December 22: Discovery Questions (based on Luke 2:1-20)
1. What Do you think the world would look like today if Jesus had never been born? How would our world be different had God not sent Jesus into it?
Ask two people to read aloud Luke 2:1-20, one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Then ask a third person to briefly summarize the passage.
2. Our lesson writer, Mark Scott, examines the Christmas story from the perspective of the glory of Jesus’ coming.
- What can you see in Luke 2:1-7 that is not so glorious?
- What can you see in Luke 2:1-7 that reveals the glory of Jesus?
3. Luke 2:8-9 tells us that the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks when an angel appeared to them and “the glory of the Lord shone around them.”
- Mark Scott says “the sky lit up like fireworks on July 4th.” Do you think “the glory of the Lord” was something more than just brightness? What else could it have been?
- How would the sudden appearance of “the glory of the Lord” make you react? Would you be terrified like the shepherds?
4. What do you think the shepherds thought it meant when the angel told them …
- “A Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord”?
- “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger”?
5. Why do you suppose God chose to reveal the Messiah’s birth in such an amazing way to a lowly group of shepherds? What can we take away from this?
6. After the heavenly host of angels had departed, the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem to see what they had just heard about.
- After such a glorious angelic announcement, do you think they expected to find more than a baby in an animal trough?
- How do you think they were received by Joseph and Mary? What do you think Joseph and Mary would have thought about their story of the angelic announcement?
7. As the shepherds went on to “spread the word” about the child, Luke tells us “all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:18). Why do you suppose people didn’t simply think they were crazy or untruthful?
8. Based on our study and discussion, complete the sentence: “I will . . .”
For Next Week: Read and reflect on Luke 24:36-53. You can also read next week’s supplemental texts and the Study and Application sections as part of your personal study.
This lesson segment concludes our study through the entire Bible. In January we will begin formatting the past six years of The Lookout lesson material (topically and as individual books of the Bible) in an updated lesson series, “1717 Studies: Your Word Is Truth.” The first in the new series, a study of Galatians, is available now for you to download and use at no cost. We hope you’ll join us in our effort to make the Word of God accessible, understandable, and appliable to groups and individuals.
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