Mark Special Teaching Session

[0:00] Thank you.

[0:30] Thank you.

[1:00] Thank you.

[1:30] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:41] Thank you. Thank you. All right, friends, let's make a start, shall we? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jay.

[1:51] Now I just want to say how terrific the right hand side is and how terrible the left is. There are about 50 people coming so I want everyone on this side to stand up and move forward a couple of rows please.

[2:06] Not allowed to sit in the back. Come up front. Come on. No, that's you Jay. Come forward. Yeah. That's you Charles. Come forward. That's right. Everyone.

[2:21] Hey mate. Righto. Come forward. Yes. Mark Ashworth. Come forward.

[2:44] Kevin Unger. Come forward. It's a whole row here. What's that? Come forward. Lorna Ashworth. Come and sit down.

[2:59] Oh thank you darling. Okay. So as people are getting their seats I've got various things up the front here. Those of you women in 10 know where that comes from.

[3:15] That is we're going to through the session we're going to have Mark Minutes. Mad Mark Minutes.

[3:26] So when you hear the bell, the lyre, the lute, the flip, you know. We'll have a Mark Minute. But to begin with I have some Starbucks cards.

[3:42] Gift certificates. And to receive one of these you're going to have to answer a question. So it's great to welcome you today to this Mark's Gospel Overview.

[3:56] Some of you, most of you are small group leaders. And that is fantastic. So put your hand up if you're a first time small group leader. First time.

[4:07] Two people. I think that's two cards. One. Two. And tell us which group you're leading, Suze.

[4:22] Oh dear. And Simon, which group are you leading? With who? With you. Ah, very good. Okay. That was my first card.

[4:33] There's a second giveaway. Who has come the furthest this morning? I was going to ask and why. Who's come the furthest? Mark? A bill. White Rock.

[4:44] White Rock. White Rock. That's south, isn't it? Mark, where did you come from?

[4:56] Abbotsford. Sorry. Abbotsford. Are you allowed into BC? That's fantastic. And I've got another one.

[5:09] Here's a third. Okay. Can anyone tell me we had a mark day in 2012, exactly 10 years ago?

[5:24] Just put your hand up if you were there. Very good. Keep your hand up. Okay. Okay. For this $10 gift voucher, can anyone remember anything from that day?

[5:37] Did anyone want to say anything about that day? Remember anything about it? Sandwiches. Stand up, Esther.

[5:51] We talked about sandwiches. What's a sandwich? Mark likes to do this literary thing where he starts a story. Yeah. And then he interrupts it with something else and then he finishes.

[6:01] That's at least one. It's at least one. I tell you what, keep standing. Keep standing. I thought he'd talk about lunch. She was.

[6:13] And how do you read a sandwich? What's the most important part? What's the most important part? Well, the middle part. Ah. I have to introduce the rest.

[6:28] Oh. Like Jairus' daughter. Let's get there. Wait, we're going to do that. We're going to do the day. In fact, you want to come and do this. That's fantastic.

[6:41] Thank you very much. I've got one more. Here's another one. So there's two questions, a question and a question. What question do you wish someone would come up and ask you?

[6:59] Does anyone have something they would like people to ask them? Yeah. Yeah. This is a joking question.

[7:11] Yeah. Does anyone have a... No? What a shy group we are. Okay. I'll save that till later. Do I have any others? Okay.

[7:23] Now, I'll give this one away. What's the most daring thing someone did in the summer? Put your hand up. Most daring thing. Yeah? Yeah. I think we've...

[7:39] Are there any more? I think we've already seen photos of that. Yeah. I don't drink coffee, so... Anything? Yes, Daryl. My family made a hike to the Swiss Alps.

[7:52] Oh. They hiked in the Swiss Alps. Did anyone go... Did anyone go to a wedding in the Swiss Alps? Did anyone go to a wedding in a field in the Swiss Alps and see Julie Andrews?

[8:06] Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. So, today we're going to have a look at Mark's Gospel.

[8:16] I'm so glad you're here. That is a photograph of Mark, taken a long time ago. And does anyone know what that is?

[8:27] It's... Sorry? It's... It's a lion. And Mark's symbol is the lion in art because he gives such a magnificent picture of Jesus.

[8:46] And I am really glad you're here. Every event we have like this post-COVID is like therapy for post-traumatic stress, I reckon. You know, we've all become a little bit more selfish.

[8:59] We had to look after ourselves. We had to... We're worried about ourselves. We're more anxious. And so, in our small groups, it's so important that we learn how to care for each other and figure out what's happening for folk as we do the same for ourselves.

[9:14] I have found coming back to Mark that it is a complete revelation to me. You know, we've... I did a Mark Day in 2005.

[9:26] I did a Mark Day in 2012. And I looked at them both and thought, not even close. I'm sure there are lots of helpful things said. So, I have found digging into the Word of God, I found more and more and more, and I hope that's true for you.

[9:43] Now, for some of us, this is a favourite gospel. It's the simplest, shortest and fastest, and it is written to be read aloud. So, when Mark says, let the reader understand, he doesn't mean the person who's sitting there reading by himself, but the reader out loud.

[9:59] So, I've got two aims today. One is to equip you to read deeply in Mark, to understand more, to orient you, so that you might be able to lead others well as we walk through the book together as a church.

[10:12] And secondly, of course, to see Jesus more clearly, how magnificent he is. And as we'll go through today, he's full of power and compassion at the same time.

[10:23] He's mighty to deal with our enemies and gentle to deal with us. So, we want to strengthen our faith in this magnificent Jesus so that we would be more delighted in him and more devoted to him.

[10:34] This gospel of Mark is the closest in time to Jesus, and it was basically, it was based on Peter's dictation. And we know through reliable tradition that although Mark doesn't mention himself in the book, he is mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, of course.

[10:53] It's his mother's house where the last supper takes place. In Acts 12, that's where the people are praying when Peter gets out of prison. He travels with Paul, then more with Barnabas and with Peter.

[11:05] And the last words of one Peter, Peter sends greetings to people from my son Mark. So, if we go to the next slide, please. There is an old quote about Mark that comes from Papias.

[11:19] It's slide number two. It goes... David, if we could have the next... Ah, no, that's not it.

[11:31] There it is. Sorry, it wasn't as interesting as running on the beach. Well, actually, it is very interesting. So, this is Papias, you can see badly at the bottom, was the Bishop of Hierapolis.

[11:43] Papias was a guy who was brought to, who served the Apostle John. And this is written a little later. And he says, Mark was the interpreter of Peter. Wrote down accurately that not in order.

[11:54] All those things, Peter remembered are the things done or said by Christ. Mark hadn't heard the Lord, but Peter did, etc., etc. And I know it's a...

[12:05] He's trying to say how good Mark is. So, I'll tell you how we're going to do this today. We're going to orient to the Gospel. And I've got, I think, seven main points you can see on this sheet.

[12:17] We may not get through them all. But I'm going to do the important ones. We're going to do some group work. Is that all right? We're going to have questions and answers. You can stop at any time, although I do have slots for questions and answers.

[12:29] We want coffee. There's a good time for coffee. Coffee. And there's this. Mad Mark minutes. So, if you... Next slide, please.

[12:39] Slide three. The timing looks a bit like that, but it might wobble around a bit. Is that okay? Is that all right? Does anyone want to say anything? Does anyone hear when they should be somewhere else?

[12:56] Okay. All right. Let's go to the next slide, please. All right. Let's go. Number one. The Gospel of Mark is about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[13:10] Can you believe I did not say this in the first two Mark days? I know it's obvious, but it's very possible to forget this. So, if we go to the next slide, the first words in Mark, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[13:28] So, the whole Gospel is dominated by Mark is fixated, gripped, preoccupied, consumed by, possessed with Jesus.

[13:39] Every paragraph in the Gospel. Every paragraph in the Gospel except two are about Jesus. And those two are about John the Baptist, which are about Jesus, getting ready to come, and then repentance and forgiveness of sins.

[13:55] Every theme, every theme, every story, every story, every, what looks like incidentals, are about Jesus. So, if we have the next slide.

[14:06] So, if we go back to verse 1, so the next slide.

[14:19] So, this word, the beginning, and I've got it up there for all you Greek scholars. The word is akere in the Greek.

[14:31] And the word doesn't just mean beginning as in time. It means source, origin, and shape.

[14:44] So, Mark is saying that the shape of what I'm writing, the story, the narrative of what I'm writing, is the Gospel. Do you understand what I'm saying?

[14:55] So, the shape of Mark's Gospel is very important to us. Let me show you what I mean. I've given you the structure. You can put the next slide up, please, David.

[15:08] You've got it in front of you there. There are a number of ways of looking at the structure. And some of us here are more diagrammed people than others. But let me try and explain this.

[15:19] The simplest way to break up Mark is at the top line. The first eight chapters are about who Jesus is. And nobody confesses who Jesus is.

[15:31] No human does. Until we get to chapter 8, verse 29. That's Peter confesses him to be the Christ. And it's full of action and miracles. But as soon as Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, Jesus then turns to the reason he's come to die.

[15:48] So, what does he come for? So, who Jesus is, the Son of God, is the burden of the first eight chapters. And then why he's come to be our saviour in the next eight chapters.

[16:00] So, that's the two largest themes in Mark's Gospel. And let me make a couple of comments and talk about the significance of it. In the second line, there is another way of structuring it.

[16:13] And that is geographically. So, chapters 1, 14 to 8, 21 are in Galilee. And Galilee is Gentile territory.

[16:26] It's part of Israel. But more than half the population in Galilee were Gentiles. It's right on the border of Tyre and Sidon and the Decapolis on the outside of Israel.

[16:37] So, this is where Jesus comes from. And this is where the great burden of his ministry is up in Galilee. And if you look to the third act, three, if you will, is in Jerusalem.

[16:48] Chapter 11, 1 to 16, 8. And in the middle, there's a long narrative called On the Way. And the phrase On the Way is used in those texts I've laid down there.

[16:59] And in the middle of the first act, there's a big teaching block, which is chapter 4, the parables of the sower, etc. And there's a big teaching block in chapter 13, which is the apocalyptic stuff.

[17:11] And that is another way of breaking up Mark's gospel. And I've given a third way at the bottom, which is a little more detailed, which you can go and have a look at those things. Let me just go back and talk a bit about the significance of the first breakup, the two halves.

[17:27] What's important as we read Mark's gospel is that the two halves are quite different in character. So, in the first half, all is victory.

[17:41] Jesus is the Son of God, even though he faces opposition. He drives out demons. He heals the sick.

[17:52] He teaches, takes God's place in teaching. He forgives sins. It's all victory, victory, victory. And the focus in the first eight chapters is the crowd. And it happens in Galilee and then outside of Israel.

[18:09] But the second half, for Jesus' work as saviour, it's got a very different feel. It's filled with suffering. And it's filled with the shadow of the cross.

[18:22] And Jerusalem looms large. And Jesus' teaching, although he still teaches crowds, less so, but he now focuses on the disciples.

[18:34] So, the gospel itself, the shape of the gospel is this. All-powerful king, defenceless sufferer. All-powerful king, defenceless sufferer.

[18:47] And when we come to chapter 1, verse 11, that combination is announced by God the Father from heaven as we start the gospel. Is everyone with me so far?

[19:00] Anyone want to ask a question there? I wasn't going to stop for Q&A here, but... I will, yeah.

[19:15] Okay, point two. Next slide, please. Sorry about this. I've called it the way Mark works on us.

[19:26] I'm talking about how it's written. And I have... Our first mad Mark minute. Actually, I thought I'd have that there because we might be sleepy on Saturday morning.

[19:38] So, Mark minutes are just stuff I couldn't put into any other point. So, here we go. The gospel is completely new. Most scholars believe this was the first gospel.

[19:51] And there's nothing like it ever been written before. Nothing like it. There are hero stories and there are histories, of course. But nothing like this that is utterly dominated by the life of one person and then utterly the second half of it by the death of the person.

[20:07] It's a quantum leap. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And you think about Mark sitting down to write as Peter has been talking to him.

[20:19] How do you describe what is greater than can be described? I mean, how do you put into words the wonder of Jesus Christ? You can't summarise it, can you? And the way Mark does this is to stop us from holding Jesus at a distance.

[20:35] And he uses a very simple technique from Greek theatre. So, Plato and Aristotle, who are ancient Greeks, said there are two ways that theatre works.

[20:47] One is by a simple chronological telling, one thing after another. There's a Greek word for that. The opposite way is a kind of a show and tell.

[21:01] It's a re-presentation of what happens. This is called mimesis. Mimesis, if you like. You know what it's like when you go to a drama, when you go to a play, and as you watch the play, you move from being a spectator to being a participant.

[21:21] And this whole idea of re-presentation closes the distance between us and the main characters. We're able to identify in different ways.

[21:33] This way, the straight narrative way, keeps the third person in place. But this showing way, re-presenting, allows the story to tell itself.

[21:45] So, the narrator recedes. Mark himself recedes into the background, which is why he never talks about himself. And the distance between us and the character shortens. And we're caught up in it, and we're part of it.

[21:59] So, you can have a scene where the main character might be Jesus. But the way we are hearing the scene, or reading the scene, is we are seeing Jesus through the eyes of different character.

[22:11] It's focalised. Jesus is brought into focus through the other characters. Am I making this clear? Saying this okay? Okay. That is why there's so much of Mark's Gospel is focused on the response and the reaction to Jesus by various different groups.

[22:33] All right? That's why it's so important. And as we're reading it, and as you're teaching it and studying it, the response is very important. So, if I could have the next slide, please. Here are just some of the different kinds of responses.

[22:45] The crowds, the disciples, Satan and demons, the Jewish opponents, God himself, seekers. There are others, aren't there?

[23:00] Yes, David, there are others. Gentiles. One of the great ironies in Mark's Gospel is that the people who ought to welcome Jesus by faith and love him, they are the ones who reject him.

[23:17] Whereas the ones who love him are not the A-team. And the real faith often comes from the most unexpected quarters.

[23:28] It doesn't come from the religious establishment, nor from the family. And the point is there's no neutrality to Jesus. Let me give you an example with the family.

[23:38] So, here we go. I'm not ringing it loudly, because Esther has already taught us about sandwiches. But let me show it again.

[23:48] If you go to the next slide, David. So, Mark loves sandwiches. And a sandwich is A, 1, B, A, 2. So, he interrupts the story with B, then goes back to the first story, A, at the end.

[24:03] And as Esther said, the key to reading the story is the middle part of the sandwich. And the first one in the book is in Chapter 3.

[24:14] So, if you would turn to Chapter 3, please, in your Bible, at 20. If we could have another slide up, please. Yeah.

[24:28] I don't know if that's readable or not. But what we're going to do is this. Can I get three people to read this to us? One person to read the first two verses. This is Part A. Part B is 22 to 30.

[24:41] And then Part A2 is 31 to 35. And then I'm going to ask you, what's this about? Okay? So, can I have someone to read the first two verses? Stand up and read it aloud for everyone, please.

[24:55] This is not Starbucks card time. This is just... Thanks, Kimmy. Yeah. Just 30 and 31. 20 and 21, sorry. Okay. Jesus entered the house, and the crowd gathered again, because they were not from the world to be.

[25:11] When family presence was set out to the street, the husband was out. He's out of his mind. Thank you. Would someone read 22 to 30, please? Thank you, sir.

[25:23] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[25:37] Thank you.

[26:07] Thank you very much.

[26:30] And someone else, 31 to 35. Thanks, Jen. Thank you.

[27:10] What's 20 to 21 all about? There's a judgment on who Jesus is by the family.

[27:25] He's out of his mind. He's crazy. It's not what you'd call real faith, is it? Okay. What's the middle paragraph about? Okay. Can I have a question?

[27:52] You already answered. Come on. Yeah. And how do we know it's about Satan? How do we know it's about Satan? Right.

[28:11] Thank you. So Satan, Satan, demon, Satan, prince of demons, Beelzebul. It's all three there. Satan. That's right. He has an unclean spirit. Yeah. Anything else in that little section?

[28:23] Yeah. What's the strange thing about binding the strong man? What does that mean? What's going on?

[28:35] Just a guess. What do you think is going on here? Who is the strong man? Satan. And who is the stronger man? Thank you.

[28:46] Okay. Then the third paragraph, what's going on? Jesus redefines family.

[29:02] But what is the family's... What are they doing? What's the family doing toward Jesus here? Yeah, they're trying to control him.

[29:17] First they say he's out of his mind. Then they're, you know, we want come here, come here. And he doesn't. And then he redefines family.

[29:27] Yeah. So here are two family assessments of Jesus, both of which are way wider than Mark, right? And how does the middle section help us with the outer section?

[29:37] Yes. The kingdom of God is stronger and all the power is stronger.

[29:50] Yes, I think the strong man picture of Jesus is where we're going to end up in this, absolutely. In fact, you know when John the Baptist says, the one who's coming is mightier than I, it's the same word, strong.

[30:07] So we already know this one's coming, yeah. But how else does this help us read the three stories, the whole sandwich, to take a bite? I mean, you're not someone who just bites the middle, are you?

[30:20] You take the whole sandwich, yeah? Yeah. He is, yes, it's a parable, and that comes into chapter four and explains why he's talking parables.

[30:37] That's really helpful here. Yeah. Isn't he just emphasizing who I am is really important? Yes, his identity. You guys aren't getting it, and you guys aren't getting it, and let me tell you why.

[30:51] So, that's right. That's in the parable. So, who does the family think he is? Crazy guy, crazy son, crazy boy. And when they want him outside, he hasn't eaten for a while, and the crowds are pushing on him.

[31:05] They've got a genuine concern for his health, right? Like, they're all, it's a good concern for a family to have, is it not? But they don't understand who he is. And then the religious authorities say he's Baal, Beelzebul, Satan.

[31:19] So, opposition to Jesus, well-meaning misunderstanding of Jesus, well-meaning familiar resistance to who he is, comes from Satan.

[31:33] Now, that applies, doesn't it? Do you see how he got there? So, the middle helps us with the outside, too.

[31:44] Because the outside, too, we're so easy on the family, aren't we? But actually, Satan has got a hold of them as well. Ooh. Ooh.

[31:58] It's good, isn't it? Yeah. All right. Anything else? Yeah. I have a question. When it says, you can't be a family, do they actually believe that the family is only a few before?

[32:16] Hmm. Hmm. More in the sense of my perspective? No. No. This is a judgment on his personality. I mean, and it would be shocking, wouldn't it, to have as your brother the Son of God, who was without sin.

[32:35] I mean, we looked after our grandchildren last week, and they are not without sin. They're very good children. But early on in the Gospels, Mary and the brothers opposed Jesus.

[32:49] We know this from the other three Gospels as well. In fact, in John 7, the brothers try and stop him from going up to Jerusalem. Now, later on in the Gospel, we know that Mary, obviously, she's treasuring these things in her heart and wants to believe them.

[33:07] And she comes to full faith by the time of the cross, and I'm going to talk a bit more about that later. And we know that James, his brother, is converted after Jesus appears to him after the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.

[33:21] But no, I think during his ministry, most of them were opposed to him. He's out of his mind. What's the word, Joel, the crazy word? Thank you, sir.

[33:34] So, it's like, they write off all his teaching and what he's doing. Yeah. Jesus.

[33:52] It's interesting, isn't it? The parable is very logical, isn't it? You know, if Satan's casting out Satan, the house is going to fall. Yes, it will fall because I am the strong man.

[34:02] And then he goes right into redefining family here. Are you allowed to do that? Well, if you're God, you can. If you're a strong man, you can. Fanny.

[34:13] Thank you. What is the new relationship? What is it?

[34:25] Mother and brothers, a new family. And how do we become part of the family? Does the will of God.

[34:37] That's right. And doing the will of God becomes very important through the next couple of chapters. Thank you. Yeah. These are all great things, aren't they? But the main thing in this sandwich is the opposition to Jesus is satanic, no matter how politely it comes.

[34:50] And Jesus comes with the strong man to redo things. Yeah. Sure does. Yep.

[35:08] Yep. Yeah. And for those troubled by that, it's in the present tense, so it's the ongoing resistance to the spirit. It's not just a one-off saying in the past.

[35:19] I remember when I was a youth worker, a guy, a kid in our youth group came to me and he said, I once cracked a joke about the Holy Spirit at school. Can I go to heaven?

[35:29] And he was the softest-hearted Bible guy and he continues to be a Christian today. I said, no, no, no, that's not what he's talking about. But, yeah, there is a stern warning for those of us who harden our hearts against him, as the family was doing.

[35:47] All right, shall we move on? I think I might have put on your sheet, there are actually nine sandwiches. Well, commentaries can find a hundred of them, but there are nine that most people, and that's how to read them.

[36:03] All right, so let me just now make some comments about three of the different kinds of responses that we see, or three groups of responses.

[36:17] And I'm going to do it out of order because I want to give you an exercise to do. All right? Is that okay? I'll just keep going until someone says no. All right? All right.

[36:28] So the first of the crowds, can we have the next PowerPoint, please? The first response of the crowds, yeah. So this is mostly in the first half of the gospel, the crowds.

[36:40] The second half of the gospel, as I've already said, focuses on the disciples. Though the crowds return as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and they then call for his crucifixion.

[36:55] But in the first half of the gospel, he is incredibly popular, particularly because he heals, but also because of his teaching. And people are attracted to Jesus, and they have awe in the face of Jesus, but not always faith.

[37:14] They're different. Not all who confess Jesus to be the Son of God have faith. The demons confess him to be the Son of God. So there's more, isn't there, than just the confession.

[37:29] So here is a great picture, a great illustration of what happens. Would someone read us 3, 7 to 12, please? Someone in a big, loud voice. This is part of why Mark was written to be read aloud.

[37:42] Thanks, Beth. Thank you.

[38:15] Thanks, Beth.

[38:35] Okay. What do we learn about Jesus here? Very great crowds. Yeah. And where are they from?

[38:47] Everywhere. Israel and outside. Yeah. What else about Jesus? Yeah. Yeah.

[38:58] He's very powerful to heal and very compassionate to heal. Right. And what's the danger? Crush him. What would have happened if they'd crushed him?

[39:16] No more healing? What else? No salvation. No going to the cross. So the crowds are a very mixed bag?

[39:27] Yeah. But of course, we believe crowds can be good when they're crowned to the gospel. but by itself, by themselves, crowds can actually be doing Satan's will.

[39:40] I'm going to fly over disciples, come back to that in a moment. Let's have a look at the seekers, shall we? Seekers, these are the real heroes of the faith.

[39:51] And if you're asleep, this is the time to wake up. There are 13 seeker stories, suppliants, the commentaries call them, in Mark's Gospel.

[40:04] And they are the key responders to Jesus. And the reason they are the key is because we see Jesus through them.

[40:15] We don't see Jesus so much through the disciples' eyes. We're taken inside their hearts and minds. We identify with them. And often we only hear about them once.

[40:29] They had an interaction with Jesus and then they disappear. And I want to give you an illustration that's mentioned, that Esther mentioned.

[40:40] So if you go to chapter 5. In the middle of the sandwich, this is from 21 to 43. In the middle of the sandwich, where Jesus is going to Jairus' daughter, you see 21 to 24.

[40:56] Jairus' daughter, come and heal me. And then picks it up again, 35 to the end. And in the middle, there is this story about a woman. A great crowd, see verse 24, followed him and thronged about him.

[41:11] And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years. So already we're in sympathy with her. Who had suffered much under many physicians.

[41:26] Now we really are identifying with her. And she had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grew worse. Now we're really inside her heart.

[41:38] And she had heard reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. She said, now we actually are able to overhear her thoughts.

[41:50] If I touch even his garments, I'll be made well. Do you see where we've gone? We were sympathetic and now we see Jesus through her eyes. She's got this bit of a superstitious view, this hope.

[42:02] There's no human hope for her. Maybe if I touch Jesus, I'll be healed. And immediately, one of Mark's favourite words, verse 29, the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

[42:15] And Jesus doesn't want to leave it there. Perceiving in himself the power had gone out of him, out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?

[42:28] And his disciples said, look, you have a crowd pressing on you. You say, who touched my garments? But he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling.

[42:38] So we know what she's feeling. And fell down before him and told him the whole truth. Isn't that great? And he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well.

[42:51] Go in peace and be healed of your disease. He tells her, your faith has saved you, literally. And then he gives her a word because he wants her faith not just to be superstitious for healing, but to focus on being saved by his word.

[43:08] But it's beautiful, isn't it? And this is one of the seeker stories. Have I written, have you got the 13 there? Those 13 suppliants are key to the way Mark wants us to see Jesus Christ.

[43:23] Isn't that grand? I just love that. All right, let's have a look at the disciples. And I'm going to ask you to do something about this. So the disciples, or as my boys used to say from Sunday school days, the staples.

[43:39] And here we are, I think I've got four texts. And I want four groups, I guess.

[43:57] So just turn around, group. Let's have this three rows in a very big group. Fanny, you can lead it. And this group in a very big group. And she's turned away.

[44:08] Okay, Marion, you can lead it. And this group in a very big group, you can lead it, sir. And this group in a very big group, and you can lead it. And I've got one question for each group, okay?

[44:20] Do you understand what I've just told you there? Okay. What I want you to do, this group, I want you to go to first group, chapter 1, 16 to 20.

[44:31] Someone should read it. And I want to ask you, what makes a disciple? All right? Group 2, chapter 4, verses 35 to 41.

[44:44] Where are the disciples spiritually? Where are the disciples spiritually? Group 3, 8, 27 to 33. Where are the disciples spiritually?

[44:58] Group 4, 16, 1 to 8. Where are the disciples spiritually? Do you understand? So three groups are going to answer the question, where are they spiritually? You read the passage.

[45:11] This group is going to answer the question, what makes a disciple? Are there any questions so far? Put your hand up if you're leading a group. Thank you. Thank you. And then just delegate to someone to read the passage so you can all hear it.

[45:24] And then answer the question together. And then delegate someone to answer in front of the group. Go ahead, please. Next Teilся. Go ahead, please.

[45:37] Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you. Go ahead.

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[58:48] Yeah.

[59:18] So, so let's go.

[59:48] Thank you.

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[61:48] So who's the spokesperson for group three? There's a debate between Doug and Mark. So pardon me, the question is where are the disciples spiritually again?

[62:11] Right. I think the disciples are in the room at a couple of years. Yep. Yep. And most importantly the phrase says, YouTube thing I am.

[62:27] And many folks would sound when you do that. Yeah. Yeah.

[62:43] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

[62:57] Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

[63:17] Thank you. Anything else from this group? Is it right for, is it, is Peter right in confessing Jesus to be the Christ?

[63:29] 100%. Yeah. Yeah.

[63:41] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[63:53] All right. Yeah. and what are they not quite there with by the way isn't mark clever you know how would you understand that two part the only miracle in the gospel it's two part yeah thank you what what are they not seeing yeah yeah no no no you were the best group they can see him as the conquering christ they can't see the suffering christ janet oh isn't that astonishing uh get behind me satan if you're opposing the suffering side yeah whoa it's so strong isn't it so where are they spiritually group three they're not fully understanding they're getting there so they're following we know they've been fishing for people because they've gone on mission already uh but they don't fully understand right and they're even opposing jesus at points interesting it's mixed isn't it jay thank you i'll come to that why does he silence them this is the most puzzling thing here thank you yeah i'll come to that anything else okay group well i that's that's a toss-up now group two and three i'm gonna with i'm gonna with say that again is anyone see anyone got hurt feelings no um thing is the fourth group had the hardest work so let's turn over to chapter 16 shall we verses one to eight and the question again is where are the disciples and this is the resurrection so uh verses one to eight um i'm not going to talk about this at any length but verses nine to the end are not genuine they're not part of the original gospel so verses one to eight um um the question is where are they who who's the spokesperson for this group chris okay where are the disciples what what's happening um um right right right right yeah yeah um how are they disobedient they said they said nothing to anyone yeah yeah right so where was the last time we saw any of the twelve uh it's the end of chapter 14

[67:54] where peter denies jesus okay what does the angel say okay in verse seven right so where are the disciples spiritually they're not showing up they're not showing up not so much following going on uh uh uh jesus had said the angel says he had told you told you that he was going to rise from the dead they didn't do that what else frightened frightened not understanding not understanding not listening not obeying where are they spiritually wow that's here in trouble they're back further back they had a very big relapse yeah yeah erin i thought i thought i thought tim made a really good point in our group and he can't do that you can't say someone in your group made a good point that's just currying favour with me yeah and that was at least they turned up to three games right so if if you were sort of quite just passionate looking at them to say um these are just they're just oh they're lovely oh they're lovely they actually turned up yeah yes yes yes yes um it's interesting isn't it yeah thank you so by the end of the gospel where are the disciples not when they should be not when they should be any isn't that a great relief i mean do you sometimes find yourself frightened and not talky and not following and several times a day yeah yeah they're not throwing in their lot with satan they're not way off you know but they've come to the end of themselves but they haven't they haven't they're not trusting the words of jesus and they're i think the women are trying to follow they're not obeying and they're not understanding yeah so do they sorry go on lynn yes yes yes yes yes the human response yeah the human response yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah clearly yeah yeah and what's let's go a step deeper that's exactly right what's the great irony about this post-traumatic stress situation yes yes is there enough in Jesus and in his death and resurrection

[71:56] for those who've had trauma it's an interesting question isn't it I say that because I think COVID has been quite traumatic and I think there are a lot of folk in in St John's who are showing sort of post-traumatic stress symptoms yeah yeah yeah S so if you're mark and you write the gospel to the uh and you finish at verse eight and all these um well-meaning scribes who copy out your document come to verse eight and they go that's no good we need a better ending so let's have handling snakes and all that sort of stuff after and his commission to go into all the world right so why does mark to think of the fact that he he's representing why does mark finish on this note of uh they've gone backwards do you think i mean i i have an idea but i i have one idea what's he doing what's mark doing how should this passage work on us you're halfway there i think yeah yeah yeah yes yes yes yes it is but why does mark finish this way yes yes and what about us and what and what is it about this passage that what is the response the angels talking about yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah right and what does the angel instruct them to do go where go and tell where galilee galilee galilee galilee is gentile territory that's right doesn't doesn't say go grab them in the upper room in jerusalem so you go and tell so it's an invitation for us to start into the story waiting for the spirit praying knowing we will fail and we are frail and we've got all sorts of traumas that we too can participate in this story as disciples yeah it's amazing isn't it yeah sorry yes really good news because this is who we are

[75:59] yeah you don't have to spruce yourself up you don't have to get yourself yeah someone else was going to say yeah yeah yeah yep yep yep yep there is this yes just can we just grab a hold of that for a moment so I do think grief is I know we don't walk around going sad sad sad but I do think we carry grief we carry the grief of the world that's when we did ecclesiastes we carry the grief on our own sinfulness that's Romans 8 and how the world and how we've treated Christ I don't think we can get beyond that we can get into the joy of forgiveness absolutely it's a two-sidedness to it Janet you were going to say something yes that yes yes absolutely so this narrative not only says what are you going to do it also it also makes us want what's coming next yeah absolutely

[77:17] Jay yeah right and what does the angel say they must believe just as he told you go back to the words of Jesus so Mark is saying go back to what I've just written yeah you know they saw him still the storm but they still didn't understand who he was yeah so the risen Jesus appearing to people didn't automatically create faith yeah someone else had the yeah yeah yeah

[78:20] I know isn't that great so it puts us as readers in this amazing position and we come back into it going how can I how can I respond to this yeah one of the one of the other interesting things about this is that hearing hearing and following is more important than understanding can I say that again so they don't understand beginning to end of the gospel they never get there but they hear and they follow they hear and they follow and they fish they hear and they follow so for us as we go forward we've got to keep hearing and keep following even if we don't understand even when we don't understand and there are lots of circumstances we don't understand and lots of things about the Lord we don't understand yeah yeah yeah that's his work yeah amazing isn't it all right so

[79:32] I've got seven minutes to coffee so I'm going to do one more point so I've got a small point and then we'll do a big point after coffee is that all right good okay let's move on can we have another power point sir so this third heading is and all the rest of my headings are Jesus and Jesus and Jesus and let me just talk a little bit about Jesus and the authority of God we're running up to coffee the biggest impression of Jesus and the biggest thing that offends people about Jesus is he has all the authority of God sovereign authority over demons he he changes the teaching of the Old Testament well he interprets it according to his own way of looking at the world he reorders families we just saw he reorders political priorities he reaches out to the Gentiles and it's astonishing authority he takes all of God's prerogatives as his own to cure to heal to forgive sin over Satan and he speaks of God with this unique intimacy very interesting the baptism by John where the spirit comes the father speaks is the sort of authorization that's the authority moment and in chapter 11 when he's in the temple and the spiritual authorities say by what authority are you saying and doing these things what event does Jesus go back to?

[81:09] he goes back to the baptism by John and he says was it from God or not? so the baptism of Jesus is very important for this whole the whole book and the authority nearly coffee a Mark mad minute here's some things about Mark that couldn't fit anywhere else it's fast so the word and comes over a thousand times and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the word immediately comes I think 41 or 42 times immediately, immediately immediately, immediately it's fast and short shortest gospel the Greek is ordinary street vocab and he uses what the scholars call the historic present tense that is instead of saying this happened in the past he says it's happening happening happening and it intensifies the action so after the baptism Mark says immediately the spirit drove him out into the wilderness no drives him out into the wilderness that's a historic present tense in chapter 1 now a leper came to him imploring him no, no, no the leper comes to him so we're in the story and it's immediate and there's all this amazement around the fast speediness of it and that my friends is all I have to say on that so there's coffee what other goodies are there there

[82:36] Jan? hot water tea coffee let's be back let's regather at 10 to 11 plenty of time you can walk around the block if you like go and sit in the sun try and find out which was the best group coffee exciting setup so I mean it's wonderful if you enjoyed happy you you have have so that's as Thank you.

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[112:33] Who's there.

[113:03] I love you.

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[114:33] What's the food.

[115:03] I was in the...

[115:33] fantastic.

[116:03] Come on.

[116:33] So, yeah.

[117:03] And I'm going to move.

[117:33] And I'm going to...

[118:03] This is a parable.

[118:33] The chapter from here.

[119:03] He's in the...

[119:33] verse 11.

[120:03] And I'm going to...

[120:33] heaven laughs.

[121:03] And I'm going to...

[121:33] very strong.

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