The main goal of Mark's Chapter 5 dramatic stories is to let the reader see who Jesus is. He is the One able to calm a storm, heal a demoniac, heal a woman who simply touches His clothes, raise a dead girl, preach in His home town, send out His disciples on a preaching mission, feed 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes, and walk on water—incredible displays of power that are drawing the disciples closer to an understanding that He is the Son of God.

For many years scholars have argued over the meaning and interpretation of Jesus’ parables: How to interpret them, what they mean, why Jesus used them, what kind of lessons they were intended to reveal, and how literally they were to be taken, or whether they were purely allegory, and so forth.

Obviously we are not going to solve all these issues in this week’s lesson. Instead, we are going to look at them and, by God grace, come away with an understanding of the points Jesus made through these parables.

The Gospel writer uses a technique that is called “Sandwich Stories.” This narrative pattern appears at least six times in Mark. In each case some important aspect of the nature of Jesus and His role as Messiah, or the nature of discipleship, is the focus.

This week, we will read some accounts about Jesus and see what we can learn from them.

The Gospel of Mark recounts the calling of four disciples and describes a Sabbath in Capernaum and what followed. This “Sabbath with Jesus” at the beginning of Mark gives the reader a sense of who Jesus is. In the entire section for this week’s lesson there are very few of His words recorded: a brief call to discipleship, a command to a demon, a plan to visit other locations, and the healing of a leper with instructions to show himself before a priest to be clean. The emphasis is on action, particularly healing people. The Gospel writer likes to use the word immediately to illustrate the fast-action movement of Jesus’ ministry.

This week's first step will be to learn about Mark as reported in Scripture, to see his early failure and eventual recovery. Then the study will turn to the opening section of Mark with a look forward to where the story is headed and a look backward at why a failed and then restored missionary would write such a text.

In this quarter’s final lesson, we will see Christ’s steadfast love during the most exciting time in the history of the universe and His complete and total triumph in the great controversy between good and evil. The Bible’s last book, Revelation, gives us hope for today, tomorrow, and forever.

*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 39-42 of The Great Controversy.

The aim of this week’s lesson is to reveal what the prophetic Word says about the closing events and discover a new Christ’s strength to take us through earth’s final conflict and get us home.

*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 37 and 38 of The Great Controversy.

The aim of this week’s lesson is to reveal the coming conflict over worship. This week’s study emphasizes Jesus’ strength to take us through earth’s final conflict.

*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 35 and 36 of The Great Controversy.

The aim of this lesson is to show that our only safeguard against Satan’s last-day delusions is a personal relationship with Christ and a solid grounding in the teachings of the Bible. This includes its teaching about death, regardless of what our eyes and ears and hearts might try to tell us.

*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 31–34 of The Great Controversy.

The aim of this lesson is to show the link between the sanctuary, God’s law, the Sabbath, and the coming crisis over the mark of the beast. We will also explore the relevance of the Sabbath to an end-time generation.

*Study this week’s lesson, based on chapters 25–27 of The Great Controversy.