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Week #3: Week of January 24th click here to revisit intros to previous weeks Mark Mark is believed to be the earliest of the four Gospels. It was written within a few decades of the death of Jesus and in circulation among the early church. It is the earliest account of Jesus’ life that has survived. There are sections of Mark that appear almost word for word in both Matthew and Luke (written just a few years later). This leads scholars to believe that both Matthew (one of Jesus’ disciples) and Luke (a doctor who traveled with Paul on some of his missionary journeys) had the Gospel of Mark sitting in front of them and were using it as a reference as they wrote their own Gospels. In fact, there are only 24 verses in all of Mark that don't also appear somewhere in Matthew or Luke. It is believed that Mark is Peter’s account of Jesus’ life and that Mark wrote down the account from listening to Peter tell stories about Jesus (perhaps from Peter’s sermons). Mark was the nephew of Barnabas and traveled with Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey. But Mark abandoned the journey. Later when Paul and Barnabas were about to go on a 2nd missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul didn’t. So, Barnabas and Mark went together and Paul and Silas went together. Later on Paul and Mark reconcile and Mark travels with Paul again. Mark is the shortest Gospel in length. Notice that the Gospel is all about action. It has fewer of Jesus words, but tells story after story of Jesus in rapid fashion. 1 Corinthians Paul stayed longer with the church in Corinth than he did in any of the other churches he started. It was in 55 AD (25 years after Jesus’ death) that Paul learned that things were not all well in Corinth and wrote to the church there from the city of Ephesus. Paul is very personal and straight-forward in this letter because he new the people of the church so well (contrast with Romans where he didn’t know them well at all). Paul wrote several letters to Corinth (at least 4). Remember that his letters existed on scraps of papyrus and it wasn’t until 90 AD that they were all collected together. So, some authors believe that part of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians got thrown in together when they were copied. In 1 Corinthians 5:9 Paul refers to a previous letter he wrote to the church. Some scholars believe it is lost. Some believe that part of it is contained in 2 Corinthians 6:13 – 7:2. (Remember, originally there were no verses and chapters – just Paul’s writings grouped together.) Then in 2 Corinthians 7:8 Paul refers to a previous “severe” letter that he wrote. Some scholars believe it lost, others believe it to be 2 Corinthians 10-13. Discussion Questions John the Baptist Beheaded (Mark 6:14-29) 1. Why do you think Mark included this flashback
to Herod between sending out the disciples v. (6-13) and their return
(v. 30-31)? The Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10: 17-26) 1. Why do you think Jesus told him to sell everything
and give to the poor? Marriage (1 Cor. 7) 1. What do you consider the most important ingredient
in a good marriage and why? Love (1 Cor. 13) 1. How does love described here compare to love
as typically defined in our culture?
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