GOSPEL OF MARK
Chapter 1
1-What is the Good News?
The first verse of Chapter 1 is also the title of the Gospel. The good news is the coming of the Kingdom of God and the birth, life, death and the resurrection of the Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2-What is significant about curing a leper?
The significance of healing the leper by the Jesus is based on the idea that the physical pain can be healed by having faith which became a strong motivator in the early Christianity.
3-Why do you think 1:13 mentions “wild beasts”?
The persecution of the Roman Christians was a difficult time in which Christians were forced to live or were intentionally living in forests. Mark mentions the Jesus temptation in the desert as the overcoming of the wilderness or wild beasts.
4-What is the significance of Jesus’ first miracle in Mark?
The first miracle occurred well before Jesus started preaching when he turned water into wine at a wedding feast. Jesus also showed his first miracle of healing in the home of the three brothers.
Chapter 3
1-How did the family of Jesus react to his preaching?
The family of Jesus after hearing about the preaching of Jesus thought that he is out of his mind. They tried to take him away and discredit him.
2-To what does blasphemy against the Holy Spirit refer?
The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit refers to the sins like cursing God or intentionally degrading things which are related to God. It also refers to the linking of evil to the God or by denying him the good that is attributed to Him.
Chapter 4
1-What is the secret or mystery of the Kingdom?
The secret to the mysteries of the Kingdom are the teachings of the God and Jesus, which is not secret, but is a mystery to them who are without it or cannot understand it and are ill-disposed of the Jesus.
2-What is Mark’s portrait of the disciples of Jesus?
The Mark’s portrait of the disciples of Jesus is the most negative. They are shown as failing to understand the teachings of Jesus. They are also unable to comprehend the true nature and authoritative power of his messiah-ship.
Mark’s Gospel in General
1-In the entire Gospel who acknowledges the identity of Jesus (as Son of God)?
The Gospel begins with informing the reader about the identity of the Jesus as the Son of God. However, firstly, the identity is acknowledged by the voice from the heaven. Then, the demon acknowledges the identity of the Jesus by saying that he knows that Jesus is the Holy One of God. In humans, Peter acknowledges the identity after being asked by Jesus himself that he is the Messiah.
2-In the entire Gospel who does not recognize Jesus’ true identity?
In the entire Gospel, the true identity of the Jesus has been kept a mystery. Even those who recognized his true identity were asked to keep quiet. The crowd and the people did not know the true identity of the Jesus.
3-How often does Mark’s Gospel use the word “love”?
The word “love” is used in the first chapter in the 11th verse in the Gospel of Mark. The word love is not used as often as it is used in the Gospel of John. The use of word “Love” is mostly used regarding showing the love of God for his Son.
4-What is the central message of the Gospel of Mark?
The central message of the Gospel of Mark is that Jesus has come to earth as the Son of God and the kingdom of God is at hand and that everyone and all would repent and have faith in the Gospel.
5-What does discipleship entail according to Mark?
The portrayal of discipleship by Mark is harsher than the other Gospels. The main of showing the discipleship is to show the true discipleship of Jesus. The discipleship responds to the call of Jesus and follows him.
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
1-Do you think Matthew was of Jewish or Gentile background? Why?
I think Matthew was Jewish because of the reason that the Gospel of Matthew is longer than the Gospel of Mark and has sections on the Sermon of the Mount, infancy narrative, parables, and community regulation which impacts on the portrayal of the Jesus.
2-What is the key line in the Sermon on the Mount?
The key line, if considered, would be the summary of the sermon as it covers various subjects. The sermon if summarized would entail how life should be lived by dedicating to pleasing God and make it free from any hypocrisy, full of wisdom, grace, and love.
“Do not think I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have come to fulfill.”
3-Compare and contrast the cruxification of Jesus in Mark and Matthew
The comparison of the cruxification of Jesus in Matthew and Mark has some differences. In both, the Jesus handed over to be crucified, and the Simon of Cyrene is the one who carries the cross. In both gospels, Jesus arrives at Golgotha and is given vinegar and gall to drink, which he tastes but not drink. In Matthew, the time of cruxification is not specified, whereas in Mark it is shown in the third hour at 9 am. The accusation on the cross is different in both Gospels. On both gospels, Jesus is crucified with two other thieves who mocked Jesus. Passers y also mocks the Jesus. The later account is similar except in Matthew after the death of Jesus earthquake, saints resurrected, and graves are opened, while in Mark only the Temple veil is torn.
4-What are the key O.T. texts in the background of Mt.27:37-54?
The key Old Testament texts used in the background of Matthew in 27:37-54 is “Ps.22: 1”. This is an allusion to the Old Testament.
5-What is Jesus’ attitude towards the Mosaic Law as presented by Matthew?
Jesus, as portrayed in Matthew, is shown as not destroying the Mosaic Law, but to fulfill the Law of Moses. The Matthew in its section of the Sermon on the Mount shows Jesus speaking about the Mosaic Law and that the teaching of God, which was sent by Moses is now to be explained in its true meaning by Jesus.
6-Why do you think Matthew has Jesus’ sermon on a mount (Mt.5:1)?
I think that the Matthew has the Jesus sermon on a Mount to dissolve the perception that Jesus is against Moses and provide a strong defense by showing that the teachings of Moses and Jesus are similar in its true meanings and he has come to fulfill it.
7-Compare and contrast Mk.8:14-21 with Mt.16:5-12
The event accounted in both gospels is similar in its meaning, but differ in their wordings. The Matthew accounts that the disciples had forgotten the bread; whereas the Mark accounts that they forgot the bread and had only one loaf with them on the boat. It is where the Jesus said to be beware of the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees in Matthew and the leaven of the Herod and Pharisees in Mark. On this, the disciples start thinking and discussing that they have no bread. On which the Jesus calls their hearts hardened while having eyes but not seeing, and having ears, but not hearing in the Gospel of Mark, whereas, in the Gospel of Matthew he calls them men of little faith. In both gospels, Jesus gives an account of the bread he had broken into many pieces from a few. The numbers in both are different.
8-Compare and contrast Mk.6:52 with Mt.14:33 (in terms of disciples)
Both sections accounted for the event when Jesus walked on lake water in front of his disciples, and the disciples were terrified of him, thinking of him as a ghost. The Mark gospel did not account for the event when Peter asked Jesus to let him come to him with water and when he started to sink in Jesus saved him and told him to have more faith. The Gospel of Mark also narrates the disciples more harshly by saying that the disciples did not understand the loaves of bread and about the walk on water because their hearts were hardened. The gospel of mark also gives the location of Bethsaida whereas Matthew doesn’t.
GOSPEL OF LUKE
1-Contrast Luke’s genealogy with Matthew’s
The genealogy of Jesus is recorded in the two Gospels; Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus to Abraham, whereas the Gospel of Matthew traces the line of descent to the Adam. The lineages from King David to the Jesus are startlingly different in the both Gospels. Matthew accounts for 41 generations from Abraham to Jesus, whereas Luke accounts 76 generations from Adam to Jesus.
2-Contrast Luke 3:6 with Matthew 3:3 and Mark 1:3.
The two Gospels, Matthew, and Mark account of the sayings of the Isaiah prophet whereas the Gospel of Luke accounts for a more detailed version including an addition. Mark and Matthew have similar accounts of the event (The voice of the one crying in the wild forest, make ready for the way of the lord, and make his paths straight) while Luke accounts for the last one (all flesh will see the God salvation)
3-Find the Lucan equivalent to Mt.5:48 in Luke 6.
The Lucan equivalent in the Luke Chapter 6 for the Matthew 5 “ Be perfect, as the heavenly Father of you is perfect” is “ Be merciful, like your Father is merciful” in Luke 6:36.
4-Contrast Mark 6:4 and 13:57 and Luke 4:24
The meaning of the three sections noted in the three Gospels is similar. However, the wordings used vary. Matthew reports as “They offended him, on which Jesus said that A prophet is not without honor, save in his own house and his own country. In Mark, it is reported as, “A prophet is not without honors, but in his kin, own house, and own country” and the Luke reports it as “Verily I say to you that No prophet is accepted in his own country.”
5-Contrast the temptation accounts in Mt., Mk., and Lk
The Gospel of Mark only refers to the temptation and provides no details of the account. Matthew and Luke have fully accounted the event. Mark only refers by saying that after forty days of fasting and tempting by Satan. The Gospel of Luke and Matthew reports the whole conversation between the devil and the Jesus on the temptations offered in the form of Food, and Power to which Jesus denies. The Matthew and Luke accounts differ in the order of the temptations offered.
6-Contrast Mk.14:3-9; Mt.26:6-13; Lk.7:36-50
The account of the silent woman, who cries at the Jesus’ feet and anoints it with her tears, kisses his feet and anoints them with salve, she has brought. This account seems similar to the Matthew and Mark however; it is a very different story. Luke story comes early in the Jesus ministry as compared to others. It is also not connected with his death.
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