Session One – Mark 1:1-13                      The Beginning

1. What clues does Mark give us about his purpose in writing his gospel? 

2. What does Mark tell us about who Jesus is, through

            a. the way he has structured his gospel;

            b. the titles he uses for Jesus;

            c. his emphasis on the kingdom of God?

3. How do people respond to Jesus in Mark’s gospel?  What does this tell us about the nature and demands of discipleship?

4. How does Mark target his readership?  Given that his readers’ culture is alien to us, what point is there in our studying Mark’s gospel?

5. Read 1:1.  On a casual reading, Mark’s opening phrase may seem rather prosaic.  How does a closer look reveal that this is very far from the case?

6. Read 1:2-3.  These Old Testament quotations remind us that generations of God’s people had waited for the momentous events that Mark is about to describe.  What does this have to teach us?

7. Read 1:4-5.  How does Mark characterize John the Baptist’s ministry?  Why was the desert such an appropriate location for it? 

8. Read 1:6-8.  How do you understand John’s message about his own role and of Jesus, and the two ‘baptisms’?

9. Read 1:9-11.  Try to imagine the scene, with the man from Nazareth and the voice from heaven.  What is this startling event all about?

1. What about ‘heavens opening up – what picture do you get?

2. It is more like an invisible curtain being moved, we come into a reality that we hadn’t experienced before.  It is interesting to note that much of the gospels have the ‘curtain closed’ (Jesus may have been conscious of it, but his disciples weren’t) – in many ways we still walk by faith and not by sight.

10. Read 1:12-13
    1. Although Jesus had no human companionship he was not alone. What do the reference to ‘animals’ and ‘angels” tell us?

    2. No sooner had the Spirit come upon Jesus than he drove him out into the desert.  What can we learn from this for our own discipleship?

3. What happened before Jesus went out to face temptation (we just read it)?

4. When you picture God talking with you, or thinking of you – do you picture a yelling, bullying Father – or one who just said, “Thou are My beloved son (daughter), in Thee I am well pleased.”

5. Jesus faced temptation just like we all have to face it; it seems that the strength He was equipped with was the love and confidence of His Father.