NOTES: 1]Read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our understanding of God in Jesus.2]
TheExodus of the Hebrew people from
Egypt probably took
place c.1250BC (some think earlier), but the Book dates from centuries
later. 3] The making of the
golden calf (vv.1-6) is ashameful
milestone for the Hebrew people. 4]
Contrast God's wrath with his people portrayed here by Moses with
Jesus' story of God as a Shepherd looking for a lost sheep & a
woman looking for a lost coin.
WARMING UP: Do we think
of sheep more as pets, wool, meat, or something else?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
7-10 How much responsibility must religious
leaders (like Moses here) bear when their people 'act perversely' in
God's eyes? Or are we
responsible solely for our own misdeeds? What might constitute
perversity in today's people of God? Could God say of us that we have
'been quick to turn aside from the way which God commanded us'? Is
there any
sense in which we make ourselves equivalents of a golden calf? Is there
anybody / anything other than God to whom / which we offer
worship & sacrifice of any kind? How do we recognize the One True
God & tell the difference between him
& other would-be gods of our own making?Given we spend a lot of time
thinking about knowing God, how much do we consider how well God knows us?
'Stiff-necked'? Us? The Hebrews back then, yes, but surely not us? Do
we
find it at all hard to conceive of God discarding people because they
prove themselves unfaithful, & committing instead only to faithful
persons & their descendants? Or would God never discard anyone?
(How does this account sit beside
today's Gospel story from Jesus?) Are these two contrasting stories
perhaps as good an example as we could get of how faith in God develops
as our understanding of God develops? If we could ask God, "How do you
define 'a great nation', how might God answer us?
11-14 Having recently
had a story about Abraham pleading with God for people (GEN18), &
now this one about Moses interceding too, do these early examples throw
any light on the faith we have in Jesus as our Great High Priest who
intercedes with God on our behalf? What responsibility do we have as
followers of Jesus to intercede with God through Jesus on behalf of
others? Do we see many examples in our day of God acting with 'great
power & a mighty hand'? Does it bother us if people say things
like, "If your God's so great, why doesn't He do something about this, that,
or the other"? How are we to respond to that kind of question? What
about how we
respond to those who still see God as a God who causes bad things to
happen to people?
How seriously do we take God's promises to us? Could we actually say
what those promises are? Is there some promise we would like God to make to us? Do we
believe God actually changes his mind about things? Or is that another
area where we understand things differently as we grow in our
understanding of God as God reveals Godself more fully to us through
Jesus by his Spirit?
