Mark Bible Study: Following Jesus from His Call to the Empty Tomb

Read four chapters in three sessions

Session 1 reads Mark 1. Session 2 reads Mark 8. Session 3 reads Mark 15 and 16 together; allow extra time or divide that session across two sittings. The selected chapters give a route through the Gospel, not a substitute for everything between them. When a question concerns an intervening event, return to that part of Mark rather than supplying a scene from memory.

Keep a page of notes with three headings: what Jesus says or does, how people respond, and what following him requires. At the end of each session, add one observation under each heading with a verse reference. These notes will let you compare the opening call with the later teaching about the cross.

The disciples are part of the learning process in these chapters. They respond, witness, misunderstand, remember, and receive correction. Read their actions without assuming that being close to Jesus means they already understand everything he says. Their questions and failures give the study much of its practical force.

Read the final chapter in the translation you are using, including any editorial note about Mark 16:9–20. A short explanation later in this guide addresses that note. The KJV text linked here includes those verses. The study distinguishes the announcement at the tomb in verses 1–8 from the material that follows, so you can observe each section carefully.

Session 1: the good news begins with Jesus

Read all of Mark 1. The opening names Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John then appears in the wilderness, preaching repentance and baptizing in the Jordan. He directs attention to the one mightier than himself, who will baptize with the Holy Ghost (1:1–8).

Jesus comes from Nazareth and is baptized by John. As he comes out of the water, the Spirit descends like a dove and the heavenly voice names him the beloved Son (1:9–11). Water, the Spirit, and the Father’s declaration all belong to this scene. There is no need to diminish the baptism in order to emphasize the identity of Jesus.

The Spirit then drives him into the wilderness, where he is tempted by Satan for forty days and angels minister to him (1:12–13). Mark’s account is brief. It does not narrate the individual temptations found in other Gospel accounts. Keep this reading attentive to the details Mark gives.

After John is imprisoned, Jesus announces that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, calling people to repent and believe the gospel (1:14–15). The call to follow him arises within that announcement. It concerns a response to God’s kingdom, rather than merely admiration for an impressive teacher.

Before moving on, write a sentence about Jesus using only the chapter’s opening fifteen verses. Then note the response he calls for. This gives the rest of the session a center: the identity and mission of the one who calls.

The call leads into teaching, deliverance, and care

Jesus calls Simon and Andrew while they are fishing, promising to make them fishers of people. They leave their nets and follow. He then calls James and John, who leave Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants (1:16–20). Mark emphasizes the promptness of their response while preserving concrete details about their work and relationships.

The narrative does not require us to invent every conversation that preceded these moments or every arrangement that followed. The point stated is their response to Jesus’ call. Following begins with a real change of direction and grows through what they will see and hear.

In Capernaum, people are astonished at Jesus’ teaching and authority. He commands an unclean spirit to leave a man, and it obeys (1:21–28). The scene distinguishes knowing a title for Jesus from responding to him faithfully: the spirit names him the Holy One of God, yet Jesus silences and expels it.

The next scene moves into a home. Jesus takes Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand and raises her; her fever leaves, and she serves them (1:29–31). The public teaching and the care of a sick person belong within the same chapter. Neither should be allowed to erase the other.

When evening comes, many are brought to him. The disciples’ first steps after the call place them among teaching, need, healing, and deliverance. Ask what this reveals about the mission they have entered. Their response to Jesus will be formed by attending to him in these encounters, not only by remembering the moment they left their nets.

Prayer and mission shape the response to demand

Before daylight, Jesus goes to a solitary place and prays (1:35). Simon and his companions find him and report that everyone is looking for him. Jesus answers by directing them toward the next towns so that he may preach there also (1:36–38).

The chapter does not describe prayer as an escape from people or portray the people’s needs as unimportant. It shows Jesus continuing his mission beyond one place, even while demand there remains strong. His next action is governed by the purpose he names.

The healing of a man with leprosy follows. In the KJV account, Jesus is moved with compassion, touches him, and declares him clean. He then directs the man to show himself to the priest and offer what Moses commanded (1:40–44). The instruction gives the commanded offering a real place in the man’s response. The study should not turn it into an empty custom Jesus is merely tolerating.

The man instead spreads the news widely, and Mark records a consequence: Jesus can no longer enter the city openly and remains in deserted places, though people still come to him (1:45). Gratitude or enthusiasm does not make every response obedient. Attend to the instruction Jesus actually gives and the result Mark records.

For this session’s practice, compare demand, purpose, and obedience. What is being asked of you? What is your actual responsibility? What instruction have you understood but been tempted to replace with a more exciting action? Prayer and careful attention can help bring those questions together.

Session 2: the disciples have seen much and still need to understand

Read all of Mark 8. The chapter begins with Jesus’ compassion for a crowd that has stayed with him three days and has nothing to eat. He is concerned that some, having come a long way, will faint on the journey home (8:1–3). The need is bodily and immediate.

The disciples have seven loaves and a few small fish. Jesus gives thanks, breaks the bread, and gives it to the disciples to distribute. About four thousand eat and are filled, and seven baskets remain (8:4–9). Keep these numbers distinct from the earlier feeding recalled later in the chapter.

After an encounter with Pharisees seeking a sign, Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. They interpret his warning as a comment on their lack of bread (8:14–16). His questions expose the gap between having witnessed events and understanding their significance.

Jesus asks whether they remember the five loaves among five thousand and the twelve baskets, then the seven loaves among four thousand and the seven baskets (8:19–20). The disciples can supply the numbers. Yet he still asks why they do not understand. Correct recall alone has not settled their deeper difficulty.

For your notes, identify one thing the disciples remember accurately and one question Jesus says remains. This can help you examine your own reading. Knowing a familiar story’s details is valuable, but the story may still challenge how you understand Jesus, his provision, and his warnings.

Clearer sight and a confession that needs correction

At Bethsaida, people bring a blind man to Jesus. Jesus leads him out of the town, acts to heal him, and asks whether he sees anything. The man first reports seeing people like trees walking. After Jesus again lays hands on him, he sees clearly (8:22–25).

This is a real healing in the narrative. Its placement beside the disciples’ difficulty with seeing and understanding is worth noticing, but the man should not be reduced to a prop or his disability treated as proof of a moral failure. Mark reports his need and restoration.

On the way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks what others say about him and then what the disciples themselves say. Peter answers, “Thou art the Christ” (8:27–29). It is a clear confession, and the next scene tests what Peter understands that confession to mean.

Jesus begins to teach that the Son of man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise after three days. Peter rebukes him. Jesus then rebukes Peter, identifying his concern as the things of human beings rather than the things of God (8:31–33).

The sequence is sobering: Peter names Jesus correctly and then resists his teaching about the way ahead. A confession of faith does not make the disciple’s expectations automatically faithful. Following includes allowing Jesus’ words to correct the meaning we attach to the titles we use for him.

Following Jesus includes the cost he names

Jesus calls the crowd together with the disciples and speaks about denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following him (8:34). The teaching is not confined to Peter’s private correction. Others who would come after Jesus must hear it as well.

The next verse specifies the allegiance at issue: losing one’s life for Jesus’ sake and the gospel’s (8:35). This is more precise than a general celebration of difficulty. The passage is not an instruction to seek danger or to treat every demand made by another person as a cross one must accept.

Jesus asks what profit there is in gaining the whole world while losing one’s soul, and what could be given in exchange for it (8:36–37). The questions expose the limits of gain as a measure of a life. A decision can look advantageous and still involve a terrible loss of faithfulness.

The final verse joins allegiance to Jesus with allegiance to his words and looks toward the Son of man coming in his Father’s glory (8:38). Read this beside the prediction of suffering and resurrection. The teaching contains both cost and hope, and neither should be omitted.

For application, choose a decision where protecting comfort, reputation, or advantage may tempt you away from what Jesus teaches. Name the cost of the faithful action without exaggerating it. Seeking safety from abuse or asking for help is not the same as being ashamed of Jesus; the passage should not be used to give a harmful person control over someone else.

Session 3: the king is handed over and mocked

Read Mark 15 and 16. Mark 15 begins with Jesus delivered to Pilate. The question of kingship is repeated through the trial and mockery. Pilate knows that the chief priests have handed Jesus over out of envy, yet he ultimately releases Barabbas and delivers Jesus to be crucified, seeking to satisfy the crowd (15:10–15).

Keep the actors distinct: the chief priests, the crowd present, Pilate, and the soldiers each have a narrated role. Their actions should not become a charge against every Jewish person, then or now. Jesus, his followers, and the women later named in the chapter belong to the same people.

The soldiers dress Jesus in purple, give him a crown of thorns, salute him as king, strike him, and spit on him (15:16–20). The mockery tells us about the treatment he receives. We do not need to dwell on imagined physical details to recognize its cruelty and the humiliation involved.

Simon of Cyrene is compelled to carry the cross (15:21). Mark identifies him as the father of Alexander and Rufus but does not narrate his thoughts or later life here. The reader should not invent a conversion story from this sentence alone.

At Golgotha, the accusation identifies Jesus as the King of the Jews. The repeated royal language asks the reader to consider the identity of the one being rejected. Return to Peter’s objection in Mark 8: the path Jesus described is now unfolding, and it does not match a picture of kingship defined by immediate public success.

Jesus dies, and the witnesses remain part of the account

Those passing by and the chief priests mock Jesus with demands that he save himself and come down from the cross (15:29–32). Their demand resembles the expectation that power must prove itself by escaping the path Jesus has already described. Mark does not say that the mockers understand the saving work about which they speak.

Darkness covers the land, and Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (15:33–34). Let the cry retain its anguish. It should not be explained away as though Jesus were merely reciting words without suffering, nor should an account of relationships within God be invented beyond what this scene says.

Jesus cries out and dies. The temple veil is torn from top to bottom, and the centurion declares that this man was the Son of God (15:37–39). The narrative gives these events together. It does not call the temple worthless or turn its sacredness into a mistake; the tearing is a significant event at Jesus’ death.

Mark then names women watching from a distance: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and Joses, and Salome. They had followed and served Jesus in Galilee, and many other women had come with him to Jerusalem (15:40–41). Their presence belongs to the account of discipleship and witness.

Do not let the familiar outline of the crucifixion cause you to rush past these details. Who speaks? Who mocks? Who watches? What does the narrator report? A precise reading keeps Jesus’ death, the responses to him, and the witnesses in view together.

The burial leads to the announcement of resurrection

Joseph of Arimathaea asks Pilate for Jesus’ body. Pilate checks with the centurion that Jesus is dead before granting it. Joseph wraps the body in linen, lays it in a rock-hewn tomb, and rolls a stone against the entrance (15:42–46). Mark explicitly records the death’s confirmation and the burial.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses see where Jesus is laid (15:47). When the Sabbath is past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bring spices to anoint him. On the way they ask who will move the stone, then see that it has already been rolled away (16:1–4).

Inside the tomb they see a young man in a long white garment. He tells them that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has risen and is not there. He directs them to tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus goes before them into Galilee (16:5–7). Resurrection is announced before the section beginning at verse 9.

The reference to Peter is specific and should be noticed. The message includes him by name. The guide need not supply a speech from Peter at this point; the text gives the message to be delivered to him and the others.

Verse 8 records the women fleeing in trembling and amazement, saying nothing to anyone because they are afraid. Read the response as the verse presents it. Fear belongs to this scene, alongside the announcement they have received. It leaves the reader facing the seriousness of responding to the news, rather than imagining that every witness immediately found it easy to speak.

Read the ending and its textual note carefully

Mark 16:9–20 is included in the KJV linked here. Some other editions mark the passage with brackets or a note because the surviving manuscript evidence differs. The NET and NKJV notes identify manuscripts that end at verse 8 as well as the widespread inclusion of verses 9–20. The linked edition notes provide the evidence behind that warning to readers.

Keep the note visible while studying the passage. It is useful to distinguish what verses 1–8 report from what verses 9–20 add. This guide does not ask you to ignore the manuscript question or pretend that a short explanation settles every argument about it.

In the KJV’s verses 9–14, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, to two people walking into the country, and to the eleven. Reports are met with unbelief, and Jesus rebukes the eleven’s hardness of heart. The pattern continues the study’s attention to the difficulty of receiving what is revealed.

The commission in verses 15–16 sends the gospel into the world and joins belief and baptism in its statement about salvation. Preserve both rather than rewriting the verse to place them in opposition. Verses 19–20 speak of the Lord received into heaven and working with those who preach.

The signs described in verses 17–18 must not become instructions to handle venomous snakes, drink poison, or manufacture a dangerous test of faith. The passage does not command believers to seek those hazards. Its statements about signs belong to the proclamation and the Lord’s work described in the ending. A guided study should direct the reader toward faithful witness and care, not a performance of danger.

Christ connection: the call is shaped by the cross and resurrection

Mark's opening call to follow Jesus gains depth as he teaches about suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter's confession in chapter 8 must be corrected by Jesus' own account of his mission. Chapters 15-16 then narrate his death and burial and announce that he has risen. The one who calls is the Son of God, and the way of discipleship is learned by attending to his words and actions. Following him involves repentance, trust, service, and willingness to receive correction as his mission becomes clearer.

Complete the plan: revise your understanding of following

Review your notes from the three sessions. Under “what Jesus says or does,” include his kingdom announcement, his care for bodily need, his teaching about the cross, and the announcement of his resurrection. Under “how people respond,” include both willing action and misunderstanding. Under “what following requires,” identify the specific teachings that challenge you.

Now return to your first impression of following Jesus. Has it expanded beyond leaving a net or agreeing with a title? Mark places discipleship within repentance, learning, receiving correction, serving, facing cost, and responding to the risen Lord. Let the whole route through these chapters shape your answer.

Choose one practice to continue for a week. It might be prayer before responding to pressure, a concrete act of care, honest reconsideration of an expectation Jesus’ words challenge, or faithful speech when silence would protect your advantage. Name one person who can help you follow through without turning the practice into a performance.

You might pray: “Jesus, help me hear your call and understand your words. Correct the expectations that keep me from following you faithfully. Teach me to care for people, to remain truthful when obedience has a cost, and to receive the good news of your resurrection with faith.” These suggested words are a response to the study, not part of Mark’s text.

For a next reading, work through the chapters between these sessions. The selected route has given you a framework, and the rest of the Gospel will deepen it. Continue asking who Jesus is, how people respond, and what his words require of those who follow.

Sources and editorial note

• Mark 1

  Session 1: Jesus’ identity, kingdom announcement, first disciples, teaching, healing, prayer, and mission.

• Mark 8

  Session 2: provision, misunderstanding, sight, Peter’s confession, and the teaching about the cross.

• Mark 15

  Session 3: trial, mockery, crucifixion, death, witnesses, and burial.

• Mark 16

  Session 3 continued: announcement at the tomb and the ending included in the linked KJV.

• NET and NKJV edition notes: Mark 16:9

  Textual notes consulted for the manuscript distinction concerning verses 9–20; no extended quotation from the notes.

Prepared with AI assistance for Learn of Christ and checked against the passages and sources listed here. This revision has not received independent human scholarly review. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless another translation is named. Prayers and exercises are original examples.

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