03 The Bible · Read Mark
Never read the Bible? Start with Jesus.
Mark is 16 chapters. You don’t need to understand everything. Just read and notice.
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Mark 1Jesus arrives, announcing good news
About 5 min- Before you read
- Mark skips a birth story and starts straight into the action: John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, and the first days of his public work in Galilee.
- Watch for
- How fast everything moves — Mark loves the word “immediately.”
- One question
- What do you make of someone who claims “the kingdom of God has come near”?
Mark 2Jesus causes controversy
About 4 min- Before you read
- Jesus starts forgiving sins and mixing with people religious leaders considered undesirable, which doesn’t go down well with everyone.
- Watch for
- Who Jesus chooses to spend time with.
- One question
- Why might forgiving sins have been such a provocative thing to do?
Mark 3Opposition grows, a new family forms
About 4 min- Before you read
- Jesus keeps healing on the Sabbath (a day meant for rest), appoints his twelve closest followers, and faces accusations from his own family and religious leaders.
- Watch for
- The range of reactions to Jesus — awe, suspicion, hostility, even concern from his relatives.
- One question
- What would it take for someone’s own family to think they’d “lost it”?
Mark 4Stories about seeds and a storm calmed
About 5 min- Before you read
- Jesus teaches in parables — everyday stories with deeper meaning — mostly about seeds and growth, then does something that startles even his closest followers.
- Watch for
- The disciples’ question after the storm: “Who is this?”
- One question
- Why tell truths through stories rather than straightforward statements?
Mark 5A demon, a bleeding woman, a dead girl
About 5 min- Before you read
- Three dramatic encounters in a row show Jesus engaging with people at the very edges of society — the possessed, the ritually unclean, and the dead.
- Watch for
- Who reaches out to Jesus, and who Jesus reaches out to.
- One question
- What does it suggest about Jesus that he doesn’t avoid people others kept their distance from?
Mark 6Rejection at home, feeding a crowd
About 5 min- Before you read
- Jesus is dismissed in his own hometown, sends his disciples out to minister, and then feeds a huge crowd with almost nothing.
- Watch for
- The contrast between being rejected by people who thought they knew him, and being sought out by strangers.
- One question
- Why might familiarity make it harder, not easier, to see someone clearly?
Mark 7What actually makes someone “unclean”
About 4 min- Before you read
- Jesus clashes with religious leaders over handwashing rules, then makes a bigger point about where wrongdoing really comes from.
- Watch for
- Jesus’ answer about what actually defiles a person.
- One question
- Do you agree that what’s inside a person matters more than outward rule-keeping?
Mark 8Who do you say I am?
About 5 min- Before you read
- Another crowd is fed, then Jesus asks his disciples directly who they think he is — and gives the first hint that his path leads to suffering.
- Watch for
- Peter’s answer, and how Jesus responds to it.
- One question
- How would you answer the same question Jesus asked — “Who do you say I am?”
Mark 9A glimpse of glory, a difficult healing
About 5 min- Before you read
- Jesus is transformed in dazzling light in front of three disciples, then comes back down the mountain to a father desperate for help for his son.
- Watch for
- The father’s honest cry: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
- One question
- Is it possible to believe and doubt at the same time?
Mark 10Hard teaching on money, marriage and status
About 5 min- Before you read
- Jesus gives some of his most demanding teaching — on divorce, wealth, and what real greatness looks like — while continuing toward Jerusalem.
- Watch for
- How Jesus redefines greatness as serving others, not ruling over them.
- One question
- What would change if status really was measured by service rather than power?
Mark 11Arriving in Jerusalem
About 4 min- Before you read
- Jesus enters Jerusalem to a crowd’s acclaim, then overturns tables in the temple courts, directly challenging the religious establishment.
- Watch for
- The gap between the crowd’s celebration and what happens days later.
- One question
- Why might overturning tables in a place of worship count as a prophetic act rather than just anger?
Mark 12Trick questions and true devotion
About 5 min- Before you read
- Religious leaders try to trap Jesus with difficult questions, and Jesus notices a poor widow’s small offering at the temple.
- Watch for
- What Jesus says makes the widow’s tiny gift greater than the wealthy donors’ large ones.
- One question
- What does the story of the widow suggest about how value gets measured?
Mark 13Jesus speaks about the future
About 5 min- Before you read
- Jesus warns of coming upheaval and hardship, using imagery that’s debated among scholars but centres on staying watchful, not fearful.
- Watch for
- The repeated instruction to “watch” and “be alert” rather than to panic or calculate dates.
- One question
- How do you think someone should live if they genuinely believed the future was uncertain?
Mark 14The last supper and betrayal
About 6 min- Before you read
- Jesus shares a final meal with his disciples, is betrayed by one of his own, and is arrested after an anguished night of prayer.
- Watch for
- Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, wrestling honestly with what’s ahead.
- One question
- What do you notice about Jesus in his most vulnerable moment?
Mark 15The crucifixion
About 6 min- Before you read
- Jesus is tried, mocked, and executed by crucifixion — a brutal Roman method of execution — between two criminals.
- Watch for
- The centurion’s reaction at the moment Jesus dies.
- One question
- Why do you think this event became so central to the Christian story, rather than something to explain away?
Mark 16The empty tomb
About 3 min- Before you read
- In the earliest surviving complete manuscripts, Mark ends abruptly at 16:8, at the empty tomb, with the women afraid and amazed. (Most scholars think the longer ending found in some Bibles, verses 9-20, was added later and isn’t in the earliest manuscripts — worth knowing, not something to worry about.)
- Watch for
- How understated and unresolved the earliest ending feels compared with a tidy, triumphant finish.
- One question
- What would you have thought, standing at that tomb, in the women’s place?
When you get to the end
You’ve now read an entire account of Jesus’ life.
What did you think? There’s no right answer. Wherever you are, here are a few places to go next.