Year in the Bible
Week Two: Blessed
Welcome to Week Two of our Year in the Bible journey!
This week we continue the story of Abraham and Sarah and move deeper into the Gospel of Mark.
Genesis 12 marks a shift in God's story. God's plan of salvation works through one family for the sake of every family. Abraham is blessed to be a blessing.
God calls Abraham, and Abraham goes. God blesses, and Abraham is blessed. Abraham participates in the story, but the work is ultimately God's. In Mark, we see how natural it is for us to look to our own actions for salvation. Yet salvation, blessing, and life are found not in what we accomplish, but in God.
This Week's Readings: Genesis 16–27; Mark 6–10; Psalms 19, 104, 4
A Few Things to Notice
Genesis 12 begins the story of God choosing one family to bless all families and one nation to bless all nations. The stories of Abraham and Sarah are significant to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith traditions—and they are wonderfully human: funny, heartbreaking, complicated, and full of struggle.
In Mark, Jesus continues teaching and performing miracles. Watch for the theme of misunderstanding as Jesus' identity becomes increasingly clear. Notice especially the feeding stories, Jesus' predictions of his death and resurrection, and his teachings about greatness, success, and what it means to lose life in order to save it.
Read, Reflect, and Discuss
This week's discussion centers on Genesis 12:1–4a and Mark 10:17–27.
- What are some of your initial reactions to these readings?
- What did you read this week that surprised you, challenged you, bothered you, or sounded like good news?
- What connections do you see between these two passages?
- When God calls Abraham to go, he does. How do you understand God's “call” to Abraham—and God's call in your own life?
- Abram is told that God will bless him so that others may be blessed. How does this understanding of blessing fit—or not fit—with how you understand blessing?
- Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. What is disturbing or challenging about this?
- The rich man asks what he can do to be assured of salvation. What is wrong with the question? On whom does salvation rest?
- “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” How is this good news?
- Is blessing—the promise of God's favor—the same thing as salvation?
- What else stood out to you?
Going Further
Explore Bible Project resources on Genesis 12–50, Mark, and Blessing and Curse, as well as Luther Seminary's Enter the Bible.
This week, consider what it means not only to be blessed, but to be blessed for the sake of others.
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