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?

Today’s passage: Mark 9:2-13

Helpful thoughts:

• What…a…moment!
  • Peter, James and John saw Christ in His glory.
  • They saw Moses and Elijah and they heard them talking to Jesus.
    • Remember, they wouldn’t have known what Moses and Elijah looked like any more than we would.  They had to have heard their conversation!
      • Luke 9:31 tells us what they talked about, which confirms the disciples heard it.
      • It is believed that Moses and Elijah also represented the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah).  Christ fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, they point to Him, and these men serve Him.
  • While they were still processing all of this, they were covered by a cloud/fog and God the Father audibly declared the identity of Christ and the command to listen to Him.
  • Then, the moment came to a sudden end.
• The disciples came down the mountain with two questions in mind.  They only asked one.  With His answer, Jesus addressed both.
• The promise of Elijah had come through the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist (Malachi 3:1, Luke 1:17).

Questions to consider:

1. Why is the “Mount of Transfiguration” moment so important?  What was accomplished in what we just read?  What was revealed?  Who is Jesus?
2. What does the disciples’ question in verse 11 teach us about their knowledge of the Scriptures?  Did they know everything before Jesus called them?  Were they taken up that mountain because of their impressive religious resumes?
3. How might this passage give us an insight to Heaven?  What will all those whose Lord is Christ one day see and hear?

Today’s passage: Mark 8:31-9:1

Helpful thoughts:

• After the spiritual high of claiming Jesus as the Christ, Peter now rebukes Jesus for thinking He would be killed and rise again.
• Peter was not possessed, by his thoughts and comments were like Satan’s.
  • When we do not think about God’s good design and will and instead care more about our own design and will (Which inevitably will result in our will contradicting God’s), we are mimicking the heart of Satan.
  • Our goal must be to delight in the Lord so that His will is our will (Psalm 37:4).  Losing “our life” for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the Gospel.
• It is believed that those who did not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God (9:1) would have been the disciples who saw Christ glorified at the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-18).

Questions to consider:

1. Verse 34-38 can be so hard to read and meditate upon.  Why is that?  What makes these verses so powerful and often so difficult?
2. In what way would Peter have needed to repent specifically?  How does that event tie in to Jesus’ words in verses 34-38?
3. Our response to verse 38 might be a greater boldness, but what are we to be bold about?  What are some other things we might be prone to get bold about faster than we would the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Today’s passage: Mark 8:22-30

Helpful thoughts:

• After a few references in previous passages to the people’s inability to “see” who Jesus is, this man would be healed from his blindness, not in town, but out of town, for the disciples to see (And to “See”).
• The disciples had yet to “see” just who Jesus is, and what they had come to understand was going to be acknowledged hear in verse 29.  Yet, they did not fully understand.  The lack of clarity in the blind man’s initial phase of healing may be an example to the disciples of this reality.
• The spiritual eyes of the disciples were being opened, but they would not fully understand until after the resurrection.

Questions to consider:

1. If Jesus wanted to show the world the “signs” of healing in order to gather as much attention toward Himself as possible, what would He have told that formerly blind man to do after His healing?  What did He tell the man to do instead?  What was the purpose of this healing if it happened outside of town for only the disciples to see?
2. Who is Jesus?  What are the implications of this reality?  What must be our response to this truth?
3. After seeing the responses of the people to the coming of Jesus, what does it appear the people really wanted when they thought about the coming of the Messiah?  Whose pleasure and glory were they after?  How does this give evidence for the reason why Jesus came in the first place?  What did He need to do in His first advent?

Today’s passage: Mark 8:11-21

Helpful thoughts:

• For additional details concerning verse 11-13, read Matthew 12:38-42.
  • If all these Pharisees wanted was some visual evidence, then there was plenty of evidence to have been seen.  And there would be evidence to come in the resurrection.
  • No sign or declaration from the heavens would have been enough (Luke 16:31).  What they needed (And what all people need) is a change of heart.
• Leaven represented sin.  The “leaven” of the sinful actions and teaching of the Pharisees had been working to “leaven the whole lump” of Israel (1 Corinthians 5:6-7).
• Even though they had been with Jesus throughout this time, even the disciples did not yet understand.  Even once they did, Jesus informed them who had opened their eyes and ears to the truth (Matthew 16:16-17).

Questions to consider:

1. How does the end of verse 11 really show the motive behind the request from the Pharisees?  What did they expect (And want) Jesus to do?  Did they want Him to be their Messiah?  What must be the condition of our hearts when we come to the Lord in His Word and in prayer?
2. What parallel can we see in this passage between Jesus’ healing the physically blind and deaf with the characteristics of an unbelieving heart?  What healing do the hearts of mankind need to be able to see and hear the truth?
3. Are there any concerns that are consuming your thoughts today?  How can this passage help you to trust the Lord and keep those concerns from becoming a blind-fold, preventing you from seeing Christ?

Today’s passage: Mark 8:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• This is a second miraculous feeding of a multitude of people.  Mark records both instances, here and in chapter 6.
• It appears that this feeding of a multitude happens in Gentile territory.  Jesus has also come to “feed” the Gentiles (John 6:35).
• These 4,000 people gathered and listened to Jesus’ teaching for 3 days straight with no food.  Jesus feeds them beyond satisfaction in more than one way.

Questions to consider:

1. What differences can you find in this account from Mark 6:30-44 that indicate this is a distinct miracle?
2. Why does verse 4 seem odd?  How would we suspect the disciples should have answered Jesus’ question?  Why didn’t they (Mark 6:52)?  How can this encourage us in our faithfulness as we proclaim the gospel message to the lost?
3. What can we see in Jesus and learn from verse 3?  How might He have displayed His omniscience? What was His concern?  How did He show compassion?

Today’s passage: Mark 7:24-37

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus travelled outside of Judea, into Gentile regions.  In this passage, we see the precursor to the spread of the church beyond the Jewish people.
• The challenge in verse 27 appears to be a test.  It could sound offensive, but it also includes hope.  Jesus and His message was given to the Jews first, but it would also be given to the Gentiles.
• The people in these regions were not to spread the news of Jesus’ miracles.  The people wanted Jesus for something less than what He had ultimately come to bring.

Questions to consider:

1. Why do you think Jesus sighed before healing the man in verse 34?  What might have been wearing on Him?  What has he continually been trying to accomplish (See verse 24)?  Why do people keep finding Him, what do they want?
2. What does Jesus continue to show He has power over?  Even though these miracles aren’t the greatest thing Jesus came to do, to what truth do they attest?
3. How might we rephrase the final statement in verse 37 in a way nearer to the heart of God?  Jesus can make the physically deaf hear and the physically mute speak, but more than that, He can even…

Today’s passage: Mark 7:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• The Pharisees gathered and scribes were sent from Jerusalem to find fault in Jesus and how He was leading His disciples.  All they found was that Jesus did not enforce their supplementary (And at times contradictory) man-made traditions.
• In response to this errant rebuke, Jesus quoted Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 29:13) and gave them a specific example of how they had come to use a man-made tradition to disobey God and feel spiritual about it.
  • The word “corban” means, dedicated to God.  If their hearts and money was truly dedicated to God, they would have used it to obey Him.  This is Jesus’ argument.
• Man needs a purified heart to be restored to God, not just a better habit of washing his hands.
  • Our actions and words do not come from without, they come from within our own hearts/minds.  (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Questions to consider:

1. Would it be possible for us to organize or participate in church in ways that are contrary to God’s commands and teaching because we prefer our own way?  What is the only way we would actually know if we have?  What is the final authority?  What can we be prone to do when how we do things becomes “comfortable,” even if it disagrees with God’s Word?
2. Why were all of the ceremonially unclean foods from the OT Law made “clean” by Jesus’ statement in this passage (Verse 18-19)?  How did the Law teach us about our greater need (Romans 3:20)?
3. There are so many things we could focus our attention on as a church?  But what should our greatest focus be?  How does this passage help us to see this?  What then is the purpose for everything else our church does (From the leadership, to the building and property, to the music and media, etc.)?  How does a unity of overall purpose help a church stay united in the details?