by Carol J. Miller
This eight-session study of Mark’s Gospel, a Kerygma Study Resource, is focused on the identity and mission of Jesus.
It provides both challenge and comfort as Jesus-followers grow—and sometimes falter—in our understanding and commitment to him and his vision.
Participants in the study emerge from it with an overview of how the writer of our earliest gospel presented Jesus and his good news.
Kerygma Studies are designed for group use, and a Leader’s Guide, a Participant Resource Book, and a Leader’s Kit are available. The resources are both scholarly and accessible.
The teaching approach is group discussion, growing out of study individuals have done before the session.
In an early session, the author says: “Mark tells his story . . . to hold up to his church a picture of Jesus as the true authority who has the true power—the power of God to heal, to forgive, to reconcile…”
The writer adds that Mark believed that his original audience needed to see in no uncertain terms that there was only one authority to which a follower of Jesus could or should be loyal.
“Remember, the early Christians were already beginning to be pressured to give their loyalty to Caesar, as both a political and a religious authority. But Caesar’s power is puny when compared to the authority of Jesus.”
Guy Sayles, a writer and speaker in Asheville, N.C., has used this and other Kerygma resources in small-group Bible studies.