Bible Study for August 17, 2025

Hi everyone,

The Scripture readings for this Sunday do not contain stories of mercy, rather they are stories with a critical edge, a burning fire.  Luke's Gospel speaks together with the rejected prophet Jeremiah and the great cloud of witnesses to faith in the Letter to the Hebrews.  Not all religion is good, it can be without care for the humble and needy of our world.

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Pastor Tim

"God has led you to the desert, and spoken to your Heart."

Mount of Olives Lutheran Church

3546 E. Thomas Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-956-1620 office

Bible Study for August 17, 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 12:49-56 When has it been necessary for you to “make waves” in your family in order to be faithful to your understanding of God’s will for you? 

This was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s final, redemptive purpose for the world, and Jesus was eager—even “stressed”—to see his work, the inception of the end, completed. Most disturbing, perhaps, is Jesus’ statement about what his work will mean for human families. One might think that families ought to hold together in harmony, cooperation, and love, and that God’s work should only foster that. Indeed, the text from Micah 7:6 that Jesus quoted in Luke 12:53 is an indictment of the breakdown of trust and cooperation in the family caused by ungodliness, causing the prophet to be on guard against his nearest and dearest, trusting God alone. Nevertheless, this Jesus saying reflects the reality that natural kinship networks will fail as some members respond positively to the Messiah, while others reject and disown those who follow him. It is likely that the loss of kinship support networks played a large role in the poverty that befell Judean Christians during the decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In light of this reality, Jesus’ redefinition of kinship—his creation of a new family support network among his followers—became essential for the perseverance, support, and survival of individual disciples and the faith community. 

Hebrews 11:29-12:2 What witnesses in this cloud have set a faithful example for you?

Hebrews 11:29 recalls the Exodus, a crisis where faith made the difference between deliverance and destruction, just as in Noah’s situation and in the experience of readers (10:37-39). Hebrews 11:30-31 reinforces the fact that the most secure structures of this world (city walls and mighty armies) shake and fall when confronted by the people of faith acting in the name and the power of God. So, alignment with the people of God rather than with the ways of the world is a faithful choice, as demonstrated by Joshua at Jericho and Rahab, the Canaanite woman who aided the Hebrew spies. The author’s point is quite clear: we best please and serve God by being faithful, regardless of the consequences of status and comfort in this world. 

Closing Prayer

God of all the nations, you rescued your people out of the Red Sea you rescue the lowly and needy from injustice and tribulation.

Surround us with so great a cloud of witnesses that we may have faith to live by your word in our time, courage to persevere in the race set before us, and endurance in the time of trial. Amen.