Why Does This Question Matter?
Sunday March 10, 2024
Series: Mark Part 2— Week 4, Mar 10, 2024 Scripture: Mark 8:15-21, Mark 8:22-26, Mark 8:27-30 (NIV11)
Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions are just a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.
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Message Summary: This week we dive deeper into the Messianic secret to uncover that Jesus didn’t want to just tell his disciples who he was and what to believe, he wanted them to go through a slow process of coming to understand.
Bread Again: At the beginning of chapter 8, Jesus performs another miracle in the Gentile area - feeing the 4,000 people. This is a parallel miracle to the one he performed for the Jewish population when he fed the 5,000. These miracles are more than just lunch, they are a social reset - to revive the imagination of the Jews of it means to be holy community that looks after each other, and to remind everyone that the kingdom of God is for all.
Hard hearts again: Mark 8:15-21. The question Jesus asks is better translated as “Do you not YET understand?” (As opposed to NIV’s “Do you still not understand?”) It is a forward looking question.
Magical Papyrus of Paris: Mark 8:22-26. The story respond to the question “Do you not yet see?” The context is that the miracle of healing of the blind man follows the miracles of the two feedings, both of which the disciples didn’t understand. Jesus takes the blind man outside his village, this miracle is meant to be personal for the man and for Jesus’ closest friends - his disciples. The strange method that Jesus uses to heal that man wasn’t that strange in those times. A document called Magical Papyrus of Paris and dated 100 years before Jesus mentions a magical salve placed on the eyes of people to restore their sight, and also their spiritual acuity. So by healing the man with his spit, Jesus actually does what his man expects from him, Jesus moves toward his frame of reference. But also, Jesus does not heal this man fully right away. This man is on a parallel journey to the disciples. And the story is about the long slow process of coming to see things for what they are. In particular coming to see Jesus for who he is.
God Waiting for Us: Mark 8:27-30. We move to the question, “Who do you say I am?” This is the second time we see the title “Messiah” come up in Mark. There were hints of it along the way, but it was not used by design, Jesus wanted his friends to have space to tell the story with him. Jeremy suggested that Peter probably had these words on the tip of his tongue for a long time, but didn’t say anything, because he hadn’t been asked. Jesus protected Peter’s and other disciples’ slow process of coming to understand. This is divine welcome, and our faith as stumbling our way toward God.
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Connect: As a warm up, feel free to talk about one of these topics:
1) What do you think about Jesus’ miracles of the feeding having a social dimension? Jeremy called them “social reset.” How does this language expand your understanding of the breadth of those miracles?
2) Jeremy started the sermon with a recap of Jesus’ teaching on “defilement” and he said that defilement in Greek simply means “common” or “ordinary.” As in, it is common to seek only your own interest, or it’s easy to let yourself be discipled by social media into buying more stuff. It’s not an exceptional way to live. What do you think about this perspective on defilement, and the alternative path where it all comes down to how we choose to live.
Share: What do you think about Jesus’ pedagogical approach with his disciples, especially his emphasis on “do you not YET understand?” as a question that looks forward to their eventual understanding? Would you agree with Jeremy’s point - “But listen, you want to parent well, you want to lead a team effectively, you want people to get on board and follow where you're going. A big part of that is learning to ask questions and listen to answer, then adjusting your strategies as necessary. It turns out that just telling yourself ‘they’re the problem’ is not an effective. Or, perhaps, not even a Christlike strategy.”?
Reflect: The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26) is seen as a metaphor for the gradual and slow process of understanding that the disciples go through in their faith. But he is not just a prop to illustrate the lesson. Jesus meets the blind man where he is (with all his cultural expectations of what his healing should look like) and moves him along toward health. What encouragement (or maybe even challenge) do you find in this story as it applies to your experience of confusion or lack of understanding in your faith journey?
Engage: Talk about the relationship between patience and the right questions at the right time. Sometimes, like in Peter’s case, our understanding of our faith comes not from being told, but from being asked and discovering for ourselves what it is exactly that we think or trust . Who offered patience to you and created space for you in your own slow process of spiritual discovery? What is the significance of being invited to voice our faith?
Take away: Jeremy concluded with the words that "faith is about stumbling our way toward God." How true has that been for you, and how has it shaped your understanding of divine patience and welcome?
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Prayer from the sermon: God of grace, whose mercy is new every morning, Whose love falls fresh on us each day, Might we embrace the good news that there is always time to begin again, To look at our rituals and evaluate our choices, To examine the ways in which we engage with and treat the people around us, To see if our path aligns with the narrow way of grace and peace, And for where it does, We give thanks to the one who goes ahead of us Leading us back to you. And for where it does not, We are grateful for forgiveness. And we recommit ourselves to the way of Christ. Would your Spirit be close to remind us That nothing that happens to us can define us. And that it is your very breath on and through us Guiding us toward peace that makes us holy. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray. Amen.
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CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 80
MUSIC: Curated by Rebecca Santos
Mission House - I Don't Have Much
Mission House - Whole Heart
Bethel Music - Goodness Of God
Brooke Ligertwood - A Thousand HallelujahsANCIENT PRAYER: Written by Bobbi Salkeld
In the fifth century, a towering figure in the eastern church was exiled from the city where he was the archbishop. His name was John Chrysostom, and he stood for a virtuous church and a just society.
From a brutal exile, John wrote letters to his dear friend, Olympia. They had worked together for reform and when he was torn from her life, she was despondent – full of despair and wracked with grief.
Their world was a harsh world. It’s from these letters of love and friendship that I invite you into a prayer that addresses our despondency: the ways we lose hope and feel overwhelmed by the world and by our losses.
Here are ten little prayers adapted from Saint John Chrysostom’s Letters to Saint Olympia. Let us pray.
We pray that we would not give ourselves over to the tyranny of despair.
Let us alleviate the wound of despondency in one another.
Let us mirror the strength of soul and the greatness of intelligence we see in one another.
When thoughts gather like a cloud and we dwell on the ruination of the world, we reach for a firmer hope.
We consider God with us as a Pilot, taking care of everything everywhere.
We turn toward God who leads all things to an unexpected stability.
God is not outmatched by the difficulty of hard things, even if they seem to us to be on the verge of destruction.
May we share with one another the moments when we have already passed through despondency to live in serenity and joy. In our sharing, we rise up and extend our hand to one another.
So sing to your soul to scatter the dust of your despondency.
And remember God’s ineffable love for humankind – after a frightful storm, God will establish a luminous calm.
Amen.
