Moving
On With Jesus....Christ's Church, Mandurah
Open-ended, Life-centred
Explorations of the (supplementary) Gospels..Lent-Easter Year A
MT 27:32-56...Lent 5(A)
NOTES:
(1) Jesus moves on to His inevitable
crucifixion. (2) For more on
the two crucified
with Jesus see Luke's account.
PRAYER:
For strength to move on with Jesus even when life itself is
threatened.
WARM UP:
(for Groups): How do we feel about the death penalty - for anybody?
MOVING
ON:
1. Are we ever tempted
to use some power we have over another to mis-treat, put
down, or mock them? What is it in human nature that makes
people act like that towards others? Is it simply the fact that we can
do it, that we have it in our power to do it? If we identify any sign
of this sort of thing in
ourself, what could / should we do about it?
2. How
are we at bearing heavy burdens - of any kind? Is being a
burden-carrier part of our nature, or do we try to avoid them at all
costs?
What is / has been the cost to us of carrying heavy burdens, our own or
someone else's? When we use imagery like 'carrying Jesus' cross' or
'carrying our own cross' at what point does image become reality?
3. Is there some lesson for us
in the way the organised (Jewish) church of the time was so threatened
by Jesus apparently challenging its traditions & authority?
How do we keep church a live & active organism & not just a
moribund organisation? What positive role can we
play in that process?
4.
Why is it we believe Jesus is 'King of Israel' because He didn't come down from the cross,
compared with what might look a more logical view taken by those who
say they'll believe if He came down?
5. Given the common belief among Jewish people then that Elijah would
return to herald the coming of the Messiah, how well have we grasped the very close link
Jesus feels with both Elijah & Elisha? Shouldn't it have been
obvious that if John the Baptiser was 'Elijah', Jesus was the Messiah
Himself? Or are those kinds of connections a) not obvious enough today,
or b) not so important to people without a Jedwish background? Don't we
all have a Jewish background, spiritually?
6.
How do we to take on board amazing stories like the veil of the
Temple
being torn in two & saints coming back to life when Jesus
dies? Is
it right to dismiss them as 1st C. ways of looking at
things, or is that too easy an 'out'?
7. Does how people deal
with Jesus' death, His friends on one hand & his enemies on the
other, have anything to teach us about our own practices & beliefs
about death & resurrection?
[For Groups: Closing prayers
& any 'housekeeping' arrangements needing to be made, etc.]
