The Huge Mark Post
The Underground has been working on the book of Mark for about a month now. On Wednesday we finished Mark chapter 6 which is a humongous chapter. It details Jesus being unable to do anything large in His hometown, Jesus sending out the disciples as his missionaries to Israel, the death of John the Baptist and the circumstances surrounding his death, Jesus seeking alone time with his disciples when they returned, Jesus feeding the 5000, Jesus walks on water, and Jesus heals many more people. As you can see there is a lot to deal with in Mark 6.
One of the things we have been emphasizing in Mark is the fact that Mark paints a picture of who Jesus really is. Mark has been called Peter's gospel, because it is believed that he told it to Mark who wrote it down. Peter really wants his readers to understand who Jesus is. He does this through a series of stories that show Jesus as the master of certain things. Mark 1-6 tells us that Jesus is master of demons, illness, sin, the sabbath, satan, death, and nature. Jesus performs miracles that show this mastery.
Some other things that we are trying to find in Mark are key words. Peter and Mark present Jesus as a kind of action hero, the Vin Diesel of the holy land you could say. They do this through the use of certain words. Mark loves the words "Immediately," "Amazed," and the word "and." Jesus does something and Immediately he moves on to the next thing. Most of Mark is a giant run-on sentence using the word "and" to tie it together. We get this kind of breathless, what can't Jesus do, feeling from Mark. The other key word is "amazed." Mark and Peter want us to know that the things that Jesus did were so awesome that even the disciples didn't get it. They were constantly "amazed."
So, at our last meeting we talked about how Jesus fed the 5000. (Which was only the number of men. If we count women and children, it becomes about 15000.) This was a big deal. This is the only miracle mentioned in all 4 of the gospels. The students and I discussed how the disciples and Jesus had different reactions to the need and to the resources that they found. The disciples wanted to send the people away, Jesus wanted the disciples to take care of the people. The disciples thought that the 5 loaves and 2 fish were worthless, Jesus said what we have is enough. God asks us to take care of others regardless of what we have. Many of us believe that the gifts we have are worthless when we see the need. We repeat what the disciples said, "Even if we worked for 8 months, we couldn't make a dent." God does not call us to take care of everyone all the time, but He does call us to help when and where we can with whatever He has given to us. Mother Teresa said that "God does not call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful."
Use your time with God to ask Him to provide opportunities for you to be faithful to Him and His plan.
Parents, if you ever get the chance ask your student to tell you something about Mark. I bet you will be surprised at the knowledge they have gained from this incredible book.
One of the things we have been emphasizing in Mark is the fact that Mark paints a picture of who Jesus really is. Mark has been called Peter's gospel, because it is believed that he told it to Mark who wrote it down. Peter really wants his readers to understand who Jesus is. He does this through a series of stories that show Jesus as the master of certain things. Mark 1-6 tells us that Jesus is master of demons, illness, sin, the sabbath, satan, death, and nature. Jesus performs miracles that show this mastery.
Some other things that we are trying to find in Mark are key words. Peter and Mark present Jesus as a kind of action hero, the Vin Diesel of the holy land you could say. They do this through the use of certain words. Mark loves the words "Immediately," "Amazed," and the word "and." Jesus does something and Immediately he moves on to the next thing. Most of Mark is a giant run-on sentence using the word "and" to tie it together. We get this kind of breathless, what can't Jesus do, feeling from Mark. The other key word is "amazed." Mark and Peter want us to know that the things that Jesus did were so awesome that even the disciples didn't get it. They were constantly "amazed."
So, at our last meeting we talked about how Jesus fed the 5000. (Which was only the number of men. If we count women and children, it becomes about 15000.) This was a big deal. This is the only miracle mentioned in all 4 of the gospels. The students and I discussed how the disciples and Jesus had different reactions to the need and to the resources that they found. The disciples wanted to send the people away, Jesus wanted the disciples to take care of the people. The disciples thought that the 5 loaves and 2 fish were worthless, Jesus said what we have is enough. God asks us to take care of others regardless of what we have. Many of us believe that the gifts we have are worthless when we see the need. We repeat what the disciples said, "Even if we worked for 8 months, we couldn't make a dent." God does not call us to take care of everyone all the time, but He does call us to help when and where we can with whatever He has given to us. Mother Teresa said that "God does not call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful."
Use your time with God to ask Him to provide opportunities for you to be faithful to Him and His plan.
Parents, if you ever get the chance ask your student to tell you something about Mark. I bet you will be surprised at the knowledge they have gained from this incredible book.
posted by LWC at 11:01 AM
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