NT lesson 45-46 Luke 3-5

https://www.lds.org/manual/new-testament-seminary-teacher-manual?lang=eng

Lesson 45: Luke 3–4

Introduction

John the Baptist preached repentance and testified of the coming Messiah. Jesus Christ was baptized by John and then fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. After traveling to Galilee, Jesus declared in Nazareth that He was the Messiah. The people of Nazareth rejected Him, and He went to Capernaum, where He healed the sick and cast out devils.

I. Luke 3:1–22  John the Baptist prophesies of Jesus Christ

---Before class, ask a student to study the account of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17:1–16 and another student to study the account of Naaman and Elisha in 2 Kings 5:1–15. Explain that they will give a brief summary of these accounts later in the lesson. Ask them to emphasize what Naaman and the widow of Zarephath did to demonstrate their faith and to point out that both were Gentiles (not of the house of Israel).

---To begin the lesson, ask students to write on a piece of paper about a time when they felt separated or isolated from those around them as a result of living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ (make sure that students do not write their names on their papers). After sufficient time, ask students to give you their papers. Read a few of the experiences aloud to the class.

---Look for a truth as we study Luke 3:1–22 that can explain why those who live the gospel may feel separated from others at times.

---Under the law of Moses, the high priest functioned as the presiding officer of the Aaronic Priesthood and political head of the nation of Israel. However, by the time of the Savior’s ministry, the office of high priest had become corrupted. Rather than being selected by God, high priests were chosen by men such as Herod and other Roman officials (see Bible Dictionary, “High priest”).

---Read Luke 3:2–6 looking for whom God spoke to instead of the high priests.

• Whom did the word of the Lord come to instead of the high priests? (“John the son of Zacharias,” also known as John the Baptist.)
• What was John the Baptist teaching?

---In John’s day some people believed that because they were descendants of Abraham, they were better or more loved by God than non-Israelites.

---Read Luke 3:7–9 and look for what John the Baptist taught the Jews they needed to do to please God.

• What did John teach the Jews they needed to do to please God? (Explain that the “fruit” is a symbol of the results of the choices we make.)
• According to verse 9, what will happen to those who do not bring forth “good fruit,” or live righteously?

---In Luke 3:10–15 John taught specific groups of Jews how they could bring forth good fruit. John’s ministry was impressive, and some thought he might be the Messiah.

---Read Luke 3:16–17 and look for what John said the Messiah would do when He came.

• What did John say the coming Messiah would do?

---The phrase “baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (verse 16) refers to the purifying and sanctifying effect of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.

---To help students further understand verse 17, display a handful of kernels or small pebbles and some sawdust or small pieces of newspaper. Mix the kernels and sawdust together, and place the mixture in a shallow tray.

• How might someone separate the kernels from the sawdust?

---After wheat was harvested and threshed (when the grain was separated from the rest of the plant), the grain would be winnowed. Winnowing is an ancient method used to separate wheat kernels from the chaff (the outer shell) and the husk. A winnower would use a large shovel or wooden fork (translated in the scriptures as “fan”) to throw the threshed wheat into the air. The breeze would then carry away the lighter, undesirable chaff, and the heavier wheat kernels would fall in a pile on the threshing floor.

---To illustrate this concept, display a handheld fan (you can use heavy paper, cardboard, or folded paper if necessary). Invite a student to come to the front of the class, and ask him or her to wave the fan over the kernels and sawdust. As the student waves the fan, gently toss the mixture so that the moving air begins to blow away the sawdust while the kernels drop back to the tray. Invite the student to be seated.

• What do the wheat and the chaff represent? (The wheat represents the righteous, and the chaff represents the wicked.)
• According to verses 16–17, who separates the righteous from the wicked? (After students respond, write the following truth on the board: Jesus Christ separates the righteous from the wicked.)
• Although the final separation of the righteous from the wicked will take place at the Day of Judgment, in what ways can following Jesus Christ and living His gospel cause His disciples to be separated from others now?
• Why do we need to understand that seeking to follow Jesus Christ and live His gospel can cause us to be or feel separated from others?

---Luke 3:18–22 says that Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist. Later, John the Baptist was put in prison by Herod.

II. Luke 3:23–38  The lineage of Jesus is set forth

Summarize Luke 3:23–38 by explaining that Luke included a genealogy of Jesus and testified that Joseph was the “supposed” (not actual) father of Jesus, who was the Son of God.

III. Luke 4:1–13  Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness

---Luke 4:1–13 contains an account of Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and rejecting Satan’s temptations.

IV. Luke 4:14–30  Jesus announces that He is the Messiah

---List the words broken, bruised, captive, poor, and blind on the board. Ask students to ponder a time when one or more of these words may have described how they felt about themselves.

---As we study Luke 4:14–30  look for how you might find relief from these feelings.

---Luke 4:14–17 states that after Jesus returned from the wilderness, He began to preach in the synagogues in Galilee. Soon, He returned to His hometown of Nazareth. While there, He stood in a synagogue and read from the book of Isaiah.

---Read Luke 4:18–21 and look for what Isaiah taught about the divine mission of the Messiah.

• What did Jesus testify of to the people of His hometown of Nazareth? (Students may use different words, but make sure they identify the following truth: Jesus is the Messiah who was sent to heal the brokenhearted and deliver those who are spiritually captive.)
• What experiences have you had that have shown you that Jesus Christ continues to heal and deliver us in our day?

---Read Luke 4:22 and look for how the people of Nazareth responded to Jesus’s bold declaration that He was the long-awaited Messiah.

• How did the people react to Jesus’s declaration?
• Based on verse 22, why do you think the people of Nazareth had a difficult time believing that Jesus was the Messiah?

---Luke 4:23 says that Jesus knew that the people in Nazareth would challenge Him to prove He was the Messiah by repeating the miracles He had performed in Capernaum.

---Scan Luke 4:24–27 silently, looking for two Old Testament accounts the Savior referred to as He responded to the people of Nazareth. (You may need to clarify that Elias refers to Elijah and Eliseus refers to Elisha.) Invite students to report what they find.

---Ask the two students you previously invited to study these accounts to now present their summaries. Afterward, explain that Jesus taught those in Nazareth that although there were Israelite widows and lepers, it was two non-Israelites (Gentiles) who experienced miracles.

• In what ways did Naaman and the widow of Zarephath demonstrate faith?
• How was the faith of the widow and Naaman different from the faith of the people in Nazareth?

---Point out that Jesus performed very few miracles in Nazareth because the people there generally lacked faith in Him (see Matthew 13:54–58; Mark 6:1–6).

• What principle can we learn about faith when we contrast the people in Nazareth with the widow and Naaman? (Help students to identify a principle similar to the following: When we demonstrate our faith in Jesus Christ, we can see miracles occur.)

---Ask students to come to the board and make a list of ways we can demonstrate our faith that Jesus Christ is our Savior. After students have completed the list, ask:

• What are examples of blessings or miracles that come only as we first act in faith?

---Read Luke 4:28–30 and look for how those in the synagogue responded to Jesus. Invite students to report what they find.

• In what ways does this account illustrate how Jesus Christ will separate the wicked from the righteous? (See Luke 3:17.)

V. Luke 4:31–44  Jesus casts out devils and heals the sick

---Divide students into pairs. Invite them to read Luke 4:31–44 aloud with their partners and look for the blessings the people of Capernaum received in comparison with the blessings the people of Nazareth received. After they read, invite them to discuss their answers to the following questions with their partners (you may want to write these questions on the board):

• How did the people in Capernaum respond differently to Jesus, in comparison with those in Nazareth?
• What blessings did the people of Capernaum receive, in comparison with the blessings received by the people of Nazareth?
• How do these accounts illustrate the principle that as we demonstrate our faith in Jesus Christ, we can see miracles occur?

---Invite a few students to share their responses to the last two questions with the class.

---Conclude the lesson by sharing your testimony of Jesus Christ and of the blessings you have received as you have demonstrated faith in Him.

---Ask students to write in their class notebooks several ways in which they can demonstrate their faith in Jesus Christ. Invite them to make a goal to do the things they wrote down.

Commentary and Background Information

Luke 3:17. “[He] will gather the wheat into his garner”

One interpretation of the garner that the wheat, or the righteous, will be gathered into is that it represents the temple. Citing a similar analogy (see Alma 26:5) as that in Luke 3:17, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said the following:

“The garners are the holy temples. Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained: ‘Clearly, when we baptize, our eyes should gaze beyond the baptismal font to the holy temple. The great garner into which the sheaves should be gathered is the holy temple’ (in John L. Hart, ‘Make Calling Focus of Your Mission,’ Church News, Sept. 17, 1994, 4). This instruction clarifies and emphasizes the importance of sacred temple ordinances and covenants—that the sheaves may not be wasted” (“Honorably Hold a Name and Standing,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 97).

Luke 4:25–27. Naaman and the widow of Zarephath

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provided the following commentary about the faith demonstrated by the widow of Zarephath and Naaman compared to the faith of those in Nazareth in Jesus’s day:

“Where there is faith, there is the miracle; where there is no faith, no miracle is wrought. And if the prophets of old went outside the fold of Israel to find those worthy of their ministry, so Jesus would go outside Nazareth to find receptive souls who would believe in him and receive the blessings that he came to bestow. Should the people of Nazareth desire to see the wondrous works done elsewhere, then let them accept Him who now preached in their synagogue, and they too would receive the blessings of heaven” (The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 2:26).

Supplemental Teaching Idea

Luke 3:4. The prophecy of John the Baptist

Invite a student to read Luke 3:4 aloud, and ask the class to look for whose prophecy John the Baptist fulfilled.

• Whose prophecy did John the Baptist fulfill? (Isaiah’s prophecy [see Isaiah 40:3–5].)

Explain that Joseph Smith Translation, Luke 3:4–11 includes additional prophecies from Isaiah; these prophecies describe the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. Invite students to read silently Joseph Smith Translation, Luke 3:4–11 in the Bible appendix. Ask the class to look for prophecies about the Savior. Invite students to share prophecies that stood out to them and explain why.

© 2016 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved

Right margin extras:

Compare and contrast

A passage of scripture is often clarified when it is compared or contrasted with something else. Helping students note the similarities and differences between teachings, people, or events can bring gospel truths into sharper focus for them

Lesson 46: Luke 5

Introduction

After miraculously catching a multitude of fish with the Savior’s help, Peter, James, and John forsook all to follow the Savior and become fishers of men. Jesus healed a leper and a paralyzed man. He called Matthew to be a disciple and taught that He came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus also taught the parable of new wine in old bottles.

I. Luke 5:1–11  The Lord calls Peter, James, and John to become fishers of men

---Write the following question on the board:

When have you been asked to do something without knowing all the reasons for doing it?

---Ask students to ponder the question, and invite a few to share their experiences.

• Why can it be difficult to follow instructions without understanding the reasons for them?
• What commandments or counsel from Church leaders might some youth find difficult to obey if they don’t fully understand the reasons for them? (Consider listing students’ responses on the board.)

---Look for a principle in Luke 5:1–11 that can help you when you don’t fully understand why you are asked to follow the counsel or commandments of the Lord.

---Take turns reading aloud from Luke 5:1–5. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what the Savior asked Simon (Peter) to do after He had finished preaching. Ask students to report what they find. (If necessary, point out that verse 4, footnote a clarifies that draught refers to a catch or haul of fish.)

• What did Simon tell the Savior about their previous efforts to catch fish?
• What might Simon’s own fishing experience have led him to think when the Savior told him to let down the nets again?
• What did Simon say that showed he trusted the Lord?

---Read Luke 5:6–9 aloud, and ask the class to look for what happened when Simon did what the Lord asked.

• What happened when Simon did what the Lord asked?
• What principle can we learn from Simon’s willingness to do what the Lord asked even if he didn’t understand why? (Students may use different words, but make sure they identify the following principle: If we do what the Lord asks even when we do not understand why, He can provide greater blessings than we could have anticipated. Using students’ words, write this principle on the board.)

• In what ways does living this principle require us to trust Jesus Christ?

---To help students understand this principle, invite a student to read aloud the following statement by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Consider providing students with a copy of the statement:

“This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience” (“Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17).

• How can we develop this kind of trust in the Savior?
• How have you or your family received greater blessings than you anticipated by following the Lord’s directions even when you didn’t fully understand the reasons? (Answers might include experiences that helped students eventually come to understand why the Lord gave such directions.)

---On a piece of paper they can take home with them, invite students to write down counsel or commandments from the Lord that they could more faithfully follow even though they don’t fully understand the reasons for doing so. (If time permits, you could invite students to look through For the Strength of Youth [booklet, 2011] for ideas.)

---In Luke 5:10–11 Peter, James, and John left their fishing boats and nets behind to follow Jesus.

II. Luke 5:12–26  Jesus heals a leper and a man with palsy

---Show students the following items (or draw pictures of them on the board): syringe, bandage, soap, and icepack.

• How can these items help heal people of an illness or wound?
• Besides illness and physical injury, what else might someone need to be healed of? (List students’ responses on the board. Answers may include sin, addiction, despair, and bitterness.)

---Look for principles as we study Luke 5:12–25 that teach us what we can do to help ourselves and others receive needed healing.

---Draw the following chart on the board and invite students to copy it into their class notebooks:

Similarities	Differences

---Write the following references on the board: Luke 5:12–15 and Luke 5:17–25.

---Explain that these verses relate that the Savior healed two men. One of the men had leprosy, and the other man had palsy, meaning he was paralyzed.

---Divide students into pairs. Ask them to read each account with their partners and discuss the following questions:

• How are these two healings similar? How are they different?
• What role did faith play in each account?

---Ask students to record on their charts what they find. After sufficient time, invite students to report what they learned. Consider inviting students to mark the phrase “he saw their faith” in verse 20. Ensure that students understand that the faith of those who brought the man with palsy to the Savior contributed to this man being healed.

• What principles can we learn from these accounts about how we can be healed and what we can do to help others be healed? (Students may use different words, but make sure they identify the following principles: As we exercise faith and come to the Savior, He can heal us. We can help others come to the Savior so they can be healed. Write these principles on the board.)
• In what ways can we receive healing from the Savior? (Help students understand that the Savior may remove our infirmities from us, or He may give us the courage, faith, comfort, and peace we need to endure or overcome our infirmities.)

---Ask students to consider the infirmities listed on the board that people may need to be healed of.

• What could you do to help bring people to the Savior to receive His healing power?
• When have you or someone you know been healed through exercising faith in the Savior? (Remind students that they should not share experiences that are too personal or private.)
• When have you seen a person bring someone else to the Lord to receive the Savior’s healing power?

---Ask students to ponder what they can do to exercise greater faith in Jesus Christ to be healed, forgiven, or comforted or what they can do to bring a friend or someone else to the Savior. Encourage them to act on any promptings they may receive.

III. Luke 5:27–35  Scribes and Pharisees question why Jesus eats with publicans and sinners

---Read Luke 5:27–28 and look for the Savior’s invitation to Levi. Ask students to report what they find.

• What impresses you about how Levi responded to the Savior’s invitation?

---Remind students that Levi was also called Matthew (see Matthew 9:9). He was a publican, meaning he collected taxes from his fellow Jews for the Roman government. The Jews generally hated publicans and viewed them as outcasts, sinners, and even traitors to the nation of Israel. Summarize Luke 5:29–35 by explaining that while Jesus was eating with Levi and others, the scribes and Pharisees condemned Him for eating with sinners. Jesus taught that He came to call sinners to repentance.

IV. Luke 5:36–39  Jesus gives the parable of new wine in old bottles

---The Savior used a parable to teach the scribes and Pharisees.

---Take turns reading aloud from Luke 5:36–39 and look for the objects the Savior used in His parable.

• What objects did the Savior use to teach His parable?

---Show students a new piece of cloth and an old piece of cloth with a hole in it. Explain that the “new garment” in verse 36 refers to cloth that had not yet shrunk. One cannot patch an old garment with new cloth because when the new piece shrinks, it would make the hole worse than before. In a similar way, the gospel of Jesus Christ was not just a patching up of old beliefs and practices but a complete restoration of truth.

---Read verse 37, footnote a in the LDS edition of the King James Bible to discover that bottles referred to “leather bags or wineskins,” and if possible, show students pieces of new and old leather.

• What is the difference between new and old leather? (New leather is soft and pliable; old leather is hard and brittle.)

---Explain that as new wine fermented in leather bags, gases would build up inside and stretch the leather. Once a wineskin had already been stretched in this way, attempting to ferment new wine in it again would risk bursting it.

---In the parable, the new wine represents the Savior’s teachings and the fulness of the everlasting gospel, and the old wine represents the practices, traditions, and beliefs of the Pharisees under the law of Moses.

• In what way could the “old bottles” represent the scribes and Pharisees? (Just as old bottles are too inflexible to hold new wine, the scribes and Pharisees were hard-hearted and unwilling to change to accept the Savior and His teachings.)
• Who could the “new bottles” represent? (Those people who were humble and willing to change to accept the Savior and His teachings.)
• What can we learn from this parable about what we need to do to receive the Savior and His gospel? (Students should identify a principle similar to the following: To accept the Savior and His gospel, we must be humble and willing to change. Invite students to consider writing this principle in the margins of their scriptures next to Luke 5:36–39.)

---To help students to understand this principle, invite them to review Luke 5 and look for examples of how individuals were hardened and unyielding in their attitude toward the Savior and His teachings as well as examples of how individuals were humble and willing to change and grow by following the Savior. Invite a few students to report what they find.

---Conclude the lesson by sharing your testimony of the principles taught in Luke 5.

Commentary and Background Information

Luke 5:23. “Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?”

President Harold B. Lee taught the following about the greatest miracles today:

“The greatest miracles I see today are not necessarily the healing of sick bodies, but the greatest miracles I see are the healing of sick souls, those who are sick in soul and spirit and are downhearted and distraught, on the verge of nervous breakdowns. We are reaching out to all such, because they are precious in the sight of the Lord, and we want no one to feel that they are forgotten” (“Stand Ye in Holy Places” Ensign, July 1973, 123).

Luke 5:21–24. “Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

Commenting on the scribes’ and Pharisees’ questioning of the Savior’s authority to forgive sin, Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught the following:

“This event in the life of our Lord was visible and irrefutable proof that he was the Messiah; and it was so recognized by those among whom he ministered. He had borne frequent verbal testimony that God was his Father and had supported that personal witness with an unparalleled ministry of preaching and healing. Now it was his purpose to announce that he had done what no one but God could do and to prove that he had done it by a further manifestation of his Father’s power.

“Both Jesus and the ‘doctors of the law’ who were then present knew that none but God can forgive sins. Accordingly, as a pointed and dramatic witness that the power of God was resident in him … , Jesus did what no imposter could have done—he proved his divine power by healing the forgiven man” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:177–78).

Luke 5:20. “When [Jesus] saw their faith”

Referring to the account of the man with palsy and the phrase “when [Jesus] saw their faith” (Luke 5:20; italics added), Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong of the Seventy taught:

“Our combined faith will also affect the well-being of others.

“Who were those people that Jesus mentioned? They could well include the four who carried the man with palsy, the man himself, the people who had prayed for him, and all those who were there listening to the preaching of Jesus and cheering quietly in their hearts for the soon-to-come miracle. They could also include a spouse, a parent, a son or a daughter, a missionary, a quorum president, a Relief Society president, a bishop, and a faraway friend. We can all help one another. We should always be anxiously engaged in seeking to rescue those in need” (“Rescue in Unity,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2014, 16).

© 2016 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Right margin extras:

Help students identify implied principles

Many principles are not stated directly in the scriptures but are instead implied. Implied principles can often be discovered by asking, “What is the moral or point of this story?” Help students analyze the actions, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals or groups in the scriptural account and identify the blessings or consequences that came as a result. Studying scriptural accounts in this way can help make implied gospel principles more apparent.