Grace Church Learning Guide

Week of February 2, 2020

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The Blood and the Body

Baylea Cantrell

Mark 5:21-43 (NET)

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For a PDF of the Learning Guide, Click Here.

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THE BIG IDEA

Jesus leaves in his wake a path of restored creation where the voiceless tell their stories, fathers rejoice in their daughters, and everyone gets new life.

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GROUP DISCUSSION

The bleeding woman had no intention of interrupting Jesus. He’s the one who sidelined the mission of going to heal Jarius’ daughter and took the time to connect with the Woman. This seems like the good and right thing to do however it doesn't seem quite fair to Jarius who is desperate for Jesus to heal his daughter. There is a tension there. How does that sit with you? Are you able to recognize need when you see it? Are you willing to interrupt your life to let those in need be seen and heard? 

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PERSONAL REFLECTION

Reading through this passage the phrase “The Whole Truth” kept catching my eye. The woman was willing to let Jesus see her “whole truth”-all of the hurt and all of the shame. Are you willing to let yourself be “seen” like that? For myself. I have found the experience of telling my whole truth to be utterly terrifying and at the same time, I’ve never felt  more accepted or loved. Jesus does cool things with our vulnerability. In your journal, make a three-column division with these headings:  The Need, The Faith, Revealed About Jesus.  Go back to the scripture and make notes under those columns.  Now, consider your own transformation-encompassing the past, present, or future, make notes about your need, your faith, and how Jesus is being revealed to you.  

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RESOURCES

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• An interesting take on the woman healed in this week’s passage 

• The encounter between misery and mercy

• The fringe of Jesus’ garment was called a “Tzitzit”. Here’s a cool article about it

• Working Preacher commentaries here, here, here, and here

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LOOKING AHEAD 

Next week, as Jesus continues on his way, we see the reception that the people in his hometown give him, his commissioning of his disciples to go out and minister, and the persecution his cousin and predecessor John the Baptist faces for speaking truth to power. Read about it in Mark 6:1-29. .

 

 

ODDS AND ENDS

• Church as Art? 

• Great perspective on politics and faith by Scott McKnight

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Grace Church Learning Guide

Week of February 9, 2020

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Crawdaddies and Elephants

Alex Cornett

Mark 6:1-29 (NET)

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For a PDF of the Learning Guide, Click Here.

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THE BIG IDEA

The road to belief is marked with many distractions and pitfalls.  One of the largest might be what we already know or “think” we know to be true.  The 3 subplots occurring in Mark’s account this week, in a way, deal with a seeming inability to be open to a change in belief.  That change often comes with a cost.

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GROUP DISCUSSION

• What barriers to belief exist for us today?

• What barriers to belief might we be inadvertently putting in place for others?

• How do we, as individuals and as a church, guard ourselves from falling prey to assuming we have the answer?  Being open to the ways God is working?

• Group Activity:  Give your group a target of $34.00 and have them go buy everything at the grocery store they need to feed their family for a week.  This is the amount of money available for groceries for someone living in poverty.  Great opportunity to have your family do it in advance of the group meeting and describe the experience.  Include your kids.

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PERSONAL REFLECTION

As we continue looking at the gospel of Mark, we are still in the section of the book where Jesus is communicating in word and deed who he is. We’ve seen different miracles and signs he has completed, as well as some of his teachings. This week's text from Mark 6 reminds us how hard it is sometimes for us to move from our position or what we believe to be true.  Very often it takes courage and resilience to have our beliefs changed, particularly when group-think can pull us back into the tub. Where have you encountered this in your life, in others or in yourself? The people of Jesus’ hometown (and his own family) could not get past what they believed to be true, to imagine what was standing in front of them might be different.

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RESOURCES

• Commentary from Working Preacher here and podcast here 

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LOOKING AHEAD 

Next week, we look at a text in which Jesus is in confrontation with power brokers of his day, as they ask him why he and his followers do not follow their Jewish traditions, traditions that are scripturally inspired that they’ve stretched to call a scriptural command. And Jesus makes it clear that their making commandments were there is none is not something he’s interested in obliging for them. Read about it in Mark 7:1-23.

 

 

ODDS AND ENDS

• Other ways of knowing? 

• What authority does this person have in evangelism and teaching?!  There’s nothing new under the sun as the crowd questioned Jesus, and we question those seeking to share the gospel today.