My family has a yearly tradition of reading a chapter a day of the book of Luke, leading up to Christmas. It has been such an enriching experience that helps center our holiday season on what is most important to us. If you’d like to join us in these readings, I’m providing questions to talk through with your kids to help spark conversations and meaningful engagement with what you read. I hope it’s helpful!
(Here is where you can find background information or to start this project at Chapter 1.)
Before you start each night, think about the environment you’re creating for this experience. Check your heart. Lower your expectations. Here is where you can find more ideas on how to set yourself up for success.
*A note about keeping kids engaged: This chapter is long. I have little kids and some of them were starting to get distracted. In order to keep them engaged, sometimes I’ll insert nonsense. During this reading in verse 47 I said, “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and reminded them of how weird little children can be and that they should work really hard to stay away from any little children. Especially as it is flu season and kids carry germs.” You should have seen my kids perk up to attention. They knew that wasn’t right and we laughed, I went back and reread the section and I had their attention again. We want to be careful not to confuse our kids while reading Scripture, but sometimes those reading techniques you use during bedtime stories can work here too. It doesn’t do anybody any good to read these stories into the void. We want them listening, even if they’re listening to hear if Mom will say something weird.
Questions before you read Luke 9:
What was did the seed represent in the parable Jesus told in the last chapter?
What was Jesus doing in the boat?
Who was healed in the last chapter?
Can you remember the names of any of the women who were serving with Jesus?
I ask my kids to listen for this information while we’re reading and I’ll ask about it after we’re done:
What happened to John the Baptist?
How many men were in the crowd listening to Jesus?
What food did Jesus use to feed them all?
What Old Testament men did Jesus talk to?
(Asking them to look for the information before you start reading is super helpful in keeping little learners engaged. They tend to listen pretty hard when they’re listening for something specific. I might even write the questions out so they can hold them and look for the information while we read. I will assign these questions to my youngest kids and target the longer discussion questions to my older kids. If my younger kids need to go to bed while we’re deep in discussion, they still had a chance to participate.)
Questions after you’ve read Luke 9:
When Jesus sends out his disciples to preach the “good news” what does that involve?
Are you surprised at how often the disciples don’t seem to understand the extent of the power Jesus had? Do you think you would have be surprised too if you had watched him divide up the bread and fish?
In this chapter we see again that Jesus is going off to pray privately with his disciples. Do you have times set aside for private prayer? Do you ever feel like you should be doing more instead of being alone and praying? What do you learn from the example of how Jesus spent his time?
Should the crucifixion and resurrection have been a surprise to the disciples? Was it a surprise to Jesus?
Do you ever struggle with being ashamed of your faith? What does Jesus say about that?
In this chapter a parent references that the child who is sick is his only child. This is the third time that we learn a sick or dead child is the only child of the parent. Why do you think this is an important detail for Luke to bring up?
What does it look like for someone to welcome a little child in God’s name? Can you think of adults who have welcomed you or made you feel welcome?
Jesus lets people know that their commitment to him and his Kingdom needs to come first. What would that look like in your life? What keeps you from putting Jesus first?
Was there anything else that stuck out to you or surprised you?
(We might get through all of these questions, or just focus on one or two, depending on how deep the discussion is getting. And some nights, we might listen to the chapter in the car and not have a chance for a great discussion at all. Be flexible.)