Sabbath School Lesson for August 10-16, 2019
Overview
In covering the true mission of Jesus’ ministry, we examined…
- Mary’s song of praise after learning she would be the mother of the Messiah (Sunday)
- how Jesus described His ministry, in terms of the Old Testament prophets (Monday)
- the compassion behind Jesus’ healing miracles (Tuesday)
- why Jesus cleansed the temple and how that enhanced with His mission on earth (Wednesday)
- what the sacrifice on the cross taught us about Jesus’ motive for ministry (Thursday)
Introduction
So far, we have focused on the Old Testament and its prophets for knowing what our ministry on earth should involve. But this week, we take a longer look at what Jesus’ mission was, how He accomplished it, and what His example can mean for us as we minister to those in need.
The mission statement found in Jesus’ first sermon at Nazareth and recorded in Luke, links the Messiah’s mission firmly with His desire to care for His children. Especially those who were the last, the least, and the lost.
Memory Text: ” ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ “ Luke 4:18, 19 NKJV
We recognize that earlier “to do lists”, given to us by prophets such as Isaiah and Micah, contain words of action that identify what our ministry to others should look like. Here, Christ likewise presents a mission statement that reveals action on the part of the Lord.
He is to…
- preach the gospel to the poor
- heal the brokenhearted
- proclaim liberty to the captives
- give sight to the blind
- liberate the oppressed
- proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus’s directives seem to speak not only to actions that promote physical health, but mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well.
Our ministry should, therefore, also encompass this holistic approach and endeavor to reach the whole person with the healing balm of our Savior. Every effort should be made to free people from the bonds of Satan. For it’s his oppression that is most dangerous to people in need.
Sunday: Mary’s Song
The joy that comes with every birth announcement was magnified greatly when the Holy Spirit revealed to the two cousins, Elizabeth and Mary, that the birth of their babes would be of such importance to God’s chosen people. That, in fact, they would be instrumental in changing the world.
No wonder Mary’s praise song to God sounds so over-the-top joyful and grateful for all God had done for them. In the passage of Luke 1:46-55, she first mentions her personal delight in being so blessed, but then expands His praises to include all He’s ever done for Israel, especially for the poor and lowly. The proud, the powerful, and the rich are left standing empty, as His kind and tender mercies are poured out on all the rest, according to the words of her song.
This topsy-turvy description of God’s kingdom that was to be established with the Messiah’s birth helps us see the value God places on each and every humble soul who fears Him. Our ministry must come out of the same praise and humble surrender to His bidding. The proud have no place in His kingdom.
Discussion Questions:
Read Luke 1:46-50, 54, 55. Why is it important to include thankfulness and praise for both our personal and general benefits from God?
Read Luke 1:51-53. In what way is God’s kingdom so different from what we mostly experience in the world? Why should we be careful not to identify all the rich as prideful and all the poor as humble? Why does God look at what’s in our heart rather than what’s in our wallet?
Read 1 Samuel 2:1-3, 7, 8 and Job 36:7. How was Hannah’s praise song similar to Mary’s? Who are the pillars of the earth?
Monday: Jesus’ Mission Statement
Mary’s exuberant prayer of thankfulness for her part in the Messiah’s birth was followed by a similar announcement by Jesus, as He took up His public ministry thirty years later.
The Lord’s mission statement (our memory text) was given at His first recorded sermon in Nazareth, laying out His plan to reach the poor, the broken, and the oppressed with the liberating message of the gospel.
Using familiar Messianic verses from Isaiah, Jesus followed the reading with the stirring words, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
Not everyone wanted to hear His words that day, and we won’t always be met with listeners who accept our message either. But, by combining loving actions with our words, there will be hearts softened and ready to listen to the Holy Spirit. We just have to follow His leading and let God’s kindness be revealed through our good deeds.
Discussion Questions:
Read Luke 4:16-21, 29, 30. Why would these words spoken by Jesus cause so much anger from His home congregation?
Read Luke 7:18-23. Why did John the Baptist still have questions about Jesus’ identity–whether or not He was the Messiah?
Read Matthew 10:7, 8. Why were the disciples told to do the same works as Jesus? Does this extend to the followers of Jesus today? How can we fulfill this commandment, as a church and as individuals?
Tuesday: Jesus Heals
The religious leaders were upset with Jesus for His miraculous healing abilities. They saw these events as a direct threat to their power over the people. Lacking any compassion themselves, they viewed His actions as subversive and threatening, because they drew multitudes to someone they saw as merely a lowly, itinerant preacher.
It wasn’t just the healing, but the dramatic methods by which Jesus healed that were so unique. He told lame people to get up and walk. He healed lepers by touching them (something others were loath to do because it made them “unclean”). He confronted demons by telling them to leave and even raised the dead to life simply by calling their name.
Clearly, people came to see this Messiah as the divine Person He was. The Son of God became God to them, and rightly so. As John put it, He was the Word, God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14).
Discussion Questions:
Read Matthew 14:14. Why must compassion be a factor in our ministry? How can we not allow ourselves to become so accustomed to suffering that it doesn’t move us in the same way it does initially? What difference is there in seeing poverty firsthand and merely seeing it on the screen or in a photo?
Read Mark 6:34, 36, 37. Why did Jesus have compassion on this crowd? Why was feeding the multitude as important to the crowd that day as hearing the gospel? How do we know when people are ready to hear the gospel preached?
Read Matthew 12:15. Why was Jesus a Healer of all? Why should we not withhold help from anyone who needs and desires it? What are some additional ways to help that don’t necessarily involve just handing out food or clothes, but that might have a more permanent ability to help people help themselves?
Wednesday: Clearing the Temple
We might see this episode of clearing, or cleansing, the temple as out of character for Jesus. For most of His ministry, He is seen as a gentle, peace-loving, kind individual, healing and caring for all those who sought him.
But this scene, when Jesus overturns the moneychangers’ tables and drove out those profit seekers from the sacred area of the temple, we are presented with an indignant, forceful side of our Lord that at first puzzles us, but entices us to know more about His mission. This was hopefully the effect it would have on those hard-to-reach religious leaders of the time.
Yes, Jesus knew that it would take such a dramatic, passionate display to capture the attention of even a few of the scribes and Pharisees, who may have been on the edge of accepting Him as the Messiah.
We know that at least two powerful, wealthy rulers, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus, had been converted. And no doubt there were others, who doggedly followed and questioned Jesus after this episode at the temple and felt the power of His righteous authority expressed in such an alarming manner.
Discussion Questions:
Read Matthew 21:10-12 and Luke 19:47, 48. Why was Jesus able to get by with such making such a scene in the temple? Who was Jesus trying to reach with this action?
Read John 2:13-16 and Luke 2:46-49. How significant was it that Jesus began working with the temple rulers at the age of twelve and then again at the end of His ministry right after His truimphal entry into the city?
Read Mark 11:15-17 and Isaiah 56:7. How can we make sure that all people, no matter their race or nationality, are included with joy in our worship services?
Thursday: The Cross of Christ
For all the beauty and compassion demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus, we mustn’t forget the ugly, oppressive, painful evil that confronted our Lord while here on earth. All sides of the story of Christ must be communicated to those we serve, whenever that opportunity presents itself.
The poor and oppressed understand quite well the cruel forces that made Jesus’ life and death so uninviting and ugly. Many of them have experienced similar fates and respond with overwhelming commitment when exposed to what the Messiah did for us by becoming our Substitute on the cross.
Wasn’t this what all those animal sacrifices that seem so bloody and repulsive to our senses today were pointing to? We mustn’t forget that our freedom from oppression comes at great cost. The life of our Lord and Savior.
Discussion Questions:
Read Philippians 2:7, 8 and John 1:14. What caused us to see the glory of the Father in Christ? And why were there some who couldn’t see it?
Read Isaiah 53:3, 4 and Matthew 8:16, 17. How was His healing ministry one of the ways Jesus “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows”?
Read Hebrews 4:15, 16. Why is Jesus able to sympathize with all mankind? How are we blessed by His sacrifice?
Final Thoughts
The main objective in reflecting on Jesus’ ministry this week was to see how it can impact our ministry and community outreach activities today.
- Through Mary’s song we are reminded of the joy that must accompany our service. After all, it’s a form of praise to our Maker.
- It’s important for us to have a mission statement, just like Christ proclaimed when He preached at Nazareth at the beginning of His public ministry.
- The unique ways Jesus worked and healed those who were broken and suffering should remind us to be creative in our efforts to help others.
- Just as Jesus sought to help all classes of people, even the religious rulers who were mostly against Him, we should not exclude any class of people from our evangelistic efforts.
- The sacrificial death of Christ must be our primary message to the oppressed and fallen. They especially need to hear the whole story of what Jesus has done for them.
“The world needs today what it needed nineteen hundred years ago–a revelation of Christ…and it is only through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration, physical, mental, and spiritual, can be accomplished.” ~Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 143
It is obviously vital for us to keep Christ central in all our efforts to serve others. He’s the only one who can make a lasting difference in all our lives. He’s the one who must be glorified in all we do to promote His kingdom. All credit must go to the “Word made flesh”, the Messiah.
Next Week’s Lesson: The Least of These
To read the Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly or see more resources for its study, go to https://www.absg.adventist.org/
Other Outlook blogposts by Teresa Thompson, are at http://outlookmag.org/author/teresathompson/
