Saturday, March 10, 2018

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States Grow Pray Study Guide for Saturday, 10 March 2018 "It can take time to see clearly"

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States Grow Pray Study Guide for Saturday, 10 March 2018 "It can take time to see clearly"
Daily Scripture
Mark 8:22 They came to Beit-Tzaidah. Some people brought him a blind man and begged Yeshua to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man’s hand, he led him outside the town. He spit in his eyes, put his hands on him and asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like walking trees.” 25 Then he put his hands on the blind man’s eyes again. He peered intently, and his eyesight was restored, so that he could see everything distinctly. 26 Yeshua sent him home with the words, “Don’t go into town.”
27 Yeshua and his talmidim went on to the towns of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he asked his talmidim, “Who are people saying I am?” 28 “Some say you are Yochanan the Immerser,” they told him, “others say Eliyahu, and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But you,” he asked, “who do you say I am?” Kefa answered, “You are the Mashiach.” 30 Then Yeshua warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He began teaching them that the Son of Man had to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that after three days, he had to rise again. 32 He spoke very plainly about it. Kefa took him aside and began rebuking him. 33 But, turning around and looking at his talmidim, he rebuked Kefa. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said, “For your thinking is from a human perspective, not from God’s perspective!”
***
Reflection Questions
“This story is unique in the New Testament in that the healing happens in two stages. Mark’s account, however, has an important, symbolic significance as well: Clarity about Jesus’ mission comes only after confusion.”* Right after the story of the blind man’s healing, Mark showed Peter’s great confession of Jesus as “the Christ” (the anointed one in Greek, equivalent to the Hebrew “Messiah”), followed immediately by Peter’s confused effort to “correct” Jesus’ explanation about what it meant to be the Christ. Glimpsing the truth, but only in a fuzzy image “like trees… walking around,” Peter couldn’t yet grasp that Jesus truly meant that his mission involved rejection, suffering and execution.
The gospels said Jesus faced temptation right at the start of his ministry (cf. Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13). Those temptations involved becoming the kind of “Christ” who would fit people’s expectations and wishes. So when Peter “took hold” of Jesus to correct him, Jesus recognized the voice: “By calling out Satan, Jesus exposes an evil force behind Peter’s response. The problem is that Peter denies that Jesus' mission as the Christ includes suffering. He isn’t thinking from God’s point of view.”** In what ways has your understanding of Jesus and his mission become clearer over time? Are you willing to follow a king whose path to God’s eternal kingdom went straight through suffering and crucifixion, not around them?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, open my heart to think God’s thoughts, not human thoughts, about what it means for me to follow you and serve your kingdom. When that takes courage, give me that courage. Amen.
Family Activity
At times, everyone feels alone or unloved. As a family, share ideas about how you can work with God to bring comfort and care to others. Discuss each person’s unique gifts and abilities. How can that person use those gifts to comfort others? How can family members combine their gifts to care and help? Use construction paper to create the symbol of a heart. On it, write or draw one or two gifts of each person. Also, write or draw names of people who are sad or lonely. Pray together, asking God to help guide you to use your ideas and gifts to comfort those in need. Display your family’s “heart” as a reminder to comfort others. Commit to being intentional in comforting and loving others and pray for God’s help.
* Suzanne Watts Henderson, study note on Mark 8:24 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 84 NT.
** Suzanne Watts Henderson, study note on Mark 8:33 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 84 NT.
Read today's Insight by Cathy Bien
Cathy Bien serves as the Director of Communications at Church of the Resurrection. She and her husband Rick have been members of the church since 1993 and have four adult children.
Today’s passage from Mark takes place in two locations in Israel that I had the privilege of visiting with Pastor Adam and our film crew two weeks ago as we recorded a teaching series on Peter. For me, this was an incredible way to have my own eyes opened.   

This is a photo taken in Bethsaida looking out over the Sea of Galilee at sunset. Bethsaida was Peter's hometown, a fishing village located where the Jordan River enters the Sea of Galilee. In this beautiful location, I could almost see Jesus healing the blind man and imagine the miracle of having sight for the first time.
From Bethsaida, Mark tells us that Jesus took his disciples to villages near Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was a Roman city at the base of Mount Hermon. It was adjacent to a spring and a grotto, and dedicated to the Greek god Pan. During Jesus’ time, Herod the Great erected a temple to himself there. Walking through the ruins of these pagan shrines and temples, I began to see the sharp contrast between the gods worshiped in these places and the message Jesus, the son of the living God, was sharing with his disciples and with us.
The question from today’s GPS is, “What does it take to see clearly?” Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of us. Like the blind man, our vision is blurry. And, like the disciples, our vision is often clouded by our own preconceptions, wishful thinking and selfish desires. One of my takeaways from reading though the Gospel of Mark this Lenten season is that my vision is often distorted because of my “busyness.” I see the superficial, but I don’t look deeply – in my relationship with God and my relationships with others. Seeing clearly takes time and effort, and like the blind man, our first glimpse may not be enough.
A song lyric has been coming to mind as I write this. Paul Baloche wrote one of my favorite contemporary Christian songs, “Open the Eyes of My Heart.” Maybe that’s one way we can see clearly – if we begin to see with our hearts and not just our eyes.
Lord, open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
Like this post? Share it!
You might also like
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Church of the Resurrection
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)