Read Mark Learn

Meeting Jesus together as he walks off the page of Mark’s gospel

About

Read Mark Learn is a method for people to engage together with the story of Jesus as told in The Gospel According to Mark.

Read Mark Learn is for everyone: those who would identify as ‘christian’, and those who do not; those of any denomination and none; believers, skeptics, atheists, and agnostics; those who have studied Mark before, and those who are ‘just looking’.

In A Nutshell

The phrase ‘Read Mark Learn’ originates in a 16th century collect found in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer. Others have used it as a name for books, courses and Bible study groups before. We call ours ‘RML’ for short.

It’s a simple idea:

  • Read – listen to a section Mark’s gospel
  • Mark – take note of anything attention grabbing
  • Learn – explore things further in group discussion

Some have likened RML to the 7th century Benedictine practice of Lectio Divina. It also draws on contemporary group courses such as Pilgrim, Alpha, and Christianity Explored.

RML works in many formats (e.g. two friends meeting in a cafe, forty people split into table groups of six, online video conferencing). Each group is led by a moderator whose role is to keep things focussed and to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

The big RML idea is that the agenda is set by the group as they interact with Mark’s gospel. There is no external curriculum or course manual – our teacher is Mark.

Your questions are what drive RML. There is no such thing as a stupid question. There is no RML book of answers either, because the point or RML is to find answers together.

Introducing Mark

Mark is the shortest and arguably the oldest of the four gospels in the Holy Bible. It contains hints of being written for people living under Nero’s regime in Rome. Early tradition claims that it was derived from the preaching of Simon Peter, a close friend of Jesus, and a founder of the Church.

Mark is a skilful and engaging writer. He has a clear purpose: the proclamation of good news concerning Jesus. But his gospel is not a biography. How many biographers would spend half their word count on just the days surrounding their subject’s death?

To the casual reader his gospel may seem a random collection of disjointed, weird and wonderful Sunday School stories. Some of the material may even be opaque by design (perhaps for the safety of his first readers). But Mark wants us to engage, and will reward those who take him seriously.

Mark uses various literary devices to draw us into his story – e.g. vivid characters, interesting details, clever word play, grouping of related material, plenty of repetition, provocative statements, strange happenings, and lots of unanswered questions (that are clearly left as an exercise for the reader).

The book divides neatly into two, and contains many themes that span several chapters. So it’s important to read Mark in large chunks, or we’ll miss seeing how the detail fits into the bigger picture. You will get more from RML if you are able to make time to read (or listen to) Mark in one or two sittings.

Ever Wondered?

Mark is always trying to grab our attention, and his gospel contains many surprises and puzzles. For example:

  • Why did Jesus curse a fig tree, when it wasn’t even the season for figs?
  • Was Jesus being racist when he called a Syrophoenician woman a dog?
  • When people start looking for Jesus, why does he go somewhere else?
  • Why does Jesus refer to himself in the third person as The Son of Man?
  • Why are there two stories about Jesus feeding thousands of people?
  • What didn’t the disciples understand about the loaves in 6.52?
  • Why do the religious elite want to kill Jesus, and why does he provoke them?
  • Was Jesus having a bad day when it took two attempts to heal a bind man?
  • How could Jesus accept his betrayer Judas while rejecting his mother Mary?
  • Where is the prayer that Jesus says was required in 9.29?
  • When Jesus walks on the water, why does he seem to be about to pass by ?
  • Why does Jesus keep telling people not to tell anyone about him?
  • What has Jesus got against pigs, and why does he let 2000 of them drown?
  • If all sins can be forgiven, how is blasphemy again the Holy Spirit unforgivable?
  • Why does Mark bother to tell us that a young man ran away naked?
  • When does Jesus drink “the fruit of the vine anew in the kingdom of God?”
  • Why do we need to know that Golgotha means “place of the skull”?

If you can’t answer these questions, of have others like them, then RML is for you!

Six Sections

There are many ways to divide Mark into chunks. RML uses the following six-part scheme:

  1. Mark 1.1-3.12 (11 minutes)
  2. Mark 3.13-6.13 (15 minutes)
  3. Mark 6.6b-8.33 (16 minutes)
  4. Mark 8.14-10.52 (17 minutes)
  5. Mark 11.1-13.37 (16 minutes)
  6. Mark 13.28-16.8 (18 minutes)

The times shown in brackets are approximate and are based on David Suchet’s readings of the NIV UK 2011, freely available from biblegateway.com (and in various apps).

Big Questions

Asking questions is a great way to learn. As we listen to Mark being read, we try to focus on the following questions as we prepare for the ensuing discussion.

  1. What grabbed your attention?
  2. What did you find surprising, strange or puzzling?
  3. What gets repeated, or appears to be connected?
  4. What questions are asked, and how are they answered?
  5. What is Jesus doing and saying?
  6. What do we learn about Jesus’ identity and mission?
  7. What are the different ways that people respond to Jesus?

Of course, our discussion isn’t limited to these. We try hard to foster an environment in which it feels safe for anyone to ask any question. People who ask the most questions often learn the most. Some even seem to have a gift for asking the questions that nobody else has the courage to ask.

Essential Guidelines

RML is not designed to spoon-feed leading questions or to supply model answers. Our aim is to encounter Jesus for ourselves as Mark introduces him to us.

As such our focus is on what Mark has written, and on any Old Testament passages or ideas he references. To keep our focus sharp we avoid running to other New Testament scriptures, Bible commentaries or theological tomes for help.

For example, if we are to understand what is meant by “the yeast of the Pharisees” in Mark 8:15, but cheat by jumping to Luke 12:1 for an answer, we will miss Mark’s point entirely.

We only relax this rule once we have worked hard at unpacking what Mark has written, in order to “check our working” and to confirm that we’re on the right track.

Suggested Format

We recommend meeting weekly for either:

  • six 2 hour sessions (one section per week)
  • twelve 60-90 minute sessions (two weeks per section)

We suggest that each session follows the same format:

For the final session, we recommend listening to Psalm 22 (read or sung). In keeping with our Book of Common Prayer heritage, we generally listen to the Psalm sung to Anglican Chant – for example, this recording by the choir of Westminster Abbey.

Other Gospels Are Available

Whilst the RML approach can be applied to the other three canonical gospels (Matthew, Luke and John), our focus is on Mark (for now).

Here To Help

If you would like to find out more or would like to join an RML group online or in person, please email hello@readmarklearn.org.

From time to time we run RML Taster & Equipping Days. We are also available to run RML as conference seminar tracks or for church weekend retreats etc.