Every Wednesday Night at 6:00 p.m we meet on Zoom for Bible Study. Click the link below and join us this Wednesday.
Here’s the Zoom link, jump on anytime after 5:45 p.m. (PST) https://us04web.zoom.us/j/979487234?pwd=VncxSE9iYUpDMkdvSXF3RUdzRk1Wdz09
Meeting ID: 979 487 234
Password: 275362
Intro to Mark:
The Gospel according to Mark is attributed to John Mark, in whose mother’s house the Jerusalem church met [Acts 12:12]. Barnabas’ nephew, he accompanied Paul & Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey [Acts 12:25; 13:5] but left them partway [Acts 13:13], such that Paul would not take him on a second tour, with the result that Paul & Barnabas went their separate ways [Acts 15:37ff]. Paul mentions Mark approvingly in later letters [Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24; 2 Timothy 4:11], suggesting that they had come to good terms afterwards.
The Apostle Peter expresses a fatherly fondness for Mark, referring to him as “my son” [1 Peter 5:13]. In light of the enduring relationship between Peter & Mark, [Note that Peter had gone to Mark’s house when he was delivered from his imprisonment in Acts 12:12], the Gospel of Mark is considered “apostolic” inasmuch as it presumably passes along the witness of Peter.
Incidentally, it has been suggested that the young man who fled naked when Jesus was arrested [Mark 14:51-52] may have been Mark, this incident humbly reported only in Mark’s Gospel. [His mother, again, having been an early supporter of the Way, Mark himself may well have been to some extent an eyewitness of the earthly ministry of Jesus.]
The reigning scholarly consensus is that Mark’s is the earliest of the four Gospels. Matthew & Luke manifestly make so much use of it that we can find the vast majority of Mark’s Gospel in theirs. We might say that Mark sets the tone for the Gospels tofollow.
In Mark, Jesus is introduced at his baptism. [Matthew & Luke would add their infancy stories.] His Gospel has been described as a “Passion narrative with an extended introduction”. It is noteworthy that, of Mark’s 16 chapters covering Jesus’entireministry, he devotes Chapters 11 to the end to the one week from Palm Sunday to Easter morning.
It is said that, while Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jews & Luke for Greeks, Mark’s is the Gospel to the Romans. It may be characterized as the more action-packed, more intense, as in Mark’s exceptionally frequent recourse to the word “Immediately”.
Spoiler alert! Students of this Gospel should be aware that it is, to put it lightly, questionable whether Mark wrote the end of Chapter 16. The earliest copies of Mark’s Gospel do not include verses 9 & following. It is safe to say that we have his account of the empty tomb &anencounter there between some attending women & an angel. Verse 8 concludes, “Trembling & bewildered, the women went out & fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone,because they were afraid.” [NIV] It is hard to imagine that Mark intended to end his action-packed Gospel there, with no resurrection appearance. Perhaps hisoriginal was damaged in transport & lost its ending. Perhaps some later copyists tried to supply the ending needed. Nonetheless, it would not be persuasive to base one’s doctrine— such as that of snake-handling [16:17-18]— solely on that disputed text.
All of that said by way of introduction, let us each read Chapter 1, verses 1-20,in advance of our meeting as we launch into the discussion of this exciting book. On your mark…
Study Questions
Mark 1:1-20
1. In Mark 1:2f, Mark quotes the Old Testament. To whom does Mark attribute the quote? See Isaiah 40:3 & Malachi 3:1. [Compare with Matthew 3:3 & Luke 3:4.]
2. According to Mark 1:7f, John the Baptist said that the one coming after him would baptize the people with what?
3. According to Mark 1:9ff, when Jesus was baptized, what did the voice from heaven say?
4. What does Mark tell us about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness? [vv.12f]
5. In Mark 1:14, Mark first writes of Jesus preachingat what time?
6. In Mark 1:14, Mark first writes of Jesus preaching in what place?
7. According to Mark 1:15, Jesus was preaching that what is near?
8. In Mark 1:16ff, Jesus called two pair of brothers who were fishermen to follow him. What were their names?
9. They were at what body of water? [v.16]
10. What from this passage[vv.1-20] most impresses you?