Week 14 Discussion Guide: Signs and Confrontations

Opening Question

This week we watched a rich young man walk away from Jesus in sorrow, saw Jesus weep at a friend’s tomb and then command a dead man to walk out of it, heard a corrupt high priest accidentally prophesy the meaning of the cross, and watched a chief tax collector give away half his fortune after a single meal with Jesus. Which of these moments most disrupted your understanding of how God works, and why?

Review

Week 14 brought us to the threshold of the Passion Week through five readings that escalated in intensity and consequence. Matthew 19 presented Jesus’ teaching on the permanence of marriage, his welcoming of children as models of kingdom dependence, and the devastating encounter with the rich young man whose possessions owned him more than he owned them. Matthew 20 shattered merit-based thinking through the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, delivered the most detailed passion prediction yet, and redefined greatness as servanthood – culminating in Jesus’ declaration that the Son of Man came “to give his life as a ransom for many.” John 11:1-44 presented the seventh and greatest sign: the raising of Lazarus, preceded by Jesus’ declaration “I am the resurrection and the life” and his furious, tear-streaked confrontation with death itself. John 11:45-57 then revealed the devastating irony that this gift of life triggered the decision to take Jesus’ life, with Caiaphas delivering an unconscious prophecy of substitutionary atonement. Luke 19:1-27 closed the journey narrative with Zacchaeus – a despised tax collector transformed by encounter with Jesus – and the Parable of the Minas, teaching faithful stewardship in the time before the king returns.

Study Questions

1. The Cost of Discipleship (Matthew 19): The rich young man kept all the commandments, and Jesus loved him, yet he could not release his wealth. Jesus did not ask every disciple to sell everything – only this one. What does this suggest about the nature of idolatry? Is it always the same idol for everyone, or does Jesus diagnose each person’s specific attachment? What is the “one thing” that Jesus might identify in your own life?

2. Grace and Fairness (Matthew 20): The workers who labored all day received the same wage as those who worked one hour. The early workers call this unfair; the master calls them envious. Where do you find yourself in this parable – among the early workers who feel cheated or among the late arrivals who are stunned by generosity? How does this parable challenge the instinct to compare your spiritual journey with others’?

3. The Tears and the Command (John 11): Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb even though he knew he was about to raise him. His emotion was not ignorance but empathy – he grieved death itself, not just this death. How does a God who weeps at the same graves he can open change your understanding of divine compassion? What does it mean that Jesus is both the one who cries and the one who commands?

4. Unconscious Prophecy (John 11:45-57): Caiaphas intended political expediency when he said “one man should die for the people,” but John says he prophesied substitutionary atonement without knowing it. What does this tell us about God’s ability to work through hostile agents? Have you ever seen God accomplish his purposes through circumstances or people who intended something entirely different?

5. Encounter and Transformation (Luke 19): Zacchaeus’ transformation was immediate and radical – half his goods to the poor, fourfold restitution to anyone he defrauded. Jesus did not demand this; Zacchaeus volunteered it. What does this tell us about the relationship between grace and works? Is genuine encounter with Christ naturally productive of visible change, or can salvation remain invisible?

Going Deeper

Trace the theme of reversal across this week’s readings. In Matthew 19, the rich young man who appears to have everything goes away sorrowful, while children who have nothing are declared heirs of the kingdom. In Matthew 20, the last workers hired are paid first and receive the same wage as the first. In John 11, the gift of life to Lazarus becomes the trigger for the death sentence against Jesus. In John 11:45-57, a political calculation becomes an unwitting prophecy. In Luke 19, a despised tax collector becomes a model of salvation while the respectable crowd grumbles. What do these reversals reveal about the nature of the kingdom? Is there a consistent pattern to whom God surprises, and why?

Consider also the theme of death running through the week. The rich young man experiences a kind of spiritual death – he walks away from Jesus alive but sorrowful, possessing everything except the one thing he needs. Lazarus experiences physical death and is raised. Jesus predicts his own death as a “ransom for many.” Caiaphas plots Jesus’ death. And Zacchaeus, who was “dead” in his exploitation and greed, experiences a kind of resurrection at Jesus’ table. How do these different dimensions of death and life relate to each other? What does it mean to be truly dead, and what does it mean to be truly alive?

Application

• Identify your “one thing”: The rich young man had wealth; yours may be something else – reputation, control, comfort, a relationship. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the one attachment you would find hardest to release. You do not necessarily need to give it up this week, but name it honestly before God.
• Practice Zacchaeus-level generosity: Zacchaeus gave half his goods and restored fourfold. Without matching his exact formula, take one concrete step this week toward radical generosity – a gift that costs you something, a restitution for a wrong you have committed, an act of financial mercy that surprises even you.
• Sit with the tears of Jesus: Set aside time this week to bring your griefs, losses, and unanswered prayers to the one who wept at Lazarus’ tomb. Do not rush to the resurrection; let yourself sit in the honest presence of a God who cries with you before he commands death to release its grip.
• Invest your mina: The fearful servant buried his talent rather than risking it. Identify one gift, resource, or opportunity God has given you that you have been “burying” out of fear. Take one step toward putting it to work this week.

Prayer Focus

Begin by reading John 11:25-26 aloud: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Let the question hang in the silence. Then pray:

• For those walking away sorrowful: For anyone in the group or in your community who is struggling to release something that stands between them and Jesus. Ask God to give them the miracle of surrender – what is impossible with man is possible with God.
• For the grieving: For those who are facing death – their own, a loved one’s, the death of a dream or a relationship. Ask the one who wept at the tomb to be present in their grief, and the one who commands the dead to speak his life-giving word.
• For the scattered: For the “children of God who are scattered abroad” – for the unity of the church across every division of culture, ethnicity, and tradition. Ask that the death of Christ would accomplish what it was intended to accomplish: gathering the scattered into one.
• For faithful stewardship: For the courage to invest rather than bury, to risk rather than hide, to use the time before the king’s return as an opportunity for faithfulness rather than fear.