When Jesus Sees Beyond Your Past · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   Read Luke 7:44-46. Kent counted it: a host owed his guest a kiss, water for the feet, and oil for the head. Simon is nought for three, and the woman has done all three. What does that scoreboard say about each of them?

2. 2

   Look at what Simon says to himself in verse 39. Kent's line was that Simon cannot see the woman for who she is because he cannot get past what she was. Where do you hear that in the words Simon actually uses?

3. 3

   Kent asked what that woman went through to get into that house — the stares, the whispers on the walk over, the humiliation of walking in — and then asked what it takes to stop us: a late Saturday night, brunch, a 9:30 kickoff. What actually stops you?

4. 4

   Philip Yancey told of a homeless woman asked whether she had tried a church. She said that is the last place she would go — they would only make her feel worse than she already did. If she walked into our service on Sunday, what would actually happen?

5. 5

   Kent said his acceptance produced her love, not the other way around — Jesus did not wait for her to love him first. Where are you still working to earn a welcome you have already been given?

6. 6

   Kent said everyone over about the age of three has something they would never want up on the screens. You do not have to say what yours is. Instead, name one person you will give this week the welcome Simon withheld, and say exactly how you will do it.