Mark: The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Would you rather be wanted or needed? Why?
Share a time when you felt needed but not wanted.
How does it encourage you today to remember that God doesn’t need you, but He does want a
relationship with you?
Read Mark 3:7-12
What did you learn about the pressures that Jesus faced and the busyness of his life?
How does this remind you that Jesus knows what you feel on your crazy days?
Mark refers to the “crowd” 40x in his gospel and it is never in a positive light. Why do you think
that is?
They are passive, obstruct access to Jesus, never are shown to repent/believe, and are not a measure of the success of Jesus’ ministry.* We see the crowds are falling upon Jesus, we see the demons falling before Jesus.
What do we learn about these two groups of people in their response to Jesus?
What warning do they give to us today in regard to how we respond to Jesus?

Read Mark 3:13-19
What is something you have learned about how Jesus called his disciples in this passage?
Mark points back to Moses and God creating the nation of Israel (Exodus 19:5–6)
Why is the number 12 significant?
How does it encourage you to be reminded that God continues writing the same story instead of starting over?
Talk about the significance the call of Jesus: Who Jesus called: “those whom he desired” Why Jesus called them: “so that they might be with him” What Jesus called them to do: “he might send them out” We, like the original twelve, are invited to be a disciple of Jesus.
What would it look like for you to embrace the truth that you are one that he desires, that
Jesus desires for you to be with him, and Jesus desires to send you out?
Then, and now, Jesus is always calling His disciples to intimacy before ministry. How can you move toward deeper intimacy with Jesus this week?
In Acts 4:13, we see the defining characteristic of the disciples was that “they had been with Jesus.” Pray that this would be true of us today.

When was a time when you were exhausted?
What contributed to your exhaustion?
How did you experience rest?
Have you ever had a season in life where you felt exhausted by religion? Why?
What comes to mind when you hear the word “religion”?
Why is it that when we think of “religion” we rarely think about “rest”?
Would you say that your relationship with Jesus is defined by rest or by religion?
What does it look like for you to “rest from religion”?
Read Mark 2:23-28
What encourages you or surprises you about this passage?
How have you taken something God intended as a blessing and made it a burden?
Read Mark 3:1-6
What encourages you or surprises you about this passage?
How have you seen a gift from God taken and used for harm to hurt others?
Read Genesis 2:1-3 and Hebrews 1:1-4, 10:14
How does it encourage you to see that God rests when he is finished, not because he is tired?
What in your life do you consider finished? What is unfinished?
How can we find rest by trusting in what Jesus has finished for us?
One of the reasons we are worn out by religion is our motivations are wrong. Religion says we must obey so that we are made worthy. The gospel proclaims Jesus has made us worthy therefore we obey out of love.
Why is a clear understanding of gospel so important?

Instead of demanding that we climb the ladder of religion to get to God, Jesus came down as a result, the gap between us and God is now reason for celebration and worship because it points to what Jesus has finished for us!
What would it look like this week for you to respond to the invitation from Jesus to rest:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

How was God speaking to you this morning?
How are you encouraged by His Word?

READ Mark 2:13-17

Misunderstanding 1: Who Jesus Came For

READ Mark 2:17. What was Jesus wanting the Pharisees to hear when He said this?

How did the Pharisees misunderstand who Jesus was and who He came for?

Do you see the challenge…the conviction…and the encouragement in this passage? The challenge is to love others like Jesus loved them…the conviction is to not view yourself as better than others…the encouragement is that Jesus came for you and me.

READ Mark 2:18-22

Misunderstanding 2: What Jesus Came to Do

The Wedding Feast: What was Jesus trying to communicate to Johns disciples and the Pharisees in this example? Jesus came to bring joy not sadness, which was the demeanor for most when fasting.

How was fasting in Scripture connected to the presence of God? And why did Jesus’ disciples not need to fast? Think about the purpose of fasting before Christ came and the purpose of fasting for us now.

The Fabric and Fermentation: What was Jesus trying to communicate to Johns disciples and the Pharisees in this example? Jesus came to introduce something new, not patch the old

Take some time to talk about this quote…How does this connect to the clarification of His coming?
The great, central, decisive act of salvation for us today is past, not future. And on the basis of that past work of the Bridegroom, nothing can ever be the same again. The wine is new. The blood is shed. The Lamb is slain. The punishment of our sin is executed. Death is defeated. The Bridegroom is risen. The Spirit is sent. The wine is new. And the old fasting mindset is simply not adequate. John Piper

When are looking for something we want it can cloud our ability to see reality because of what we want to see. How can we ensure that we are looking for the real Jesus, rather than the Jesus we want him to be as we study the Gospel of Mark?

Read Mark 1:29-45
In the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law we see a pattern that will be repeated in most of Jesus’ healing miracles:
Touch of the healer / Immediate cure / Action by the cured person demonstrating they are well.
Why is this pattern important?
At the conclusion of the Sabbath, people flock to Jesus for healing.
How are these healings and casting out of demons representative of how Jesus came to restore a broken world?
The people come for physical healing from Jesus, what do you come to Jesus for today?
In Mark 1:35-39, we find Jesus praying. This is the first of three times in the book of Mark that we find Jesus praying (Mark 6:46, Mark 14:35-36).
What do we learn about the significance of prayer to Jesus from these three instances
that Mark gives us?
Why do you think it important to prioritize time with God, and how can we make this a habit in
our daily lives?
What prevents you from spending regular time with God?
We see Jesus prioritize the time, escape the noise, and reorient his priorities to align with God’s ways through prayer. He is motivated by a relationship, not a religious obligation.
What motivates your time with God?
Simon finally finds Jesus and declares “Everyone is looking for you!”
How are you “looking for Jesus” today?
Jesus heals a leper, but the request is not just for healing, but to be “clean.”
Why was this so important?
We, like the leper, are “unclean” before God without Jesus. Sin separates us from God and impacts all aspects of our life.
How have you experienced the effect of sin separating you from relationships?
Jesus told the leper not to tell anyone, but he did anyway. As a result, chapter 1 ends with Jesus out in the desolate places and the leper back in the city. Jesus took our place by carrying our sins so that we could be made clean.
How is this encounter with the leper pointing us to what Jesus would later do on the cross?