Navigating Life's Storms With Mark, Week 1

Navigating Life’s Storms with Mark”

Week One: Introduction

By

Drs. Larry Rankin and Roger Swanson

To prepare for the class:

Before the first class session, read the entire Gospel of Mark in one sitting (about 30-45 minutes). Choose verses or chapters that draw your attention or questioning. Reflect on these. Write down your reflections. Be prepared to share your thoughts in the class (as you wish.)

Introduction and Background to the Gospel of Mark

Mark’s entire message is the Good News revealed in the life, death, resurrection, and the eternal presence of Jesus Christ through His Reign in the Kingdom of God. He invites all Christians to live with Him in this Kingdom, practicing what he teaches and his radical actions through faith in Him. Each chapter challenges the disciple of Christ to grow by adopting spiritual practices which equip the disciple to radically follow Jesus in belief and practice. Spiritual Formation for the Christian is walking “the way” of Christ in this world, as in the next, as we get closer and closer to God. The first century Christians referred themselves, as “people of the Way.” This way is not earned by merit or good works.  It is gained through the extravagant and freely given grace of God. Our choice is to follow that way—that path. Being Christian is not for individualists or lone rangers. This is why Christian disciples form the “body of Christ,” the community of faith- the church (which means community (Gk. Koinonia) or gathering, not brick and mortar), as it was in the first century with Mark and the Roman Christians. The church is the community of faith, the “Beloved Community” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) on earth as it is in heaven.  

Mark’s gospel suggests the path to take towards discipleship and the formation of the faith community, as Jesus intends. 

These are:

1. Proclaiming the Good News

2. A Commitment to Christ

3. Acts of a Disciple

4. The Transforming Power of the Good News 

 5. Disciples Witness to Their Relationship with Christ  

In this study of Mark, we will cover each of these, one week at a time, within the context of the Gospel of Mark. You will be asked to read the daily assigned chapters in Mark and the corresponding chapter in this study guide in preparation for the week’s gathering.  After each daily reading there will be a question or two for you to reflect upon.  Come to the class prepared to share your response, as you wish to do so.  

Mark communicates the urgency of the mission like no other gospel writer does – an urgency to teach his disciples to embody the Kingdom of God. It is the shortest of the four gospels, suggesting that it was written in a hurry under great duress. Mark does not waste any time getting to the heart of the matter. There are few details in the life of Jesus. There is no mention of Jesus’ birth or childhood. Mark begins is gospel with Jesus suddenly appearing at the Jordan river with his cousin John the Baptist. Mark 1:1 says, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  

 The Gospel of Mark is the first Gospel comes from the oral and written fragments from first century Christian communities (house churches). It appeared in the years 65-70 AD.  The hope that the resurrected Christ would return within the lifetime of some of his disciples who knew him thirty years earlier.  These were times of persecution and great uncertainty. Jerusalem was ravaged by the Romans in AD 70.  Herod’s Temple was reduced to rubble, stones no bigger than bricks. Three years later the great coliseum in Rome (standing to this day) was built with the treasure stolen from the great Temple. The Jerusalem faith community was scattered throughout the Roman Empire as they fled from persecution and total annihilation.  When the faith communities scattered, new churches began and the Christian faith spread.

That is why the  title of our study is coined by Psychologist and Biblical scholar, Alexander Shaia,  author of ”Navigating Through Life’s Storms with Mark: the Four Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation," makes a strong argument that Mark was written from oral traditions and memories of the Christian community in Rome. The date of Mark’s appearance coincides with the rise of Emperor Nero, a deranged and despotic man who murdered members of his own family and persecuted minorities with impunity. Shaia writes that on July 19, 64, a great fire destroyed most of Rome. It was Nero who set the fire, to clear the way the neighborhoods to construct a grand palace. However, the Jewish ghetto was spared because it was located in a swamp. However, the Roman Christians were not spared. 

Historian Tacitus reports that it was Emperor Nero wo scapegoated the Christians, leading to great persecutions.

Christians knew that by following Christ, they were condemned to death.—a horrible death, as they were thrown into the Circus Maximus, wrapped in animal skins,  to be torn to pieces by the wild beasts.  Many of their bodies were fuel for the torches at Nero’s evening garden parties.

Roman Christians knew that they too would join Christ in sharing His body and blood as a holy sacrament by giving up their bodies and blood as a libation in His memory.  When there was a knock on the door, everyone inside the house knew that it was their time to prepare themselves to die, as martyrs (witnesses) for their Lord. 

The author of the Gospel of Mark is unknown but tradition tells us that the writer was a young man – perhaps a teenager - at the time of Jesus’ Ministry and was one of the followers that waited in the Upper Room for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 We will soon notice, as mentioned before, that one of Mark’s most common phrases, as Jesus moves from one activity to another is, “and immediately,” mentioned 41 times in the Gospel. 

The urgency in Mark equals the urgency many feel for the present and future church. Is Christianity still relevant in the chaos of our society we are living in?  Are our circumstances all that different from first century Christians under the boot of the Roman Empire, willing to die by simply uttering, “Jesus is Lord,” rather than “Emperor Claudius is Lord?” Perhaps we as Christian disciples may not have to physically die for our faith in Christ, yet we can be His living martyrs (witnesses) as we disciple to others and share the love of the living Christ in their lives.  Yet, are we strong enough to do so if the circumstances present themselves?  Are we prepared to live through suffering for the sake of the Gospel? And even when we do suffer for any reason, do we know how to use the resources that Jesus has already given us to “navigate through life’s storms?” 

Finally, Mark uses the crossings of the stormy lake (Galilee) and living in the harsh environment of the wilderness, as metaphors for Christ to teach us how to come victorious on the other side as people who live in the Kingdom of the Now and the Forever More.

 In summary: Mark guides us through our suffering and gives us strength for the journey until we come out on the other side. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and staff they comfort me.” 

Psalm 23:4

What circumstances today are similar to those that existed with the Roman Christians in 60-70 AD?

How are they different?

Why was Jesus and his followers a threat to the Roman Empire and the Temple authorities?  What did Christ’s enemies fear?

Do you think that many people feel hostility towards Christians and the Christian faith today?  What is your response to them?

What actions today would be considered threatening to the “powers that be?”