Barton's Bible Study Notes

Life of Christ: Unit 28 - Sections 108-110

Read Luke 11:14-36. Our Lord faced much more opposition when He was in Jerusalem than in Galilee. The question of how He was able to do the miracles He did arose often. One answer suggested by the religious leaders, and which was echoed by many of the people, was that our Lord performed His miracles through the power of the Devil himself. After our Lord freed someone from an indwelling demonic spirit, this issue was raised again as it had many times before (See Unit 13).

1. When Luke states that people tempted our Lord in asking for a sign from heaven, what do you think they were doing?

2. What is Jesus trying to tell His listeners in Luke 11:17-20 about His ability to cast out demons?

3. What do you think Jesus is saying in His illustration of the strong, fully armed man?

4. What do you think Jesus is telling these people when He states, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”

5. What do you think Jesus is warning His hearers about in Luke 11:24-26?

6. Why do you think Jesus was not willing to give these people a sign (except the sign of Jonah) from heaven that He was the true Messiah?

7. What is the sign of Jonah? How will our Lord give the people this sign?

Read Luke 11:37-54. While He was in Jerusalem for this feast, He was invited to dinner by one of the religious leaders. Our Lord attended probably along with some of His disciples. One of the important religious customs of that day was that everyone washed their hands before eating. This was not done for health reasons but for religious reasons. The thinking of that day was that a person probably had touched something that was ceremonially unclean sometime prior to eating. This made your hands ceremonially unclean. If you picked up your food with unclean hands, you would make your food ceremonially unclean, which in turn would make you ceremonially unclean inwardly when it entered your digestive tract. To prevent this ceremonial contamination, good Jews would wash their hands to cleanse them ceremonially before eating. Jesus did not do this when He came to dinner at this religious leader’s home.

8. When this Pharisee marveled (he probably said something as well!) that Jesus had not washed His hands before eating, what was our Lord’s reply in verses 11:39-41?

9. What was our Lord’s reply to the Pharisee in verses 11:42?

10. What do you think our Lord was saying about the Pharisees in Luke 11:43 and in Luke 11:44?

11. When Luke speaks about lawyers, to whom is he referring?

12. What is stated of these lawyers in Luke 11:46, in 11:47-51, and in Luke 11:52?

13. What was the reaction of the scribes and Pharisees after our Lord severely criticized them?

The Applications:

What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.