QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DIG DEEPER INTO THE MESSAGE FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP OR FAMILY DEVOTIONS:

Read Luke 13:10-11. Is it surprising that this woman was at ‘church’ when she was suffering so much? What excuses have you made to ‘skip’ your daily devotions, or a weekend service, or some other ‘time with the Lord’? Why do you think that is our tendency at times? Have you ever forced yourself to go and then been pleasantly surprised that God blessed you?

Read Luke 13:12. Why do you think Jesus “saw her“? It was mentioned that one of God’s names is El Roi (the God Who sees me). Is that something about the character of God that makes you glad… or perhaps feel something else?

The theme of this entire message is: “God is more concerned with people than He is with institutions“. Have you ever noticed when an institution or ‘tradition’ got in the way of relationship with people, or disrupted ‘unity’ within the church?

Read Luke 13:13-17. Everyone in this story has different reactions. How did the woman react? How did the leader of the synagogue react? How did Jesus react? How did the multitude feel about senseless, useless traditions? Why did they respond the way they did in verse 17? Talk about each of these reactions and which ones you relate to?