STUDY and REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and Small Group Study

January 11, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK two: In Capernaum Mark 1:14-2:17 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Jesus is our serving Savior who comes as THE King on a mission to extend His kingdom. Mark is the “New York Gospel.” It’s fast-paced, blunt, and totally honest. Mark shows King Jesus taking back what is His as He comes to seek, serve, and save. Join us for this fourteen-week series as we discover how Jesus demonstrates and calls us to a defiant faith.

Study questions Week 2: Mark 1:14-2:17

1. Read Mark 1:14-34 In what different ways does Jesus exercise His authority in this passage? What kinds of questions did such actions make people ask? On what things do the people repeatedly focus attention?

2. How were these Galilean fishermen to become those who “fish for people?” What were the conditions and cost of the realization of such a surprising suggestion? Is there any reason why a similar change could not happen in my life?

3. Read Mark 1:35-2:17 After the astonishing events of the previous day, Jesus had to consider what to do next. How did He arrive at a decision, and to what decision did He come? In what way did the healed leper’s disobedience hinder Jesus’ work? What bearing does this have on (a)our prayer life, and (b)the church’s missionary work? [Cross reference John 20:21 and Mark 16:15]

4. What evidences do you find in the story from chapter two of Jesus’ power of discernment? What did Jesus ‘see’? When He confirmed a verbal claim (which men questioned) by a miraculous work (which none could deny) to what truths was He bearing decisive witness? January 18, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK three in the synagogue Mark 2:18-3:6 Sumit Sen

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions

Mark 2:13-17 (Hint: Table fellowship meant acceptance and friendship) 1. What is the issue in this text? 2. How does Jesus embody God’s heart? Read Ezekiel 33:11. 3. Did Jesus just accept sinners without demand? 4. Reflect on what this means: Grace Precedes Transformation. (Read Romans 5:8-11)

Mark 2:18-21 (Hint: The new thing God is doing through Jesus cannot be contained in the old way of doing things (Lev. 16:29). 1. What is the issue here? Is fasting itself the issue? (Remember Jesus Himself fasted (Matt. 4:2). 2. What does this text say about religious rituals? (Read Rom. 14:17).

Mark 2:23-3:6 (Hint: Sabbath is meant to give rest to people. When Jesus was healing, He was bringing out the full meaning of Sabbath. A man suffering from a disease did not enjoy God’s rest). 1. What is the issue here? How did religious leaders view Sabbath? 2. How did Jesus view Sabbath? January 25, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK four By The Sea Mark 3:19-4:33 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions

Mark 3:20-29 (Religious lawyers, scribes refuse to accept that God is working through Jesus. How could one who breaks God’s Sabbath law be blessed by God? There has to be a another explanation for his miraculous powers) 1. How does Jesus defend his authority? 2. What is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit means? How is jealousy responsible? (Possibly this refers to the stubborn refusal to acknowledge God’s work and attributing it to the devil)

Mark 3:31-35 (Family was, and is, the closest of all social bonds) 1. What is Jesus saying? 2. How does this inform our view of the Church?

Mark: 4:1-20 (Word is the proclamation about the Kingdom of God) 1. What are the different life situations that can prevent someone from responding to the gospel? 2. What does this teach us about evangelism? Is it about number? 3. How is the word taking root in your life? February 1, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK Five The other side of the sea Mark 5 Susan Cosio

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions

Mark 5 1. What is the significance of Jesus’ healing miracles? (Hint: They point to God’s Kingdom break- ing in. Read Isaiah 35:1-5; 61:1-2)

2. How does might justice ministry exemplify this coming Kingdom of God?

3. The first miracle in Mark 5:1-20 is done in a non-Jewish (Gentile) area. (Hint: Jews considered pigs unclean) What does this miracle tell us about God’s mission to the world?

4. What does the response of the people of that town teach us?

Read: Mark 5:21-42 1. The woman with a bleeding problem was considered religiously unclean (Read Lev 15:25-30). She had a miserable life. She could not be married. She was an outcast. The leader of the Synagogue belonged to the upper class.

2. What do these two stories teach us about Jesus being for all people?

3. What does Jesus’ addressing the woman as daughter in verse 34 teach us about Jesus? (Other religious leaders would have been angry, because by touching the woman it would have made Jesus ritually unclean as well. But her healing shows that Jesus made her clean instead). February 8, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK six in the village Mark 6:7-13;30-44 Kyle Thomsen

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions

Mark 6:7-13 (Notes: Read Isaiah 49:1-6; John 17:18. Israel was called to be God’s light to the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Israel failed. Jesus as the Messiah of Israel came to be that light. Now He calls His disciples to be that light. He sends His disciples to do what Jesus did by proclaiming the coming kingdom of God through word and deed.) 1. What do you think is significant about the number 12? 2. The Greek word “apostello” means “sent out” as in verse 7. We get the word “apostolic” from this same Greek word. What do you think being an “apostolic church” means? 3. What do verses 8-9 teach us about trusting God? 4. What do verses 12-13 teach us about Christian mission in our locality? Are we to choose between doing justice or doing evangelism?

Mark 6:30-44 (Note: Read Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 34:2, 11, 23; John 10:11; 2 Kings 4:42-44. Sheep without a shepherd points to people who are helplessly lost and are in great danger without proper leadership. God can use our gifts no matter how insignificant we think they are, to do great things for the kingdom.) 1. What does this passage teach us about Jesus’ emphasis on rest? 2. Why did Jesus have compassion on these people? Who are the sheep without a shepherd in our community? 3. What does this text teach us about missions? 4. How can we bring what we have to be used by Jesus? February 15, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK seven The winding route Mark 8:27-38 Josh Anway

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions

Mark 8:27- 38 forms a part of what is known as the travel narrative of Jesus. The disciples are on their way with Jesus to Jerusalem for the last time and Jesus mentions His suffering and they fail to grasp what it means to follow Him.

In Mark 8: 27-38, we read that on the way with Jesus, even though Peter declares Jesus as the Mes- siah, he fails to grasp Jesus’ suffering. When Jesus mentions His suffering, Peter rebukes Him. For Peter, the Messiah, the king of Israel, is supposed to win victories and not suffer and die. Peter had a worldly view of things that hindered his understanding of the divine plan of God that was about to unfold through the cross. Jesus rebukes him in return and explains to the disciples that following Jesus means denying the right to be in control over one’s life. It means taking up the cross and living by God’s will for ones’ life, even if it leads to suffering. As Jesus explained, in order to have the eternal life that we all des- perately seek we have to be willing to lose our earthly lives for Him. A paradox!

1. What does our culture say who Jesus is? Who do you say Jesus is? 2. How can our view of Jesus at times be a reflection of our desires? 3. How does Matthew 4:8-10 expand our understanding of verse 33? Did Satan want Jesus to go through the way of the cross? How do we tend to take the easy way? 4. How does Jesus define the word “disciple” in verses 34-38? February 22, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK eight The road to Jerusalem Mark 9-10 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

Study questions Mark 9:30-37; Mark 10:32-45

In Mark 9:30-37, we read that on the way to Jerusalem Jesus once again mentions His suffering, but the disciples still do not understand what He is saying. In shameful contrast, they argue about who was the greatest. Since Peter, James and John had the sacred privilege of witnessing Jesus’ trans- figuration (Mark 9:2-8) they must have thought that they were better than others. However, Jesus tells them that in order to be first in the kingdom of God they have to be the last, a servant of all. After all, according to Jesus, God identifies with the children who were regarded as the powerless nobodies, the last in that culture. A paradox!

In Mark 10:32-45, we read about how Jesus mentions suffering again. The disciples still do not grasp what He is saying. James and John ask that they be placed in positions of power when Jesus is enthroned. Jesus tells them that following Him means that they will be participating in His suffering. After all, the cup that Jesus would drink from is the cup filled with God’s wrath. The baptism here is a reference to being drowned in suffering. Following Jesus means to give up the worldly notion of power and success and become a servant to all. Jesus, the Son of Man, a powerful divine being according to Daniel 7, came to serve and to die for others. Another paradox!

1. We as Christians are all on a walk with Jesus, because this Christian life is a journey. Do we get what it means to follow a suffering God? Intellectually maybe, but existentially?

2. How does the health, wealth and prosperity gospel of our culture reflect the same misunderstand- ings that the disciples of Jesus had in these texts?

3. How can we identify with the powerless in our society? Who are the powerless?

4. What does these texts teach us about power struggles? How can we become servants of all? March 1, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK Nine In the temple Mark 11-12:7 Sara Nelson

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS Temple Cleansing: Mark 11:12-17 (Read: Isaiah 56:6-8; Jeremiah 7:5-11)

A Few Pointers: • The fig tree, on many occasions, has served as a symbol pointing out to the people of God their disobedience or their fruitlessness in the Bible (Jer. 8:13; 24:1-10; Hos. 9:10, Mi.7:1, Lk 13:6-9). Even here, the barren fig tree serves as a symbol of God’s people and the temple. This barrenness of the fig tree, as we shall see, symbolizes the barrenness or the lack of fruitfulness of the temple in Jerusalem. The actions of the Lord Jesus in the temple that day, pointed to the doing away with the temple as a building, for a better temple of God.

• The Court of the Gentiles was the outmost area of the temple. Gentiles could not go beyond this area because they were considered unclean. A barrier with a warning sign kept the Gentiles confined to the outer parameters. The warning sign read: “Foreigners must not enter into the forecourt around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.” Yet the religious leaders cluttered this area where Gentiles could meet with all kinds of noisy commercial activities. But that was not the purpose of the temple of God. For that reason, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?’”

• Jesus was calling the temple a robbers’ den, because a den is the place where robbers feel comfortable and safe; it is the place where robbers retreat after committing a crime. In Jeremiah 7:8-14, the prophet accuses the people of Israel of turning the house of God, the temple, into a den of robbers where they feel safe. In verses 8-10, we read that while the people went about murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely and worshipping Baal, they would come to the temple and say they were safe. Their safety net was the temple sacrifices they offered for their sins. The people thought that they could find forgiveness and fellowship with God in the temple no matter how they acted outside the temple.

Questions: 1. Do our churches show openness or more importantly opening up to diversity? 2. Can you identify those barriers/attitudes in our churches that keep non-Christians away? Do our churches work on removing barriers? 3. Has “cheap grace” turned our churches into a “den of robbers?” 4. How does cheap grace impact our sense of mission toward others? March 8, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK ten In the temple: part two Mark 12 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants” Mark 12:1-12 Prepared by Sumit Sen

Read: Isaiah 5:1-7; Romans 2:4-6

Notes: Israel was supposed to be the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. God was supposed to be their King and they were supposed to be God’s people. But Israel rejected God as their King (1 Samuel 8:7) and they failed to bear the fruits of righteousness and justice (Isaiah 5:7).

The same was true in Jesus’ time. The temple, as the central symbol for Israel, had become a den of robbers (Mark 11:17). As a result, through this parable, Jesus is telling the religious leaders that God will take away from them the kingdom/Israel and give it to a new people, Jesus’ people, who will bear the fruits of righteousness and justice for God.

Questions: 1. What does verse 1 teach us about God’s care?

2. What does this parable teach us about God’s patience?

3. What does this parable teach us about our responsibility as God’s people?

4. What similarities do you see between John 15:1-8 and this parable? March 15, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK eleven the upper room Mark 14 Sumit Sen

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS “Is it I?” Mark 14:17-25 Prepared by Sumit Sen

Read: Mark 14

Notes: As Mark 14:12 points out, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper during Passover. It was the time when the Jews celebrated God’s great deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Jesus spoke about his betrayal by Judas. As 1 Corinthians 11:23 points out, the early church remembered that it was one of those that be- trayed Jesus. Yet Jesus, through his broken body and shed blood, offers forgiveness and redemption. reflections: 1. Reflect on how each one of us individually have let Jesus down.

2. Reflect on how the church has often let Jesus down.

3. Reflect on how Jesus offers us forgiveness through his body and blood.

4. Reflect on what it means to be set free from sin. March 22, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK twelve in the garden Mark 14:25-52 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS Prepared by Sumit Sen

READ: Mark 14:26-72

Peter was overconfident about his dedication to Jesus (14:29). Maybe he had to fail in order to understand that it is not on his own strength that he can follow Jesus, but by God’s grace. He needed to be humbled.

Mark mentions twice in chapter 14 that Peter was warming himself by the fire, (vs. 54, 67) as Jesus was being interrogated, falsely accused, spit on and struck while Peter was seeking after his own comfort and safety. Isn’t it true of all of us who claim to follow Christ that instead of identifying ourselves with our crucified Lord, we tend to seek after our own comfort and safety?

I heard of a prosperity-gospel preaching church in Africa that changed its name from Calvary to something else. To them, the name Calvary is too negative. According to the ancient traditions, Mark as a disciple of Peter, wrote down his gospel based on what he heard Peter preach. This is well attested by Papias, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Origen. If this is true, then one could see in the writings of Mark the holy torment that Peter went through as he remembered in minute detail his failure that night when he denied Jesus. I could hear Peter say, “Can you imagine that while my Lord was being abused, I was busy warming myself by the fire.” I could see Peter shaking his head in regret as he holds back his tears.

When we hurt the ones we love, even once, we have been forgiven, but it never completely goes away. It always comes back to haunt us. There lies the measure of true love. Peter who once boasted of his dedication to Jesus (14:29), remembered in all humility, his failure. Easter is all about that type of remembrance and repentance; remembrance of how much we continue to fall short of the glory of God and how much we need to turn around to Jesus.

1. How do we as Christians, or as the Church, fail Jesus? 2. Why does God sometimes allow failure? 3. How might the lure of the comfort lead us to fall away from Jesus? 4. What is your understanding of God’s grace? March 29, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK thirteen on trial Mark 14:53-72; 15:1-15 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS Prepared by Sumit Sen (Mark 15:21-41)

A Few Observations: Simon, a Jew from Cyrene in Northern Africa (modern day Libya), was forced to do what Jesus describes as the heart of discipleship: to carry the cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34). Carrying the cross means to live by God’s will for our lives even if it leads to suffering. The cross was God’s will for Jesus.

The charge against Jesus that hung over His head read, “The King of the Jews.” It was intended to deter would be messianic pretenders, but the phrase reveals a profound truth. The king of the Jews enthroned on the cross was exercising His rule over sin and Satan. Adam and Eve wanting to be God disobeyed God, and Satan won (Genesis 3:4-7). Jesus being God, let go of being God by making Himself nothing by obeying God, the Father (Philippians 2:6-8) and Satan lost!

Two criminals were crucified with Jesus, one on the right and one on the left. Those are the positions of honor that James and John desired in Mark 10:37. We need to find ourselves co-crucified with Jesus (Romans 6). That is the true place of honor.

Read Isaiah 59:2. Jesus takes His place between two sinners separated from God. He does the same for us. He dies in our place. His cry, “My God, my God why have You forsaken me?” is taken from Psalm 22:1, a Psalm of lament. Jesus carrying our sins was experiencing the great chasm that sin creates between God and humanity. He took the forsakenness that we deserved.

The temple was torn from top to bottom, the curtain in the temple signified separation of humanity from God. Tearing means that now humanity has access to God. Tearing from top means that it was God who tore the curtain. Since Jesus died for our sins we are no longer separated from God. We are reconciled to Him (Colos- sians 1:20). That is what atonement means: at-one-ment. What was once separated made one again. This is the good news!

QUESTIONS 1. How do we carry the cross for Jesus in our time? 2. How do we imitate Jesus? 3. How does our view of power and significance differ from what God views as power and significance? 4. How does knowing that Jesus died for your sins impact your life? April 5, 2015

STUDY AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS Questions for Individual and small Group Study

WEEK fourteen on the cross and out of the tomb Mark 15:16-16:8 Matt Robbins

Sermon series - Follow Me: A Study of the Gospel of Mark

STUDY QUESTIONS Prepared by Sumit Sen Mark 16:1-8

Read Romans 4:25, 6:23; Ephesians 1:17-22

A Few Observations Mark was writing his gospel to a church that was living under the shadow of death, fearing persecution and being killed by the Roman authorities. Resurrection gives them encouragement. Resurrection means that death will no longer be our master. If death came because of sin, then resurrection (which is a reversal of death), implies that our sins have been forgiven.

1. Why do you think the women were afraid? Does it symbolize our fear to live boldly for Christ?

2. What difference does it make for you to realize that death no longer controls your life? How would you live then?

3. In Ephesians 1:17-22 Paul says that we have God’s death defying power on our side. How should that impact how we live?