Leviticus answers the question of how the people of Israel are to worship a holy God, and a major part of that is maintaining their own holiness, or purity. 11:44 encapsulates this well: ‘I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.’ 

In Leviticus, holiness is maintained by a combination of rituals (sacrifices and festivals) and regulations (e.g. about which foods are ‘clean’ and which are ‘unclean’). The detailed practice of these has been superceded by Jesus (see Mark 7:14-23 and most of Hebrews) but the call to be holy remains and is echoed in the New Testament – see 1 Peter 1:15-16 (where Leviticus is quoted and applied to Christians) and Matthew 5:48 (‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’) For the Christian, purified by the blood of Jesus, living a holy life is encapsulated by the command to love others as God has loved us (see 1 Peter 1:13-25).

Mark is the shortest of the gospels and regarded by many (but not all) scholars as the earliest. In comparison with Matthew it is short on the teachings of Jesus and long on action. It also proceeds at a cracking pace, as you’ll notice straight away in chapter 1. One theme to look out for is discipleship. As you read through, can you imagine what life with Jesus was like for those first disciples? Watch out for their responses to him. How does their experience of Jesus compare to yours?