Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

What is one of the nicest meals you have ever been invited to?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will hear a story Jesus told about being humble and kind. We will learn why it is important to care for people who cannot give anything back to us. Jesus also teaches about God’s big feast in heaven.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Accept — To say yes to something or agree to it.
2. Alley — A narrow street or path between buildings.
3. Apologies — Words you say when you are sorry for something.
4. Began — Start doing something.
5. Better Place — A nicer or more important seat or position.
6. Blind — A person who cannot see.
7. Blessed — Made happy by God; receiving good things from God.
8. Bought — Got something by paying money for it.
9. Bring — To take or carry something to a place.
10. Carried Out — Finished doing what was told or planned.
11. Choose — To pick or decide what you want.
12. Country Roads And Lanes — Small roads in the countryside, not in the city.
13. Crippled — A person who cannot walk well.
14. Dinner — A big meal usually eaten in the evening.
15. Embarrassed — Feeling shy or uncomfortable in front of others.
16. Feast — A large, special meal for many people.
17. Field — An open area of land, often used for farming.
18. Furious — Very, very angry.
19. Friend — A person you like and spend time with.
20. Give — To hand something to someone else.
21. Great — Very large or very good.
22. Guest — A person invited to visit, eat, or stay with someone.
23. Happen — To take place or occur.
24. Happy — Feeling good and smiling.
25. Have This Place — To take a certain seat or position.
26. Honor — Special respect or importance given to someone.
27. Host — The person who invites guests and gives a meal or party.
28. House — A place where people live.
29. Humble — To think of yourself in a modest, not proud way.
30. Humility — The quality of not thinking you are better than others.
31. Hurry Out — To leave quickly.
32. Invite — To ask someone to come to a meal, party, or event.
33. Kingdom Of God — God’s perfect place where he is King and everything is good and right. It is a real place in heaven, and it also lives in the hearts of people who love and follow him.
34. Lame — A person who cannot walk or move easily.
35. Let Him Have This Place — To allow someone else to sit in your seat.
36. Look — To use your eyes to see something.
37. Lowest Place — The least important or lowest seat.
38. Lunch — A meal eaten in the middle of the day.
39. Make — To create or cause something to happen.
40. Make Excuses — To give reasons for not doing something.
41. Many — A large number of people or things.
42. Married — Having a husband or wife.
43. Master — A person who is in charge or owns something.
44. Neighbor — A person who lives near you.
45. Noticed — Saw or became aware of something.
46. One After Another — Happening in a row, one person at a time.
47. Order — Instructions for someone to do something.
48. Oxen — Large farm animals like cows, used for pulling things.
49. Paid — Gave money for something.
50. Parable — A short story with a lesson about life or God.
51. Poor — A person who does not have much money or things.
52. Presence — The state of being in the same place as someone.
53. Relative — A family member, like a brother, sister, or cousin.
54. Repay — To give something back or do something in return.
55. Rise — To come back to life after death.
56. Room — Extra space for more people or things.
57. Servant — A person who works in someone’s house.
58. Sit — To rest on a chair or seat.
59. Sit Down — To lower yourself into a chair or seat.
60. Some — A few but not all.
61. Street — A road in a town or city.
62. Table — A piece of furniture with a flat top, used for eating meals.
63. Taste — To try the flavor of food by eating it.
64. Told — Said something to someone.
65. Wedding Feast — A big meal celebrating two people getting married.
66. Will Be Paid — To receive something in return later.

Summary of the Passage

This passage shows us a day when Jesus was eating with important people. He saw how some guests tried to sit in the best seats. Jesus told a story to teach them about being humble. He said it is better to sit in a low place and wait for the host to invite you to a better seat. This way, people will respect you more. Jesus wanted people to think of others first, not just themselves.

Then, Jesus spoke to the man who invited him. He said when you have a meal, do not just invite family, friends, or rich people. Instead, invite people who are poor, sick, or cannot walk or see. These people cannot pay you back, but God will bless you later in heaven.

Jesus also told a parable about a man who invited many people to a big feast. When it was time to eat, the invited guests made excuses. One said he bought a field, another bought animals, and another got married. None of them came. The master was angry and told his servant to bring poor, sick, and lonely people to fill the house. He wanted everyone to know that people who refuse God’s invitation will miss out on his great feast.

This passage teaches us that God wants us to be humble, kind, and ready to accept his invitation.

Read The Passage

Humility and Hospitality
7 Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places, so he told this parable to all of them:
8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place. It could happen that someone more important than you has been invited,
9 and your host, who invited both of you, would have to come and say to you, ‘Let him have this place.’ Then you would be embarrassed and have to sit in the lowest place.
10 Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, ‘Come on up, my friend, to a better place.’ This will bring you honor in the presence of all the other guests.
11 For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”
12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors—for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did.
13 When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind;
14 and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death.”
The Parable of the Great Feast
15 When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”
16 Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people.
17 When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’
18 But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, ‘I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.’
19 Another one said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.’
20 Another one said, ‘I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.’
21 The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22 Soon the servant said, ‘Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.’
23 So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full.
24 I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!’”

Luke 14:7-24 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 14:7-24 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 14:7-24 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 14:7-24 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 14:7-24 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 14:7-24 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. Where was Jesus when he saw people choosing the best places to sit?
2. What lesson did Jesus teach about choosing a place at a meal?
3. Who did Jesus say we should invite to our meals?
4. Why did Jesus say we should invite poor and sick people?
5. What did one of the guests say about the Kingdom of God?
6. What did Jesus say about the man giving a big feast?
7. Why did the first people invited not come to the feast?
8. Who did the master tell the servant to invite next?
9. Was there still room after those people came?
10. What did the master tell the servant to do after that?

Application Questions

1. Why is it important to be humble and not think we are better than others?
2. Have you ever helped someone who could not give you anything back? How did it feel?
3. Why do you think people made excuses not to come to the feast?
4. What can we learn about God’s invitation to be with him?
5. How can you show kindness to someone who feels left out this week?

Theological Insights

1. God invites people to be part of his kingdom, but not everyone accepts the invitation.
2. God cares about the poor, sick, and lonely, and wants us to care about them too.
3. When we show kindness without expecting anything back, God is pleased.
4. Jesus teaches that true honor comes from being humble.
5. One day there will be a great feast in heaven for those who love God.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for inviting us to be part of your family. Help us to be humble and kind to others, just like Jesus teaches us. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

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Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.