Mark 15

In chapter 15 of Mark, we come to the last quoted words of Christ.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

In chapter 16 there are words recorded, but they are known to be additions added as late as the second century. More on that later.

As a group discuss the message and the implications of Mark concluding his work with these particular words in Christ's mouth, and what that might say to us, his followers.


Thaw

• Who is traveling and who is staying for Thanksgiving? (Is the group meeting next week? Special plans?)

• What has stayed with you from this Sunday?
• How did Sunday add to the overall experience of the series?

Read

• Philippians 2:5-8
• Thoughts and impressions?
• How does this passage line up with your view of the power of God in Christ?

Leader note: Be sensitive to people talking about Christ only being this way then, but will come back in domination. Remember, "he's the same yesterday, today and forever."

Read

• Mark 15
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Why would Christ reference abandonment in the moment he knew was coming?
• Why would fulfilling your calling, and more significantly, loving others so completely, turn out so badly?

Discuss

• Has there ever been a time in your life where you have felt controlled by someone? If so, did you a) try and control them in return, b) distance yourself to get free of it, c) allow them to do it, retaining control by staying aware of their behavior, d) submit to it, not knowing what else to do, e) lash out and fight their control or f) other? Describe your experience.
• Why are love and control considered by so many to be mutually exclusive?
• What makes someone want to control others?
• What has to happen for that person to begin believing love has any lasting power?
• How would you help someone who believed in control begin to believe in love?

Leader note: be sensitive to all the advice on this last question being veiled forms of control. The trick is, we love controlling people, if even at a safe distance depending on how severe their behavior is. But we do not try to control their thoughts and actions. To control a controller in the name of converting their minds to a more loving disposition is the exact wrong thing to do. Everybody loses.

Apply

• How can this group be more, appropriately vulnerable?
• How did the previous answer sound like a loss of control?
• How did the previous answer sound like the conquering of deep-seated fear?

Read

• Psalm 22:1-5
• Think about your relationships, personal and professional. In closing, spend a few silent moments thinking of the ways you might be too fearful to relinquish control, influence or manipulation over them. Think of what you believe the consequences to that would be. And then allow yourself the slow process of beginning to let go of others. To risk love and others-centeredness and taking years-long samples to measure your eventual success. This is a key to freedom and enjoying life. It's intimidating, but it appears to be the last message Mark saw fit to give us from Christ's mouth.

Mark 14:32-42

sur·ren·der

\sə-ˈren-dər\

: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed

: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else

It's not merely giving up. It's being mindful enough to realize that not everything should be a fight. And even when it is a fight, it should be for people, not against them. This isn't a rule but simply a new conscious set of decisions to slowly replace the default of pushing, defending, resisting and lack of peace.

Use the discussion questions below to discuss the message and other thoughts and ideas it stirred.

Read 

• Mark 14:32-42

Discuss

• What has most stayed with you from Sunday?
• In what specific areas did you feel challenged?
• What did you learn about yourself, God or others?
• What are the hang-ups about surrender? Where does it seem hardest or most unrealistic? Explain? 
• Have you ever felt after fighting for something that it wasn't worth it, even though you got what you were fighting for?
• In what ways are we expected to fight, with no regard to whether it is good or wise?
• How can this group be a helpful place to awaken to the distinction between quitting, winning and true surrender?

Mark 14:27-31,14:66-72

If faith is only defined as the solid, unswerving, unmistaken parts of us, we're in trouble.
We're also without any example to follow. No one has ever pulled off definitions of faith like these...

In your group time, see if you can not only share who you really are, and who you really aren't- but also how the imperfections of our lives also serve as part of what we mean when we talk of our faith. The part we usually hide is typically the part God uses most to shape us into the flawed but loving men and women God intended.


Thaw

• What is something you have learned in the last week?
• What is something you find yourself complaining about the most?
• What is something worth celebrating, on any level?
• What has stuck with you most about Sunday morning?

Read

• Mark 14:27-31,14:66-72
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Why is Peter scared for his life? 

Leader note: Nobody in your group knows Jesus Christ and his teachings about resurrection as well as Peter. And yet, when it was no longer a concept but was a physical thing to embrace or deny, be bailed. Make sure the group understands that Peter had more to hang his faith on and still chose basic self-interest. And for this, Christ never unleashed any wrath or disdain on him.


Read

• Read these stories and see if you can find a modern equivalent for Peter's behavior and seeming thought processes in you town life.
• Luke 5:1-8
• Matthew 14:25-30
• Matthew 16:21-23
• Mark 9:2-7
• John 18:10-11
• In what ways do you see yourself in the kinds of thing Peter got wrong?
• Why would Jesus include someone like this not only in his circle of friends, but as one of his leaders?
• Why do Peter's faith, impulsiveness, love, doubt, agitation, etc. all belong in the telling of the "first Christians"?

Read

• John 21:3-17
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• How does Christ reconcile with Peter, and for whose sake is the reconciliation offered? Explain your thoughts.

Apply

• In what ways might God be trying to get you to stop perfecting yourself and instead use your "imperfections" as part of the story?
• In what ways might God be trying to get you to stop making other people perfect themselves so they can experience the story God is up to in all of us?
• Are there ways that you indemnify with Peter's story, and yet only present to others the very best? 
• How can this group be a place safe enough to tell people the underside of our stories, such as Mark and the other gospel writers included about Peter?

 

 

Mark 14:-10-25

The Last Supper scene is iconic to say the least. Not in the least because it gives us a recurring reminder of what Christ's heart was like. The giving of himself to friends and enemies, to the righteous and the sinner alike.

Use this group time to discuss not only the passages included, but what we learn and relearn from Christ in the taking communion, together.



Thaw

• What kinds of plans do you or your family have this fall that you're looking forward to?
• How many Autumns have you spent in North Carolina, and how are they different from where you lived before?

• What most resonated with you from Sunday morning?
• What key points or ideas have stayed with you?

Read

• Mark 14:10-25
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Read v18-21, then discuss why there is seemingly no bread or wine withheld from anyone in v22 and v23.
• Contrast v11 and v22-23. What label would you put on the two different men?

Discuss

• Which label hangs over your relationships with others more, the label you gave Judas or Christ? Explain your answer.
• If you feel more like Judas in your dealings with others - one who embraces self-interest more than others-centeredness - how do you react thinking Christ hands the bread and cup to you anyway?
• Thinking creatively, Jesus hands his disciples bread and says this is my body. Paul refers to the community of followers as "body". In effect, Jesus could be heard as saying two things simultaneously. This is my body, and this group receiving it is my body. Broken and broken. How does communion remind us that we all need to receive and give grace, the sacrifice of the broken Body for the broken body?

Read

• 1 Corinthians 11:20-30
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Worthiness is a tricky concept. Knowing that love of each other, across the divides and hierarchies instituted by human beings, is in view- how do you understand v27
• Outside of the sacrament of taking communion, in the rest of our week, what does the application of what v27 teaches look like?

Leader note: Discuss ways we handle the presence of Christ in an unworthy manner as we work, play, buy, travel, talk, etc. It means far more than how we conduct ourselves during the literal eating and drinking of the elements, or one might argue it means nothing at all.

Apply

• The taking of bread and the cup not only celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but are checks for us, the body, in our relating to each other no matter what seeks to divide us. How can your group celebrate communion as a way of remembering the Judases and the James and Peters sit at the same table, each invited to become like Christ? Monthly? Weekly? 

Leader note: Taking the bread and the cup together isn't necessarily a solemn moment of silence. Consider having a regular rhythm of communion in your group, a moment dedicated to talking about ways each is learning/discovering forgiveness, grace and oneness while eating the bread and drinking the cup. A COUPLE IMPORTANT NOTES- many in our church come from a background where only certain men may preside over the elements, and only in a consecrated setting. This is to be respected. We don't want to, in the name of unity, dismiss someone's desire to be as honoring as possible. Feel free to contact me in the comments below for ideas on how to handle this tension from a theological/psychological/philosophical standpoint. Additionally, feel free to use grape juice or wine. In the latter case, only if you have put in the work and time to know whether struggles with alcohol exist within your group.