The Way of the Cross:
Discipleship and Suffering in Mark's Gospel

1. A Repeated Pattern: Jesus predicts suffering; the disciples fail to understand; Jesus provides further teaching.

• what constitutes true greatness? Read Mark 9:33-35; 10:35-45.
• how does Jesus use the child metaphor? (See also Mark 10:13-16.) What is it about children that illustrates Jesus' point(s)?
  
• all three synoptics recount a series of events in the same order in Matt 16:13-18:5; Mark 8-9; Luke 9
  • Peter tells Jesus he is the Christ (and, in Matthew and Mark, rebukes Jesus)
  • Jesus teaches about discipleship
  • Jesus is transfigured on the mountain
  • Jesus teaches about Elijah
  • Jesus heals a boy with a demon
  • Jesus again predicts his death and resurrection
    • Only in Matthew: temple tax dispute (17:24-27)
  • The disciples dispute about who among them is the greatest
    
• what does each synoptic gospel emphasize on the topic of greatness?
  Matthew 18:1-6 (note insertion of tax dispute at Mt 17:24-27)
  Mark 9:33-37, 42
  Luke: 9:46-48

2. The Rich Seeker (Mark 10:17-31): A Memorable Exchange or a Pattern for Discipleship?

• does Jesus make any effort to keep the man from departing?
  
• do the disciples interpret his response (v.21) literally, metaphorically, or spiritually? (See 10:24, 26, 28.)
  
• does Jesus promise worldly wealth in v.30?

3. The Imminence of the Kingdom: Pious Fiction or Present Reality?

• Was Jesus' death really a climactic eschatological event (Hays, 86)?
  
• Can we maintain Mark's urgency so many years later?
  • "the intensity of imminent expectation excludes all possibility of compromising the radical demands of discipleship" (Hays, 87)

4. Six Observations about Mark's Narrative World (Hays, 88-91)

• The world is a world torn open by God.
• Because the cosmic conflict is underway, time becomes compressed.
• God has reversed the positions of insiders and outsiders.
• The nature of power and the value of suffering have been redefined.
• Readers should be self-critical and receptive to unexpected manifestations of God's love and power.
• The Gospel's lack of closure calls for active response from the reader.

What difference would it make if we lived in this sort of world?

Page references to Hays are from Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: 
A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (Harper Collins, 1996).