1. What one thought or idea from today's lesson especially intrigued, provoked, disturbed, challenged, encouraged, warmed, warned, helped, or surprised you?
2. Share a story about a time when you felt like one of the multitude, or when you behaved like one of the Pharisees.
3. How do you respond to the stories of Jesus engaging with "the multitudes" and the Pharisees in this chapter?
4. Think of someone who is not popular or who seems to have few friends. What do you think that person would want others to do for him or her?
Activate
5. Make an opportunity to spend time with some member of "the multitude."
Meditate
6. Think of some group of people you normally turn away from. Imagine them, in silence, and repeat these words: "They are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Notice what happens to your heart as you do so.
1 comment:
The definition of the elites (the 1-5% who have and hoard the most money and power) and the the rest (masses or multitudes) was helpful and quite a reminder of my own status as being part of the multitudes.
Question 6 reminds me of an article I read many years ago in Capper's Weekly (recently defunct and merged to Grit) that when the writer sees someone who she would find distasteful that she remembered her mother's suggestion that we should always remember that the person was at one time the precious baby of his/her mother. Unfortunately, some unlovable people probably were not fortunate enough to have been loved even as a baby which may be why they are unlovable as adults. However, the spirit of the suggestion does help me realize that each person is precious to God and should be viewed and treated accordingly.
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