For small groups · 10 questions
Mark 1 Bible study questions
John the Baptist prepares the way, Jesus is baptized and tested, calls fishermen, and heals many in Capernaum.
Read the chapter aloud first. Then take the questions in order: what it says, what it means, what to do. About 45 minutes. Skip any question that doesn’t fit your group.
Start here
- Who taught you something that changed the direction of your life?
Look: what does it say?
- What does John call people to do, and what does he say about the one coming after him?Mark 1:4-8
- What happens when Jesus comes up out of the water?Mark 1:9-11
- What does Jesus say to Simon and Andrew, and how quickly do they respond?Mark 1:16-20
Understand: what does it mean?
- God calls Jesus his beloved Son before Jesus has done any public work. Why does that matter?Mark 1:11
- What does Jesus mean when he says the time has come and the kingdom of God is near?Mark 1:15
- With crowds looking for him, Jesus goes off to pray and then moves on. Why?Mark 1:35-38
Live it: what will we do?
- What might God be calling you to leave behind, like nets by the water?Mark 1:18
- Where could you find a quiet place to pray before your day starts?Mark 1:35
- The leper says, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Jesus says, “I want to.” What would you ask him for?Mark 1:40-41
Close in prayer
Ask God to help each person follow when Jesus calls, even in small things.
Mark 1
Lumin Translation. It prints after the questions, so the group has the words in front of them.
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way,
3 a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness, and he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 The whole region of Judea and all the residents of Jerusalem kept going out to him, and he baptized them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.
6 John wore clothes of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.
7 His message was this: “Someone stronger than I am is coming after me. I am not fit to bend down and loosen the strap of his sandals.
8 I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan.
10 The moment he came up from the water, he saw the heavens splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him.
11 Then a voice came out of the heavens: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I delight.”
12 Without delay the Spirit thrust him out into the wilderness.
13 He stayed in the wilderness forty days while Satan tempted him. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.
14 After John had been handed over, Jesus came to Galilee, where he proclaimed the gospel of God
15 and said, “The time is now complete, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent, and put your faith in the gospel.”
16 Walking along beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew throwing out a net in the sea, since they were fishermen.
17 Jesus told them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers of people.”
18 Right away they abandoned their nets and followed him.
19 After going on a short distance, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were also in their boat, getting the nets ready.
20 At once he called them, and leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers, they went off after him.
21 They came to Capernaum. As soon as the Sabbath arrived, he entered the synagogue and taught.
22 The people were astounded by his teaching, because he taught them like someone with authority, not like the scribes.
23 Right then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue, and he shouted out,
24 “What business do you have with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
25 Jesus rebuked him: “Silence! Come out of him!”
26 The unclean spirit threw him into convulsions, let out a loud shriek, and came out of him.
27 Everyone was so stunned that they began discussing it with one another: “What is this? A new teaching, backed by authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they do what he says.”
28 Word about him quickly went out in every direction, through the entire region surrounding Galilee.
29 Right after leaving the synagogue, they came to the house of Simon and Andrew, along with James and John.
30 Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and without delay they spoke to Jesus about her.
31 He came to her, took hold of her hand, and raised her up. The fever went away, and she started serving them.
32 When evening came and the sun had gone down, people kept bringing him all who were ill and those possessed by demons.
33 The entire town had crowded together at the door.
34 He cured many who suffered from all kinds of diseases and threw out many demons, and he did not allow the demons to speak, since they knew him.
35 Early in the morning, in the deep dark before dawn, he rose, went out, and went away to a lonely place, and there he prayed.
36 Simon and the others with him went hunting for him.
37 When they found him, they told him, “Everyone is searching for you.”
38 He answered them, “Let us go elsewhere, into the neighboring market towns, so that I may preach there as well; this is the reason I came out.”
39 So he went all over Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and expelling demons.
40 A leper came to him, pleading with him and kneeling down, and said, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”
41 Filled with compassion, he reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be made clean.”
42 The leprosy went away from him at once, and he was clean.
43 Jesus sternly warned him and sent him off right away.
44 He told him, “Make sure you do not say anything to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest, and for your cleansing offer what Moses prescribed, as a witness to them.”
45 The man, though, went off and began to proclaim it widely and spread the word around, so that Jesus was no longer able to go into a town openly. He stayed outside in deserted places, and still people came to him from all directions.
Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.