Mark:28b-34
Lead in: When asked which is the first of all the commandments, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6, “Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love with all your heart, your soul, your strength, is to give it your all.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when, for someone or something, you gave it everything you had.
Lead in: Love of God and love of neighbor, the whole law can be summed up in these two commandments. But love of God can only be seen in love of neighbor. It’s only in loving our neighbor that we give evidence of our love of God. If we are to surrender our lives to God, we begin by working at love of neighbor.
Prompt: Where is it in your life that you are finding it difficult to love? What do you need to let go of if you’re to love as Jesus is calling us to love?
Lead in: Jesus tells the lawyer who approaches him, “You are not far from the kingdom.” There are two ways to interpret what Jesus says. One is, “You are not far from the kingdom”, meaning you’re about as close to the kingdom as anybody. Or, it might be, “You’re close to the kingdom, but you’re not yet quite there.” If that’s what Jesus was saying, there’s a warning in that for us. Like the lawyer, we can say all the right things but still be far from the kingdom. It’s how we love that will determine what our lives have stood for.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when your words were louder than your actions. What do you need to do if you are to close the gap between what you say and how you live?
Lead in: “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself”, these were words that the Jewish people took to heart. They recited them serval times a day and put them on the doorpost of their homes.
Prompt: In order that what you believe takes root in your heart, what would be the motto that you’d recite daily and keep on your bedside table?
Lead in: In Deuteronomy 6, the stage is set for the Israelites to enter the promised land. After many years in the desert, their journey is finally complete. In his last address to them as they enter to the promised land, Moses urges the people to stay faithful to all that God has taught them.
Prompt: As you journey through life, name three things that you want to remain faithful to.
