Mark 1.1-13

Community Building

• Make sure everyone knows one another. Be as creative as you like: pictures, games….
• State your enthusiasm, hopes and dreams for the group, using the themes of Marking Your Mark (see website: http://make-your-mark-study.blogspot.com)
• Agree on any group guidelines: discussion, not lecture; when, where, and duration of weekly gatherings; childcare; external focus activity….
• Pray for your group in the coming weeks

 

The Text: Mark 1.1-13

• Ask some who enjoys reading aloud to read these verses to the group.
• Discuss all the things you can learn about Jesus from these verses:
• Mark says he is God’s son
• He is linked to the good news: it is about him
• He is prepared for: in Isaiah, by John
• He is baptized
• He hears God speak
• He is responsive to the Spirit’s direction
• He was tempted directly by Satan
• Other observations…..
• What is the most important thing you think Mark wants us to understand about Jesus?
• John preaches a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”.
• If you were using only this text, and forgetting all your theological/church knowledge: how would you define ‘repentance’ from this text alone?
• From what you know of Old Testament law and the temple sacrificial system, how is John’s message about ‘forgiveness of sin’ different from Jewish understanding of how sin was forgiven?
• How does John fulfill the Isaiah prophecy? How is repentance and baptism a preparation for ‘he who is mightier than I’?
• Why is Jesus baptized?
• Why does the Spirit drive Jesus into the wilderness?

Response

• Do you think our group discussion of Mark these coming weeks can help you in your spiritual life? How?
• What is your own experience of baptism and repentance, of confessing your sins? Have you been baptized? What was that experience like?
• How might be practice public repentance in the coming weeks?

Pray

• How can we pray for each other this coming week?
• Pray together.