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Bible Study for March 16, 2025
Opening Prayer:
Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Luke 13:31-35 When have you reached out to someone and been rebuffed?
Just before this passage, Jesus had been teaching in towns and villages on the way to Jerusalem, warning that not everyone would be invited to God’s feast at the end of the age (13:22-30). “At that very hour” some Pharisees told Jesus they wanted to kill him. Jesus and the Pharisees had argued throughout this Gospel, Jesus calling them greedy fools and hypocrites and comparing them with “unmarked graves” (11:37-44). They responded with hostility, warning that they were “lying in wait for him” (11:53-54). It is hard to interpret their warning here. They may have truly cared about His welfare as a fellow Jew, or they might have wanted to frighten Him into silence. Jesus lamented the fate He foresaw for Jerusalem, wishing they had allowed Him to lovingly gather them “as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” The tender, maternal imagery comes from Wisdom Literature, such as Psalms 36:7 and 91:4, recalling the feminine figure of Divine Wisdom (an image of God), who offered herself and was rejected (Proverbs 1:24-28). Jesus’ lament expressed the grief of a God who was constantly reaching out to a resistant people.
Philippians 3:17-4:1 How are you faithful to Christ while still living as an invested, responsible member of society?
Taken alone, this verse may seem arrogant: “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me” (3:17). Is Paul an egomaniac wanting to create little clones of himself? In the context of preceding chapters, however, in which Paul describes the humility and suffering of Christ (2:5-8) and alludes to his own suffering (1:12-13), the statement reads differently. Afraid that the Philippians might be misled by false teachers, Paul offered himself and other leaders as role models, while also pointing to the true model, Jesus. Since Paul stated that their citizenship is in heaven, he implied that naming Jesus Christ as “Savior” is a direct challenge to the claims of empire. These were powerful words to his hearers, for Philippi was a Roman colony and they were expected to observe the cult of the emperor, who was hailed as a divine “savior.”
Closing Prayer
Hope beyond all human hope,
you promised descendants as numerous as the stars o old Abraham and barren Sarah.
You promise light and salvation
in the midst of darkness and despair,
and promise redemption to a world that will not listen.
Gather us to yourself in tenderness,
open our ears to listen to your word,
and teach us to live faithfully
as people confident of the fulfillment of your promises. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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