Bible guides - Mark |
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Bible guides – Mark 8:22-9:1 - 27 January 2010
A blind man is healed in an unusual way. The first half of Mark’s Gospel reaches a climax as Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus then explains the kind of ministry that he will have in the chapters that follow.
- What is unusual about the way that Jesus heals the blind man (verses 22–26)?
- What different ideas do people have about Jesus’ identity (verses 27–28)? What does Peter think (verses 29–30)?
It’s possible that the two-stage healing in verses 22–26 is intended to illustrate Peter’s two-stages understanding of Jesus’ mission. Like the man after the first stage of his healing, Peter could see, but not very clearly. Peter understands (sees) that Jesus is the Christ; but he doesn’t yet see that Jesus must suffer.
- Jesus now begins to teach something that we’ve not yet heard much about in Mark’s Gospel. What is it? How does Peter respond (verses 31–33)?
- How does Jesus’ explanation in verses 34–38 address Peter’s initial reaction?
Why might Peter have said what he did in verse 32? Do you ever find yourself thinking the same way? How might verses 34–38 be relevant to you?
Bible guides – Mark 8:1-21 - 29 August 2009
Jesus performs a miracle rather like his earlier feeding of the 5000 (Mark 6:30-44). Yet there are differences, and these are clearly significant.
- Compare this miracle and the following events with the similar occasion in Mark 6:30-44. What differences can you find (see especially Mark 8:5, 6, 8, 9, 12-21)?
- Jesus apparently sees some significance in the numbers mentioned in this episode (verses 19-21). Using the following suggestions, what might Jesus be trying to communicate?
4 – The whole world (the 4 corners of the earth)
7 – Completeness (7 days in a week); Or possibly all the different nations of the world
12 – The whole of God’s people (12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament)
1000 – A very large number
4000 – 4 x 1000
(These are over-simplified, of course, but have a go anyway…)
How might the significance of these numbers be relevant to us today?
- Why do you think Jesus refused to give a sign to the Pharisees in verses 11-13?
- What do you think Jesus means by his warning in verse 15?
In what ways could this warning be relevant to you?
Bible Guides – Mark 7:24-37 - 3 August 2009
Jesus early ministry focused largely on the people of Israel, God’s people in the Old Testament. But Jesus did not come for the Israelites alone; he came to save ‘Gentiles’ (i.e. non-Israelites) too. In this passage we see a few hints of this.
- What does the woman ask Jesus to do (verses 25-26)?
- What extra information does Mark give us about this woman in verse 26?
Jesus’ reply in verse 27 likens the Israelites to ‘children’ and the Gentiles to ‘dogs’, in keeping with common first-century figures of speech.
- How does verse 28 demonstrate the woman’s faith in Jesus?
- How does Jesus respond in verses 29-30?
What hope does Jesus’ response hold out for people all over the world today?
- What problem does the man have in verse 32? How does Jesus solve it in verses 33-35?
- Does anything about what Jesus does strike you as strange in verse 33?
- When a slave was adopted as a son in Old Testament times, his ears would be pierced. Bearing this in mind, what might Jesus’ symbolic actions represent in verse 33?
How would meeting Jesus have changed the life of the man in verses 31-37?
Bible guides – Mark 7:1-23 - 13 July 2009
Some of the Pharisees challenge Jesus, and his response reveals how they had abandoned God’s word for the sake of their man-made traditions.
- What was the Pharisees’ complaint to Jesus (verses 2 and 5)?
- How does Jesus initially respond in verses 6-7? How does he summarise his response in verse 8?
Why might it be tempting to replace God’s word with our own traditions? In what ways might you be tempted to do this?
- According to verses 15-23, what does not make a person ‘defiled’ (i.e. spiritually unclean)? What does make a person defiled?
- What implications does this have for the Pharisees’ traditions (see especially verses 3-4)?
Look again at verses 21-23. Does anything in particular challenge you?
Bible guides – Mark 6:30-56 - 4 June 2009
The apostles return from their mission. Jesus takes them away to rest and eat, but many other people recognize them and follow. Jesus takes to opportunity to teach the crowds again, and more miracles ensue.
- How does Jesus feel, and what does he do, when he sees the ‘great crowd’ in verse 34?
- What problem emerges in verses 35-36? How does Jesus solve it in verses 37-42?
- What happens when Jesus and his disciples arrive at their destination (verses 53-56)? Can you remember where something similar has happened before?
- This section of Mark’s Gospel echoes the rich symbolism found in Psalm 23, a famous Psalm from the Old Testament. Look at the opening lines of Psalm 23 (below). How do they relate to the different episodes in this section of Mark’s Gospel? What does this tell us about Jesus?
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (hint: see Mark 6:34)
He makes me lie down in green pastures. (hint: see Mark 6:39)
He leads me beside still waters. (hint: see Mark 6:48-51)
He restores my soul. (hint: see Mark 6:56)
Bible guides – Mark 6:1-29 - 27 May 2009
Jesus returns to his home town, where he is rejected, before sending out his apostles to continue his mission. Mark then recalls how King Herod treated John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus.
- What does Jesus do in verses 1- 2?
- What is strange about the people’s response in verses 2-3? How does Jesus explain and describe their response in verses 4-6?
How does this episode illustrate the old maxim, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’?
- Why did Herod put John in prison (verses 17-19)?
- What did Herod really think of John the Baptist (verse 20)?
- In verses 21-28, how did Herod place himself in a dilemma? What picture of Herod emerges from this episode?
What lessons should we learn from Herod’s mistakes?
Bible guides – Mark 5:21-43 - 21 May 2009
The healing of a woman (verses 24-34) is ’sandwiched’ in the middle of Mark’s account of Jesus healing a young girl who was thought to have died (verses 21-23 and 35-43).
- How does Mark describe the woman’s illness in verses 25-26?
- What does the woman decide to do in verses 27-28? Why might she have thought this was a good idea? (Hint: see Mark 1:40-42.)
- What happens to the woman in verse 29? What is surprising about Jesus’ response (verses 30-32)?
How does this episode highlight the uniqueness of Jesus’ power?
- How serious is the little girl’s condition in verse 23? What happens during the delay while Jesus is healing the woman (verse 35)?
- What different attitudes do the onlookers show in verses 35 and 38-40?
- How does Jesus react to the situation in verses 36-37 and 41?
What do these different reactions tell us about Jesus’ attitude to death?
Bible guides – Mark 4:1-34 - 19 May 2009
We’ve seen many different reactions to Jesus, from enthusiastic devotion to strong hostility. Jesus explains these different responses in a series of parables, or stories.
- Jesus tells a parable in verses 1-9 about ’seed’ and four types of ’soil’. How does he explain this imagery in verses 14-20?
Each of the next two parables highlights a different aspect of how God’s kingdom grows.
- What do verses 26-28 teach about how God’s kingdom will grow?
- What do verses 30-32 tell us about the future prospects for God’s kingdom?
What encouragements are offered by the two parables in verses 26-32?
Bible guides – Mark 3:7-35 - 14 May 2009
The Pharisees’ hostility to Jesus, which reached a climax in Mark 3:6, arose not only because Jesus challenged their man-made religious traditions, and also because he fulfilled and transformed the God-given faith of the Old Testament.
- What effect does the Pharisees’ hostility to Jesus have on his popularity among ordinary people (verses 7-8)? How do verses 9-10 help to explain this?
- God’s Old Testament people, Israel, began from twelve men, the heads of the twelve tribes. How might Jesus’ appointment of twelve apostles (i.e. authorised representatives) fulfil and transform this Old Testament pattern?
- What accusation does Jesus face in verse 22? How does he reply in verse 23?
- What do verses 33-35 say about those who do God’s will?
What reassurance can Christians find in verses 33-35?
Bible guides – Mark 2:13-3:6 - 12 May 2009
Jesus has already gained a large following among ordinary people. However, his teaching also brings him into strong conflict with the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel, as this passage shows.
- Why did the Pharisees object to Jesus associating with Levi and his friends (verses 13-16)?
- How does Jesus’ response in verse 17 challenge the Pharisees’ preconceptions?
- Why didn’t Jesus’ disciples fast (i.e. abstain from food), according to verse 19? What does this tell us about Jesus?
The Pharisees wrongly accused Jesus of breaking the Old Testament Law about the Sabbath Day by allowing his disciples to pick grains of corn (verse 24), and by healing a man’s hand (verse 5). In fact, he merely challenged their man-made religious traditions.
- Why, according to Jesus, did God make the Sabbath (verse 27)? How do verses 3-5 illustrate this principle?
- How did the religious leaders react to Jesus (verse 6)?
People seem to react very strongly to Jesus – either very positively or very negatively. Why do you think this is so?
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