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BREAKTHROUGH
(Open-ended, Life-centred Explorations of the Sunday Gospels for Home Groups)
MK 10: 17-31...Sunday, October 15th, 2006...19th S. after Pentecost

NOTES: 1] We're all meant to identify with the unnamed man according to our own circumstances. 2] 'Eternal' is essentiallly a quality of life rather than a length. 3] In v.19, 'fraud' may stand for the 'coveting' of EX 20:17 & all that stems from it. The commandments Jesus cites are the ones directed at the way we relate to eacb other (all of which stem from the first four commandments relating directly to God).

WARMING UP: Is there anything we'd like said about our 'quality of life' on our tombstone?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

17-22 Does it surprise us that Jesus protests when the man calls him 'good'? Isn't Jesus 'good'? In seemingly denying that he's good, is Jesus at least distancing himself, if not actually denying that he is God? How much time & effort do we ourselves spend in justifying ourselves: a) in our own eyes? b) someone else's? c) God's'? Does it ever fool anyone? How much is 'eternal life' part of our personal agenda? Of today's church agenda? .
How strongly do we feel about & act on the commandments Jesus cites? Do they play a defining role in our life, or have we (not to mention 'others'!) simply sidelined them? What about the first four that Jesus assumes to be unassailable? Have we 'kept all these since our youth'? Do we still observe them? Have we ever brought someone undone through not observing any of the commandments? Can we ever bring someone else undone without bringing ourself undone at the same time? Is our own immediate response to the man in the story to 'love him' as Jesus does? What kinds of things determine how we react / relate to people? What can we learn from the way Jesus relates to this man about the way we should relate to others / get beyond first impressions, pr judices? Given that there's no commandment about the way we spend our money, use our property, is Jesus being a bit tough on the man? What might he be trying to tell us about what we have & the way we use it? Can we pinpoint (as Jesus no doubt can!) the 'one thing' we ourselves lack? How much is it a matter of what we let get between us & God? What we let become more important than following Jesus?

23-31 Despite a more egalitarian society (for most of us, at least) do we / our church still tend to defer to those who have more money, property, status, as the disciples apparently do here? Do we ourselves do it too?

How hard is it to 'enter the kingdom of God'? Is it really as impossible as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle? Who, indeed, then ,can be saved? What is this 'saved' business? Can we explain it / experience it in other than pious terms? 'Saved' from what? 'Saved' for what or whom? Is this camel quip an example of Jesus' sense of humour? If our situation is really as grim as Jesus seems to be saying here, are we just wasting our time following him?Has anything changed since Jesus said this?

What tangible reward do we expect for a life of discipleship? How does 'the last being first' & vice-versa sit with the 'win win win', 'gold gold gold' 'ozzie ozzie ozzie' mentality that seems to pervade much of life today - & not just in sport either?