Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: This period is often called “The Later Judean Ministry” of Jesus. That works because Jesus had previously ministered for a time in this basic region – several months at the very beginning of His ministry He had spent gathering John the Baptist’s disciples to Himself (John 1). But though Jesus had visited the region briefly on several occasions, He had not spent any extended time here concentrating on the effort to saturate the area with His claims concerning Himself. He does that now. It’s important to understand that by now the nation has made it clear (to Jesus alone) that they were determined to disbelieve. Besides that, this region is very much under the dominion of the rabbinic and Pharisaic leadership centered in Jerusalem. So, Jesus’s intent here is not to set His claims before the villages of Judea in the hope they would acknowledge Him. Rather, Jesus seems to be confronting this strategic region with His claims – and with miraculous demonstration of those claims – in order that “every mouth may be stopped,” that this generation would have no excuse for their rejection of Jesus.

A. Jesus Sends Out the Seventy/Seventy-Two

Scripture: Luke 10:1-24

Notes: This is similar to when He sent out the 12 late in His Galilean ministry, and the intent is the same – to get the message out quickly and dramatically, given that the time is short because of the anger of Jesus’s very powerful enemies.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that there is a textual issue with reference to the number. Some manuscripts of Luke say “seventy,” while others say “seventy-two.”
2. Mark the purpose for which these were sent out, expressed by Jesus in Luke 10:1 – to go into every place where He was about to go. These 70 were not so much independent preaching teams as “set-up” teams, preparing the ground so that when Jesus came to a village He could quickly confront the place and be on to the next city. This is all a function of the sense of urgency born of the fact that Jesus’s time was so short.
3. Notice that the commission which Jesus gave these emissaries (Luke 10:2-12) is very similar to that spoken to the 12 when they were sent out in Galilee (Matthew 10:5-42).

B. Eternal Life and the Good Samaritan

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Notes: Jesus was asked by a scribe (student of the Law) what had to be done to be saved. The parable was spoken in response to the conversation which ensued, and specifically to the question of the lawyer, “Who is my neighbor?”

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice the way the lawyer summarizes the Mosaic law? Where else do we encounter this summary? What does this suggest as to whether this man had been attending Jesus’s teachings before this point?
2. There is some speculation as to the identity of this man. Do you know what identity is often conjectured?

C. Jesus Visits the Village of Bethany, Home of Lazarus and His Sisters

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42

Notes: This home will become very strategic to Jesus during the week of His passion; He seems to be preparing for that week in making this visit.

Questions/Observations: Note that Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem; it lies on the east of the city, on the backside of the Mount of Olives, about 1.25 miles away.

D. Jesus Instructs His Disciples Concerning Prayer

Scripture: Luke 11:1-13

Notes: The “Lord’s Prayer” is, in fact, a model prayer, spoken by Jesus in response to His disciples’ request, “Teach us to pray.”

Questions/Observations: Note the reference to John’s instruction of his disciples concerning prayer; this is the only reference of this in the New Testament.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. The Jewish Leaders Watch for Jesus

Scripture: John 7:11-13

Notes: Notice that by this time Jesus is very much the center of thought among the Jews, both the leadership and the common man.

B. Jesus Appears, Begins Teaching, and Creates a Stir

Scripture: John 7:14-36

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that Jesus’s teaching in the temple at this Feast produced a great deal of skeptical and/or hostile reaction on the part of the multitudes who heard Him teach. In that regard, notice especially the opposite opinions discussed in John 7:28-31.
2. Note that as a result of the excitement produced by Jesus’s preaching at the Feast, the “chief priests and Pharisees sent officers (temple guards supplied by the Romans) to arrest Him” (John 7:32). That sub-plot concludes later in the narrative.

C. On the Last Day of the Feast, Jesus Offers “Living Water”

Scripture: John 7:37-44

Notes: Notice especially the response of the multitudes to this remarkable offer made by Jesus.

Questions/Observations:

1. Why was the offer of “living water” especially meaningful at the feast of Tabernacles?
2. Notice the very interesting point of confusion regarding Jesus’s messianic credentials as recorded in the discussion of those who heard Him (John 7:41-42).

D. The Roman Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus Return Empty-Handed

Scripture: John 7:45-52

Notes: The Jewish authorities have determined to be rid of Jesus, as reflected in the fact that they had sent officers to arrest Him, and in their deliberations recorded in this section.

Questions/Observations:

1. Compare John 7:45-49 with John 7:32. Evidently, the Roman officers sent to arrest Jesus were so impressed as they heard His words and confronted His person that they refused to do the bidding of the Jewish authorities.
2. Who rises briefly (timidly?) to defend Jesus when the Jewish authorities are going about to condemn Him without any legal process? Again, this is reflective of a very important role this man plays in the narrative as crafted by John.

E. A Woman Caught in Adultery Is Brought to Jesus

Scripture: John 7:53

Notes: The strategy of Jesus’s enemies was very clever here, but Jesus’s counter-strategy was magisterial.

Questions/Observations:

1. There is much discussion as to whether this account is authentic. What are the reasons it is denied authenticity by many? Do you have any strong opinion?
2. Notice that the account begins with an indication of the remarkable fascination of the city for Jesus, and the anger of the Jewish leadership as a result of that.

F. Great Confrontation with the Jewish Leaders

Scripture: John 8:12-59

Notes: This is one of the more remarkable scenes in the ministry of Jesus. Trace well the claims made by Jesus, the angry response of the Jewish leadership, and the heated exchanges between them and Jesus.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice how Jesus argues for the validity and credibility of His claims.
2. Mark well Jesus’s reference to being “lifted up” in John 8:28. What do you understand Jesus to mean by “lifted up”?
3. John states in John 8:30 that “many believed in Him,” but he goes on to narrate Jesus’s interaction with those who had confessed belief (John 8:31-47). Given that subsequent discussion, how do you understand John’s statement in John 8:30?
4. Notice the conversation that resulted in Jesus’s words, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). What was the significance of that strangely worded claim? Why did that claim so enrage Jesus’s detractors (cf. John 8:59)?

G. Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind; the Pharisees “Put Him Out”

Scripture: John 9:1-41

Notes: Remember that this occurs about six months before the Passover at which Jesus will die.

Questions/Observations:

1. Note that this account commences with a very important insight offered by Jesus concerning God’s purposes in human suffering.
2. Follow carefully the physical travels of the man who is healed. Why do you think Jesus sent him to wash in the Pool of Siloam? Notice in that regard that after he has been healed, he does not know Jesus by sight until Jesus introduces Himself to him.
3. The stubborn and entirely irrational unbelief of the Pharisees in this incident is very important to an understanding of the way in which Jesus’s ministry is unfolding – and to the literary purposes of the apostle John.
4. Note the repeated threat of the Pharisees to put a recalcitrant person “out of the synagogue”; this was a dire threat, and the capacity of the Pharisees to do this is very important to the drama unfolding during these last months of Jesus’s ministry.

H. Jesus Claims to Be the Good Shepherd and Divides the Crowd

Scripture: John 10:1-21

Notes: Given the chronological note of John 10:22, it seems best to attach this account to those preceding – that is, to see this discourse as part of Jesus’s extensive (and extensively recorded) ministry at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Questions/Observations: Notice that Jesus is speaking rather openly of His death by this point in His ministry.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: Notice that Matthew and Mark omit the last half year of Jesus’s ministry before the events leading to the passion, and thus we follow these months only in Luke and John. Harmonization is a bit difficult for this period, because there are only a few places where those two Gospels both record the same event (which is key to the harmonizing effort). On the other hand, the two narratives fit together nicely when this reality is recognized: Luke narrates Jesus’s travels beyond Jerusalem, as well as the times when He sets out to go to Jerusalem (or its immediate environs); John, on the other hand, picks up the narrative when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem (or it immediate environs) and relates His ministry in that place. Further, John’s account is built around two feasts which occurred during these last six months: the Feast of Tabernacles (Sept/Oct of 32 AD, about 6 months before Jesus’s death) and the Feast of Dedication (or Hanukah, in late Dec). Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for each of these. Luke has Him leaving for Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles (Luke 9:51; John narrates His ministry at that feast in John 7), and then again for the feast of Dedication (Luke 13:22; cf. John 10:22-39). Finally, Jesus goes to the village of Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-54; Luke makes no mention of this journey).

A. In Capernaum, Jesus Receives Bitter Counsel from His Unbelieving Brothers

Scripture: John 7:1-9

Notes: Note carefully the foreboding summary statement with which John begins his narrative of this period of Jesus’s ministry (John 7:1).

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that the record is clear that as of this time, within months of Jesus’s death, His (half-)brothers did not believe on Him. Contemplate how difficult it would have been to accept Jesus’s claims if He were your brother!
2. Did Jesus’s siblings ever come to faith? How do we know?
3. Note well that in all this, given the very real danger He was in, Jesus was “wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove,” and in that spirit He conducted Himself very circumspectly through these months.

B. Jesus and the 12 Set out from Galilee

Scripture: Luke 9:51-61; John 7:10; and Matthew 8:19-22

Notes: This is the first of three times that Luke describes Jesus as setting out for or on the road to Jerusalem. Again, these are best harmonized with the times that Jesus arrives in Jerusalem in the narrative of John’s gospel.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that Jesus determines to travel through Samaria, but He takes precautions in that regard (Luke 9:52-56). Understand the careful strategy involved in this route.
2. John’s comment that Jesus “went up not publicly, but privately” is best understood in terms of the strategically chosen Samaritan route narrated in Luke 9.
3. Notice the stern demands of discipleship laid down by Jesus along the way. (Matthew’s account of this challenge by Jesus seems to be recorded anachronistically, which is not unusual, as Matthew often arranges material more thematically than chronologically.)

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).