BREAKTHROUGH
(Open-ended,
Life-centred Explorations of the Sunday Gospels for Home Groups)
MK 8:
27-38...Sunday, September 17th, 2006...15th S. after Pentecost
NOTES: 1] 'Christ", a title, not a
name, is a Greek translation of the Hebrew 'Messiah' (PS 2:2) 2] Warning people not to tell about
him (30) is characteristic of Jesus in MK's Gospel. He doesn't want the
authorities acting against him till he's ready for them to do so. 3] For 'Son of Man' (= of Humanity) see DAN 7:13, EZ 2:1 et al, &,
later, REV 1:13 et al. 4] Satan,
originally an angelic figure whose job it was to bring wrongdoing to
God's attention, by NT times has become 'leader of the kingdom of evil'
(Richardson, Theol. Word Book of the Bible, SCM '56, p.17.)
WARMING UP: What's the greatest
accolade we've ever given any human being?
TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify
God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
27-30 Are we clear in our own minds
about 'Who Jesus is'? Might that question be more important today than
some other issues churches seem to concentrate on? Is there any
latitude allowed in the way we answer the question? How much do we
need? Is our answer to 'Who is Jesus?' reflected in what we do
about our answer? For good or for ill? Do we see our wider
community confused, or just plain ignorant about who Jesus is? Would it
make a difference to our community if we, as church, got that
'sorted' a bit more? How much is church & society's belief
determined by / dependent upon individual belief (e.g. like Peter's
here)? If church & / or society belief isn't strong, what might
that say about individual belief - and the way we put our belief into
practice - or don't?
31-33 Do we have any difficulty
reconciling Jesus the Son of Man at the earthed, human end of the
scale, with the divine interventionist Jesus we talk about returning in
glory? Do we 'lean' to one 'end' or the other? How do we ourselves cope
with rejection? Or haven't we ever had to do that? What about rejecting
someone else? Is there a lesson for us in handling rejection the way
Jesus handles it? Have we ever 'rebuked' God in some sense? What about
vice versa? How do we cope with
rebuking / being rebuked in general? Are we able to discern any 'Satan'
within ourselves as well as any external evil force that may be
operating?
34-37 Is there an identifiable
priority in: a) denying ourself? b) taking up our cross? c) following
Jesus? Have we worked out what 'taking up our cross' actually means for
us today? Are we still trying to take up Jesus' cross rather than our
own (whatever that may be)? What about 'denying ourselves'? Is that
just something a few of us do (seriously or half-heartedly?) during
Lent? Have we ever had to really 'deny ourself? Can we identiify any
steps we're taking (or have taken) to 'save our life'? Does it / did it
work? Work what? What is 'saving' our life anyway? Losing it? What
would we give in exchange for our life? In accordance with
what Jesus says, or despite it?
38 Is there any sense in which we
are ashamed of (or acting as if we were) of Christ? What will it mean
for us if the Son of Man (both human & divine) is ashamed of us
when he comes ?
