Bible Book Club Session 2 (April 23rd-May 6th 2020) - Two Tales from Luke / Acts
Introduction
Keep Calm – and Carry on Reading! I know we’ve all got more time at home on our hands at the moment than we’re used to or (most of us) want, but I’m not suggesting that you read the whole of Luke’s Gospel and the Book of Acts in one sitting or even one fortnight. However, I want to focus on one of the major themes in this two-volume work – the inclusion and valuing of the outsider – illustrated by one passage from each volume:
- the story of the vertically challenged Zaccheus in Luke 19, verses 1-10 (the outsider welcomed in), and
- the impact of Peter’s strange vision of a load of repulsive “unclean” creatures in Acts Chapter 10 (the insider forced to look beyond the in-group).
Brief background to Luke / Acts
The two volumes were put together with the Gentile (i.e. non-Jewish, non-original, non-in-group) world in mind:
- Partly to present a positive orderly narrative of Jesus’ life, teaching, death and resurrection and the spread of the new “Christian” religion, so that it could be seen as unthreatening and accepted as a permitted religion within the Roman Empire, and
- Partly to show how the original (exclusively Jewish) Christian leaders and church dealt with the challenge of accepting and then valuing non-Jews not just as members of the growing church but also as equal channels of God’s activity in the world.
(NB there were plenty of other themes, but these will do for the purposes of the next week or so)
Read Luke 19, verses 1-10: Zaccheus
We know very little about Zacchaeus. He’s not mentioned anywhere else in the whole New Testament - just in this passage in Luke’s Gospel. All we know is that he was very short in stature, curious to see what was going on when Jesus was passing through Jericho, and a chief tax collector. Tax collectors were despised as the worst sort of “sinner” in the eyes of good, decent, law-abiding Jews, not least because they were seen as collaborators with the hated occupying power – the Roman Empire.
Questions to ponder (you don’t have to ponder all of them):
- Does anything particularly strike you in the story, as remarkable / odd / impressive?
- What do you think motivated Zaccheus’ curiosity about Jesus?
- How do you think Zaccheus felt when Jesus invited himself to his home?
- Do you identify with anyone(s) in the story, or anything in any part of it?
- What challenges might Zaccheus have faced after Jesus left for Jerusalem?
Read Acts Chapter 10: Peter’s challenging vision
Read it all the way through first. It’s a bit of a shaggy dog story so you may want to read it more than once. Note:
- Cornelius is a Roman Centurion – an officer in the occupying Roman army, who’s become interested in the Christian faith (verses 1-2)
- At this stage in the story of the growth of the early church the Christian faith has been spreading solely within Jewish communities and its leaders are based in Jerusalem, with Peter being regarded as the boss. Membership is not open to non-Jews who are seen as unclean (Verse 28).
Questions to ponder:
- Is there anything in the story that particularly strikes you or raises questions for you?
- What do you think are the critical turning points in the story?
- What challenges might have awaited a) Cornelius and his family and friends and b) Peter after they returned home?
And finally …
- Have you ever had some sort of experience that has challenged or changed your attitudes and / or actions or made you sit up and think, or want to do something different or differently?
- In the light of your reflections on these two stories, are there any attitudes or actions you might want to question / change?
- Anything I want to go away and think about more?
Please feel free to post your comments, reflections, questions etc. by next Thursday April 30th. I’ll respond and we then have another week for further reflection and discussion before the next session.
Please also comment on whether this way of doing things and the time scale works OK or if you’ve alternative suggestions.
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