The Unreasonable Way of Jesus · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   Kent showed that "eye for an eye" in Exodus was a ceiling on vengeance, not a license for it — if someone took your tooth, you could take a tooth, but you could not push him off a cliff. How does that change what Jesus is doing when he says "but I say to you"?

2. 2

   Kent admitted his own first impulse when slapped is to spin the other person's cheek around at high speed. What actually separates turning the other cheek from just being a doormat?

3. 3

   Nelson Mandela asked the man who had jailed him to be his deputy and seated his former jailers on the front row at his inauguration. Lincoln made his fiercest critics his closest advisors. Kent called that true greatness. Who comes to mind for you, and what would that cost?

4. 4

   Kent named two ways to live. One says: whatever you do for me is not enough, whatever you ask of me is too much. The other says everything I have is a stewardship, and using it for someone else is a privilege rather than a burden. Which of those has actually been running your week?

5. 5

   Will Guidara's staff ran out and bought a street-cart hot dog for four British tourists and served it on silver trays, and another night turned the private dining room into a dance floor so a couple could have the first dance their wedding never gave them. Kent called it unreasonable hospitality. When has someone gone that far out of their way for you?

6. 6

   Kent's charge was specific: do not point — walk them there. Ines saw Nita Nolan coming up the walkway and hugged her, and Nita stayed for years. Who is the one person you will watch for and walk up to this Sunday?