Footnotes and Witness
Have you ever wondered if you are good enough to read the Bible? Does it feel like you aren't qualified? I grew up in church so I thought I knew how to read it; I didn't! With a few footnotes, I want to share the resources and tips that opened the Bible for me. The word finally started to feel like that "living" word I always hear about. If you follow Christ, you have the Holy Spirit and that means you are qualified to read God's word. If you want to be, this is a great place to dip your toes in the water and see what this whole Jesus thing is all about. I believe that when you read about God's true character, from His own words, you won't be able to stop telling people about how your life is saved and changed. Jesus wants us to tell our story because it is HIS story. See Jesus rightly in the Bible, and see Him in your story.
Footnotes and Witness
702 Mark chapter 1
We are going to start digging into Mark chapter 1. This week we are going to start by building some skills on how to read this gospel well with the intentionality of the author's intent. First is a little background on the book itself. Mark was most likely written around 50-60 AD (CE). This means it was the first gospel account written and distributed. It was most likely written by the companion of Peter (Acts 12:12 and 1 Peter 5:13) and Paul (Colossians 4:10), John Mark.
His beginning uses the word "gospel". This was a loaded work to the original hearers of this word. It was commonly used to announce the birthday of Cesar, the leader of Rome. Here is the link for a couple resources on the topic:
https://bibleproject.com/podcast/what-does-word-gospel-mean/
Tim Mackie and NT Wright
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/euangelion-gospel/
Video on the word study done by the Bible Project
Road Map for Mark
- Chapters 1-8 the case building-lots of individual stories (look for "immediately" Geographically, in rural part of country known as Galilee
- Chapters 8-16 Party moves to Jerusalem where everything slows down for the week of Jesus' arrest, trial, torture, death and resurrection
- Make note of contrasts between God's kingdom and that kingdom of earth
- Use CPR on each story
- category - miracle or event is showing the authority of the Son of God, which authority is being displayed?
- people - who is present, who are the witnesses
- result - what are the responses of the people there and is there a result caused by the event
Try to read the book in light of the original audience. They did not have 3 other gospels to compare and contrast with.
End your time with prayer! Even a quick shout out invitation in the car counts. Invite God in to this conversation about Him.
Audience Participation!
I want you to let me know your questions, thoughts, concerns. Please email of DM for upcoming audience shows. I cannot get to all the layers of a chapter in one podcast episode so I hope to get to some of those things you want addressed during this season. You can email at
footnotesandwitness@gmail.com
or check the website for social media accounts also! Thanks
https://www.deborahjmckenzie.com/