How to Read the Bible Like a Human Being | Workbook Three: Mark 2:14 - 3:15

Revitalize your bible study simply by asking a whole different type of questions. Take the story of The Man with the Withered Hand: what did it feel like for the disabled man (who has lived in one small village his whole life) to have all his friends and neighbors give a thumbs-down to his healing? In an Honor/Shame culture, what did it mean for him to get dissed in that way? And consider this: we often think Jesus knows everything before it happens. But if that is so, why did Jesus invite the guy up front knowing he'd get totally embarrassed! Did this situation  turn out in a way Jesus wasn't expecting? And what does that tell us about Jesus' humanity?

How to Read the Bible Like a Human Being is about engaging scripture with the emotional brain instead of the rational, and trying to grasp what Jesus experienced instead of what he taught. Volume Three covers Mark 2:14 - 3:15, and includes participant materials for twelve weeks of in-depth study on four passages:

• The Call of Levi: He had extorted from the disciples’ families for years. Then things get even more awkward when he invites the rabbi‘s team to a party with his riff-raff friends.

• Harvesting Grain on the Sabbath: You’d have to be really famished to make a meal of raw wheat berries. So how often did Jesus’ disciples go hungry?

• The Man with the Withered Hand: Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath without breaking any of the Pharisee’s regulations. But why was he so careful?

• Crowds Follow and Twelve Are Chosen: After a chaotic and exhausting day, Jesus decides doing this alone isn’t working. So, he chooses twelve teammates to help shoulder the load.

What Makes This Study Different

The product of three years of research into first-century life and culture, these studies build rich, visual pictures of each story in the Gospel of Mark. The focus is not on what you should believe and how you should behave, but on visualizing the scene, feeling what the characters felt, and actually meeting Jesus in his own world. Its a very different experience to study to simply know Jesus the person.

And you won’t just sit and listen to a talking head! These small-group studies are completely discussion-based, using incisive questions drawing on everyone’s real life experiences to identify with what Jesus, his disciples and the crowds are thinking and feeling. Along with the companion Leader’s Guide, each of the four studies in this Participant Workbook provides:

• Setting Videos: Shot on location in Israel, these short videos show the setting where the story actually happened, so you can see it in your mind (accessed from the Leader’s Guide).

• Background Information: Learn fascinating cultural details from Jesus’ day that influence how you read the story.

• Free Texting App: You’ll get one short text each weekday with one cool fact about the passage to help you keep your head in the game during the week.

• Questions for Jesus about the passage you can ask during your devotions that week.

• Research Links you can follow to explore the background of the passage on your own.