By way of refresher-

Mark – Study Three

Responding to Jesus

Imagine. If a stranger came up to you and asked you to follow him, what would you do?

What would your response be if someone said they could heal AIDS or cancer?

In the last study, we saw Mark’s introduction to Jesus and what he was on about on earth. This week, we see the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and as we follow Him, we see an increasing tension between what Jesus wanted and what others wanted and expected Him to do.

Read Mark 1:14-3:6

1. What are the highlights of the passage?

• Jesus announces repentance because the KOG is near
• Jesus calls his first disciples- Simon, Andrew, James and John.
• Jesus heals the sick
• Jesus heals the paralysed man
• Jesus breaking the rules!- eating with sinners, stealing grain, healing a lame man

2. Who are the people in the passage? How do they respond to Jesus?

IN my mind, there are 2 sorts of people that Jesus encounters in the passage we have just read- those which accept his teachings, and those which don’t.

Section 1 - Mark 1:14-45

1. What is Jesus' objective?

At the heart of Jesus’ ministry, His objective is described in 1:15- ‘the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’

A simple enough statement, but to understand it we need to unpack 3 concepts:

· Kingdom of God- For me, it was difficult to think of Jesus’ promise of eternal salvation in terms of a kingdom. But in truth, this is an accurate description of what is on offer- not so much a kingdom established by physical boundaries on earth, but a kingdom whose dominion/existence will know no end, whose community is ruled by a king/authority whose love, protection and blessings are forever and eternal.

· Repentance- The necessity for Jesus to call us to repentance is highlighted (just as John the Baptist did) throughout the latter part of the passage. For the Jews, the need to hear Jesus’ call to repentance was due to their misplaced belief that complying with the rules of the OT (‘the law’) would restore their relationship with God. As we will see, their devotion to their rules caused them reject the only true path to repentance on offer by Jesus.

Not to single out the Jews, is there something we (I!) need to repent of? Is there something I’ve been placing my faith in substitute of God?

· The Good News- the proclamation that Jesus has come to save humanity. As we will see in the tax collector story, it is a proclamation held out to all people.

Despite informing the reader of Jesus’ objective at the beginning of the passage, we can see there are major obstacles in the way of Jesus getting His message are. These primarily seem to be a distraction by the miracles Jesus as the sole purpose of His coming, or an unwillingness to let go of the OT law.

2. What do the crowds think is His objective? How is this shown?

To the majority of people, Jesus is no more than the sum of his actions- a healer of illness and a person who gives orders to demons. This should be evident through the description of the people, of what the responded to- the crowds would gather after an instance of casting out demons (v28), or healing (v33-37).

Before we go further, we should realise that their response is likely to also be our first reaction, no? Do we not also respond only to the blessings that we can verify, and ignore the gifts God dispenses in more subtle manners?

And yet, for all their showmanship, we must remember that Jesus’ ministry was to usher in the KoG- a gift whose blessings are ultimately not those realised in this life, but the one to come.

Section 2 - Mark 2:1-3:6

1. Why did the Pharisees act in the way that they did?

Under Judaism, salvation could only be earned through participation in the sacrifice system and the observance of Jewish law. Quite obviously as Jesus reveals however (3:1-6), adherence to the rules is not only foolish (2:27-28), but perpetuates evil by relieving people of their duty to lover their neighbour.

In some ways, this there are 2 answers to this question- the reason why the Pharisees acted the way they did was because they adhered to their rules. The other reason is that their sin compelled (as it is in the business of doing) them to reject Jesus as God.

2. Is there anything unholy about what Jesus is doing? Why/why not? What is he doing, then?

In contrast to the Pharisee’s stifling adherence to rules, Jesus breaks the rules on 3 separate occasions:

· Eating with the tax collectors- Because of their employment by the Roman government and their propensity to abuse their position, tax collectors were accorded the same social status as a gentile slave. Anyone who came into contact with them would have to be cleansed- Jesus not only speaks to them, but has an entire meal.

· Exempting his disciples from fasting- According to Jewish tradition, fasting was an integral part of cleansing and being made right before God- in addition to the Day of Atonement, ‘good’ Jews were supposed to fast 2 times a week.

· Healing people/gathering wheat of the Sabbath- The Sabbath was a day set aside in Jewish tradition for the exclusive ‘worship’ of God. Work was not permitted on the Sabbath, in any form.

While all 3 instances point to the same message, the theme of Judaism constituting nothing more than a broken system of rules and regulations is more heavily brought out in the fasting and working on healing on the Sabbath. Jesus’ comments in response to the Pharisees disapproval regarding the lack of fasting by Jesus’ disciples is perhaps the most profound. By using the imagery of the wineskin and old garment, Jesus makes clear that the promise of the KoG that only He can bring is fundamentally and completely incompatible with the old ways of Judaism. In fact, the story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath only goes to point out how the Pharisee’s illogical adherence to the rules would have seen fit to prolong the crippled man’s suffering.

So what does this say about Jesus’ actions?- That they are different, superior and effective of change actively discouraged by the old system. How’s that for a definition of holy?

So how does this relate to his ministry?

It was not Jesus’ message in 1:15 that brought the crowds to him, but the miraculous events of healing and casting out demons. In John’s gospel their status (the miracles) is made clear- they are mere signs of the ultimate promise which Jesus brings. If Jesus’ ministry was limited to the instances of healing which he performed during his earthly life, how could He possibly maintain a relevance and meaning for all of humanity? But we know that Jesus’ ultimate expression of love was to make open to everyone the promise of belong to the KoG.

Application:

1. Jesus' divine authority is clearly shown and yet the people respond to Him differently. How will you respond to Jesus this week?

2. How should we respond to Jesus once we know that He has so much authority?

How is Jesus' compassion shown? How can we follow this example?

Mark – Study Two

Beginning of A Gospel

Brainstorm: How would you introduce Jesus in a book?

For the first study, we'll be looking at a short but important passage of the bible. Here we will read through what could be Jesus' “introduction to the world”. Read through Mark 1:1-13

Part I : John the Baptist

An important character has been introduced before Jesus. How can we know who Jesus is and what He is doing on earth unless someone introduces Him? John the Baptist did exactly that. He makes the way for the Son of God and the fulfilment of a promise.

1. What does John the Baptist have to do with prophecies? What do you notice? Why?

Most bibles we have a footnote next to V2,3 of chapter 1. These will likely refer to Isaiah 40:3, and Malachi 3:1 who prophesy the coming of a prophet-like figure before the coming of the Messiah.

If the NT is the fulfilment of God’s promises established first in the OT, then verses like Mark 1:2-3 are vitally important because they draw the connection between OT prophecies and their fulfilment ultimately in Jesus. What is amazing that the OT in its entirety points to its Jesus in great detail- in another book (Case for Christ), the odds of a single individual fulfilling all of the OT prophecies was put to something incredibly small.

2. Why did Mark start off with John’s ministry? What’s the significance?

This question is answered almost incidentally, by q1. It is strange to begin a book about Jesus Christ with someone else, but by doing so we can see that the coming of Jesus was foretold long ago, exactly as it was said.

In v 3, we see that people were confessing their sins and being baptised. There are 2 issues I feel we need to consider:

- The call to repent: In getting people to confess their sins, John was fulfilling the prophet archetype, through which the people of Israel had long been warned by when they were walking astray from God. Seeing John as a prophet also seems to be backed up by the account of his appearance, bearing significant similarity with Elijah. What is so amazing however, is that the judgement which John is speaking of is so vastly different from what was seen in the OT- instead of punishment, we are saved; instead of a series of warnings, we are saved once for all by the death/resurrection of Jesus Christ.

- Baptism: While not completely analogous, Jewish cleansing rituals bear some similarity with baptism. We can make too a logical assumption by the location John was in and what is recorded in v5 that ‘all the people of Jerusalem’ came out to John that the majority were Jewish. For people to convert to Judaism, converts would have to undergo a purification ritual (‘Mikvah’). The call by John the Baptist for baptism of the Jews also declares the brokenness of all mankind and their methods to restore the relationship with God, and foretell the new baptism that we have in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3).

3. What did John preach? Why and what can we learn from John?

This is me just conjecturing, but by beginning with John, the author of Mark seems to set up a direct comparison between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Although John the Baptist had ‘the whole Judean countryside’ coming out to him, by his own admission he was not worthy to ‘stoop down and untie’ the sandals of Him who would come after.

Part II : The Baptism of Jesus

Like all baptisms, Jesus' baptism was a special occasion. Here we see Jesus being “anointed” and a sign of what is to come.

1. What 2 phenomena do we see at Jesus’ baptism? Who is responsible for these events?

We see the HS descending on Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven speaking to Jesus (v10,11). God is responsible for both these events.

2. Why are they important?

Once again, we must go back to the John the Baptist’s ministry- people were confessing their sins and being cleansed/baptised in the river Jordan. However, with Jesus (of whom no sin is found), the baptism is no longer ad admission of guilt, but cause for recognition by God.

The account also gives us a beautiful image of the triune God. WE have God the Father, talking to his Son in which the descends upon.

3. After the baptism, Jesus is tempted. Why do you think that Jesus is taken so soon after his baptism?

In the gospel of Mark, we will see that Jesus is engaged in warfare with Satan.. In doing so, Jesus Christ is made to submit to the very same temptations which plague humanity. By letting the reader know that it was immediately after the HS descend upon Jesus that he was sent off into the desert, we are unable to ignore that part of Jesus’ plan was to combat Satan and later, defeat him on the cross.

All this, for us.

Part III : Reflection

1. Is God well-pleased with us as humans? Why?

2. Could God be ever well-pleased with us? Why?