Read Mark 9:42–50. What ties the teachings of Jesus together in this passage? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ At first, this passage may seem to be a collection of disparate teachings of Jesus thrown together without any rhyme or reason. However, a closer look reveals that each successive teaching has a...
Aug 15, 2024•14 min•Season 6Ep. 2123
Read Mark 9:30–41. What is different about Jesus’ second prediction of His death and resurrection (compare with Mark 8:31)? Also, what do the disciples argue about, and what instruction does Jesus give? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ In the first prediction, Jesus refers to those who will reject Him and kill Him. In the second prediction, Jesus refers to the...
Aug 14, 2024•9 min•Season 6Ep. 2122
Read Mark 9:1–13. What did Peter, James, and John see one night with Jesus? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ In Mark 9:1, Jesus predicts that some standing with Him would not taste death before seeing the kingdom of God come in power. That prediction is fulfilled within a few days when He takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain alone. There He is trans...
Aug 13, 2024•15 min•Season 6Ep. 2121
Read Mark 8:31–38. What does Jesus teach here about the cost of following Christ? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ The disciples have come to a crucial turning point in their relationship with Jesus. They now know that He is the Messiah. The reader of Mark has known this from the beginning of the book (Mark 1:1) and thus has had an advantage over the sometimes...
Aug 12, 2024•8 min•Season 6Ep. 2120
Read Mark 8:22–30. Why did it take Jesus two touches to heal the blind man, and what lessons came out of this account? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ The Gospels report a number of blind people healed by Jesus. Besides the passage here in Mark 8, blind Bartimaeus is healed as reported in Mark 10:46–52. Matthew refers to two blind men (Matt. 20:29–34), and Jo...
Aug 11, 2024•10 min•Season 6Ep. 2119
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 8:22–38; Matt. 20:29–34; John 12:25; Mark 9:1–50; Mal. 4:5, 6; Luke 9:30, 31. Memory Text: “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34, NKJV). The first half of Mark focuses on who Jesus is. His powerful teaching and miracles point in the same direction: He is the Messiah. At this crucial turning point in the narrative...
Aug 10, 2024•6 min•Season 6Ep. 2118
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Tradition,” pp. 395–398; “Barriers Broken Down,” pp. 399–403; “The True Sign,” pp. 404–409, in The Desire of Ages. “Among the followers of our Lord today, as of old, how widespread is this subtle, deceptive sin! How often our service to Christ, our communion with one another, is marred by the secret desire to exalt self! How ready the thought of self-gratulation, and the longing for human approval! It is the love of self, the desire for an easier way than G...
Aug 09, 2024•9 min•Season 6Ep. 2117
Read Mark 8:11–13. What approach by the Pharisees deeply disappointed Jesus? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Why not demonstrate His divine power and convince these cavilers? The problem goes back to the end of Mark 3, where Jesus speaks of the sin against the Holy Spirit. If one’s ears are shut and eyes are closed, another miracle, even a sign from heaven, will not convince. It would just be dismissed like everyth...
Aug 08, 2024•9 min•Season 6Ep. 2116
Read Mark 7:31–37. Who was brought to Jesus, and what did Jesus do for him? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Jesus did not take the shortest distance to return to Galilee from the region of Tyre and Sidon. It seems Jesus went north from the area of Tyre, up through the region of Sidon, then inland and down through the area northeast of the Sea of Galilee, finally arriving near the sea itself. It was a circuitous rou...
Aug 07, 2024•9 min•Season 6Ep. 2115
Read Mark 7:24–30. What important lessons are found in this story? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Following on the heels of the challenging passage in yesterday’s study, the story in this passage also raises troubling questions. Why does Jesus respond so harshly to this woman, in so many words calling her a dog? He does not openly explain, but two characteri...
Aug 06, 2024•8 min•Season 6Ep. 2114
Read Mark 7:14–19. What did Jesus mean by the riddle in Mark 7:15? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Jesus’ words in this passage have been a conundrum for many as they ponder their relationship to the teachings of Leviticus 11 regarding clean and unclean foods. Is Jesus doing away with such distinctions? Are Seventh-day Adventists mistaken in teaching that church members who eat meat are to eat it only from the clea...
Aug 05, 2024•13 min•Season 6Ep. 2113
Read Mark 7:1–13. What relevant truths are presented here? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ One can imagine children studying this passage in Sabbath School and coming home to tell their mothers that they do not have to wash their hands before eating because Jesus said so. However, this story is not about hygiene. In Jesus’ day, many people in that land were v...
Aug 04, 2024•10 min•Season 6Ep. 2112
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 7, Isa. 29:13, Exod. 20:12, Mark 8:11–21. Memory Text: “ ‘There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man’ ” (Mark 7:15, NKJV). This week’s study is Mark 7 and the first half of Mark 8. At the beginning of Mark 7, Jesus stirs up controversy by His rejection of religious tradition. However, He does it in a way that is strikingly supportive of something deeply rel...
Aug 03, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2111
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Peace, Be Still,” pp. 333–341; “The Touch of Faith,” pp. 342–348, in The Desire of Ages. “In all who are under the training of God is to be revealed a life that is not in harmony with the world, its customs, or its practices; and everyone needs to have a personal experience in obtaining a knowledge of the will of God. We must individually hear Him speaking to the heart. When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of th...
Aug 02, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2110
Read Mark 6:34–52. What was the problem Jesus and His disciples confronted, and how was it solved? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ After the disciples return from their mission, they go with Jesus to a remote area on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee to rest. But a large crowd of 5,000 people arrives at the location before them. Jesus sees that they are...
Aug 01, 2024•14 min•Season 6Ep. 2109
Read Mark 6:1–6. Why did Jesus’ hometown people reject Him? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Usually when a small-town person becomes popular, people back home bask in the attention. Not Nazareth. They were offended and surprised at Jesus’ success as a teacher and healer. His shift from being a builder to a teacher seemed hard for them to accept. There also ma...
Jul 31, 2024•13 min•Season 6Ep. 2108
Read Mark 5:21–24. What characteristics particularly stand out about Jairus? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Religious leaders such as Jairus were not typically friends with Jesus (see Mark 1:22; Mark 3:2, 6; and Luke 13:14). So it is likely that he is desperate. This desperation is exemplified by Jairus’s falling on his knees before Jesus. His plea is unders...
Jul 30, 2024•12 min•Season 6Ep. 2107
Read Mark 5:1–20. What can we learn about the great controversy from this amazing account and, again, about the power of Jesus? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ If the night before on the lake was unforgettable, the arrival at the Gadarenes the next morning was just as impressive. The history of the demon-possessed man is laid out in heartbreaking detail. Breaking away from all constraint, he lived in the tombs and ...
Jul 29, 2024•9 min•Season 6Ep. 2106
Read Mark 4:35–41. What happens in this story, and what lessons can we take from it about who Jesus is? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ At the beginning of Mark 4, Jesus steps into a boat to teach the crowd on the shore. In Mark 4:10–12, it seems He may have gotten out of the boat and talked with the disciples privately. Now, after a long day of teaching, the...
Jul 28, 2024•14 min•Season 6Ep. 2105
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 4:35–41, Ps. 104:1–9, Mark 5:1–43, Num. 27:17. Memory Text: “However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you’ ” (Mark 5:19, NKJV). J esus’ ministry was largely focused in Galilee, especially in and around the Sea of Galilee, a lake approximately 13 miles (21 kilometers) long and 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide. It is the largest body of water...
Jul 27, 2024•5 min•Season 6Ep. 2104
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘The Sower Went Forth to Sow,’ ” pp. 33–61, in Christ’s Object Lessons. “True holiness is wholeness in the service of God. This is the condition of true Christian living. Christ asks for an unreserved consecration, for undivided service. He demands the heart, the mind, the soul, the strength. Self is not to be cherished. He who lives to himself is not a Christian. “Love must be the principle of action. Love is the underlying principle of God’s government i...
Jul 26, 2024•8 min•Season 6Ep. 2103
Read Mark 4:26–29. What is the primary focus of this parable? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Most of the Gospel of Mark has parallels in either Matthew or Luke or both. But that is not the case with this parable. It is unique to Mark. The focus of this brief parable is the growing process. Jesus indicates that this is how the kingdom of God works. Humans have a part to play, but the real growth is the work of God....
Jul 25, 2024•10 min•Season 6Ep. 2102
Lamp and Measuring Basket Read Mark 4:21–23. What is Jesus’ special emphasis in the parable of the lamp? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Houses in that part of the world in Jesus’ day varied in size and construction, all depending on location and wealth. The houses came to follow a Greek pattern of being built around a courtyard but with varying levels of sop...
Jul 24, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2101
Read Mark 4:10–12. Why did Jesus teach in parables? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ A surface reading of these verses gives the impression that Jesus taught in parables to keep outsiders in the dark. But such a perspective does not fit with Jesus’ actions elsewhere in Mark. In Mark 3:5, 6, Jesus is grieved by the hard hearts of the religious leaders. In Mark 3:22–30, Jesus takes the arguments of the scribes serious...
Jul 23, 2024•13 min•Season 6Ep. 2100
Jesus was done with the parable and gave no immediate explanation. According to the text (Mark 4:1), Jesus spoke it before “a great multitude.” Only later, with a smaller group (Mark 4:10), did He explain what the parable meant. Read Mark 4:13–20. How did Jesus interpret the parable of the sower? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Jesus interprets the parable by...
Jul 22, 2024•8 min•Season 6Ep. 2099
The Parable of the Sower Read Mark 4:1–9. What are the different soils like, and what happens to the seed that falls on them? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ When reading the parables of Jesus in the Gospels, people often want to jump quickly to the interpretation. After all, is that not the point of these stories—to teach some spiritual truth for Christian l...
Jul 21, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2098
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 4:1–34, James 1:21, Isa. 6:1–13, Ps. 104:12, Dan. 4:10–12. Memory Text: “Then He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him’ ” (Mark 4:24, 25, NKJV). This week's study is on the parables in Mark 4. The Gospel of Mark has the fewest parables of any of the...
Jul 21, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2099
Read Ellen G. White, “Levi-Matthew,” pp. 272–280; “The Sabbath,” pp. 281–289, in The Desire of Ages.“When questioned, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?’ Jesus answered, ‘What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.’ Matt. 12:10–12.“The spies dared not answer Christ in the presence of...
Jul 19, 2024•7 min•Season 6Ep. 2095
Read Mark 3:20, 21. What experience led Jesus’ family to consider Him out of His mind?A charge of mental instability is quite serious. Typically this arises from experiences where a person is a threat to his or her own safety. Jesus’ family felt this way about Him because He was so busy that He did not take time to stop to eat. They set out to take charge of Him, and that is where the outer story of the sandwich breaks off, interrupted by the inner story about the scribes charging Jesus with col...
Jul 18, 2024•6 min•Season 6Ep. 2095
Read Mark 3:20–35. What connection do you see between the two stories intertwined in this passage?This passage is the first “sandwich story” in Mark, where one story is begun and then is interrupted by another story, with the first story completed only afterward.The outer story is about Jesus’ relatives setting out to take charge of Him because they think He is out of His mind (Mark 3:21). The inner story is about the scribes from Jerusalem charging Jesus with being in collusion with the devil. ...
Jul 17, 2024•10 min•Season 6Ep. 2094
