bible study: summer 2011

Also see: Jesus was a Lady's Man | Psalms Study | 1 Thessalonians Bible Study | Ecclesiates Bible Study | Revelation Bible Study | Tobit Bible Study | The Bible & Homosexuality | Old Testament Women Jesus’ To Do List: Wednesdays, 6–7:15 PM in Parlor. A discussion led Bible study on Christ’s commands. See weekly questions below. June 1 Let Your Light Shine (Week 1) June 8 Learn of Me (Week 2) June 15 Go (Week 3) June 22 Stretch Out Your Hand (Week 4) June 29 Shake Off the Dust (Week 5) July 6 Ephphatha! Be Opened (Week 6) July 13 Sell & Give (Week 7) July 19 Consider the Lillies (Week 8) July 27 Ask, Seek, Knock (Week 9) Aug 3 Repent & Believe (Week 10) Aug 10 Be Silent (Week 11) Aug 17 Take Up Your Cross (Week 12) Week 12: Take Up Your Cross Mark 8.31-38 1. What strikes you about these verses? 2. What can this possibly mean? What might it mean to us sitting here two thousand years later? 3. Look up crucifixion online or in a bible dictionary, and write down something you learned about it here. 4. Imagine that a new religion starting from Death Row: what would that look like, and how would people respond? What about if we prayed to the Executed One? 5. React to this quotation: Justin Martyr, second-century Christian philosopher, wrote: They say that our madness consists in the fact that we put a crucified man in the second place after the unchangeable and eternal God. 6. As we follow Jesus he makes two demands: "Deny yourself" and "Take up your cross." To be sure, "self-denial" can be preached to a masochistic extreme. But there is a dying to self, a denying of self, that is a crucial part of Jesus’ teaching. What can this mean? Suppose there exists a true self and false self; which is Jesus asking us to give up, or both, or neither? 7. Jesus turns all this kind of thinking on its head and offers this riddle of salvation: "Whoever wants to save one’s life" [the word here is psuche, from which we get the word psyche … it can be translated life, soul, self, psyche] will lose it, and whoever loses one’s life [self, soul, psyche] for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” What might this mean? 8. What can it mean for us to take up our cross? Not Jesus’ cross, that’s been done. Once and for all. Once and for all! But our cross, that is what it says. How is Jesus’ command both a laying down and taking up? 9. What might this mean in terms of our vocation or calling? 10. What does this imply for our participation in the suffering of others? 11. React to this quote by Fred Craddock: We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table – "Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all." But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Usually our giving to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. 12. Take a minute and talk about this summer’s study, and which parts of it might have been meaningful to you. Which imperative was your favorite and which your least, and why? Week 11: Feed My Sheep John 21:9-20 1. What strikes you about this scene and set of verses? 2. Why are there 153 fish, in your opinion? (And who counted them?) 3. Where else in John’s story of Jesus is a “charcoal fire” mentioned? Why the mention here too? 4. How do you think it felt to be Peter having Jesus ask him to do something three times? Why might Jesus have done this? 5. What are the four commands that Jesus gives Peter? How are they alike and different? 6. Is the list of imperatives that we’ve been studying this summer discouraging to you, or do you see them more as an invitation to a more God-centered life? 7. What do you think Jesus meant when he said to Peter, “Feed my sheep”? What does that phrase mean to you? 8. What has happened immediately prior to this story? 9. Read John 10.1-18. How does chapter 10 relate to chapter 21? 10. Does the whole of chapter 21 feel like a later addition to John’s gospel? Why/why not? 11. What do these verses have to do with leadership in the Christian community? 12. What do you make of the denouement in 21.20-25? Why might it be there? 13. If the Risen Christ is calling each of us to “feed his sheep,” what might that mean to you personally? Week 10: Mark 1:9-15 Repent and Believe 1. In verse 15 Jesus makes two claims, then gives two commands. What are they, and what do the two claims have to do with the commands? What does the Kingdom of God have to do with repentance and belief? 2. What does it mean to repent? Is it something you do internally, in your heart, or externally, with your actions? 3. What might Jesus be asking his listeners to repent of? Who did he think needed to repent? 4. How do the preceding stories of Jesus' baptism and temptation in the desert affect the impact of his words in verse fifteen? 5. Jesus also tells his listeners to believe in the gospel – the good news. What do you think his good news is? 6. Can you believe without repenting, or repent without believing? 7. A Rabbi once said “repent the day before you die,” then followed up by noting that each of us might die tomorrow. Is repenting something we do once, occasionally when we need it, or more frequently? 8. What is the purpose of repentance? Is it something we do for God, for others, or for ourselves? Is it for benefit in this life, or in a life after this one? 10. Which is more difficult, to repent or to believe? Why? 11. What do you think the relationship between repentance and forgiveness is? Does God require repentance before forgiveness? Should we? Week 9: Ask, seek, knock Matt 7.7-11 1. What is prayer, in your opinion? 2. What should we pray for, and why? 3. In your opinion, does God answer prayer, and, if so, how? 4. How have verses such as Mark 11.24 and John 16.23 been misused?  What might be the meaning of those verses? 5. In Luke's gospel, the thing God promises to give in response to our prayers is the Holy Spirit, as in Luke 11.13.  What do you thing of this promise?  Why was this change made in Jesus' words? 6. Does James 4.3 help with our interpretations of verses about prayer, and, if so, how? 7. Jesus' command here seems to be a a call to  fervent,  daily,  open-ended,  honest,  uncensored prayer.  Do you agree?  Which of these words describes your prayers?  What other adjectives would you choose to describe your prayers? 8. Why do we need to pray, to ask, search, knock? If God knows what we need and is always on the way to bless us with what we most need, why do we need to pray? 9. Are these words true: does everyone who seeks finds ... ?  In what matter might these words always be true? 10. What do you think of the sayings in 7.9-10?  Do you know people who give stones and snake to their children? 11. In what way does Jesus mean, "If you then, being evil ..."  Wait, what?  What is he talking about here? 12. What good things do we receive from God?  What good things should we ask God for (that we might not receive if we had not asked? Week 8: Consider the lilies Matt 6.25-34 1. Is this passage poetry or prose, or something else? 2. What would an ecological reading of this passage say to you? 3. Read this passage for what it might say about social justice? How is God’s care for the poor to be experienced? 4. How does this passage encourage a celebration of the glory of creation and Creator? 5. Ancient Celtic Christians spoke of two sacred books of God’s revelation: The Book of Scripture and The Book of Creation. Do you agree? How might one suppliment the other? 6. Despite the assurances of 6.33, we know that our money problems will not all be solved by an unquestioning confidence in God. Do you agree, and, if so, then what might this passage mean? 7. How is Solomon described in 1 Kings 10.4-5 and 2 Chr 9.13-22? Is anything said about his clothing? 8. Compare this passage with Ps 37. How are they alike and different? 9. When (if ever) have you been struck by the beauty of wildflowers? When was it in your life, where were you, and what were the flowers? (Emily Dickinson said this was the only command she had not broken.) 10. “You people of little faith” is one word in the Greek: oligopisotoi. What might Jesus mean by this? How is it used in Matt 8.26, 14.31, 16.8? 11. What place does worry and anxiety claim in your life? Has what you have worried about and be anxious over changed over the years? 12. The truth beneath this passage seems to be something like, “There is a faithfulness at the heart of things.” Do you agree? How would rephrase this? Week 7: Sell & Give Mark 10:17-31; Mark 12:38-44 1. What does the man ask Jesus, and how would we answer him? How does Jesus answer him? 2. What do the man's initial actions and words indicate about his view of Jesus? 3. Jesus' list of commandments is mostly drawn from the Ten Commandments, but he replaces "do not covet" with "do not defraud." Why might he have done this? 4. It's only after the man says he's kept all the commandments that Jesus tells him to sell and give. Why do you think he didn't list giving with the other commandments. 5. in a modern context, what do you make of Jesus' statement about rich people entering the kingdom of God? Are Americans rich? 6. How does Jesus' claim that the last will be first and the first will be last strike you? Is it comforting? Unsettling? Something else? 7. In Mark 12, how does Jesus' criticism of the scribes affect the story of the widow's offering? Does this context alter the meaning of the story in any way? 8. Jesus certainly approves of the widow's giving, but were the other offerings that day necessarily bad ones? Does it depend on knowledge the text doesn't give us? 9. What are some objections that people might have to this kind of giving? What are some reasons we might not give? 10. Are money and possessions the only things we can give to others? If they aren't can giving in other ways fulfill our obligation to help those in need? 11. Does Jesus seem more concerned with the percentage of money that people give, or the heart conditions behind the decision on whether to give? 12. In light of these passages and Jesus' teaching elsewhere, what do you think Christian giving should look like? Do you see that kind of giving being practiced, and if so, where? Week 6: Do not judge. Matt 7.1-6 1.  Is this an absolute prohibition by Jesus? Under what conditions can a follower of Jesus pass judgment on the behavior of another? 2. The Greek word “to judge” means to separate or divide. All of us separate the good from the bad, so what might Jesus mean? 3.  Paul in 1 Cor 5.1-5 passes judgment on a man cohabiting with his step-mother. In Matt 7.15-20, readers are warned to be on guard against false prophets. How might these passages shed light on Matt 7.1-6? 4.  In the phrase in verse two, “… you will be judged,” who is doing the judging? When might this happen? 5.  Does this passage mean, “If you tolerate the sins of others, you will escape the last judgment unscathed”? Why or why not? 6.  How would you define the words, “judgmentalism,” “censoriousness” and “hypocrite,” and how might they relate to his passage? When you think of these terms, which well-known Christians come to mind? 7.  What are the three images in this passage, and what does each evoke for you? 8.  Dokos general is used of a plank or main beam in a house; karphos means a small piece of anything, or a speck. How do you understand this hyperbole, and why does Jesus say it this way? 9.  The desert fathers used a curious phrase, dying to the neighbor, which Abba Anthony said it meant to “to bear your own faults.” What do both these concepts mean to you? 10. Matt 7.6 is unique to Matthew’s story of Jesus. What is “what is holy,” and who might be the dogs? 11. How do you understand the two warnings of 7.6? Are they saying pretty much the same thing or not? 12. Flannery O’Connor said of this passage, “The life you save may be your own.” Any ideas what she might have meant? 13. What is the relationship between 7.1-5 and 7.6, if there is any? Week 5: Shake off the dust Luke 9.1-6, 51-56 1. We have sacraments for several things:  table, healing, washing, baptism, etc.  Is this a sacrament?  If so, why was it forgotten?  What does it commemorate if it is one? 2. Is shaking off the dust an action of failure, of judgment, of freedom, or of something else?  Or all three?  Explain. 3. In what way can ministry become co-dependent loving?  Is it possible, in your opinion, to love people more than Jesus does? 4. What are some of the methods by which the kingdom of heaven cannot be advanced? 5. In Luke 9.1-6, what is the three-fold assignment?  Which is the easiest of the three, in your opinion? 6. Compare this passage with Luke 10.1-12.  What are the similarities and differences? 7. Why does Jesus have the 12 go out without the trappings of security? 8. Where do they minister and heal?  Does that mean beyond the borders of Judaism too? 9. Verse 51 is a statement by the narrator to the reader; what do we know that Jesus’ audience did not know? 10. The move to Jerusalem begins with what?  According to Acts 8.5-25, was the mission to Samaria eventually successful or not? 11. James and John do not handle rejection well; do you?  Why do they remember the story in 2 Kings 1.9-10 and not the words of Jesus in Luke 9.1-5? 12. What is the additional phrase included in 9.55?  It was excluded because our best manuscripts do not include it.  Should it have been included, in your opinion? Week 4: Stretch out your hand Mark 3.1-12 1. Jesus demonstrates several emotions in this passage; what are they, and do they surprise you at all? 2. The healing of this man’s hand is public.  Why did Jesus choose to make it public?  Why might it be hard to be healed in public? 3. Some of Jesus’ imperatives are moral, others are the imperative of human empowerment.  What type is this one, and what other kinds of his commands can you think of? 4. How do you think of healing?  Is it a divine/human empowerment or something else?  In our healing do we lay hold of something beyond ourselves, or deep within ourselves, or something else? 5. Why is it so difficult for us to ask for help, or to admit we need someone or something? 6. Go to www.biblegateway.com and research where else in Mark the writer uses  the word immediately.  Note some of them here. 7. Who are the Herodians? 8. Why do you think Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath?  Why didn’t he wait one more day? 9.  Jesus asks a question in verse 4.  What is the question and the answer? 10. Why does Jesus tell the unclean spirits to be silent and not to make him known?  Why do the spirits yell out his identity? 11. What is the “hardness of heart” that Jesus’ enemies have?  How do you get rid of it? 12. Why do Jesus’ enemies seek to destroy him for healing someone?  What’s the point of that? 13. How are we to cooperate with our healing?  How do we “stretch out our hands” to be healed? Week 3: Go Matt 28.16-20, 22.34-40 1. After he tells them to “go,” what are the three commands Jesus gives his followers? What doesn't he command them to do that we might expect? 2. Although the phrase is not found in the text itself, this passage has traditionally been labeled the Great Commission. What do you think of this title, and can you think of an alternative you might prefer? 3. What are some ways that you have seen individuals try to live out this passage in daily life? 4. Why do you think Jesus began by telling his disciples to “go” instead of simply directing them to make disciples? 5. Where do the disciples meet Jesus in Matthew 28? Why do you think Jesus told them to go there, and what other events in Jesus' ministry took place at such a location? 6. Read Matthew 22:34-40. What does Jesus say about the commandments he gives here? What do you see as the significance of his claims about these two commands? 7. How might Jesus' command that we love our neighbors as ourselves shape our understanding and application of his words in Matthew 28? 8. Can you think of any historical examples of Christians who emphasized the Great Commission so much that they let it override their obedience to Jesus' greatest commandments? 9. What are some ways that modern Christians might lose sight of the Great Commandment in attempts to follow the Great Commission? Why might we be tempted to do this? 10. In light of the Great Commandment, how do you think we should understand Jesus' call that we are to “go”? 11. Where and to whom do you think God might be calling you to go? What do you think you are being called to do once you go? 12. What are some fears or concerns that might make it difficult for us to follow Jesus' call to go? How might we overcome these? Week 2: Learn of me. Matt 11.28-30 1. If you grew up in a religious community (a church, synagogue, temple, etc.), what were the imperatives that you learned from that community growing up?  Which were helpful, and which were not? 2. In Norris’ poem that we are reading each week, which is your favorite imperative?  Which one surprises?  Which do you like the least, and why? 3. When in your life did you love to learn?  When (if ever) did you lose that?  When did you learn of Jesus, and who taught you? 4. What are the best ways to learn of Jesus?  Name several if you can. 5. Are being a disciple and a learner the same thing?  Why/why not? 6. What does this phrase, “Learn of me,” mean in the context of vv 28-30?  Why does Jesus say this? 7. If the language that Jesus uses here is imperial phrases, what do you make of that?  If he does use such language, why might it be ironic? 8. In what ways are our inherited cultural religion (not just ours but all human cultures) religions of burdens? 9. The people who built our sanctuary put what verse on the front of it?  Why might they have done that?  [Extra credit: which verse would you have picked?] 10. In the passage to whom is Jesus speaking, and why?  To whom might Matthew be speaking? 11. “Take my yoke upon you”: what is the implied image here, and what do you think of it?  How is Jesus’ yoke light? 12. In what way was Jesus “gentle and humble of heart?” Week 1: Let your light shine. Matt 5.13-16 & Isaiah 42.5-9 1. What are the three other images Jesus uses in the Matthew passage?  Which do you prefer and why? 2. How does this passage compare with Matt 6.1-6, 16-18?  How does one saying square with the other? 3. How exactly might someone let his/her light shine?  How do you attempt to shine? 4. Push the metaphor some: whose light is it that is to shine?  What do think the phrase means, “A city on a hill cannot be hid”? 5. How do some people refuse to let the light shine?  Why might they (we?) do this?  6. Read Is 42.5-9. What strikes you about the Isaiah passage? 7. In what NT passages can you hear echoes of Is 42.5-7? 8.What does it mean that Israel is to be “a light to the nations”?  What are they to illuminate? 9. What are the imperatives in Is 42.7, and how do they relate to light? 10. In Luke 2.32, Simeon paraphrases 42.6 and applies it to Jesus.  How is it used there, and why? 11. Name a couple of people/churches/institutions that you think let God’s light shine, and how you think they do so. Imperatives by Kathleen Norris Look at the birds Consider the lilies Drink ye all of it Ask Seek Knock Enter by the narrow gate Do not be anxious Judge not; do not give dogs what is holy Go: be it done for you Do not be afraid Maiden, arise Young man, I say, arise Stretch out your hand Stand up, be still Rise, let us be going… Love Forgive Remember me (From Journey by Kathleen Norris, copyright 2001)

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