Today’s passage: Mark 12:13-34

Helpful thoughts:

• Different leaders over the Jewish  people (The Pharisees and Herodians) had a common enemy, Jesus.  They united to ramp up the pressure against Him.  But, no human authority can intimidate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
• Jesus gave a striking rebuke of the Sadducees.  Their errant question was a result of ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God, certainly things they would have prided themselves on.  The Chief Priests were from the sect of the Sadducees.
• Jesus affirmed the commands from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18 as the greatest commandments in Scripture.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the heart motive of all these questions?  How did the Pharisees and Herodians think they had Jesus duped?  Why did the Sadducees think they had Him cornered?
2. What is the difference between the scribe in verses 28-34 and those who had already questioned Jesus?
3. Why didn’t the people “dare” to ask Jesus more questions?  What kinds of questions would Jesus have gladly invited?  What else did the scribe need to know to find the kingdom of God?

Today’s passage: Mark 12:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• In this parable, Israel is the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-5), the tenants are her leaders, God is the owner.
• The way the tenants treated the son was directly indicative of their respect (Or, lack thereof) for the owner of the vineyard.
  • The quote from verses 10-11 is taken from Psalm 118:22-23.  This was a known Messianic Psalm.  The Jews would have known Jesus was calling Himself the “stone” or the Messiah.
• The Jewish leaders also knew that Jesus was talking about them!  They had just been told they were striving against God and rejecting the Messiah.  Their response?  Seek to arrest Him.

Questions to consider:

1. What “inheritance” did the Jewish leaders want for themselves?  How could their fear in verse 12 help answer this question?  What did the Messiah have that they wanted to badly?
2. What did this opposition to God lead to?  Did their opposition change God’s plan?  Did they thwart Christ?  What is there to be gained from rebelling against the Lord?
3. In whose eyes is the Lord’s doing, “Marvelous?”  How did the rejection of the “stone” produce that which is marvelous and become the cornerstone for what God now continues to build? (1 Peter 2:4-8)

Today’s passage: Mark 11:12-33

Helpful thoughts:

• Two accounts are told in conjunction with each other in today’s passage.  This suggests there is a connection between them
  • The cursing of the fig tree:
    • In the Old Testament, the fig tree was used as a metaphor for Israel (Jeremiah 8:13).
    • When the fig tree’s leaves come, it has the appearance of bearing fruit.  But no fruit was found.
  • The cleansing of the Temple and Jewish leaders’ response:
    • The Temple was called a house of prayer for the nations in Isaiah 56:7.
    • Because of the hypocrisy and greed of the leadership, the Temple had an appearance of godliness but it was not bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.
• The “moving of a mountain” was used as a metaphor in that culture.  Jesus was not challenging them to move literal mountains, but encouraging them to ask for what they would consider to be impossible.
• Jesus responded to the religious leaders’ “gotcha” question with a question of his own.  All of the religious leaders’ cleverness and safety in numbers could never had stood a chance against God and the truth.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the “leaves” of apparent godliness in our day and age (Or, in our church background)?  Meaning, are there some ways a person could be part of our church and appear godly without others ever knowing if they truly love the Lord?  How do we grow in sincerely encouraging one another in fruitfulness?
2. How does verse 25 (Along with James 4:3 and 1 John 5:14) help us as we think about our heart’s motives in prayer?  What are the kinds of mountains which God would delight to move in response to our prayers?  What should our heart be toward others and toward the Lord when we pray?
3. What can we learn from Jesus’ response in verses 27-33?  What were the religious leaders really living for?  Why did they fear to answer Jesus’ question?  How does the fear of the Lord and confidence in the truth repel the fear of man?

Today’s passage: Mark 11:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• In Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, he is hailed as the promised Messiah in Jerusalem.
• In riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.
• The people cried out words from Psalm 118:25-26.
  • The people are looking for freedom from the Romans, not from their sin.
  • The palm branches were a national symbol.  Jesus riding into the city at the beginning of Passover (Celebrating their freedom from Egypt) would have been equated with what they’d hoped he would do for Israel now that they were under the authority of Rome.

Questions to consider:

1. On this day, the Jews called Jesus their Messiah.  What would they do at the end of the week (Mark 15:12-14)?
2. In what way was Israel so close to understanding who Jesus was?  In what way were they so far away?  What was it they wanted?  Who did they want Jesus to be for them?
3. From what had Jesus come to save His people?  Why is it right to cry out, “Hosannah!” (Matthew 1:21)

Today’s passage: Mark 10:35-52

Helpful thoughts:

• James and John (And quite possibly the rest of the disciples) thought first of their position, their rank.  Jesus turns their attention to their actions.
• The Son of Man came to serve.  Christ served us by giving up His life, dying for our sin.
• Jesus’ role as servant is put on display in Jericho.  Jesus deserved to see everyone bow their knee.  Instead, the blind (Whom the world would have looked down upon) were calling on Him for service.

Questions to consider:

1. How does man often think about authority?  What does gaining authority actually result in?
2. What then does it look like to become more like Christ in this world?  Should we expect to be treated more regally?
3. If we are serving for the praise of man or to gain power, what frustrations will soon come?  What is the right motive to serve?  How can we keep that in mind when interacting with servant-leaders in our lives?  How could we be an encouragement to them?

Today’s passage: Mark 10:17-34

Helpful thoughts:

• A major contrast is given in this passage:
  • A man who is “rich” by the world’s standards who is not willing to give up his possessions to follow Jesus.
  •  A God who is “meek and lowly,” willing to leave His glory to make possible what would be impossible for mankind, the salvation of our souls. (Matthew 11:29, Philippians 2:5-8)
• The man’s reliance on his possessions is also contrasting with the previous passage concerning child-like faith.
• This rich young man was going to reject Jesus, but the offer was still presented.  We don’t know who will repent and put their faith in Christ, but our mission is still the same.  Preach the Gospel to everyone (Mark 16:15)

Questions to consider:

1. What is the answer to the quasi riddle given in verse 18?  Why is Jesus “good?”  What statement was Jesus making in this verse?
2. Why was this crowd “exceedingly astonished” in verse 26?  What had Jesus just told them?  What hope did they (Or any person) have of entering the kingdom based on what Jesus had just said?
3. Why is it impossible for man to enter the kingdom of God (On our own)?  What can’t we undo that already disqualifies us?  How has God made it possible for us to enter? (Romans 3:21-26)

Today’s passage: Mark 10:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• When crowds gathered, Jesus taught (John 8:31-32).
• In response to this disingenuous question from the Pharisees (They had used the law as a permission to divorce at will, for any reason), Jesus not only reiterated God’s purpose for the permanence of marriage, but He also affirmed God’s design for gender, for heterosexual marriage, for the link between sexual intimacy and marriage, etc.
  • This is all from Genesis 1 and 2.
• Jesus was willing to serve children.  Caring for them is not beneath God, nor us.
• A child’s content and peace is rooted in the fact that without the leadership, love and provision of the adults that care for them, they wouldn’t survive.  They have to trust in others to provide for them entirely.  This is how we enter the kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Questions to consider:

1. Knowing what we also know from Matthew 19:9 and 1 Corinthians 7:15, what was the overall point Jesus was making when speaking about marriage and divorce in these verses?  If we are reading the Bible to find out what we can and can’t “get away with” what has gone wrong in our hearts already?  With what countenance should we approach God’s Word?
2. Why is it wrong for people to argue that Jesus never spoke about sexuality or anything pertaining to the LGBTQ movement?  How does this very passage speak to that?  What has Jesus affirmed?
3. What does it mean to have faith like a child?  Why isn’t it about being gullible or blissfully ignorant?  How does the description above point us to the truth of the Gospel and our need to wholly rely on God’s grace for our salvation?

Today’s passage: Mark 9:33-50

Helpful thoughts:

• Three major thoughts are presented in this passage:
  • The “greatest” in the kingdom of God is the servant of all.
  • The one who is not against us is for us.
  • Radical amputation (If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off).
• All three of these thoughts have been taught extensively independently, but they are being taught together here by Christ as one larger lesson.
• All three teachings are connected to how we relate to other people.
  • If we think too highly of ourselves, we won’t see those whom God has given us to serve.
  • If we think the only good ministry that exists has to come from us, we will thwart others (And ourselves).  God is the one at work, we are His vessels.
  • Our sin hurts others, damages peace in the church, and prevents us from being effective in the world.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way are these three passages different, and how are they the same?
2. What is the main application of these teaching from Jesus?  How are we to view ourselves in relation to others (Philippians 2:3-4)?
3. Why is a knowledge of how my sin hurts others and prevents effective ministry such a better motivation to seek repentance than seeing change as a personal achievement?  Which motivation is rooted in love and more like Christ?  How might you practically and specifically apply these thoughts to fight against sin in your own life?

Today’s passage: Mark 9:14-32

Helpful thoughts:

• While Jesus was away, the disciples struggled to represent Him accurately.  Though we do not perform miracles like the one in this passage today, the church continues to represent Jesus while we await His return.
• The power of prayer and the need of faith/belief are presented in these verses.
• The acknowledgement that faith and belief are a gracious gift from God is also acknowledged.  “I believe, help my unbelief.”
  • The struggle of the disciples to believe what Jesus taught them up to this point is emphasized.  It would take God’s grace to give them belief later after the resurrection.

Questions to consider:

1. If you had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and then immediately after saw religious people arguing with each other, what would you be thinking about?  How would your perspective be different?  How can you apply this to your relationships in the church today?
2. How are the people and the disciples treating physical miracles compared to the spiritual healing Jesus had come to bring?  How can this imbalance lead to further unbelief?  If we were to wrongly teach that more belief would cause healing from this passage, how would we fall into the very same trap?
3. What is the irony of the statement, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men…”?  How did God make a way of salvation from sin, through the sin of men?