The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Week 9: Part Two, Chapter 8 — "Message: A Sermon of Offense"
Read Chapter 8 of The Jesus I Never Knew. Key passages: Luke 15:1–32; Matthew 21:28–22:14; Luke 4:16–30.
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Jesus's parables are among the most beloved stories ever told — and also among the most subversive, designed not to comfort the comfortable but to unsettle them.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Yancey describes Jesus's parables as designed to get past our defenses — like the prophet Nathan's story to David, they draw us in before delivering the verdict. Can you think of a parable that worked that way on you — that caught you off guard and landed somewhere you weren't expecting?
2.The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) is usually read as a story about the younger son's repentance and the father's forgiveness. But Yancey stresses that the real shock of the story, to its original audience, was the older son — the one who stayed, who obeyed, and who was furious. Which son do you most identify with, and why?
a.What does the older son's anger reveal about how he understood his relationship with his father?
b.How does the father's response to the older son describe God's posture toward religious people who resent grace?
3.Yancey notes that Jesus's teaching consistently offended the "right" people — the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious establishment — while attracting the "wrong" people. What is it about the content of Jesus's message (not just his manner) that provoked this reaction? What is it about genuine grace that the religious find threatening?
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