Luke 4: Group Study Handout

How to use: read Luke 4 aloud together, then take the questions in order. One page is enough for an evening.

Overview

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returns from the Jordan and is led into the wilderness, where he is tempted by the devil for forty days (vv. 1-2). The devil tests Jesus, first asking him to turn stone into bread (v.

Key verse

“Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
Luke 4:8 (WEB)

Outline

Luke 4:1–2 Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness
Luke 4:3–13 Responses to Temptation
Luke 4:14–15 Jesus Begins His Ministry
Luke 4:16–22 Reading from Isaiah
Luke 4:23–30 Rejection at Nazareth
Luke 4:31–37 Teaching and Authority in Capernaum
Luke 4:38–44 Miracles and Preaching

Discussion questions

In v3, what does the devil ask Jesus to do with the stone?
In v18, what does Jesus say he has been anointed to do?
Jesus' statement in v24 about no prophet being accepted in his hometown: what does this suggest about his message?
The crowd's reaction in v28 to Jesus' words: why do they become filled with wrath?
When has a situation made you feel unappreciated like Jesus in Nazareth (v22)?

Go deeper

Passages that echo Luke 4: Isaiah 61, Matthew 4, Mark 1.

Before next time: read Luke 5.