Session Two – Mark 1:14 -3:6    The ministry opens up

1. Read 1:14-15.  What did Jesus mean when he proclaimed the message recorded here?  What implications can we draw from it?

2. Read 1:16-20.  How did Jesus summon these fishermen to follow him?  What lessons are there here for the way we call people to follow him?

3. Read 1:21-31. 
   1. This passage twice mentions Jesus’ authority.  How is it manifested in the incidents recorded here?

   2. The encounter between Jesus and the demons here speaks of the larger conflict between the kingdom of God and the powers of darkness.  How do we see it being worked out today?

   3. In verse 23 we read about a man with an ‘unclean spirit’, how do you read that in the 21^st century?

   4. Let’s talk about our human-ness: that we are physical, emotional and spiritual beings – all of this tied together.  We can’t separate ourselves into little compartments.

4. Read 1:32-39.  What was Jesus’ priority?  How did his healings and exorcisms, and his time of prayer relate to this?  What can his disciples today learn from his example?
   1. Again we are presented with this notion of ‘demons’, what do you think about this situation?

5. Read 1:40-45.  What is remarkable about Jesus’ response to the plea of the man with leprosy?  Consider these questions:

1. What was leprosy like?  What happened to people who had leprosy?

2. What does Jesus do, verse 41?  How does that ‘strike you’?

3. How might that apply to you and me; ever feel untouchable?

6. Read 2:1-12.  What significance do you see in Jesus’ words in verses 9-11?

1. What strikes you about the story of the paralytic?

2. Does the paralyzed man ask for his sins to be forgiven?  Does the paralyzed man ask to be healed?  Whose faith is at work?

3. What might this mean for you and me today?

7. Read 2:13-17.  Donald English says that ‘Mark touches Christians on a sensitive spot with this story of Jesus going into table fellowship with Levi and his friends’ – does this story touch a sensitive spot for you?

8. Read 2:18-22.  What does Jesus’ metaphorical language teach us about the nature of the kingdom of God?

9. Read 2:23-27. Jesus’ Sabbath activities provoke murderous hostility on the part of the Pharisees (3:6).  What elements in this passage might well have enraged them?  How do we Christians sometimes fall into the same trap as the Pharisees?

10. Read 3:1-6.  Jesus’ opponents are now actively seeking a reason to accuse him.  How does this question confound them?  How does it challenge us when our zeal to obey God tips over into legalism?

1. Pause for a moment, place yourself in St. John’s, it’s Sunday morning and in the middle of the service someone walks in and heals someone else – what would your reaction be?