NOTES:
1]  After the synagogue healing, we see Jesus in a homely setting, which expands into a wider one, contracts again to an (interrupted) solitary one, then becomes wider still. 2] 1st C.people blamed most bad things on 'demons'. We don't have to understand things that way in the 21st C. 3] vv. (25) & 34 show MK's emphasis on Jesus not wanting to 'blow his cover'.

WARMING UP: Given the choice, do you prefer a stage, or a hideaway?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

29-31    Are we more comfortable with the 'homely' Jesus shown here, or the one who walks a more public stage? Do we have any expectation of seeing Jesus' healing power at work today in a home setting (ours, for instance) or any setting at all? Does the church we belong to  have any serious expectation of Jesus healing anyone anymore? What evidence do we see for or against that view? Have we formed any opinion / belief as to how 'divine healing' actually works? Or doesn't it matter? How do we feel when we pray for someone who's ill & they don't get better? Do some people have to die to be healed? Is healing necessarily confined to this world?

32-34    Do we sense any desperation on people's part for Jesus to heal them today (like the crowds in this story)? Or, have they / we largely abandoned him in favour of health-care systems or other 'remedies'? Has God's healing power been largely 'superseded' in this whole field? If not, where does God still come into the equation?

Do we ever see 'demons' in others? What about our own particular 'demons'? Can we identify them? Put a name to them? How destructive are they, of us, or even someone else? Do we have any serious expectation of Jesus 'casting them out' - or even want him to? What about the 'demons' we don't want to admit exist - ours or anyone else's? Does God expect some / any degree of 'self-help' before 'intervening'?

35-39     Do we set aside enough time to be quiet by ourself & pray? Are we too often interrupted by the demands of others on our time? Or are we good enough at self-distracting not to need any outside encouragement? From our experience, does going off somewhere quiet do anything for the quality of our praying? Can we identify any difference in the quality of any praying we do in an 'apart' situation compared with the praying we do in church?
 
 

For more on this passage visit: www.angelfire.com/journal2/marginallymark