Following Jesus in the Real World
Studies in the Gospel of Mark
Study Guide for Sunday Sermon on May 18, 2008
Mark 8: 22-37; 9: 14-32
Introduction
Mark tells us in Mark 8: 22 that Jesus and the disciples came to Bethsaida. In Mark’s gospel, Bethsaida isn’t just a geographical location; it’s an indicator of the disciples’ spiritual condition. This was where they had planned to go back in Mark 6:45. But they had gotten off-course and it had taken them much longer to get to Bethsaida than they had originally planned. The disciples’ journey through Gentile lands in chapter 6 is reminiscent of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. In many ways the disciples had gotten side-tracked for the same reasons that the Israelites had gotten side-tracked after they were led out of Egypt. A journey that should have taken several months became a 40-year wandering in the desert because the Israelites repeatedly refused to trust God. A journey that should have taken the disciples a few hours became a journey that took several months because the disciples also refused to trust Jesus and so they became hardened of heart (Mark 6:52). Nonetheless, God refused to give up on the Israelites and Jesus refused to give up on the disciples. Eventually both the israelites and the disciples came to where they were supposed to be. So it will be with us.
On another note, we studied Mark 8: 27- 9:13 during our Lenten series a couple months ago and Jim preached on Jesus’ Transfiguration from Mark 9: 2-13. So in this study guide we will touch on this section but not devote much time to it.
Day 1: Read Mark 8: 22-26
Jesus and his disciples finally make it to Bethsaida and some people bring a blind man to Jesus and beg Jesus to touch him. What does Jesus do with this blind man? What is unusual about this healing?
When Jesus asked him if he could see anything, what were the man’s options? What could he have said? What might have happened if the man said, “Oh, sure, I see fine” or, “Well, I see well enough”? What does this man gain by being honest and forthright about what and how he sees?
Why does this healing happen in stages? Do you think Jesus was incapable of fully healing him all at once? If Jesus chose to heal this man in two stages, why do you think he did so? What happens for the man as a result?
Compare this healing in Mark 8:22-26 with the healing in Mark 7: 31-37. What is similar about them?
How are the physical states of the two men, the deaf and mute man and the blind man, symbolic of the spiritual state of the disciples? In what way are these healings a living parable of what Jesus is trying to do spiritually with his disciples?
Read Isaiah 42: 18-20. How does this passage describe the disciples?
Now read Isaiah 42: 16. How does this describe what Jesus is doing with the disciples?
How are these two healings a picture of what Jesus is trying to do with you? At what “stage” of spiritual healing would you place yourself? Why?
Is there something that you sense Jesus wants you to see but you are not seeing clearly?
Day 2: Read Mark 8: 27-33
Jesus begins to walk to Caesarea Philippi, which is Gentile country – a place of worship for the Greek god Pan and the Canaanite god Baal. Herod built a temple here for Augustus Caesar. Jesus takes his disciples to the city of the gods of the known world and asks about his identity. Looking beneath the surface what do you think is the subtext of Jesus’ question to his disciples?
Why might Mark have put the story of the blind man's healing here, next to the teaching about Jesus' identity? What does Mark want us to see (no pun intended)? How are the disciples like the blind man? What’s fuzzy in the disciples’ sight?
What’s different about the blind man versus the disciples? What does the blind man know about the state of his sight that the disciples don’t seem to know about the state of their sight?
What question does Jesus ask the disciples? Why? What is Jesus trying to determine?
What kind of answers does he get?
What has been THE question on the minds of people up to now in Mark? Where do we see this?
How does Jesus provoke the answer with his second question?
Compare this conversation with the healing of the blind man. Compare the questions in 8:21 and 8:23. How are the answers similar?
What was Peter's original spiritual state? What was his spiritual state in 8:21-23? In 8:29?
How does the blind man come to see? How did Peter come to see? What does this tell you about how we come to see?
After the healing, what did Jesus tell the blind man? What did he tell Peter? Why?
He told them both not to tell anyone. Why? They have a fuzzy understanding of who Jesus is. The disciples weren't ready to tell everyone about Jesus. They knew that he was the Christ, so they knew the answer to the big question in the first half of Mark: "Who is Jesus?". But they don't know the answer to the big question in the second half of Mark: "What is the Christ?".
What is significant about the fact that the "You are the Christ" conversation took place in the middle of Gentile temples in a Gentile city? What difference does this make for the Christians Mark writes to?
What difference does it make for us who live and work in Metro West Boston?
Day 3: Read Mark 8:31–9: 1
What's new about Jesus' teaching in this section? How does he teach them?
Why does he teach them these things now?
They know he is the Christ but have no proper conception of what that means. The disciples thought that "Christ" meant political leader, someone to defeat the Romans etc.
What did Peter do? What does "rebuke" mean? Where have we seen that word before?
Peter rebuked Jesus. Jesus has rebuked demons (1:25) and also the wind (4:39). Rebuking is used to get control of subordinates.
Therefore, what is Peter doing? Why? What was he trying to do? What did Jesus call Peter to do?
What is Jesus' response? Why is he so urgent?
Focus now on Mark 8: -34-9:1. What is the context? Who is Jesus speaking to? What does he say?
Why would anyone want to take up his/her corss and walk to their death? What reasons does Jesus give?
Jesus says that you will save your life by losing it, the Son won't be ashamed of you, you will see the kingdom of God come with power. Consider again what Jesus says in the context of Jesus’ parable in Mark 4: 1-20. What types of people does jesus talk about here?
· If you seek to save your life (hard soil), you lose it, that's it.
· If you seek to gain the world (thorny soil), you lose it.
· If you're ashamed of Jesus (rocky soil), he's ashamed of you.
· If you lose your life (good soil), you lose it but then get it back.
What sort of soil will you be?
One group loses life but really gains it. Is it an even trade?
What is the crucial issue?
The crucial issue has to do with determining the cause or reason for your life. For what will you live your life? What will make your life worth living? What is the best investment you can make with your life? Jesus' sake and the gospel is the only cause worth dying for because it is the only cause that will give you real life. All other causes and "sakes" are bankrupt – they cannot deliver on their promises. Even good causes, apart from Jesus', do not return life.
Then Jesus asks two rhetorical questions – what does he mean?
He asks "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" and "For what can a man give in return for his life?". He talks in economic terms – profit, loss, gain, forfeit. He wants people to consider the cost/benefit analysis. The answer to both questions is "nothing". What does it cost to gain life? Life. What is fair about setting the price tag at that level? Every person alive can choose to offer their lives – the price is equally high for everyone, not impossible for anyone.
Who would be ashamed of Jesus' words?
People who don't want to die – who don't like the idea of obedience and death - will be ashamed of Jesus’ words; they will shrink back from obeying them. Peter was ashamed of Jesus' speaking about his own death. We also are tempted to be ashamed of Jesus' words in his claims to uniqueness and exclusivity. We want everyone to like us, so we don't talk about these claims. In a world of tolerance, they are embarrassing. We also are tempted to be ashamed of Jesus’ words in his claims to our ultimate allegiance and devotion. We are willing to give Jesus some of our time and energy perhaps but we are reticent to give him our full devotion, our whole hearts; we do not want to lay all our hopes and ambitions at his feet.
How does what Jesus says about the reason for living one’s life relate to the issue of spiritual sight?
Day 4: Read Mark 9: 14-29
Mark 9: 2-13 is the story of Jesus’ transfiguration where Jesus goes up on a high mountain with Peter, James and John and reveals his glory. As I mentioned in the introduction, we will just barely touch on this section.
What greets Jesus, Peter, James and John when they come down from the mountain? Who is there? What’s going on? How do you picture this scene?
What was the crowd amazed at when they saw Jesus?
Maybe he was still transfigured. See Exodus 34:29, where Moses face still shone after coming down from the mountain.
What were the teachers of the law and the disciples arguing about? What was the situation?
The disciples had been able to cast out demons previously. Why do you think they were unable to do so this time?
How does Jesus respond to the chaos? Who do you think Jesus is speaking about when he says “O unbelieving generation”? Do you think he’s talking about the father? The disciples? The teachers of the law? The crowd? Why?
There are echoes in Jesus’ response of God's exasperation. See, for example, Isaiah 63:8-10 ("Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit") and Psalm 95:10 ("For forty years I was angry with that generation...").
To whom had the father brought his son? What do you think he was expecting or hoping for? What did he do when he found out Jesus wasn’t there? To whom did he turn for help then? Why? What happened to the father’s “faith” when he saw that Jesus’ disciples could not cast out the demon from his son?
Trace the progression of emotions in the father. What does he think and feel?
What strikes you about Jesus’ interaction with this father? Why do you think he asks the father how long the boy had been thrown into convulsions (verse 21)? Do you think Jesus is simply interested in getting a case history? What is Jesus’ communicating to this father? In what ways is he helping this father?
How does Jesus turn the father's cry for help around? What is Jesus asking of this father? What is Jesus trying to call out of him?
Day 5: Read Mark 9: 14-32
Describe the demon's effect on the boy. What does the demon do to the boy? How does the demon leave him?
Jesus drives out the evil spirit from this boy and heals him. How does the father get “healed” through this encounter with Jesus?
Why might Mark have placed this scene with the description of the boy seeming dead right here? What other teachings of Jesus is it near? How is it a metaphor or a parable?
It's a parable for Jesus' own future suffering and death, but like the boy, he will rise up. The term he employs in relation to the boy is the same one Jesus will use to describe his own rising from the dead (Mark 14:28). The point is quite clear: the life-giving power of Jesus is not only for victory over illness and evil, but for victory over death itself.
Look at the imagery of healing used here:
· Convulsing him = [the Son of man must] suffer
· Like a corpse = [the Son of man must] be killed
· Lifted him up = [the Son of man must] after 3 days rise again
The imagery is the prediction of Jesus' death – he gives them a visual experience to illustrate what will happen. They all thought the boy was dead, but he lived (with new life).
Describe Jesus' emotions towards the disciples, the scribes, the man and the boy.
Why does Jesus say this kind can only come out by prayer? The demon came out so who prayed?
The father asked for Jesus' help, in desperation. He askes/prayed for help not just for healing, but help to believe. This is a greater prayer than a simple request for healing, and Jesus loves to answer it. Prayer is a request made to God in desperation.
Think about this question again. Why couldn't the disciples cast out the demon when they had done so before? What might Jesus be implying when he says, “This kind can come out only by prayer”?
Focus now on Mark 9: 30-32. What is Jesus doing now? Why do you think he wants to focus on his disciples at this stage of his ministry?
What is Jesus trying to teach his disciples? Why?
How do they respond to his teaching? Do they understand it? Why?
Why do you think they were afraid to ask him about it?
For Small Group Discussion and Reflection
Think back over your life. How has your view of Jesus – who he is, what he is, what his purpose is - and what it means to follow him grown or changed over the years? What were the events or issues or experiences that brought about this change in your perspective on Jesus? How did your changing view of Jesus affect the way you live your day to day life?
Would you say that you see Jesus clearly now or would you say he is dim “like trees walking around”?
Peter wanted to stay on the mountaintop (Mark 9: 5) rather than come down and go back to regular life. How do we see that temptation in our own lives? What is God saying about it?
Who do you most relate to in the story of the father with the demon-possessed son – the father, the disciples, the son? Why?
The disciples continue to be very reluctant to face the fact that Jesus' kingship is initially more about suffering than glory. They seem unsure about following him into suffering. How might our attitudes parallel theirs?
The disciples also seem to be trusting in themselves or in techniques, not leaning on Jesus in prayer. How are we like the disciples in this?
In Mark 9: 24 the father asked Jesus to heal his unbelief. At that point Jesus rebuked the evil spirit in the father’s son. The spirit came out but the boy “looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead”. As the father experienced, asking Jesus to heal our unbelief might lead to some things that look like death, as he answers our prayer. For example:
- facing and dealing with conflict
- ending an unhealthy relationship,
- letting go of a dream that has become an idol,
- facing our character flaws honestly
What examples of this have you seen in your own life?
What does it mean for us to lose our lives for Jesus' sake?
What is it about Jesus that makes you ashamed?
What gets in the way of our losing our lives for Jesus' sake? What kind of soil will you be? What kind of life do you want?
In what area of your life do you need to trust Jesus more?
How can your small group help you to see Jesus more clearly and trust him more?
How do you want your small group to pray for you this week?
