Mark 1-8: Part 1: Who Is Jesus?

By James Hoover

In the New Testament Gospel of Mark, we meet Jesus, the man who is King. But this king comes to serve--not to be served. He eats with sinners rather than royalty. His crown is made of thorns instead of gold. This twenty session LifeGuide® Bible Study guide introduces you to the compassionate, suffering, astonishing king who calls us to follow him.
For over three decades LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions—making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 130 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP Bible Studies
• Release date: Jun 8, 1999
• ISBN: 9780830862023

James Hoover

James Hoover (M.Div., Gordon Conwell) is IVP's associate editorial director and senior editor for IVP Academic. Since 1999 he has served as in-house editor in the area of patristic studies, overseeing editorial work on the 29-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, the 5-volume Ancient Christian Doctrine series, the 15-volume Ancient Christian Texts series and, most recently, the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity.

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MARK

Follow Me

20 STUDIES FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

JAMES HOOVER

Contents

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MARK

PART 1: WHO IS JESUS? MARK 1—8

Leader’s Notes

Notes

About the Author

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

Getting the Most Out of Mark

Few Westerners put much stock in royalty. The lives of the British royals have become a source of gossip rather than respect. We have been raised to treasure the spirit of democracy. But democracy, at least on any large scale, is a recent development in human history.

People in other eras were accustomed to kings. For good or evil, kings and emperors left their mark on daily life. Thus when a new king came to power, whether through natural succession or through defeat in battle, questions clamored in people’s minds. What would the new king be like? Would he be kind and compassionate, or selfish and ruthless? Would he use his power to serve his own ends, or would he seek the welfare of all his subjects?

The Jews of Jesus’ day, long oppressed by foreign rulers, yearned for a new king—one whom God himself would anoint and use to establish his own rule of justice and peace not only over Israel but over all the earth. Imagine the excitement then when John the Baptist came announcing the coming of the Lord as king and when Jesus himself announced, The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Yet as Jesus continued his ministry, he met a growing wave of opposition. Not everyone was pleased with the kind of kingdom he announced or with who he proclaimed himself to be. The religious rulers especially opposed him, but the common people heard him gladly.

Just the Facts

New Testament scholars, with few exceptions, agree that Mark’s Gospel is the earliest written account of Jesus’ life and ministry. Composed between A.D. 60 and 70, it likely served as the literary basis for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Mark himself, though not one of the Twelve, was probably an early convert (Acts 12:12) and a companion of both Peter (1 Peter 5:13) and Paul. Though Mark had an early falling out with Paul (Acts 15:36-41), the two were clearly reconciled later on (Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24). Thus Mark is linked to two of the most prominent apostles.

The broad consensus among scholars today is that Mark was not just a collector of stories about Jesus but that he molded and shaped these stories to create the literary form we recognize as a Gospel. Here in written form we find the first account of how God’s promises in Isaiah to establish his rule are coming to pass through the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah.

Pastoral concerns seem uppermost in Mark’s mind. Ralph Martin and others have argued that Mark wrote to counteract some dangerous distortions of the gospel message. ¹ Apparently some Christians so focused on Jesus’ deity and glorious resurrection that they began to ignore his humanity and suffering. As a result they expected to be spared suffering in this life and to quickly join Jesus in the glories of heaven. You can well imagine how their faith was shaken when Nero took to using some of them as torches!

Mark, theologically and pastorally, sets out to retell the story of Jesus, showing that the kingdom in its glory comes at the end of