WHO IS JESUS? MARK 1-8

WHO IS JESUS? MARK 1-8 The book of Mark is all about Jesus - a man who lived in the country of Israel during the 1st century AD. History books tell us he was a popular Jewish teacher with a large following. But Mark wants us to know that Jesus was more than that. The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1) Who is Jesus? Mark believes that he is the Son of God and wants to persuade you that this is the truth. As we read through the first half of Mark, we want to start with fresh eyes. So, before you open the first chapter of Mark, forget everything you know about Jesus. Read each chapter like it is your first time hearing this message. And at the end of each passage, ask the question who is Jesus? If it s your first time learning about Jesus or if he s been an important part of your life for decades, take this opportunity to discover Jesus from scratch. You might find something you ve never noticed before. Or you might discover why people are still talking about Jesus 2000 years later. 1

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 1 MARK 1:1-20 1. How do you go about preparing for a big event (a birthday party, wedding, etc)? 2. Does your answer depend on how soon the event is? (For example, does it matter if the event is tomorrow or a year from now?) READ MARK 1:1-20 3. Who is the book of Mark about? (v1) 4. What does Mark want us to believe about this person? (v1) 5. Mark begins his Gospel by quoting from the prophets Malachi and Isaiah. What are these verses preparing us for? (v.2-3) 2

6. Read Isaiah 40:1-5. For Jewish readers of Mark, what might they think when they see this passage quoted in Mark 1? 7. Who is revealed to be the messenger Malachi foretold? (v4) 8. What is John the Baptist doing when we are introduced to him? (v.4-8) 9. What is the purpose of the baptism John offers? (v4) 10. What will the one who comes after John do differently to John? (v.7-8) 11. How are we introduced to Jesus? What does this tell us about his ethnicity or religious beliefs? (v9) 12. What is unusual about Jesus baptism? (v.8-11) 13. Could the statement in v11 apply to anyone else? 3

14. What does Jesus do after returning from the desert? (v14) 15. What is the content of Jesus message? (v15) 16. Why does Jesus ask these men to follow him? What does he promise them? (v.16-20) 17. What does v14-20 tell us about Jesus priorities? 18. Why might these men drop everything to follow Jesus? 4

WHO IS JESUS? From this passage, what do we learn about Jesus? Based on this evidence, who might Jesus be? Based on this evidence, who can we say Jesus is not? 5

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 2 MARK 1:21-45 1. Who was the best teacher you had at school? What made them a good teacher? READ MARK 1:21-28 2. Who is the "they" in v21? 3. What is a synagogue? Why would Jesus go there on the Sabbath? (v21) 4. What was noteworthy about Jesus' teaching? (v22) 5. Who makes himself known in v23? What is unusual about his appearance in this place? 6

6. How does the evil spirit respond to Jesus? (v.25-26) 7. Can we trust the testimony of the evil spirit? (v24) READ MARK 1:29-39 8. How does Jesus respond to the news of Simon's mother-in-law's illness? (v.30-31) 9. How do we see the crowds react to what Jesus does? (v.32-34) 10. Of all the things we see Jesus do in this passage, which of them does Jesus think is the most important? (v38) READ MARK 1:40-45 11. What is leprosy? (v40) 12. What does the leper want Jesus to do? (v40) 7

13. What does Jesus instruct the leper to do after he is healed? (v.43-44) 14. Why would Jesus ask him not to say anything? (v44) 15. If Jesus came to preach, why would he heal people and drive out demons? 16. What does Jesus offer us today when it comes to healing? 8

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 3 MARK 2:1-17 1. What is the most outrageous claim you've ever heard someone make? Were they right? READ MARK 2:1-12 2. What does (v.1-2) tell us about the popularity of Jesus? 3. Who do the men bring to Jesus? What are they hoping would happen? (v3) 4. How determined are they to see Jesus? (v4) 5. What does Jesus say to the man? How is this different to their expectations? (v5) 10

6. What does the word "blaspheming" mean? Why do the teachers of the law think this is what Jesus is doing? (v.6-7) 7. What is the question Jesus asks in v9? Which do you think is easier? 8. Why does Jesus heal the man? What is he demonstrating? (v.10-12) READ MARK 2:13-17 9. Who is Levi? (v14) 10. Why do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees object to Jesus eating with Levi and his friends? (v.15-16) 11. How does Jesus respond? (v17) 12. Why might the Pharisees and teachers of the law be unhappy with this answer? 11

13. Based on these two passages, what does Jesus believe his purpose is? 14. Why is Jesus focused on the topic of sin? 15. What do the healings of Jesus tell us about the relationship between sickness and sin? 12

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 4 MARK 2:18-3:35 1. Describe your ideal Sunday (if you could spend it any way you liked)? 2. How would God like you to spend your Sunday? 3. What wouldn't God want you to do on a Sunday? READ MARK 2:23-28 4. What is the Sabbath? (2:23) 5. What are Jesus and his disciples doing on the Sabbath? (2:23) 6. Why do the Pharisees have a problem with what the disciples are doing? (2:24) 14

7. What example does Jesus give to the Pharisees to respond to their objections? (2:25-26) 8. What is the connection between what David did and what the disciples are doing? (2:25-26) 9. Why is it okay for the disciples to pick food on the Sabbath? (2:27-28) READ MARK 3:1-6 10. Why are some people waiting for Jesus in the synagogue? (3:1-2) 11. Why might they be against Jesus healing this man? (3:1-2) 12. How would you answer Jesus question in (3:4)? 13. Why might Jesus be feeling angry in (3:5)? 15

14. Why would the Pharisees want to kill Jesus? (3:6) 15. What is the relationship between Jesus and the Sabbath? READ MARK 3:20-35 16. How do Jesus' mother and brothers respond to his ministry? (3:21, 31-32) 17. How does Jesus respond to their concerns? (3:33-35) 18. What argument do the teachers of the law make about Jesus' identity? (3:22) 19. What evidence is there to support their argument? 20. How does Jesus answer their allegation? (3:23-30) 21. Is Jesus' response convincing? 16

22. Thinking through Jesus' relationship to the Sabbath and to evil spirits, where might Jesus be from? 17

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 5 MARK 4:1-34 1. When you were a child, what was your favourite story? 2. Can you think of something you learnt from a story or movie? Why did it stick with you? READ MARK 4:1-9 3. How big is the crowd that gathered to hear Jesus? (v1) 4. What is a parable? (v2) 5. Describe what happened to each of the seeds in the parable: The path Rocky places 19

The thorns Good soil 6. Based on just (v.1-9), what is the message of this parable? Do we have enough information? READ MARK 4:10-12 7. What is the secret of the parable? (v11) V12 is a quote from Isaiah 6:9-10. Isaiah is being prepared by God to speak to a rebellious Israel. God is about to punish them for their sin. Isaiah is to preach a message of repentance, but understands that many will refuse to listen and therefore not be saved. 8. Why does Jesus speak in parables? (v12) READ MARK 4:13-20 9. How does Jesus explain each part of the parable? The seed The path 20

Rocky places The thorns Good soil 10. What does this passage tell us about the nature of evangelism? READ MARK 4:30-34 11. What is the Kingdom of God like? (v.30-31) 12. How do you plant the Kingdom of God? (v31) 13. What is the result? (v32) 14. How does Jesus use parables? (v.33-34) 21

15. What does Jesus' use of parables tell us about the nature of his teaching and his audience? 16. What does it mean to be on the inside v s on the outside? (v11) 22

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 6 MARK 4:35-5:43 1. Have you ever been in a situation where you weren't in control? How did it make you feel? READ MARK 4:35-41 2. Who is the "he" in (4:35)? 3. What is noteworthy about the disciples reaction to the storm? (Keep in mind the profession of many of the disciples) (4:38) 4. How does Jesus deal with the storm situation? (4:39) 5. What has the disciples terrified? (4:41) 24

6. What does their reaction tell us about who they think Jesus is? (4:41) 7. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' relationship with the world? READ MARK 5:1-20 8. How does the man who meets Jesus behave? How would you feel if you met him? (5:2-5) 9. How does he respond when he sees Jesus? (5:6-7) 10. What is he worried about? (5:7) 11. What does Jesus do instead? (5:11-13) 12. Why would the people ask Jesus to leave? (5:14-17) 13. What did Jesus ask the man to do after he was healed? (5:19) 25

14. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' relationship with evil spirits? READ MARK 5:21-24, 35-43 15. What does Jairus ask Jesus to do? (5:22-23) 16. What happens while Jesus is on the way? (5:35) 17. Is there any point in Jesus continuing? 18. What does Jesus say when he enters Jairus' house? How would you respond if you heard Jesus say this? (5:38-40) 19. When Jesus meets Jairus' daughter, what does he say to her? (5:41) 20. What is remarkable about her response? (5:42) 21. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' relationship with death? 26

22. What does it mean for Jesus to be in control in these three situations (situations we would feel like we had no control)? 27

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 7 MARK 6:1-56 1. What do the following signs mean? READ MARK 6:7-13 2. What does Jesus ask his disciples to do? (v.7-11) 3. How well do they complete their task? (v.12-13) 4. Do the actions of the disciples in (v.12-13) have an impact on who we think Jesus is? 29

READ MARK 6:30-44 5. What is the dilemma faced by the people in the remote place? (v.35-36) 6. How would you address the issue? 7. How does Jesus provide for them? (v.38-44) 8. Where else in the Bible do we see people being fed in a remote place? What might this tell us about the identity of Jesus? READ MARK 6:45-56 9. How would you describe the conditions on the lake? (v48) 10. How does Jesus approach his disciples? Why is this unusual? (v48) 11. What are the disciples thinking and feeling as they see Jesus? (v.49-50) 30

12. Why do they respond to Jesus this way? (v52) 13. How would you expect the disciples to react at this point in Mark's Gospel? 14. What signs has Jesus performed in this passage? 15. What do these signs mean? 31

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 8 MARK 7:1-37 1. What are some of your family s traditions? Are they helpful? READ MARK 7:1-23 2. Who have gathered around Jesus? What do we know about them? (v1) 3. What is the reason given for hand washing? (v.3-4) 4. Are the traditions referred to in (v.3-5) the same thing as the law found in the Old Testament? 5. Why does Jesus call them hypocrites? (v.6-8) 6. What example of their hypocrisy does Jesus give in (v.9-13)? 33

7. How are they dishonouring their parents? What does Corban mean? (v11) 8. Why would Jesus' teaching about clean and unclean foods be a big deal to the original Jewish hearers? (v.14-19) 9. According to Jesus, what makes someone unclean? (v.20-23) 10. Would Jesus' teaching in this passage make him popular among the religious elite? Why? READ MARK 7:24-30 11. Who is the woman that approaches Jesus? (v.25-26) 12. How is she different to the other people we've seen approach Jesus? Why does this matter? (v26) 13. Who is Jesus talking about when he says "First let the children eat all they want"? (v27) 34

14. Why does the woman associate with the "dogs" in (v28)? 15. What does Jesus do in response? (v.29-30) 16. Who is closer to the Kingdom of God: the Pharisees or the Greek woman? 17. What does this passage tell us about the place of following rules while following Jesus? 18. How can we avoid the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? 19. In what way are we like the Greek woman? 35

WHO IS JESUS? STUDY 9 MARK 8:1-9:1 1. People have many different ideas of who Jesus is. What are some ideas you have heard people share? 2. What have we seen Jesus say and do in the first seven chapters of Mark? READ MARK 8:1-21 3. What predicament do the people find themselves facing in (v.1-3)? 4. Based on what we've read previously, what would you expect Jesus to do? 5. What does the disciples' question tell us about what they are thinking? Would you expect a different answer? (v4) 37

6. Where have we seen something like this miracle before? (Think Mark 6:30-44) 7. What are the Pharisees asking Jesus for? (v11) 8. Why would Jesus "sigh deeply" at this question? (v12) 9. How does Jesus respond to their questioning? (v.17-21) READ MARK 8:22-26 10. What is unusual about this healing? (v.22-25) 11. What is the connection between this miracle and the disciples' understanding in (v4)? READ MARK 8:27-30 12. Jesus asks Peter about what the crowds are saying about him. Who do they think Jesus might be? (v28) 38

13. Who does Peter think Jesus is? (v29) 14. What does the word "Christ" mean? What would a first century Jew be thinking of when they heard that word? (v29) Peter has given the right answer. He has evaluated the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus is God's promised king and saviour. Another title for the Christ is the Son of Man. READ MARK 8:31-9:1 15. Now that Peter has identified Jesus as the Christ, what does Jesus begin to teach? (v31) 16. How is this different to what the people were expecting? 17. Peter gets it right when it comes to Jesus' identity in (v29). How does he get it so wrong in (v.32-33)? 18. What does it mean to follow Jesus? (v.34-35) 39

19. If you have examined the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ, what should you do next? 20. How can you "take up your cross" in 21st century Australia? 21. What challenges are there for a Christian in today's society? 22. How can we avoid being ashamed of Jesus? (v38) 40