BREAKTHROUGH
(Open-ended, Life-centred Explorations of the Sunday Gospels for Home
Groups)
MK 7: 1-8 & 14-23...12th /
13th S. after
Pentecost
NOTES:
1] The central issue is human tradition versus God's will.
The vv. omitted give an abstruse, very Hebrew example that Jesus uses
to make his point, but examples of the way we do the same thing would
make the same point! 2] The
Pharisees stand for the strictest observance of Hebrew Law. As
everything that exists has to be interpreted one way or another,
Biblical literalists have no God-given right to insist their
interpretation is superior to anyone else's!
WARMING UP: What traditions do
we / our family uphold strongly?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1-5 Do we have some burning issue
akin to the cleanliness one Jesus is tackled about here? Do we think we
experience divisions within & between churches today because
stricter interpretations of Jesus' teaching (or imagined teaching!) are
giving way to more liberal ones, or vice versa? Are these divisions a
worry, or a good thing? Do we find ourself lining up with one side or
the other, remaining neutral, or even indifferent? Don't we have to
take 'sides'? Is strictness about some particular issue a matter of
concern in the congregation we belong to? Should it be? Does Jesus give
us any principles for resolving our divisions in this passage as a
whole?
6-8 Do we
ever feel we or our church are 'honouring God with our lips, but our
hearts are far from God'? Or is Jesus only talking about other people,
never us? What kinds of things do cause our heart to move away from
God? (Seen the car sticker: 'If God
seems far away, guess who's moved'?)
14-23 Do we ever
need help in understanding what Jesus teaches, as distinct from reading
it, hearing it, etc.? Is this a widespread problem in the Christian
circles we move in? What help are we aware of that's available to help
us understand what Jesus teaches? Are we ever too proud to admit
we need help? Is that wide- spread?
Do we ever try to shift the blame for something we feel guilty about
onto someone / something else rather than looking within for the real
cause? How much do we actually do that? Is there someone / something we
really love to blame? Do we get away with it? Who finds us out &
calls us to face the music? What is the principle Jesus is spelling out
here, & how much is it applicable in our church / in our wider
community? Do we target or see others targetting people who are
for instance foreign, aboriginal, Jewish, Muslim, male, female,
homosexual, young, old, or others 'different' from us when we or they
are looking for scapegoats for some issue that's arisen?
Are we ever conscious of our inner organs working against us not
because of organic disease but through pressure - emotional, mental,
moral, etc. we put ourself under? Could we rank the defiling
agents Jesus speaks of in vv.21-22 in order of the damage they do, or
are they all as bad as each other? If any of these issues are
'defiling' us , who or what is to blame, & where do we turn for
help? What can we do to stop turning for help being just a pious idea
rather than actually doing it?
