Reflection Questions on Luke’s Gospel

Luke's Infancy Narrative Luke 1-2

What are some of the events of the past year that have caused me to question God's presence/absence in my life? How have I experienced the paradox of being Christian and human this past year? What areas of my life keep me distant from God? What areas and parts of myself bring me closer to God? How do I deal with violence? To whom have I announced Good News this past year? How do I keep God's Word alive in my heart?

The Benedictus Luke 1:68-79

How do I allow people to have an experience of salvation? How do I give others/myself an experience of hell? What personal experiences of salvation reveal God to me as the Great, Almighty One? What gives me hope today? What causes me to despair? What darkness and shadows surround me or fill me at present?

The Magnificat Luke 1:47-55

How have I experienced salvation during the past year? Who are the people who have allowed me to experience God's salvation? With whom have I shared secret joys and sorrows over the past year? How can I sing my own personal Magnificat of the past year? What events would I mention? What or who gives me hope at this moment in my life? Singing Mary's Magnificat, do I join those who are still awaiting those events to happen? Or do I sing it as a fait accompli? How in my ministry and in my community do I lead people to the awareness of salvation and God's great actions in our lives? How have the poor brought me good news over the past year?

Nunc Dimittis Luke 2:29-32

How do I see God's glory in my life? Do I thirst for justice and peace? What are the new situations and who are the new people who have entered my life in the last little while? What new realities am I avoiding or afraid of? How am I light and salvation for other people?

Jesus at Nazareth: the failed evangelist,

the call and mission of the disciples, the Galilean ministry Luke 4:14ff

How and when do I hear the Good News? When does it enter my life? When does it change me? Have I ever experienced the hostility and rejection of Jesus by his own people of Nazareth? What times can I identify in my life when the Good News has turned me inside out, upside down? How and when am I catechized in my life? Where do I find healthy catechesis for myself? How and where do I catechize? Am I sure that in catechizing I am not enslaving people, leading them down a false path of security? Am I rather leading them to liberation, freedom, justice in the worship of God? Who have I called to be a disciple of Christ? How do I call others?

The sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet Luke 7:36-50

Both Simon the Pharisee and the woman appear to have been recognizable public figures. How were their attitudes and their standing in the community reflected in their actions? Judging from Jesus' explanation of his parable (vv. 41-43) to Simon (vv. 44-47), what moved the woman to tears? What motivated her to break social convention and approach Jesus as she did? Jesus told the woman: "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" (v. 50). How did this woman demonstrated faith? How did it save her? Describe the signs of conversion given in this story, especially as they relate to repentance and turning to God.

The Our Father Luke 11

To whom do we turn to learn how to pray? Who has been a prayerful person or influence in my life? How have I discovered the paternity and maternity of God in my life? How do I teach others to pray?

Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-10

What elements of the process of conversion did Zacchaeus demonstrate by climbing the sycamore tree? What is significant about Jesus coming to share a meal with Zacchaeus (cf. Revelation 3:20)? How do Zacchaeus' promises (v.8) reflect both an initial conversion and the need to deepen our conversions through continued and deeper turning from sin? "The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" (v.10). Judging from this story and the story of the sinful woman, what does it mean to be "lost"? In light of these stories, how does my life reflect conversion as I have come to understand it through the lectures and this passage? How does my own experience reflect these two people? How can I deepen my experience and understanding of conversion, both in study and in my own life?

The Lukan Passion Narrative

Jesus' prayer at Gethsemane

How do I understand prayer? What are my temptations (in the biblical sense!)? Is my prayer a flight or is it a courageous contemplation of what God is asking me? Have I ever felt total abandonment? What is my image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? How do I deal with violence? Have I ever been betrayed by friends? Have I ever been unjustly accused of something? How have I experienced and put into practice reconciliation?

With which characters do I associate / identify in Luke's Passion narrative?

the crowd on Palm Sunday
Chief Priests and Scribes
Judas
Simon Peter
the servant girl / Pilate
Herod
Simon of Cyrene
the soldiers
the criminal on the cross
the good thief / the Centurion
the friends of Jesus
the women of Jerusalem
Joseph of Arimathea
the women who followed

The Death of Jesus

“Despised and rejected, acquainted with grief, wounded, bruised, oppressed and afflicted…”

Who in my life today fits this description? Who, like Jesus is condemned by government officials, abandoned by religious people, and given over to shameful treatment or even death? Have I stood with them or with those who harm them? Where does my community stand? What is my image of God? How am I, at this time, being called to carry my cross "behind" Jesus? How do I understand for myself or explain to others Jesus' death for our salvation? What governs my relationship with people, compassion or the law which insists on right behavior and judges people accordingly? Do I try to enter into other people's experiences of joy, success, struggle, or failure; or do I often look at others in a comparative, competitive way? How am I called to "empty myself" in order to live for and with others as Jesus did?

The Lukan Resurrection Narrative

Chapter 24 of Luke's Gospel makes visible important aspects of a biblically-oriented pastoral practice:

24:1-12 It breaks down hopeless situations

24:13-35 It accompanies people on their journey

24:36-53 It leads people into a concrete experience of community

Jesus at Emmaus: the successful evangelist.

"Emmaus" has become synonymous with the experience of community, the particular community that is formed around the bread, broken and shared. Those participating in this sharing are companions (together in bread) in the deepest sense of the word. We need the Emmaus place of our lives where we encounter the risen Christ hidden among us. Without such a place and such a moment, we will never know who we are as a people.

Have I ever felt a strong desire to flee from the reality of my life? Why? How did I deal with this situation? Has the Lord ever revealed himself to me as he did to Cleopas and his wife on the road to Emmaus? How did I respond to the Lord's drawing close to me? Have I ever experienced that strange and wonderful feeling of my heart gradually catching fire within me? What caused such a feeling? Where is my Jerusalem? Where is my Emmaus? Who are my known companions along the journey? Who are the strangers along my journey? How can my doubts and despair be positive? How can I doubt and still be faithful to the Lord? What or who has sustained me in my faith over the past year?

The prayer of the community in Acts Acts 4:23-31

What elements in our churches stifle God's word today? What are the areas of tension in our church communities today? In what situations does our courage fail?

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