Mark concludes his story with an earth-shattering claim that launches the life of the church: Jesus was really dead, but now he?s alive. He leaves us to ask two questions. Is it true? And if it is true, if Jesus really is alive, what are the implications?

must Jesus die? Mark?s telling of Jesus?s trial and crucifixion removes a couple possible explanations. Jesus didn?t die because he was guilty: the trial of Jesus shows no one found any legitimate legal reason to kill him. And Jesus didn?t die because he was powerless: Mark?s readers know Jesus is innocent and has power to overcome his captors, but he doesn?t defend himself. So why then? Jesus died to establish a kingdom you could live in. Mark?s chief irony and his central message is that Jesus comes to power and invites us into his kingdom through his death.

Describing the events leading to Jesus?s arrest and crucifixion, Mark tells us a great deal about what Jesus came here to do: He came to be abandoned so we won?t have to be. Jesus was abandoned by everyone?Judas, Peter, his disciples, even his Father?and, remarkably, he chose to have it that way. Why did he choose this path of excruciating isolation? Because through his death?the ultimate abandonment?he established a covenant relationship that will never break.

In the longest section of teaching recorded in Mark?s Gospel, Jesus turns to questions asked by the religious and the philosophical since the beginning of time. What does the future hold, and how should we live now in light of that future? The details of Jesus?s predictions?about the destruction of the Temple in the near future and about his final return in power and glory?have always baffled interpreters. But the bottom line couldn?t be more clear: because Jesus is coming back in victory and judgment, and because we don?t know when, our responsibility is to trust Jesus and stay ready.

After a parable of judgment that sets the stage for his confrontation with Israel?s religious leaders, Jesus fields challenges from each primary group of leaders: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. In each case, Jesus?s answers turn the tables on his challengers to expose their hypocrisy. In the end, Jesus proposes the only solution to religious hypocrisy: a love of God for God?s sake and with everything you have.

Chapter 11 marks Jesus?s arrival at Jersalem, an event laced through with prophecy fulfillment. Here, by an ?enacted parable? and by a dramatic confrontation in the Temple, Jesus shows more of what he?s come to do. As King, he?s come to purge and to restore.

To this point Mark?s narrative has promised that Jesus would, paradoxically, establish the kingdom of God through his death. So what does this mean for who belongs to the kingdom and how? Mark answers this question by contrasting stories on faith with stories on self-reliance. In short, the kingdom belongs to the desperate, not the self-reliant, because it belongs to those who rest only on Jesus.

Still on the road towards Jerusalem, Jesus shifts the focus of his teaching on discipleship to the subject of marriage and divorce. As so often before, he explodes standard religious convention. Jesus answers a question from the Pharisees about divorce with an explanation of God?s original design for marriage. Marriage viewed from the perspective of creation, in the eyes of God, is an unbreakable bond. But how do we square Jesus?s marriage ideal with our experience in a world deeply marred by sin?

As Jesus makes his way towards Jerusalem and the death that?s waiting there for him, he narrows his focus to teaching his disciples what it means to follow a Messiah who suffers. The cross sets the pattern for Christian discipleship, and this text offers concrete examples. A life modeled on the cross is a life that puts the interests of others above its own, and it?s a life that fights a radical battle with sin.

In this story of demon possession and exorcism, Mark returns to one of his favorite questions: what must we do to claim the saving power of Jesus? It?s a story that illustrates what we know from our own experience: unbelief comes from many sources and in many forms. But in the desperate plea of a helpless father Mark illustrates another, even more powerful truth. It?s a decision to rest on Jesus?not mathematical certainty?which constitutes the faith that leads to deliverance.