52 Weeks in the Word - Week 43

-

 Welcome to Week 43!  Look at that; less than 10 weeks of not only the year, but also until we finish reading through the Bible!
The New Testament is going by quickly.  After talking to several of you this week, it is easy to see there was quite a bit in last week's reading.  Feel free to share your thoughts along the way.  

This week we will finish the book of Mark and begin Luke.  

Looking ahead to Week 43:

The reading for Week 42 includes: Mark 8 - Luke 7.

Just a few more facts about Mark for this week.  The Gospel of Mark is the shortest gospel, but is action-packed.  It's primary purpose is to present Jesus as the One who came to the world to serve, suffer, and give His life as a ransom for many.  The book's emphasis is on the acts of Jesus, showing that Jesus is both the Servant of God and Servant of mankind.  

Looking at the geography of Mark, we have two different locations.  The Galilee region is where Jesus spent most of his time: Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Cana, and Caesarea Philippi.  About 80 miles south of the Sea of Galilee is the region of Judea.  This is where Jesus was born in Bethlehem, ancient town of Jericho, and the Judean wilderness where Jesus was tested by Satan.

Mark includes many action verbs, emotions, and eyewitness impressions.  The Roman culture, who Mark was writing to, loved action and adventure, and Mark did not disappoint.  

The book is divided up into 3 sections: The Ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:1 - 9:1), The Sacrifice of Jesus (Mark 9:2 - 15:47), and The Triumph of Jesus (Mark 16:1-20).  Interestingly, most of the time Mark described the disciples not as noble heroes, but as normal, everyday ordinary people... just like us.  

The next gospel, Luke, was written by its name sake.  As a physician, his writings indicate he was educated in medicine, history, and literature.  The Gospel of Luke is the longest of the four gospels, and the first part of a two book series.  Acts is the follow up to Luke.  Some believe that the books of Luke and Acts were written as legal defense for Paul's trial in Rome.

The Gospel of Luke was written between 58 - 63 A.D.  Both books, Luke and Acts, make up one-third of the New Testament.  Most likely, the primary audience of Luke was the Hellenistic Culture.  Both Matthew and Mark recalled Jesus' family history.  Matthew traced Joseph's family back to King David, while the book of Luke traced Mary's family line to not only a different branch of King David, but all the way back to Adam, also referring to Jesus as the "Son of Man."  


We look forward to hearing your comments on this week's reading!  Many blessings to you all this week.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

52 Weeks In The Word - Week 1

-
Image
Welcome!  We are so glad you are interested in reading through the Bible with us this year!  Our heart is that this small group will be an encouragement to you as we set out to read God's Word this year.   What We Will Do: We are using the reading plan from  52 Weeks in the Word  by Trillia J. Newbell.  If you would like a downloadable reading plan to print off, click  here .  If you have not already received your book, contact Ginger or Matt.  The book is not necessary to begin, but you will need the reading plan. Each week we will post a new blog post with a brief introduction to that week's reading that can be found right here.  You may also post comments or questions on that week's reading on this page.   We will not actually be meeting together for this group.  However, Matt and I have placed you in small groups to encourage each of you through out the year to stay focused on the goal of reading through the Bible...
Read more

52 Weeks in the Word - Week 2

-
Image
 It has been such a rich week of Bible reading!  We have been blessed by the dialog in all the groups.   Just a brief recap of the week's chat discussion: Giants mentioned in Chapter 6.  This brought up many more interesting thoughts. Creation and the beautiful gift from the Lord.  We are made in His image.  The various places where we saw examples of Christ or the Gospel, such as with Abraham and Isaac, the three men who came to Abram, and Melchisedek giving his blessing and brought bread and wine. Genealogies and many more... We want to encourage you to keep reading !  If you find yourself needing to catch up, Sundays are great days to do that since there are no extra readings for that day.  Try listening to the Bible with an online app if you find yourself needing a little extra help keeping up.  You are NOT behind, just keep going!   Another great way to be encouraged to read further is joining in with your small group chat...
Read more

52 Weeks in the Word - Week 3

-
Week 2 has come to an end.  This week we've had great discussions going in the group.  Genesis was a book that kept our attention!  It was full of wonderful takeaways, including forgiveness and redemption.   A brief recap of Week 2's discussions: Consequences of blessings and curses Early generations without Jesus or Scripture getting to Heaven Burying idols  Examples of forgiveness The fact that Joseph's brothers did not take his advice when talking with the Pharoah in Chapter 47 Woman being an equal helper to man, with a deeper meaning than the generic meaning of helper today. We even had some of these discussions in the discussion posts this week of the blog, so feel free to go back and read through the first two weeks' discussions on this blog.  We want to encourage you, if you have a question, reach out and ask.  Feel free to leave a comment here or in your small group text.  We have enjoyed digging deeper with you all this week. Looking...
Read more