Map - Mark 3:7-8

People were coming from pretty much this entire map (about 150 mile span) to see and touch Jesus.

To the North, Tyre (and Sidon just off the top of the map).
To the South, the region of Idumea
To the East, "beyond the Jordan."

Mark 3.7-35 Discussion Prompts

Community Building

• Dream together about externally focused service you might try for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season: follow up on your Love Chico involvement, invite international students to your holiday celebrations, participate with Jesus Center or Torres Shelter, Christmas gifts to foster home children……. 

The Text: Mark 3.7-35

• Ask someone who enjoys reading aloud to read these verses.
• What impacted us from Lou’s sermon on these stories?

Discussion Questions:

• Make some basic observations: who, what, where, repeated words and themes, contrasts, definitions….
• Review the context of these stories: do you see any connections back to what we’ve discussed so far in Mark?
• What is especially interesting about Jesus’ appointment of 12 apostles? What is Jesus’ criterion for appointing these 12? What is their job description? Why the new names for some? Why the editorial note that Judas betrayed Jesus?
• What is it that Jesus’ family heard that prompted them to come seize Jesus? What do you think about Jesus’ redefinition of family in his kingdom: not genetically-based, but obedience-based?
• What does Jesus claim he has done to the ‘strong man’? How is this further evidence of Jesus’ authority claims? (Note: don’t get too distracted by the unforgivable sin, which is most likely a summary statement of what happens when people so reject Jesus and his kingdom that they mistake the kingdom of God for the kingdom of the enemy.)

Application reflections

• Which of the elements of Jesus’ appointment of the 12 do you most understand: his desire for you to be with him? His commission to go and preach? His delegation of authority to confront personified evil? His giving a new name? The communal connection?
• How is it good news to us that Jesus’ family includes all who respond positively to God’s will? How does this challenge our understanding of family?
• How is it good news that Jesus has bound the ‘strong man’, and can ‘enter that (mans) house and plunder his goods’?

Pray

Chapter 3.7-35; Page 5.28-7.12

Observations

• Who: great crowds (c/c crowds 1.7, 2.27, 3.22; 4.13); disciples; many sick, unclean spirits; those he desired; 12 apostles (named individually); Jesus’ family; Jerusalem scribes; Beelzebul/Satan; Jesus physical and spiritual families.
• What: withdrawal; healing and exorcism; crowd interest/control; apostles called, came, appointed and renamed, and given job description (be with him, be sent out to preach, and have authority to cast out demons); family attempts to seize Jesus; accusation by scribes and Jesus’ answer – an unforgivable sin; Jesus re-defines who he considers his family to be.
• Where: by the sea; on the mountain; at home
• Connections and repeats: crowds; call (the first four, Levy, Jesus to the apostles, family to Jesus); more sick and unclean; authority – this time delegated to the apostles; continuing conflict – with scribes, and now Jesus’ own family; sin and blasphemy – cf paralytic; Holy Spirit and God again referenced;
• Contrasts: the interest of the crowds from a wide geographic region/the rejection by the scribes and Jesus’ family; all sins forgiven/one sin unforgivable; unity/diversity of apostles; divided kingdom; physical family/kingdom family
• Definitions: job of an apostle; why Jesus has power to cast our demons; kingdom family

Interpretation

• The crowds are from a much larger geographic region, including Gentile areas; it is interesting that these areas are included immediately after the murderous collusion between the Pharisees and Herodians, as if Jesus is propelled into these regions by this rejection, regions where, in contrast to Jerusalem, he is widely accepted.
• Jesus radically redefines the kingdom of God by appointing 12 new ‘patriarchs’ and undermining the nuclear family: connection to God’s kingdom is no longer genetic, but is response-based, those who do the will of God. Doing, not just thinking: those described as Jesus’ family have responded to his call, and endangered themselves by associating with Jesus; they are fulfilling one of the job assignments: they are with him.
• Proper use of Jesus’ authority is not automatic: Judas is noted as a betrayer even at this point in Mark’s narrative.
• Part of our calling is to be with Jesus; it is all too easy at times to be obsessed with doing the work of the kingdom; but part of Jesus’ call is simply to be with him. Yet, being with him is itself risky behavior: those in Jesus’ true family have joined him in standing against the religious leaders, and challenged one of the core values of society: family loyalty. So being with Jesus is not just a warm feeling: it is identifying oneself with him.
• Again Jesus sees himself as the locus and focus of the kingdom: he assumes the right to appoint apostles, assign them a purpose, re-constitute their lives by re-naming them, and delegate to them his own mission of preaching and casting our demons.
• The word ‘seize’: HOLD (DOWN, FAST, FORTH, ON, TO, UP), HELD, HOLDEN, (TAKE) HOLD 6. krateo NT:2902, "to be strong, mighty, to prevail," (1) is most frequently rendered "to lay or take hold on" (a) literally, e. g., Matt 12:11; 14:3; 18:28 and 21:46, RV (KJV, "laid hands on"); 22:6, RV (KJV, "took"); 26:55, KJV (RV, "took); 28:9, RV, "took hold of" (KJV, "held by"); Mark 3:21; 6:17; 12:12; 14:51; Acts 24:6, RV (KJV, "took"); Rev 20:2; (b) metaphorically, of "laying hold of the hope of the Lord's return," Heb 6:18; (2) also signifies "to hold" or "hold fast," i. e., firmly, (a), literally, Matt 26:48, KJV (RV, "take"); Acts 3:11; Rev 2:1; (b) metaphorically, of "holding fast a tradition or teaching," in an evil sense, Mark 7:3,4,8; Rev 2:14,15; in a good sense, 2 Thess 2:15; Rev 2:25; 3:11; of "holding" Christ, i. e., practically apprehending Him, as the head of His church, Col 2:19; a confession, Heb 4:14; the name of Christ, i. e., abiding by all that His name implies, Rev 2:13; of restraint, Luke 24:16, "(their eyes) were holden"; of the winds, Rev 7:1; of the impossibility of Christ's being "holden" of death, Acts 2:24. See KEEP, RETAIN (of sins), TAKE.
• (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
• 2902 used 15x in Mark: 1.31, 3.21, 5.41, 6.17, 7.3, 7.4, 7.8, 9.10, 9.27, 12.12, 14.1, 14.44, 14.46, 14.49, 14.51
• How can a sin be unforgivable? This may a statement of consequence: by the time a religious person has so rejected God as to mistake His activity as that of Satan, that person has put themselves beyond the reach of God’s redeemer: they cannot come to him in faith and repentance, and remain unforgivable.

Application

• Does my vision of Jesus’ people include foreigners? Outsiders? Former, or current, political enemies?
• Has Jesus called you to be with him? Proclaim his message? Receive authority to confront personified evil? How is this job description a reality in your life of faith?
• Do you have any experience of being with, or identifying with, Jesus in his radical redefinition of the kingdom of God, and who his true family really is? What was that experience like?
• How do you think Jesus would respond to someone who says nuclear family is God’s highest call?
• Do we really think that the kingdom of God is in direct conflict with our surrounding society? Or do we think there is an alliance between the state and God’s kingdom to accomplish Godly values?
• Where are you on the pathway of responsiveness? Seeking Jesus? Responding to his call? Wondering if he is crazy, or possessed?

The Impact of Jesus

Evangelical Free Church of Chico
October 25th, 2009:
Mark 1:1-3:6

The Impact of Jesus
Pastor Lou Diaz
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Week 6: Love Chico

Community Building

• Tell stories about your participation in Love Chico. Did you have a sense of practicing some of the things we’ve talked about so far in Mark?
• How has your participation in this weekly community been a blessing to you? Any aspects of your group that you need to discuss or modify? For example, group duration, everyone participating, praying for each other during the week, more practical application…..

 The Text: Mark 1.1-6.6a

• Take turns reading this entire section aloud to each other. Next week we will summarize what we’ve learned in our first weeks together in Mark 1.1-3.6, and look ahead to the next section, 3.7-6.6a. So this week, just enjoy reading and listening to the first portion of Mark. Most likely Mark was written to be read aloud to churches, and you may even want to read the whole book if time allows.

Pray

• Use this week to spend extra time praying for each other, and for our city, and for how we can continue to proclaim the kingdom of God here in Chico.

1.1-3.6 Review

Community Building
  • Continue your discussion of any parts of your group that need modification or review.
  • Brainstorm further potential externally focused projects, and consider adopting one of these suggestions.

The Text: Mark 1.1-3.6
  • Take turns reading this entire section aloud to each other.
  • What impacted us from Lou’s summary of this section?

Discussion Questions:
  • Make a list of all the ways Jesus has demonstrated authority in the stories we’ve discussed these past few weeks. Which of these aspects of Jesus’ authority do you find most amazing? Encouraging? Confusing?
  • Discuss the different responses to Jesus’ authority by different people and groups:
     o The disciples
     o The crowds
     o The unclean spirits
     o The sick and paralyzed
     o The religious leaders
  • Jesus’ first sermon was “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” How has each element of that first sermon been described by Mark so far in his Gospel:
     o The time is fulfilled:
     o The Kingdom of God is at hand:
     o Repent and believe the gospel:

Application reflections
  • What new things have you learned about Jesus and the kingdom of God in the past weeks?
  • How would you characterize your response to this learning? Amazed? Immediately obedient? Questioning? A bit troubled? Frustrated and angry at Jesus?
  • Before next week, read Mark 3.7-6.6 several times.

Pray

1.1-3.6 OIA Review

Observations
Who:

• Actors: Jesus; God; John; Isaiah; Spirit; Satan; angels; wild beasts; disciples; crowds; sick and oppressed; some with faith; scribes/Pharisees;
• Names for Jesus: Christ; Son of God; beloved Son; Jesus of Nazareth; Son of Man; physician; bridegroom; Lord of Sabbath
• Questioners: Scribes 4.1; scribes of Pharisees 4.19; people who came 4.25; Pharisees

What:

• Mark’s depiction of Jesus:
• -----Son of God
• -----Foretold by Isaiah
• -----Prepared/fulfilled by John
• -----Affirmed directly by God
• -----Tempted, and divinely sustained
• Purposes
• ---- Proclaim kingdom of God
• ---- Go to other towns
• ----Call the sick
• Demonstrates and claims authority
•  ----Widely sought by crowds, many followers
• -----Collecting a group of disciples
• -----Provokes religious questions
• -----Definitive conflict with religious leaders
• -----Emotionally engaged: pity, anger, grief
• Jesus demonstrates authority: as he inaugurates the kingdom: life purpose (call of the 4), living scripture, unclean oppression, sickness, kingdom priorities, physically and spiritually destructive filthiness’ (leper, paralytic), who belongs (the ‘sick’), religious observance (Sabbath);

Where: Jordan, wilderness, Galilee, Capernaum, by the sea, in the house/home

Interpretation

• In this first section Mark portrays Jesus as a man on a mission: to proclaim the kingdom of God. These stories probably comprise about the first year of Jesus’ public activity. Mark shows Jesus receiving overwhelming notice, and impact. However it is likely that this was a localized impact as there are few secular references to Jesus, eg Josephus.
• Jesus operates apart from established religious (Jerusalem and the temple cult) and secular (the major Roman city of Galilee) authorities; he seems to see himself, and the kingdom, and something new, distinct from Roman imperialism and Jewish religious practice
• Galilee was a backwater, mixed race, spoke neither Greek, Latin, of Hebrew, but Aramaic; and it is from this unspectacular area that Jesus launches his kingdom: from outside the halls of power or social respectability
• Furthermore, the people he calls to follow are rural businessmen and minor government functionaries: the fishermen, and Levy; Jesus begins his mission in an extremely unlikely manner, in the wrong place with the wrong people
• • How does Mark define Jesus’ initial sermon: the time is fulfilled, the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe?
• -----The time is now: Jesus, God’s son, foretold in scripture, confirmed by God, more powerful than Satan: Jesus is here: history is focused on Jesus
• -----The Kingdom is at hand: in the person of Jesus, demonstrated by his authority; physical proximity to Jesus = closeness to the kingdom
• -----Repent and believe: each vignette in this section can be seen as an example of repent and believe;
• How to people respond to Jesus?
• -----Many of these responses are positive:
• -------- Disciples, leper, paralytic, Levy, withered hand man, many who followed; faith is introduced, specifically in the paralytic story, but implicitly in each positive response to Jesus
• -----Some are neutral: crowds – amazed, interested, but uncommitted
• -----Some are legitimate questioners
• -----Some are negative, antagonistic, and hostile
• Jesus’ authority is central.
• -----His authority is irresistible over sickness, unclean spirits
• -----His authority over people requires voluntary response
• Jesus himself is the locus of authority: not the temple, or religious tradition, or scriptural interpretation 

Application
Jesus is, now as then, establishing the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom centered on Jesus himself, a kingdom apart from the religious and cultural presuppositions. It is a kingdom that invites positive response – like the four fishermen, Levy and his friends, the paralyzed man and his friends. But it is a kingdom that allows a variety of responses: interested and amazed like the crowds; blessed but disobedient like the leper; questioning, like the people with the fasting question; and outright rejection by people like the religious experts. It is a kingdom of power: over scripture, physical and spiritual health, religious presuppositions.

How are you responding the past weeks as we’ve begun our Make Your Mark Series?

• Glad and immediate positive response? (disciples, Levy, paralytic)
• Enthusiastic, but really doing your own thing in your own way? (leper)
• Interested, but watching from the crowds? (thronging crowds)
• Legitimate questions? (fasting question)
• Offended rejection of Jesus? (Pharisees and their scribes; Herodians)

3.7-6.6a OIA

Observations:

• Who: Jesus, crowds, 12 apostles, scribes, Jesus’ family, Sower, Soils, Satan, demoniac, demons, pigs, townsfolk, Jairus, Woman with illness, Peter, James and John, Jairus’ daughter, mourners, home town folks
• What: great crowds pursue; 12 apostles appointed; scribes accuse Jesus of demon-possession; Jesus’ family tries to muzzle Jesus; Jesus redefines family; Jesus tells parables explaining the kingdom; Jesus gives, and explains, the secret of the kingdom; Jesus performs four spectacular miracles; Jesus teaches in and is rejected by his home town folks.
• Where: the sea, the mountain, at home, again by the sea, public teaching/private explanation, in the boat, country of the Gerasenes, the Decapolis, again beside the sea, on the way to Jairus’ home, at and in Jairus house, again in Jesus home town, in the synagogue
• Connections: crowds respond; disciples called and obedient; conflict: with scribes, family, home town; faith is described and expanded; miracles; teaching; kingdom of God; unclean spirits
• New: 12 apostles; parables; secret of kingdom; insiders/outsiders; public teaching/private explanation

 Interpretation:

In the first section we see Jesus introducing the kingdom of God with himself as the central figure in this kingdom with authority to call, heal, exorcise demons, and challenge accepted religious practice.

In this next section we see some continuation of the theme of Jesus authority: he establishes a new 12 patriarchs for his kingdom; the response to this is that the religious leaders declare him possessed by Satan, and his family decides he is out of his mind. In the context of these conflicts Jesus takes the opportunity to declare, again on his own authority, that there is one unforgivable sin and the scribes, and perhaps Jesus’ family, have just committed this sin: when they see God at work, they mistake His activity for demonic activity. He also uses this occasion to redefine family. Jesus has just overturned two of the foundations of his contemporary culture and society: religious authority, and the family.

In this section we have some new developments: Parables of the Kingdom, and Demonstrations of the Kingdom, chapters 4-5; and yet another example of rejection: 6.1-6a, this time in Jesus’ home town as compared to the rejection by the Pharisees and Herodians in 3.6.

PARABLES

Jesus describes, in parables, several key dynamics of the kingdom of God. His metaphors are agricultural, from the natural world: seed, sower, slow and mysterious growth. In the midst of these parables Jesus introduces an entirely new understanding of how and why people understand who and what he, and the kingdom are all about. This is the eyes to see, ears to hear, and the obliqueness of parables: the secret of the kingdom!

This secret is central to Mark’s definition of discipleship: it explains the mixed responses Jesus has so far received, and sets the foundational pillars for the coming chapters that continue to describe a variety or responses to Jesus, as well as establishes the dissonance Mark describes between Jesus and the very 12 he called.

It is also important to note a particular literary technique Mark often employs: a story within a story. This is called the sandwich technique, “…an A1 – B – A2 sequence, with the B-component functioning as the theological key to the balancing halves” (Edwards: 11). The central story is the ‘meat’ of the sandwich that makes sense of the bread; i.e. Jesus’ teaching about eyes, ears, secrets, more/less, inside/outside are the theological key to understand the parable of the sower, growing seed, and mustard seed. (This technique happens again in 3.20-35; 4.1-20, 5.21-43, 6.7-30, 11.12-21, 14.1-11, 14.17-31, 14.53-72, 15.40-16,8 {ibid}).

DEMONSTRATIONS

It is possible to see the four stories – storm, demoniac, Jairus and his daughter, and the woman ill for 12 years – as demonstrations of the kingdom. Just as the parables theologically explain God’s kingdom, for those with eyes to see, so these four miraculous events demonstrate the actual presence and power of the kingdom in real life. Mark makes no dualistic distinction between the spiritual world and the physical world: the kingdom is holistic in its intent and practice. We with a modern/Western world view have conveniently isolated God in the realm of the spiritual, and live in the world of science, where we can know and manipulate the world for our own benefit: the modern dream of perpetual human progress. But Mark, and most of the non-Western world still to this day, know and experience the facts of these four stories; sometimes all our technology is insufficient to restore us to normal life. Then, and now, God’s kingdom has the power to redeem and restore.

Application
More to know and experience about the kingdom of God:
• Has apostles
• Has bound the strong man
• Has specific dynamics: sower, seed, mustard seed
• Has a key secret
• Impacts real life
Faith has immense implications, both positive and negative
Discipleship is dynamic, frightening, an unexpected
Jesus’ kingdom is in conflict with traditional understanding of family, religion, and science

The Authority of Jesus

Evangelical Free Church of Chico
October 11th, 2009:
Mark 2:23-3:6

The Authority of Jesus
Pastor Lou Diaz
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2.22-3.6

 Community Building

• Welcome new participants.
• Review the themes of Marking Your Mark and any opportunities to practice what we discussed last week: spend any time with tax collectors and sinners? Find anything new about Jesus that stretched your mind, or tore away a preconception?

The Text: Mark 2.23-3.6

• Ask some who enjoys reading aloud to read these verses.
• What impacted us from Lou’s sermon on these verses? 

Discussion Questions:

• Review the context of these stories: do you see any connections back to what we’ve discussed so far in Mark?
• Make some basic observations: who, what, where.
• List exactly what Jesus teaches about the Sabbath. What are the sources for authority that Jesus mentions to corroborate his understanding of how to observe the Sabbath?
• Why do the Pharisees become so upset that they team up with the Herodians to plot Jesus’ destruction?

Application reflections

• What is your church history? Have you experienced times when you felt like ‘the sabbath’ was made for you? Or times when you felt like you were serving the ‘sabbath’? What contributed to your experience?
• What could we do to make our ‘sabbath’ experience focused on doing good and meeting human needs?
• Have you ever had an encounter with Jesus that completely overturned your understanding of what it means to worship God? Would you be willing to tell us that story?

Pray

 

 

 

2.22-3.6

Observations

• Repeats: Sabbath 7x; Pharisees 2x, but including references to ‘them’ and ‘they’, 9x;
• Actors: Jesus, disciples, Pharisees, David, Abiathar, God, Son of Man, man w/ withered hand; synagogue attendees; Herodians;
• Actions: going through grain fields, plucking grain; Questioning and answers about lawful Sabbath activity; theological discussion between J and Ph about Sabbath, Jesus’ authority; synagogue attendance, healing, murder conspiracy
• Another ref to Jesus emotion: anger and grieved; previous ref: took Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand, moved w/ pity for leper,
• Setting: fields, synagogue, Sabbath; link back to first synagogue appearance pg 1.9ff with healing and teaching authority;
• First direct interaction with Pharisees; previous w/ their scribes; the Pharisees seem not so much to be questioning, as accusing: the opposition to Jesus is intensifying, and beginning to center on OT scripture; we will see more of this in the following stories of appointing the 12, the unforgivable sin, and Jesus redefinition of family
• Jesus’ teaching about Sabbath:
• there is OT evidence of human need taking priority over strict Sabbath observation by none other than David;
• Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa
• Son of Man is lord of Sabbath, has authority over Sabbath
• Sabbath intended as a blessing: to do good, save life; not for evil or harm
• Pharisees Sabbath practice: protect tradition and theologh; accusation; watching Jesus to spot unlawful behavior; hard hearts w/o compassion; form power alliance with enemy; initiate a murder conspiracy.

Interpretation

• It is likely that Mark places the Sabbath story here as a direct illustration of unshrunk cloth and new wine, and how it is incompatible with prevalent paradigms illustrated by the Pharisees and Herodians
• Pharisee, Herodians, and the unlikeliness of an alliance between the nationalistic Pharisees and the politically accommodating Herodians; could be worth at some point, probably later with the story of John’s murder, to describe the hideous nature and practices of Herod and his clan
• Sabbath significance; OT research on David incident
• Synagogue: 9x in Mark: 1.21,23, 29 all in first synagogue appearance; 1.39 travels around Galilee and preaching in synagogues; 3.1 here with man; 6.2 at home, preaching, and rejected by his own home town; 12.3 in critique of the scribes desire for attention; 13.9 warning disciples of conflict to come;
• 2nd ref to Son of man: first in authority to forgive sin, here as lord of Sabbath; not again till chapter 8ff teaching about Son of Man suffering;
• Jesus cites two sources of authority on Sabbath: OT, and himself; OT may have been useful for discussion with Pharisees: could have debated the intent and implications for lawful observance of the Sabbath; but when Jesus goes on to claim personal authority as lord of the Sabbath he creates an irreconcilable breach with the Pharisees
• Hermeneutical leap: are there similarities between the synagogue practice and understanding of the 1st C. religious leaders and participants, and those of us today attending and leading Sunday Worship? How we answer will dramatically impact how we apply this section.

Application

• What are we to learn about Jesus by his reference to himself as lord of the Sabbath? About his assertion that Sabbath was made for people, rather than the opposite?
• How might our Sunday services be transformed if we viewed church as a blessing from God, a time to do good, to save life?
• What is our most valued conviction about church participation? Is there anything in this story that might cause us to reevaluate our conviction?

The New Approach of Jesus

Evangelical Free Church of Chico
October 4th, 2009:
Mark 2:13 -22

The New Approach of Jesus
Pastor Lou Diaz
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