Session Three Mark 3:7 – 6:13 Words and Deeds in
- Read 3:7-12.
- What grounds are there for seeing Jesus’ withdrawal as a positive move rather than as an escape from opposition?
- What can we learn from this passage that is relevant to the debate between those who emphasize preaching and those who emphasize ‘power’ in evangelism?
- Read 3:13-19. What was the threefold task of the twelve? How does this apply to us as disciples? How can we maintain a balance between the three aspects?
3. Read 3:20-35.
a. How does Jesus explain what God was doing through Him?
b. Some Christians, on reading verse 29, fear that they may at some time have
committed the ‘unforgivable sin’. What in fact do Jesus’ words mean, and
what do they not mean?
c. Read 3:31-35 (and look back at 3:21). Put yourself in Mary’s position.
What do you think was going on in her mind in this interaction with her son?
What point did Jesus make?
4. Read 4:1-20.
a. What is a parable, and why did Jesus use this teaching method?
b. What was Jesus communicating in the parable of the sower (or, as some
prefer to call it, of the soils)? How does this guide us as we share the faith?
5. Read 4:21-25. What is Jesus’ point here?
6. Read 4:26-34. How does Jesus encourage his disciples (and us) through these further ‘seed’ parables?
7. Read 4:35-41. Why did Jesus perform this ‘natural miracle’? (Think about both the overt reason and the deeper reason.)
8. Read 5:1-20.
a. What is the significance of the geographical reference in verse 1?
b. Describe what was going on in the exchange between Jesus and the man/the demons.
c. How do you think we should view a story such as this, which seems so strange to scientific Western ears?
d. The episode concludes with two rather surprising facts. What are they, and what do they teach us?
9. Read 5:21-45.
a. Jairus and the woman could hardly be more different. What was the one thing they had in common, and why does Mark interweave their stories?
b. When the news arrived of the little girl’s death, what ambivalent thoughts must Jairus have had regarding the woman? What did ‘having faith’ mean for him?
c. What did Mark intend to convey through his record of these two miracles?
10. Read 6:1-6a. Describe the dynamics of the relationship between Jesus and those of his home town. How can we find a way through similar unbelief in ourselves?
11. Read 6:6b-13. Discuss the significance of the resources that the twelve had, and that they did not have. Do we want to be ‘safe’ or ‘sent’?
