached by a man who tells Jesus that he will follow Him wherever He goes, but first he has to go bury his father. Jesus tells him to follow Him now and “let the dead bury their own.”

Then Jesus and the disciples got into a boat and a storm overtook them, and He commands the sea to be calm.

Finally, He drives demons from two men who were possessed. The demons are driven into a bunch of pigs who then run into the water and died.

When word got out about this, the people from the town came to Jesus and begged Him to leave town.

Now, I’d like to do something a little different. I’d like to know what you all think about some of the things in this chapter. If you would, I’d like you to pick at least one of these questions and comment on what you think, and we can discuss them.

Don’t worry, it’s not graded. Just your thoughts.

• When Jesus told the leper not to tell anyone, why do you think that would be?
• In verse 11 and 12, Jesus tells the centurion about that many people will be weeping and gnashing their teeth. What do you think He was talking about?
• In verse 17, Jesus says that he is fulfilling a prophecy. What was that prophecy, and what does it refer to?
• In verse 20 through 22, what is happening that might apply to us today?
• In verse 34, the townspeople beg Him to leave town. Why would they do that?