Lent Bible Readings: The Controversial Christ

In the run-up to Easter, we are returning to Mark’s Gospel after a couple of months’ break. After the excitement and enthusiasm of the early days of Jesus’ public ministry, the mood has turned sour as Jesus is challenged again and again about his unique claims.

We’re going to be looking at five “conflict stories” in Mark 2-3. In each we’ll see how Jesus’ claims are at the same time wonderfully good news and strangely controversial. Ultimately, we’ll see that Jesus’ commitment to bringing life sets in motion the events that lead to his death.

  • 08 Mar The Christ who blasphemes Mark 2:1-12
  • 15 Mar The Christ who eats with sinners Mark 2:13-17
  • 22 Mar The cutting-edge Christ Mark 2:18-22
  • 29 Mar Christ the law-breaker Mark 2:23-28
  • 05 Apr The Christ you want to kill Mark 3:1-6
  • 12 Apr Dead Man Walking: the Case for the empty tomb

This series will be great for anyone exploring what Jesus’ life was all about, and there will lots for Christians to chew on as we consider together what it means to follow a controversial Christ.

Our speakers for this series are Moore Casement (Cornhill Belfast), Sam Bostock (Union College), Christoph Ebbinghaus (Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church) and Jim Crooks (the Crescent Church). The series will finish in Easter week with a special talk from Stephen Shaw QC, “Dead Man Walking: the Case for the empty tomb” (12 April).

A copy of a flyer for this series is available to view and download here. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who may be interested.