I’ll try to link each day’s notes as I complete them, starting with today’s (Mark 7:1-23) as well as gradually going back and posting and linking older notes. I’m not posting each set of notes as a separate blog entry because that would be too much traffic (I try to keep the blog to a max of 2 posts a week).

Credits: Up until Chapter 4, I was just using Scrogge’s Guide to the Gospels and a single-volume commentary by William MacDonald. For Chapter 4 and later, I borrowed Mark Lind’s Pillar commentary by James R. Edwards (edited by D. A. Carson), which has been excellent.

The Gospel Appears in Person (1:1-13) 13 verses

• The Key to Mark & John the Baptizer: Forerunner of Jesus, The Baptism of Jesus & God’s Son meets God’s Adversaries (1:1-13)

Beginnings of the Galilean Ministry (1:14-45) 32 verses

• The Gospel in a Nutshell, Calling the First Disciples & the Authority of Jesus (1:14-28)
• A Day in the Life of Jesus, Journey Inward/Journey Outward & Jesus Trades Places with a Leper (1:29-45)

Trouble with the Authorities (2:1-3:12) 40 verses

• The Authority of the Son of Man, The Scandal of Grace & Fasting and Feasting (2:1-22)
• Lord of the Sabbath, A Question of Life and Death & The Open-Air Preacher (2:23-3:12)

Insiders and Outsiders (3:13-4:34) 57 verses

• The New Israel, The Binder of the Strong Man & The Parable of the Sower and the Mystery of the Kingdom (3:13-4:20)
• Hiddenness that Reveals & From the Insignificant to the Incomprehensible (4:21-34)

“Who then is this?” (4:35-6:6a) 56 verses

• Jesus – Stiller of Storms & Creation from Chaos (4:35-5:20)
• Faith that Defies Defeat & Prophet without Honor (5:21-6:6a)

Witness to Jews (6:6b-7:23) 74 verses

• The Cost of Discipleship (6:6b-30)
• Feeding the Five Thousand, The “I AM” in the Midst of a Storm & the Man for Others (6:31-56)
• Recovering the True Intent of the Law (7:1-7:23)

Witness to Gentiles (7:24-8:9) 23 verses

• A Gentile who was a “True Israelite”, They will see the Glory of the Lord, The Feeding of the Four Thousand (7:24-8: 9)

Removing the Veil (8:10-9:29) 58 verses

• A Sign of Disbelief, The Enemy Within, the Touch that gives Sight, Peter’s Declaration of Jesus’ Messiahship (8:10-8:30)
• Messiahship and Discipleship, Removing the Veil: The Transfiguration of Jesus, Profiles in Suffering & Frail Faith in a Strong Savior (8:31-9:29)

Mere Discipleship (9:30-50) 21 verses

• The Second Passion Prediction & the Second Misunderstanding, The Kingdom of God is larger than our Experience of it & Discipleship: Counting the Cost (9:30-50)

“On the way” through Judea (10:1-52) 52 verses

• Discipleship and Marriage, Discipleship and Children & Discipleship and Possessions (10:1-31)
• The Third Passion Prediction, Self-Serving Sons of Zebedee and Self-Sacrificing Son of Man & A Model Disciple (10:32-52)

The Barren Temple (11:1-25) 25 verses

• Jesus enters Jerusalem, The Barren Temple (11:1-25)

Jesus and the Sanhedrin (11:27-12:44) 51 verses

• The Authority of the Son, the Sending of the Son & the test of the Pharisees (11:27-12:17)
• The Test of the Sadducees, the Test of the Scribes, the Question of the Day & the Widow’s Two Cents’ Worth (12:18-44)

Watchfulness in Tribulation and Triumph (13:1-37) 37 verses

• The Destruction of the Temple, Standing Firm Despite Infirmities & the Tribulation (13:1-23)
• The Return of the Son of Man in Glory, the Lesson of the Fig Tree & Expectancy and Vigilance (13:24-37)

The Abandonment of Jesus (14:1-72) 72 verses

• The Sacrifice of Faith, Preparation for the Passover & Oblation and Obduracy (14:1-31)
• Gethsemane: Prelude to the Cross & the Arrest: Judas and Jesus (14:32-52)
• True versus False Witness (14:53-72)

The Cross and the Empty Tomb (15:1-16:8) 55 verses

• Pilate and Jesus & Scourge and Scorn (15:1-20a)
• Crucifixion, the Son of God, Faithfulness versus Fearfulness (15:20b-16:8)

The Longer Ending of Mark (16:9-20) 12 verses

• An Early Christian Resurrection Mosaic (16:9-20)