A Good Plan
When will you read? Where will you read? What things will you need? You might like: a Bible, a journal/notebook/post-its, pen/pencil/highlighter, good lighting, comfortable seating, glasses?
Maybe you'll read early in the morning with a cup of coffee- set out your supplies the night before.
Maybe you'll read with others after dinner- would it be helpful to keep your supplies in a basket you can grab as you're setting the table? Does everyone have their own Bible? their own journal?
Maybe you're listening as you walk the dog or fold the laundry. Make a folder in your notes app on your phone to record questions or insights as they come up. If you're listening on a commute, keep a small notebook in the car to write down notes when you arrive at your destination.

A good plan will take you far in being able to complete your reading goal.
Make a plan for this time with God. Remember- the Bible is the place we go to reliably encounter God.

A Good Rhythm: Pray, Read, Pray
When it's time to read, pray first. Ask God to speak to you, to send the Holy Spirit down on you, to open your heart and mind to pay attention to what God would have you hear today.
Next read the section of scripture.
How you read the chapters for the week is up to you. You can do one a day, all of them every day, or maybe this week is so full you pick one day to read them all.
As you read, write down questions, comments, insights.
Maybe you're noticing a word repeated over and over again. Maybe there's a familiar story you're hearing in a new way. Maybe you notice Jesus is angrier than you thought he'd be or you relate to the disciples. No note is too silly. Write them down! Writing helps you remember.  Writing gets things into your brain.
Read the notes and questions. You can take time to write down your answers or think about them throughout the day.
When you've finished the scripture, take a few deep breaths. Close your eyes and hold the silence for a minute or two.
Close with a prayer. Talk over what you read with God.  Did you like it? Was it challenging? Hard to understand? Tell God. 

The Gospel of Mark is the earliest of the four gospels.
The Wesley Study Bible describes Mark as "a relentless story about Jesus' announcement of God's righteous kingdom and the acts that accompany this proclamation. Throughout his ministry, Jesus encounters resistance. Evil is manifested in the demonic and in the actions of human beings. Human characters in Mark are often fearful and stubborn, and at times extremely violent. Self-seeking and the desire for honor work at cross-purposes with God's will. Evil, however, is being defeated: Jesus banishes demons, teaches about God's kingdom, and challenges religious and political structures that are harmful to human well-being. At times, people respond in faith, trusting in Jesus' compassion and divine authority. Though Jesus dies on the cross, once again evil is overcome as God raises him from the dead."

Chapter 1 is the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
N. T. Wright describes this chapter in this way - you're asleep and dreaming when you're woken up suddenly. Someone shouts "Wake up! Get up! You'll be late!" as they throw a cup of cold water in your face. "Mark begins with John the Baptist's ministry, which was like throwing cold water on the surprised Jewish world. Many had been looking for a sign from God, but they hadn't expected it to look like this. Many had wanted a Messiah to lead them against the Romans, but they weren't anticipating a prophet telling them to repent." - N. T. Wright.

We're introduced to John and his function - to prepare the way of the Lord.
Then we hear that Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptized by John.
Immediately the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he is tempted for forty days.
The first thing Jesus does after his baptism and tempting is to go to Galilee to say, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

So much happens in this one chapter! Jesus calls his disciples, heals at Simon's house, preaches around Galilee, and cleanses a leper.
Jesus says something confusing to the leper in verse 43: "after sternly warning him he sent him away at once." What's up with that? Don't we want to spread the message of Jesus? Shouldn't Jesus be encouraging him to spread the news?
Pheme Perkins writes, "The reader soon learns that the crowds at Capernaum create a problem for Jesus' ministry as well. He did not come to settle in the town as a local healer and holy man, but to preach throughout the region."  This is why, when Simon finds Jesus after seeking solitude to pray, Jesus says, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."

Interesting Notes
The expression 'Son of God' had its origins in the Israelite royal cult, where it referred to the relationship between God and the Davidic King (2 Sam 7:14; Psalm 2:7)
By the time Mark's gospel was written both 'messiah' ('Christ') and 'Son of God' were established designations for Jesus.
 
Questions to consider
How does not having any stories about Jesus' birth affect your experience of this gospel?
What do you think about the voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism? How do those words make you feel?
Do you see any parallels between Jesus' experience in chapter 1 and the Israelite's experience in Exodus (if you're familiar with that book/story)?
After time in prayer Jesus is able to understand his calling a bit better.  He is much more clear on what he is meant to do with his time.  How do you refocus yourself on God's call on your life? 

Chapter 2 introduces a "controversy story."

"Wise men and rabbis were often the subjects of such tales...  a brief episode that enshrined some facet of the hero's character or illustrated a point of his teaching. The controversy stories that figure so prominently in Mark open with a challenge that Jesus will be forced to meet."

Jesus heals a paralytic at the opening of chapter 2 - this is a controversy story. The scribes question in their hearts and Jesus is able to perceive their concerns. They believe what Jesus is saying is blasphemy. If you were present in this room, how do you think you'd react, not knowing any background about this man?

Next Jesus calls Levi (a tax collector!!) to be a disciple. Once again there are questions raised about Jesus and his actions.
Then there are questions when Jesus' disciples don't fast, and when they pluck grain on the Sabbath.

What's the deal with the Sabbath?
Keeping the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments and it's the commandment that takes up the most words.
Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it."

People took the Sabbath seriously because God asked them to.
Throughout the ages rabbis have tried to figure out how exactly to observe the Sabbath in order to keep it holy - just how much work is too much work? How far can you walk on a Sabbath? What if your ox falls into a ditch?

Here and in other parts of Mark (and the other gospels) we see Jesus focus on the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law.
Jesus is not concerned with technicalities. Jesus is concerned with hungry people getting food, with healing and wholeness.  Like it says in Mark 2:27, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath."

Jesus heals on the Sabbath -again!
The folks in the synagogue are confronted with controversy. I wonder if they are torn, if they just want to do what is best, what God desires. He heals a man with a withered hand on the sabbath, but before he does he asks them "is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" When no one says anything Jesus gets MAD. When you think about Jesus, what emotions do you see him experiencing? What emotions do you expect him to experience? Does angry Jesus melt your brain at all? What else does Jesus get mad about? Maybe start marking where Jesus shows anger.

When Mark gives us the list of disciples he lists Judas last, saying "... and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." This detail reminds us of the end of the gospel.

Questions to Consider
This is not the first encounter we've seen Jesus have with a demon.  What do you make of demons and Jesus' relationship with them?
What do you make of the section when Jesus' family sends for him?  

This chapter is parable heavy.
We start with the Parable of the Sower.  Jesus tells this one from a boat pushed out into the sea because the crowds were so big. N. T. Wright writes about this parable, saying, "People were expecting a great moment of renewal. They believed that Israel would be rescued lock, stock, and barrel; God's kingdom would explode onto the world stage in a blaze of glory. How does Jesus' parable offer a different vision of Israel and its future?"

Mark 4:10-12 is a confusing bit of scripture. You may have noticed as you read that there is a rhythm of teaching the crowds and then going to a private place to talk to the disciples. We see that here.  Jesus, the twelve, and other disciples are alone together and they ask Jesus about parables. He says, "to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that..." and then we have a quote from Isaiah, "they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven."

Pheme Perkins writes that '... the larger group of disciples from whom the Twelve were selected are included in this instruction. They have been identified as Jesus' new family (Mark 3:31-35). Consequently, they have already shown themselves to be responsive to the preaching of Jesus."

Basically, from what I've read, scholars are conflicted about what these three verses really mean.  Perkins continues, "the term translated 'secret' -mysterion-serves as the Greek rendering of the Aramaic term raz... Verse 11 appears to promise that the reader is about to be told the 'mystery' of the kingdom of God. Yet no such revelation occurs."

Other scholars think this relates to the "messianic secret" or Jesus' tendency to not want a lot of folks knowing about what he's doing. N. T. Wright asks us to consider, "why might Jesus not want some listeners to understand what he is saying?"

At the end of the chapter Jesus stills the sea. In the ancient world the sea represented chaos.  The only one who was able to control chaos was God.
Everyday life can feel very chaotic. We might not be in a literal boat in a windstorm, but sometimes it can feel like that in our minds, our bodies, our spirits.
What comfort does it give you to know that God is able to control chaos? Does that knowledge mean you live your life differently than you would without that insight? 

This chapter can be broken into two parts – verses 1-20 The Gerasene Demoniac and verses 21-46 Two Healing Stories

Gerasene Demoniac
Jesus crosses the sea into Gentile Territory. Pheme Perkins writes, “Jesus is breaking down barriers that separate Jews from Gentiles, clean from unclean.” 
You get a sense of chaos when you read about the experience of the man with the unclean spirit. He lives alone, among tombs. He is literally living in the land of the dead. This is the opposite of a connected and abundant life. He is unable to engage in community.

The disciples just endured the chaos of the windstorm on the sea.  The theme of chaos continues with this man who lives in constant chaos.
Perkins writes, “Jewish ritual practices separate the world into categories of clean and unclean. When heard within that context, the elements of impurity in this story are piled one upon another: unclean spirit, dwelling among tombs, and a large herd of swine.”

What’s a legion?
When Jesus asks for the name of the demon they respond, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” Many spirits possess this one man – no wonder he was totally cut off from everyone else.

So, what exactly is a legion anyway? Perkins tells us – “At full strength, a legion consisted of 6,000 infantry, 120 cavalry, and associated auxiliaries.”
Legion asks not to be sent from that country, but they end up in the sea. Perkins – “Although the demons try to avoid being driven out of the country, they wind up in the sea (the waters of chaos), where they belong.”

Questions to consider
Why do you think the people beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood?
Why did Jesus refuse to let the healed man follow him, and instead directed him to go tell his friends what the Lord had done?

Two Healing Stories
Jesus gets into the boat again and goes back into Jewish territory. On his way to heal the daughter of a leader of the synagogue Jesus heals a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.

Both Jairus (the leader of the synagogue) and the woman with the hemorrhage fall at Jesus’ feet. Jairus to ask Jesus for healing, the woman after she had been healed. People from Jairus’ house come to tell him it’s no use, that his daughter is dead, but Jesus goes to her anyway. He takes her by the hand and tells her to get up. This reminds us of what he says to the paralytic in chapter 2. We see at the end of this scene more of the “messianic secret”- Jesus not wanting too much information to spread about him.
 
Healing does not just restore a person to health, but it stretches further. Their bodies are healed AND they are restored to community. The Gerasene Demoniac is no longer a demoniac, but a free person now able to live a connected and abundant life.

Many of the purity laws kept folks with conditions and diseases out of the community, living on the fringes. Here we see the power of Jesus not only to heal physically, but to bring wholeness, connection, and abundant life.
Once again Jesus tells the folks he’s healed not to spread that information around.

Healing is something we see Jesus do often in Mark and the other gospels, but that is not his only purpose. I wonder if asking folks to keep this secret was a way for Jesus to encourage the crowds to focus on other aspects of Jesus’ purpose and calling and not reduce him to just a person who heals?

How do you feel when you read a healing story? Does it bring up negative emotion? Positive? A mix of both?
 
Have you ever been in Jairus’ position? Or the woman with the hemorrhage’s position? If so, how do you find these stories? 

Chapter 6
Mark 6 begins with a visit to Jesus’ hometown.

This scene is in stark contrast to everything that happened in chapter 5. Jesus is able to restore the man possessed by Legion, able to heal a woman of chronic illness, able to give life again to a girl who had died. We see the faith and trust of Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage. We get the opposite of faith and trust in Nazareth.
The folks in Nazareth are astounded, which sounds like the other stories we’ve read about Jesus teaching in synagogues. We expect the whole town to crowd around the door like in other places, but instead Jesus leaves amazed at their unbelief.  

Because the people let their preconceived notions about who Jesus is block the way, Jesus is unable to do any deeds of power in his hometown. Can you think of anything blocking you from Jesus? Do assumptions or expectations, like we see in Nazareth, block the way? Or something else?

Next Jesus sends the twelve out to teach. He gives specific instructions, so that the disciples must depend on God and trust the process, rather than rely on their own skill, power, and resources.
 
The disciples are able to cast out demons and cure the sick because they share Jesus’ authority and mission. They are extensions of Jesus’ ministry. How is what we do as a church an extension of Jesus’ ministry and mission?

Then we get the story of how John the Baptist was killed. It comes up because Mark tells us that Herod heard about Jesus and the different stories about the identity of Jesus. Some said that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. Others said Jesus was Elijah or a prophet.
 
This story clues us into the potential danger Jesus faces.

After the story about John our focus shifts back to Jesus. The disciples are back from their mission, and they tell him everything that happened. Jesus understands the cost of such ministry and so the plan is to rest awhile in a deserted place.

But the crowds see where they are going and get there first. When Jesus sees all the people, he has compassion for them and teaches them. Jesus does this until late and the disciples start to wonder about the plan for dinner.
 
Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” But the disciples believe that request is as impossible as it is overwhelming. And yet, thousands of people are fed.

The number twelve keeps coming up – twelve disciples, the woman suffered with hemorrhages for twelve years, Jairus’ daughter is twelve, and now there are twelve baskets of leftovers. What do you make of that?
 
When you have an overwhelming and impossible problem, how do you solve it? Next time you come to such a problem start with prayer. Tell God about it and ask for guidance. Maybe there is a way through you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.

Immediately after they collect the twelve baskets of leftovers, they’re in a boat again. But Jesus stays on shore, choosing to pray on the mountain. The disciples are rowing against a strong wind and Jesus walks by on the water. They are terrified but are comforted when they hear Jesus’ voice.
 
Here again, knowing that in the ancient world the sea was a symbol of chaos is helpful for us as we read this story. The only one who can control chaos is God. Jesus walking on water is Jesus having power over the sea, having power over chaos. 
Mark tells us that the disciples, “were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”

N.T. Wright invites us to consider, “What have the disciples not understood about the loaves that they should have?”

This line about hardened hearts brings us back to the top of the chapter- to Jesus’ hometown crowd and their response to his teaching. 
What causes our hearts to be hardened?

We open Chapter 7 with another controversy story. The controversy this time is over questions about customs of purification. This helps develop our view of Jesus as teacher. As we explore this story, think about what the Pharisees would say is the problem, and then think about what Jesus would say is the problem.

This section develops a theme we’ve seen before in Mark – concerns about what is clean and unclean. Pheme Perkins writes, “Instead of concern with external categories, Jesus insist that impurity comes from within.”

N.T. Wright asks, “In 7:1-23 how does Jesus say both that sometimes people don’t take Scripture seriously enough and that sometimes they take it too far?” What examples of this do we see in modern life?
 
The scene with the Syrophoenician Woman is a fascinating one. Perkins writes, “The boundaries that have been set aside in Jesus’ treatment of the purity rules are crossed in this episode. Jesus ventures into Gentile territory. While there, he heals a Gentile child after losing a verbal sparring match to her mother.”

Jesus comes off as hostile. A little background might help us understand why- Perkins tells us a theory brought forth by Biblical scholar Gerd Theissen dealing with socioeconomic causes for hostility between the Jewish populace in the outlying regions around Tyre and Sidon and the Gentiles dwelling in those cities-
 
“Upper Galilee exported produce through the costal cities. The cities, in turn, depended on these regions for food. In periods of crisis or food shortage, the populace of the hinterlands may have resented producing goods for the wealthy cities. Jesus’ saying, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs’ can be read in the light of that situation. Those who produced the food, Jewish peasant farmers, see their work consumed by others.”

What do you make of this story? How does it feel to encounter a hostile Jesus? How does tone of voice change the meaning of Jesus’ words? We have the words written, but how would our experience of them change if we were able to hear them? Was Jesus speaking in a teasing tone, tongue-in-cheek? Was he taking the assumed prejudice to its logical extreme?

We close out the chapter with another healing, and another time Jesus orders the witnesses of a healing to tell no one. But they don’t follow his orders. Instead they say, “He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” This reminds us of Isaiah 35:5-6 which is all about expectation for the messiah’s arrival. It says, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

Chapter 8 begins with hungry people being feed – thousands of them, with seven loaves of bread.

Why do you think the disciples react how they do, asking the question, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” Shouldn’t they have known what Jesus was able to do after the feeding of the five thousand?
 
What does “bread in the desert” make you think of? It brings to my mind manna in the wilderness – see Exodus 16.

Next Mark uses various meanings of blindness to show that the people are not able to receive Jesus’ message. The Pharisees ask for a sign. The Pharisees have already been antagonistic to Jesus. Do you think if Jesus were to provide a sign they would believe? What could Jesus say or do to get them to see Jesus is from God? Their preconceived notions blind them to who Jesus is; like in Nazareth.

The disciples’ understanding of who Jesus is and what he is trying to communicate begins to decline. Jesus gets frustrated at their inability to comprehend his message. They interpret Jesus’ criticism as being about them forgetting bread, when it’s about their hard heartedness. Like the Pharisees, like the people in Nazareth, hard heartedness blinds the people to who Jesus is.

There are a few times in the gospels when yeast is spoken of negatively. Perkins writes, “as a metaphor, leaven or yeast frequently carries negative overtones, since it was thought to work by creating decay in the dough.”

Then we have a healing story of a man who is blind. Jesus heals him, but not all the way, his sight is not restored completely at first. Jesus lays his hands on him a second time and then he can see clearly. This story is used by Mark as commentary on the next section, when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, but he is unwilling to accept the fullness of what that means for Jesus. Peter gets it half right.
 
When Jesus asks who people say he is one of the answers is Elijah. This is the second time we hear speculation that Jesus is Elijah. Elijah’s story is in 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Elijah was a prophet and didn’t die but was taken into heaven. You can read that story in 2 Kings 2. Many people at the time believed that the messiah they longed for would be Elijah, back on earth from heaven.

When Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah Jesus gives them more information about what that means exactly. But the suffering and death (and resurrection) were never part of the people’s hopes and dreams for a messiah. The disciples can’t wrap their minds around it. They are blind to who Jesus is and what he will do.

Chapter 8 ends with Jesus drawing the crowds to him. This is the opposite of what’s happened so far in the gospel- Jesus is usually trying to get away from the crowds. Jesus highlights for the crowds the risk of discipleship. When Mark wrote his gospel the followers of Jesus were feeling the danger of following Jesus.
 
We live in a very different context that Mark’s original audience. What risks do you see or feel in following Jesus today?