1.  Mark opens his account with a reference to an Old Testament passage.  Read Isaiah 40:3, and then compare it to Mark 1:1-4.  What is Mark claiming about the identity of Jesus?

2. Mark introduces readers to several characters in 1:9-13.  List the characters and give any brief description from the Bible you may know about them.

3.  What is the significance of Mark including these scenes (the baptism and the temptation of Jesus) with so many supernatural forces at play?

4.  Verses 14-15 include Mark's first recorded words of Jesus, which set the trajectory for the rest of the book.  What authority is Jesus claiming, and how does this claim inform the way you are to read the rest of the story?  (Read Colossians 1:15-20 for more help).

5.  Why does Jesus say to repent AND believe instead of just believe?

6.  What do you think Mark wants us as his readers to believe about Jesus through the response of the fishermen to Jesus' call?

1.  Look at Mark 2:1-5.  How would you characterize the "faith" that Jesus is responding to?

2.  Why is Jesus' first response to the paralytic (verse 5) surprising to the various characters in the scene?

3.  Why does Jesus forgive the paralytic?

4.  What is important about Mark's description of the crowd's response in verse 12?

5.  What about the call Levi receives to follow Jesus (verses 13-14) is similar to the previous story?  What is different?  What does this tell us about the call to follow Jesus?

6.  What does Jesus mean by "righteous" and "sinners"?  What is Jesus teaching his hearers through how he is using these terms?

7.  Look back to Mark 1:40-45 and compare it with Mark 2:1-17.  What theme binds this section of the Gospel of Mark together?