mark one

My wife and I are starting a Bible study in our house next Tuesday with the twin goals of encouraging other Christians to deepen in their faith and bringing nonbelievers into the fold. The study will be bi-weekly, and will begin with the gospel of Mark.

We'll be going through one chapter every meeting, beginning with Mark 1. What follows are my notes and questions, not necessarily what I will be sharing during the actual study. I myself don't necessarily plan to post finished thoughts or conclusions here, except as part of an ongoing discussion.

1. Why does Mark describe John the Baptist's clothing and tell us what he ate?
2. Why is John's arrival significant and worth mentioning?
3. If John's baptism was for forgiveness of sins, and Jesus was sinless, why did he get baptized?
4. Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness is suggestive of Moses' time on Mount Sinai and Elijah's time fleeing to Mount Horeb. (Elijah even called Elisha to follow him after he returned.) Why does Jesus spend this time out in the wilderness? And then why does he do it again after he's been healing people?
5. How do you interpret Jesus' statement that "The time has come, the kingdom of God is near?" (After all, if the time has come, why isn't the kingdom of God here already? Seems kind of an oxymoron.)
6. When Jesus begins teaching in the synagogue, why does the unclean spirit identify him for everyone else -- after all, wouldn't it prefer people not know who Jesus is? -- and why does he command it to be silent? And why does he do the same thing with the leper?
7. Given that Jesus teaches with authority and demonstrates authority over unclean spirits and illness, why does Mark say he was unable to enter a town? Wouldn't people be opening up the city to him to heal their sick?
8. The chapter quotes from the Tanakh in several places, describing John the Baptist (Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3) and during Jesus' baptism (Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1). WHat do these references suggest about Jesus?
9. Characteristics we see of Christ in this chapter: his goals are bigger than those of his disciples, his compassion for the sick, his authority, and his respect for the law (cf. his instructions to the leper to present himself to the priest.
10. Areas we can draw lessons from: time in the wilderness to get our heads on straight, exercising authority properly, attitudes toward others' authority, taking opportunities afforded us to teach, people's faith and how we respond to it.

Touching on No. 6, my study Bible also notes that it was a common occult belief in the Middle East that knowing a person's name gives you power over them. In other words, by naming Jesus, the spirit could have been trying to gain authority over him, an attempt Jesus dealt with quickly by commanding the spirit to silence and ordering it to come out of the man.

Since Mark deals substantially with Jesus' authority, this reading also makes some sense.