week of October 4

Job 1:1; 2:1-10;

Psalm 26;

Mark 10:2-16;

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

 

1.         Who is Job and how is he described (v. 1)? Who was coming to present themselves before God (v. 2:1)? What question does God ask of Satan (v. 2)? What is the most common translation for the word Satan? What has Satan been doing (v. 2)? How does God describe Job (v. 3)? How does Satan challenge God’s description of Job (vv. 4-5)?

 

2.         So, what does God allow Satan to do but with one caveat (v. 6)? What does Satan do to Job and how does Job react initially (vv. 7-8)? What advice does Job’s wife give him (v. 9)? How does Job respond (v. 10)? Is the Book of Job a historical record or an allegory of how people relate to God and the question of why bad things happen to good people? When bad things happen to you, who do you blame? What happens to your integrity?

 

3.         What does the psalmist ask of God (v. 1)? What may have happened to the psalmist? What does the psalmist ask God to do to him (v. 2)? What does the psalmist argue to prove his integrity (vv. 3-5)? What else does the psalmist say to support he should be vindicated (vv. 6-7)?

 

4.         What does the psalmist say about the house of God and what does he mean (v. 8)? Who is challenging the psalmist (vv. 9-10)?  What does the psalmist ask from God in verse 11? Do you need to be freed from anything that causes you to sin?

 

5.         Who attempts to test Jesus, and what question do they pose (v. 2)? How does Jesus initially respond (v. 3), and how do the Pharisees respond (v. 4)? Who is allowed to commence a divorce and how (v. 4)? What happens to a woman who is divorced? Why was this law enacted by Moses (v. 5)? Where does this law fit in the Ten Commandments?

 

6.         What logic does Jesus use to challenge the act of divorce (vv. 6-9)? What book of the Bible was Jesus reciting? Were these passages from the Ten Commandments? What does a person who causes a divorce do if he or she remarries (vv. 11-12)? How were marriages arranged in the time of and before Jesus? Was love a requirement for marriage? Is love a requirement for marriage today?

 

7.         According to the author of Hebrews, how did God speak to people before he chose to live with us in the form of Jesus (vv. 1-2)? How is Jesus described (v. 3)? How do you describe Jesus?

 

8.         Who has been given responsibility for the world (vv. 6-8)? What did God leave out of our control in regard to the world (v. 8)? Would that include destruction? So what did God do to help humanity (v. 9)? What did Jesus demonstrate for us who would follow him (vv. 10-12)?  How do we have to suffer to follow Christ?

 

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, October 11, 2015

Job 23:1-9; 16-17;

Psalm 22; 1-15

Mark 10:17-31;

Hebrews 4:12-16