The Story So Far
Twenty-one chapters down and only three to go! Jesus has marched into Jerusalem and confronted the Leadership. His fate is basically now sealed. With a final confrontation of the cross looming, in this chapter, Jesus will walk some of the final steps before his fraudulent trials and execution.
This week’s study guide will break most of the chapter down into five days worth of study. Here is how this is going to work. Each day you need to do three things for the specific passage: Pray, Read, Reflect.
1. Pray this prayer
Father, I believe you are the Creator of all things.
Jesus, I believe you are the Redeemer of all things.
Holy Spirit, I believe you are the Revealer of all things.
Now, please teach me from your Word that I might live faithfully to You
2. Read the passage three times
3. Answer the questions for the passage.
Day 1: Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:7-23)
Having prayed and read the passage, now reflect on these questions
1. The first half of the passage sets up the fact that Jesus is going to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. The Passover is an annual celebration when the Israelites would remember that God had rescued their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. But this was only after the tenth plague where God killed all the first-born sons in Egypt. But He “passed over” the houses with a lamb’s blood on the door. What significance is it that all this is going down with Jesus in the middle of the Passover?
2. How does reading this passage inform or change your understanding of what you do on Sunday when you take communion? How will Sunday be different?
Day 2: Who is the Greatest? (Luke 22:24-30)
After you’ve prayed the prayer and read these 7 verses a few times, continue reading below.
You’ve probably read this passage before. You’ve probably even heard it preached. But don’t let the familiarity of this passage blind you from something really interesting that is going on in the context.
Just two verses earlier Jesus had announced to the disciples that the person who would betray Him was at the table with them. The disciples then say, “Okay, if Judas is going to be the worst and betray you, which one of us is going to be at the other end of the table? Who is going to be the best?
But Jesus flips their question on them. He says here that even the fact that you all are asking this question about who is the greatest proves that you are on Judas’ team! Is he saying they are as bad as Judas? No. But he is saying that the heart behind the question they are asking has the same roots as Judas’ betrayal. They are thinking about their own ways to bring their own Kingdom, rather than joining up with Jesus’ upside down Kingdom.
Do you ever see this desire to be the greatest, most important, most loved come out? Sure, we all do! It is amazing how much darker our sin looks when we see it in this light. That temptation we have to magnify ourselves puts us in the same camp with Judas. Our idols aren’t cute and cuddly anymore. They are deceitful killers that promote our Kingdom over Jesus’
Take some time to think about your idols issues, sins, idols today. How do they promote your Kingdom over Jesus’?
Day 3: Peter’s Denial (Luke 22:31-34)
Let’s take some time today to learn about Peter. Maybe if we can piece together some different information about his life, we will be able to learn from his biography. Here comes a bunch of verses that trace Peter’s biography through Luke, Acts and 1 Peter. Look up each scripture reference. Write out a summary sentence of what you learn about Peter form that passage.
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 6:12-16
Luke 9:1-6
Luke 9:18-20
Luke 9:28-36
Luke 22:31-34
Luke 22:54-62
Acts 1:15
Acts 2:14-41
Day 4: Jesus Prays (Luke 22:39-46)
I know this is going to make some of you lose respect for me. But I am on Twitter. That’s right, I tweet. And proud of it. If you don’t know anything about Twitter, there is a bunch of terms and lingo that gets used. One of the terms you see a lot in people’s tweets is “Fail.” For example, someone might write a tweet that looks like this, “Just ate entire gallon of cookie dough ice cream. Fail.” Or, “My girlfriend just dumped me. Fail.”
(Watch for the seamless transition. Watch… Watch…)
In Luke 22 there is massive failure all over the place. Judas betrays Jesus. Fail. The disciples argue about who is the greatest in the Kingdom. Fail. Peter betrays Christ. Fail. The guards arrest Jesus. Fail.
But there is one person in this chapter who doesn’t fail. Jesus. He is put to the test in a garden of whether he will follow God’s will or not. Can you think of anyone else who was in a garden and failed? Yup, Adam. But Jesus is the only one in the whole Story who doesn’t fail. He passes. How does it encourage, strengthen and transform you to look to Jesus in the midst of your failures? Have you been overwhelmed by Jesus lately?
Day 5: Betrayal and Arrest (Luke 22:47-53)
I want to pull one little nugget out of this passage, and then have you wrestle with a question for a bit today. Did you notice in verse 49 how the disciples ask Jesus if they should get out their swords and start swinging? So, on one hand they are showing that they don’t understand Jesus’ message about the Kingdom and how it works. On the other hand, at least they are asking Jesus, right?
But are they really asking Jesus? Did they wait for his response? Nope, one of them just takes out his sword and cuts an ear off. Now, aside from the fact that all he got was an ear and not a head, does this disciple miss anything else? Yes. He wasn’t really asking Jesus for advice or help. And we know this because he doesn’t even wait for an answer.
How do you do this? How do you pay lip service to Jesus but then proceed to do it your way anyway without listening to His reply?