Mark 12:25-44 Seeing After You Saw

Humility can be described in multiple ways. One good way is to say that humility is the acceptance that there is far more important information left unknown than known, and therefore the person reserves final judgment.

Use this group time to discuss the idea that all the concrete, fixed ideas we have about others, God and ourselves might need readdressed. As Christ insists, we must re-see and re-see and re-see, or we will be fooled by mere appearances.

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Thaw

• What is something on the calendar for October that you are looking forward to and something that you are not looking forward to?

• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• Mark 12:25-44, 13:1-4
• Thoughts and impressions?

Leader note: Help the group see the pattern (which appears in other places in the New Testament as well) of Jesus alternately saying "don't dismiss, don't be too easily impressed, don't dismiss, don't be too easily impressed."

Discuss

• In what ways do we assume things about others superiority?
• In what ways to do we assume others' inferiority?
• Even though we don't consciously believe in these judgments, in what ways do our lives and habits reinforce that they are in fact true?

Leader note: Take for instance our physical appearance. It's certainly no sin to look nice. But how many of us say beauty is skin deep and yet spend most of our thought and resource on our external? We can therefore consciously affirm that what matters is the unseen, yet behaviorally we contradict our affirmation. We do this with money and possessions. We do it with the shape and color of others. We do it with stereotypes. We do it by having the same view of people for decades, leaving them no room to change as we have. In this, we actually dismiss each other and get easily impressed by each other and miss out on the True story underneath.

Read

• Acts 1:24
• Acts 15:8

Discuss

• The word being used here is Kardiognostes or Heartknower. What peace or anxiety arrises when you consider God is not one to see us as we see ourselves, but instead sees our whole story, our intent, context and the whole scope of reality left unrevealed to other people?
• What does God's true seeing into the hearts of men and women tell you about the Love of God for all people?

Apply

• Understanding Christ's words about neither being dismissive or too easily impressed leaves us with little to say. What changes in relating to others do your foresee as you begin to see past appearances and really know people?
• How do you imagine it would affect your job or your style of relating to people if you began refusing to "make up your mind" about others?

Leader note: Interestingly, there are times where making your mind up quickly about someone serves as a survival instinct. If someone is a threat to you and you take to long to decide this, it could cost you big. But 99.99% of our existence is not under real threat. Even when it feels so, emotionally speaking, our survival is almost never on the line. So "making up our mind" about someone may not be a sign of our psychological strength, but rather a sign of our fearful insecurity about others and what they might do to us if we don't hurry up and get them categorized.

• How would it change your faith if you began to pry yourself back open and allow God to teach you new things about what you thought was not open for discussion?
• How can this group help itself collectively to slow down judgment, to be quietly humble, and to really be able to see in the way the Heartknower sees?

Leader note: this affects how we speak (or don't) of politicians. How we think of those against whom we hold protracted grudged and bitterness, how we size up whoever "them" and "they" are, how we think of our faith against varying expressions of it, etc. This will be extremely unpleasant for some in the group, as living in abstractions takes far more mental work than the easy (laziness?) of just having your mind made up.

Mark 13

It's been an important week for everybody. Especially for those who have taken steps of faith via baptism, forgiving others, letting go of anxiety in the fact of death, and more.

Spend some time as a group recounting the last few days, particularly for those who were baptised a week ago, and then discuss the texts below.

General Discussion

• What stuck with you most from Sunday?
• What decisions did you make, or did you feel like you want to make?
• How different is the Christ of your current understanding compared to your previous understanding, or what you've heard from others?
• How would your life be different if you began living in the ways of grace and peace and forgiveness and love more fully?
• How can this group help you participate in the Life of Christ?
• How can this group work together better as a reflection of the Life of Christ?

Mark 12:18-34 You're Standing in It.

Read the selection from Mark 12 as a group (Mark 12:18-34).
Then discuss what Christ is doing not only in the minds of the religious leaders, but in the observers' as they contemplate just what it is to have faith in God.

Then discuss what it looks like to follow this Christ, whether from a starting point of no religion, or being steeped in it from youth. Christ's invitation is a stark contrast against all or preconceived notions, and it's important to, individually and as a group, ask whether what we are doing and who we are is what the Son of God is up to.

Discussion questions:
What stuck with you most from Sunday?
What decisions did you make, or did you feel like you want to make?
How different is the Christ of your current understanding compared to your previous understanding, or what you've heard from others?
How would your life be different if you began living in the ways of grace and peace and forgiveness and love more fully?
How can this group help you participate in the Life of Christ?
How can this group work together better as a reflection of the Life of Christ?

Mark 11:27-12:17

Jesus was kind and patient. Compassionate and gracious. After all, his yoke was easy and his burden light. But if you crossed him, you got parables about being destroyed and a wit so sharp you might not survive an exchange.

But is this really the case for everybody?

Spend some time reading the text and understanding his points made to the religiously powerful (especially in light of his impending death just days a way at the hands of those he speaks to.) And then be reminded that this is how he confronts the power systems in his name, but not necessarily us. The difference is huge.


Thaw

• How is your schedule and pace now that September is here?

• What most has stayed with you from Sunday morning?
• When you think of God looking at you, how do you describe it? Angry? Disappointed? Disinterested? Happy?

Leader note: you will come back to this idea. Invite people to hang on to their image, as well as any others that were shared.

Read

• Mark 11:27-12:17
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Christ seems to have little patience with the powerful, but not just because of their power. How would you describe the difference between Christ's feelings toward the religious elite, and those sinners who are lost in their foolishness?
• Which are you closer to?
• Going back to the question about God looking at you, and how God feels about you: does Jesus' tone in this selection match how you think God feels towards you, or is it different? Explain.

Read

• Romans 2:1-4
• Thoughts and impression?

Discuss

• How does this passage compare with your conception of God, and how God transforms our lives?
• Some might think something like, "sure God uses kindness to bring us to repentance, but there are limits. If kindness doesn't work, God will be unkind if that what it takes." Why would this be the case, and what examples might there be?

Leader note: This is a heavy idea. You may find that the only example your group can conceive of where God doesn't seem kind in order to get someone to change would have to do with something pertaining to justice; Where one is hurting/victimizing the other. This is no surprise. A good parent is kind to her children, and kind to the neighbor children. But in the middle of a bloody fight, or where one is tearing toys from another's hand, that parent steps in with appropriate intensity that in the moment doesn't seem kind. But, this is kindness, because doing nothing would be unkind to both kids. Justice will then likely be the only category someone can provide, and it's perfectly common sense. (Keep in mind the above example is an illustration. However, Christ, even in justice issues, seems neither to choose aggression or apathy. Instead, Christ offers and teaches another option, loving enemies, and creatively remaining non-violent when violence seems to be the only option. This isn't a law, but a way always sought by his followers). 

Apply

• In what ways would your practice of faith change if you believed there was kindness for you in God's heart, rather than annoyance, anger and impatience?
• How different would your sharing of faith be if it didn't have angry ultimatums, but was humbly confident that there is grace and kindness for all of us, no matter what we've done or how dogged by guilt and shame we feel?
• What would it look like for you to pass this heart on to others in your life in your attitudes and behaviors?
• How can this group become a place of kindness and change, even in the midst of challenging each other, properly confronting issues, etc?