Summer Break

Because of vacations and other summer obligations, the class that meets on Thursday mornings has decided to take a break for the summer. Since we just finished the lessons on Mark and have not started our study of the Gospel of John yet, this seemed like a natural break point.

We (meaning “I”) have also decided to slow down the pace of the original schedule, which called for three chapters a week toward the end of John. I’ll publish a new schedule and the fall start-up date as soon as I’ve calculated the chapters remaining  in John, Luke, and Acts. It would serve us very well, I think, to take holiday breaks in November and December and extend the study through the spring of 2012. I’ll also publish the Gospel of John Study Guide as soon as it’s complete.

I plan to resume these posts in the late summer – probably mid to late August.

Hope to see you then!

--Cheryl

Mark 15 and 16 Class Comments

1. Read Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12. Then read Mark 15. Note the prophetic verses in Isaiah 53 that are fulfilled in Mark 15.
   Comments: 
   Isaiah 53:4 and Mark 15:10 – He was unjustly condemned.
   Isaiah 53:5 and Mark 15:20 – They chastised Him.
   Isaiah 53:4-6; 52:14 and Mark 15:15,19 – His visage was marred; he was wounded.
   Isaiah 53:7 and Mark 15:5 – He opened not His mouth.
   Isaiah 53:8 and Mark 15:15 – He was taken from prison and from judgment.
   Isaiah 53:8 and Mark 15:25,37 – He was cut off from the living.
   Isaiah 53:9, 12 and Mark 15:27-28 – He was numbered with the transgressors.
   Isaiah 53:9 and Mark 15:43-46 – They made his grave with the rich.
   Isaiah 53:12 and Mark 15:37 – He poured out His soul unto death.
   
2. 16:1-8 Who came to the tomb early on the first day of the week? What did they see? What were they told to do? Whom did they tell? Comments: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James (the Less), and Salome (wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John). (These same women were mentioned in 15:39.) They saw the stone rolled away and a young man in a long white robe. They were told to see the place where He was laid and to go tell His disciples – and Peter. But out of fear, they told no one.
   
3. 16:9-11 After Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and to the two men, whom did they tell? Comments: Mary Magdalene told those who had been with Him (the apostles?), but they didn’t believe her. The two men also told the others, but they didn’t believe them, either. Thomas was not the only one who doubted before they actually saw Jesus in His risen body.
   
4. 16:12-16 After rebuking the Eleven for their unbelief, what did Jesus tell them to do? Comments: To go to all the world, preaching to every creature. There was some discussion about whether this instruction was to the apostles only, or to all of us, and also what “every creature” means. Matthew 28:18-20 mentions that they were to teach the disciples to do everything they had been told. And at the time Colossians 1:23 was written, Paul states that the gospel had been preached to “every creature under heaven.”
   
5. 16:17-20 What was the purpose of the signs that would follow them? Comments: To confirm the gospel they preached, to prove that all they preached was in Jesus’ name, by His authority, on His behalf, because they belonged to Him (according to our comments on Mark 9:33-42).
   
6. 16:19 To where did Jesus ascend? Comments: To be seated at the right hand of God. Note that in Acts 7:56, Stephen, just before his death, sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God, as if He has risen either in concern or in honor of His servant Stephen.