The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God who fulfills scripture with his authoritative teachings, but is opposed and misunderstood. Jesus acknowledges to his disciples that he is the Christ but must suffer and die as the Son of God. At his death, even Jesus questions why God has forsaken him, but he is ultimately vindicated through his resurrection.

1. The Gospel of
Mark
Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical
Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (New
York: Oxford UP, 1997)

3. Who was Jesus, according to this text?
What did he do?
How is Mark’s message about Jesus
conveyed through the shape of the
narrative?

4. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God
1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of
God.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the
Beloved; my favor rests on you.’
What does it mean to call Jesus the messiah?
What does Mark mean by beginning his account with
God himself declaring that Jesus is his son?

5. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God who
Fulfills Scripture
1:2-3 Look, I am going to
send my messenger in front
of you to prepare your way
before you.
A voice of one that cries in
the desert:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
(Quotations from Malachi
and Isiah)

6. Jesus the Authoritative Son of God
1:22 And his teaching
made a deep impression
on them because, unlike
the scribes, he taught
them with authority.
Can you find other
examples of Jesus
speaking or acting
authoritatively?

7. Jesus the Opposed Son of God
2:16 When the scribes and the Pharisee party saw him eating
with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why
does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
Why do the leaders of Israel oppose Jesus? Do they not
understand who he is? Why are they offended by what
he says and does?

8. Jesus the Misunderstood Son of God
2:7 Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to
themselves, ‘How can this man talk like that? He is being
blasphemous. Who but God can forgive sins?’
Who in this text knows that Jesus is the son of God?
God, Jesus, demons (1:24, 3:11), Mark, the reader, the
Roman centurion
Do Jesus’ disciples understand him?

9. Jesus the Acknowledged Son of God
8:29 ‘But you,’ he asked them, ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter
spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’
15:39 The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen
how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was the Son of
God.’

10. Jesus the Suffering Son of God
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was
destined to suffer grievously and to be rejected by the elders and
the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after
three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly.
How many times does Jesus predict his death?
Why does Jesus refuse to answer his accusers? (15:2-5)

11. Jesus’ Death as the Son of God
15:33 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud
voice, ‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
Does anyone in this gospel understand the significance
of Jesus’ death?
Are Jesus’ own doubts genuine?

12. Jesus’ Death as the Son of God
15:38-39 But Jesus
gave a loud cry and
breathed his last.
And the veil of the
Sanctuary was torn
in two from top to
bottom.

13. Jesus the Vindicated
Son of God
16:6 But he said to
them, ‘There is no
need to be so
amazed. You are
looking for Jesus of
Nazareth, who was
crucified: he has risen,
he is not here. See
here is the place
where they laid him.’