Mark

Question 1

How does the Gospel of Mark begin?

Answer 1

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

Question 2

Content of the first four chapters of Mark (1-4)

Answer 2

• Proclamation John the Baptist; Jesus’ baptism, temptation; calls first disciples: Simon/Andrew, James/John; exorcises demon in man at synagogue; heals and preaches (1)
• Paralytic lowered thru ceiling, forgives/heals; calls Levi; ? about fasting; pluck grains - Son of Man Lord of Sabbath (2)
• Heals withered hand (Sabb); appoints 12; accused casting out demons by Beelzebul; whoever does God’s will is his mother/sister/brother (3)
• Lamp under bushel basket; parables: sower (+explained), growing seed, mustard seed; stills storm (4)

Question 3

Content of Mark, chapters 5-8

Answer 3

• Heals Gerasene demoniac among tombs/Legion⇒swine; healed Jairus daughter & woman hemorrhaging (5)
• Rejected at Nazareth(hometown); 12 sent out 2x2 - teach/heal; death of John the Bapt. at daughter of Herod’s request; feeds 5000 (5 loaves/2 fish, 12 basketfuls); Jesus walks on water - NOT Peter (6)
• Pharisees - role of tradition, what defiles; heals Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (dog’s crumbs) & deaf man (7)
• feeds 4000 (7 loaves/few small fish, 7 baskets); Pharisees demand sign, refuses; beware yeast of Phar. & Herod; heals blind man; Peter proclaims him Messiah; foretells death/resurrection (8)

Question 4

Middle content Mark - way to Jerusalem (Ch 9-10)

Answer 4

• Transfiguration; Elijah must/has come 1st; heals boy they couldn’t; 2nd foretelling of death/resurrection; disciples - who is the greatest?; stumbling blocks (9)
• Divorce, 1 flesh; let the children come to me; Rich man, camel/eye of needle; 3rd foretelling death/resurrection; James/John ask sit at his R/L in his glory; blind Bartimaeus (10)

Question 5

Middle content Mark - entering and in Jerusalem (Ch 11-13)

Answer 5

• Triumphal entry, colt; curse figtree - mountain thrown in sea; cleansed temple; by what authority do these things (11)
• Prbl tenants; pay taxes - coin emperor’s image; resurr?- wife/7brothers; 1st commandment; beware scribes; widow’s offering (12)
• Foretell destruction of temple, persecution; desolating sacrilege; coming of Son of Man; keep awake (13)

Question 6

Final content of Mark - Jesus’ Passion (ch 14-16)

Answer 6

• Woman anoints @Bethany-Simon the leper; Passover, institute Lord’s Supper; Peter -before cock crow twice, deny 3x; Judas’ betrayal; Gethsemane; arrest, question by council; Peter denies Christ 3x (14)
• Taken to Pilate; handed over for crucif.; Pilate offers release, ppl chose Barabbas; soldiers mock; crucified btwn two bandits; death; burial by Joseph of Arimathea in tomb (15)
• Resurrection, empty tomb, told he has been raised and go tell disciples going ahead of them to Galilee; kept quiet (16)
• Short added ending: went and told as instructed; Jesus later sent them out to proclaim salvation (16:8b)
• Long added ending: appeared to Mary Magdalene, then 2 disciples walking in country; later appeared to the 11 and sent them out before ascending (16:9-20)

Question 7

Key concepts of Mark

Answer 7

• Kingdom of God - alternative to Roman empire
• “Immediately” - sense of urgency, word used >40x
• Messianic secret - people told not to tell about him and his miracles
• Conflict stories - many encounters between Jesus and antogonists
• Disciples - follow Jesus

Question 8

What material is unique to Mark?

Answer 8

• Jesus’ family worries about him (Mark 3:20-21)
• Parable of growing seed (Mark 4:26-29)
• Jesus cures deaf man (Mark 7: 31-37)
• Jesus cures blind man of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
• At Jesus’ arrest, a young man runs away naked to escape (Mark 14:51-52)

Question 9

Finish the following quote from Mark:

The sabbath was made for humankind, and not…

Answer 9

…humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.

Question 10

What is the parable of the Growing Seed?

Answer 10

The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)

Question 11

What comes next in the healing of the blind man in Mark 8?

He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then…

Answer 11

…Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Question 12

What comes next in the passage about the arrest of Jesus in Mark?

A certain young man was following [Jesus], wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They…

Answer 12

…caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

Question 13

Final words of Jesus on the cross according to Mark

Answer 13

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (like Matthew)