- Looking at the passage, identify all the things that the seventy are supposed to leave behind, and all the things they are supposed to expect and accept. Why do you think Jesus asks them to leave aside and seek out those particular things?
- What is the job of these missionaries? What does Jesus tell them to do? If you were to translate that into our world, what would it mean for the church? For our individual lives?
- Is there anything that this passage brings to your mind as something you are to leave aside or seek out in your life?
- Can you share a time in your life where you had to make big sacrifices for an even bigger goal?
- Jesus gives three illustrations about prioritizing. Which one resonates most with you and why? Which one is most confusing and why?
- What is Jesus asking us to lay aside and what are we asked to take up in order to follow him? What might this look like practically in your life?
- What is an object that if you lost it, you would drop everything to find it? What is it that is valuable to you about that object?
- If the searcher represents God, and the sheep/coin represents the lost, what is Jesus telling us about God’s approach to us?
- How well does your heart line up with what we see of God’s heart in this passage? What do you think God might be calling you to see differently or do differently?
- This passages outlines several responsibilities of disciples in the area of forgiveness: a) avoid sinning against each other, b) rebuke c) forgive. What is practically involved in each of these areas?
- Jesus emphasizes with dramatic terms both the responsibilities of avoiding offense and forgiving quickly. Which area is most difficult for you?
- What might be one way that you can move in the direction of faithfulness to Jesus’s teaching this week? What might we need to “lose” in order to find true reconciliation?
- Compare and contrast the two prayers in Jesus’ parable. What does each prayer tell us about the person’s heart? What is the focus of each prayer?
- If your prayers were written down and summarized, what would their focus? What would it tell us about our hearts?
- What are some hazards of religious observance that we see described in this passage? What is the solution offered? How do we avoid the hazards and embrace the solution? What does the parable invite us to “lose” and “find”?
- What does it make you think that human beings are made “in the image of God?”
- How is this kind of either/or question posed to us in our current context where politics and religion are so often set in opposition to each other?
- What is Jesus’ deeper truth as he avoids the trap they are trying to spring? What are the implications of this deeper truth for how we view ourselves and our neighbor?