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Reading Mark 1:29-45 where Jesus continue to perform miracles and cast out demons, but emphasizes the reason for His mission was primarily to preach. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus performed many miracles. His ministry was known then as it is known now for the many miracles that he performed in his time on earth. But was that the focus of the mission? He came to preach when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings everyone. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we've been in Chapter 1. Let's come back to where we left off yesterday. So I'm going to start reading here in verse 29 and go through 45 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.
Hear the word of the Lord. And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.
And he came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she began waiting on them. Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed, and the whole city had gathered at the door.
Then he healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who he was. And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out of the house, and went away to a desolate place, and was praying there.
And Simon and his companions searched for him, and they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also, for that is what I came out for.
And he went, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out the demons. And a leper came to Jesus, pleading with him, and falling on his knees before him, and saying, If you are willing, you can make me clean.
And moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And he sternly warned him, and immediately sent him away, and he said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in desolate places, and they were coming to him from everywhere.
Now in this section, we really have two specific miracles that are mentioned. You have a couple of places where it says that Jesus was teaching and casting out demons, but we have two specific miracles.
Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, and then secondly, he heals the leper who comes to him and says, If you are willing, then you can make me clean. But right in the middle, right in between these two miracles, and in between the mention of Jesus preaching and casting out demons, we have this statement from Jesus in verse 38, Let us go elsewhere to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also, for that is what I came out for.
So everything in this section is pointing to that statement. That's really the heart of the section, that we understand Jesus' main mission really was not to heal people. His mission was to preach, and even his preaching was pointing to what he was ultimately going to do with his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.
Remember that important passage we have that's kind of a theme verse for the gospel of Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
That is the mission. And everything leading up to that fulfillment of him being sent by the father, culminating with his death and with his resurrection, everything leading up to that is him going about preaching and teaching.
His healing is going to demonstrate to the people that his, it's going to demonstrate the authority by which he preaches, because they recognize he even has authority over demons and over sickness and diseases.
So the healing authenticates the message, but really Jesus was there to go and preach. And so that's the emphasis in this section, that we see his mission to go out into the places and, and preach in all of the cities throughout Israel.
So let's go back up to verse 29. Immediately they came out of the synagogue and they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. So we're, we're having a change in the action, a change of the, of the location of scenery.
Remember that Jesus was in Galilee news had spread about him everywhere because of his, of his teaching and his casting out demons. That's mainly what we saw in the section right before it. So the people witnessed his ability to cast out demons and to preach and his preaching was with authority.
It was unlike what the scribes were doing. Jesus had authority and what he proclaimed so that even the demons obeyed him. So they're out of the synagogue. Now they're in a, a private place. Now they're in someone's home.
It is the home of Simon and Andrew. Now, a lot of, a lot of times a person's home included a number of family members. It was not just, you know, typical, typically we think of, of a single family dwelling in our Western world mindset today in our house.
That's all who lives here. It's my wife and I and our five children, we don't have anybody else that's living with us, but it was very customary in Judah at this particular time that many family members might be living in one house, not just the immediate family, but others also here, Peter has his mother-in-law that's living in the house that is also Andrew's house.
So notice that it said they came into the house of Simon and Andrew. So even his brother and his brother's family live there too. So many different members of the family, Simon's mother-in-law was probably ill.
This is Peter. Of course, Peter's mother-in-law was infirmed and unable to take care of herself. And so they have her living at home because they're caring for Peter's wife's mother. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, it says in verse 30 and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.
After all, they've been with him and seen him heal all these other people. So Jesus verse 31 came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand and the fever left her and she began waiting on him. Now this is just like what we read in Matthew.
It's kind of the same immediacy because Jesus touches her hand, the fever left her, she rose up and began to serve those who were in the house. And then it says this, I'm in Matthew 8, 16, by the way, that evening, the people began to bring to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits and word spread that he was healing those who were sick.
So we have that same succession of events happening here. Verse 32, when evening came after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and those who were demon possessed and the whole city had gathered at the door.
So word apparently spreads that Jesus is able to raise Peter's mother-in-law right up off the bed. So her illness was known to people. It was known that she was not doing well and that's why she was probably living with her daughter and her daughter's husband.
And so then when she is healed, news spreads around the neighborhood that it is Jesus who did this. And so by evening, people are bringing, they're sick to Jesus, the demon possessed so that he may cast out demons.
I think we're kind of in an age now and social media has probably contributed to this where we don't know our neighbors as well as we used to. When I was growing up and we knew who everybody was that lived down the street and on the block.
I lived in a little neighborhood outside of Columbia, South Carolina when I was a kid. The first house that I remember living in, we had kind of this large piece of property that separated all the houses, but you could walk across that property to all the houses.
It was like we shared the same backyard almost. And I knew who everybody's house was. My parents knew who everybody was. So I could go to anyone's house and come home and tell my parents where I had been.
When we lived in Pennsylvania, it was a tighter neighborhood. We lived on a street that was more narrow. Yards were fenced. They were smaller, but we were still able to go from house to house down the street.
Everybody knew who one another was. We would come out into the street out on the porches and yell at each other from the porches. I could go across the alleyway, Miss Faye that lived next door and sit on her back porch and talk with her.
We don't quite have that kind of connection with people in our neighborhood anymore. I don't know if it's the same way where you live, but just about everywhere that I've lived, it's been that way. Now the neighborhood that we just came from in Texas, we did know all of our neighbors there.
But now here in Arizona, in this neighborhood, it doesn't seem like we know our neighbors as well as we did in Texas. But that aside, I've seen this elsewhere and I've heard similar testimonies of people saying, we just don't know our neighbors as well.
But you think about a village in Judah and how well people knew one another. There was a kinship going on there as well. There was a shared genealogy with a lot of people that lived in the same town. And so Peter's mother-in-law is healed and word spreads all over town.
And then people start bringing their sick to Jesus that he may heal them. They come to the door. And this is even after the sun had set. Most of them are probably going to bed at this time. But no, they're up and they're bringing their sick, all those who are ill and demon possessed.
And it says the whole city gathered at the door. So Jesus is able to teach them as he's standing in the house and all the people are gathered at the house. And then he also demonstrates his authority once again by the miraculous healings that he is performing.
But then here, verse 35, and in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out from the house and went away to a desolate place and he was praying there. So he gets up before everybody else.
There's probably even some people that are sleeping outside the house. They're waiting for another chance for when Jesus wakes up, he's going to do these great healings again. But he manages to get up before everybody else, sneaks outside, goes to a quiet place and was praying.
Even Jesus prayed. I can't remember who it was I saw that said this quote. If the son of God himself prayed, how much more does it behoove you to pray? Jesus communicating with his father in heaven. And so how much more should it be for us to pray, to call upon God, to call upon our father in heaven.
Jesus even gets away from everybody else so that he can be by himself alone to pray. How much effort do you take to do that? To pray? You know, a lot of us, myself included, might make the excuse that, well, I'll pray when I'm driving because it's a good way to keep myself occupied.
I mean, you should be occupied with driving. I'm away from everybody else. I'm by myself. So a lot of times I spend that time when I drive praying. And that's good. That's great. A good way to take your thoughts captive, meditate on the Lord, spend your drive time praying.
That's a wonderful time to pray. But do you separate yourself from all other distractions and pray? Not just while I'm driving. The only time I talk to my wife is not while I'm driving. If that was our relationship, I only talk to her whenever we get in the car together.
That wouldn't be a very healthy relationship. There needs to be time when it's just me and her alone. Sometimes I'll get with my kids individually, one-on-one alone with no other distractions around.
They're not trying to talk to me while I'm looking at a computer or watching TV or something like that. It's just us alone together so that I can have a heart-to-heart and show my child I love them by letting them have my full attention.
So how much are we intentionally doing that in our quiet time with the Lord? Are we setting ourselves away from all other distractions and just spending time with God? Just in his word, just spending time in prayer.
That's what Jesus does here. It's a good example for us to follow. As Jesus did it, so should we do it also. So then the disciples look around for him and they find him. Verse 37, they say to him, everyone is looking for you.
The sun is up. People are up. They're looking around for Jesus. When are we going to see some more miracles? But Jesus doesn't go back there. He says in verse 38, let's go elsewhere to the towns nearby that I may preach there also for that is what I came out for.
He's already healed all their sick. There's no one left to heal. Seems like. I don't know if that was the, if that was what was behind this or not. But of course the motivation being that he needs to go other places and preach some more.
So he went, it says in verse 39, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and casting out the demons. Second time in this section that we have a reference to him casting out demons. Once again, we are seeing Christ's authority even over the spiritual powers.
He has authority over diseases. He has authority over the demons in fact. So in verse 40, a leper came to Jesus pleading with him and falling on his knees before him and saying, if you are willing, you can make me clean and moved with compassion.
He stretched out his hand and touched him and said, I am willing be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Notice here that our, our Lord's affection for us is not something we earn.
It's entirely because God desires it, that he wills to show affection to us, that he wills to show compassion and to live, to deliver us from our infirmities. You don't sow a seed, you don't give money, you don't do enough good works, and then maybe God will show favor to me.
He does it because it is his desire to do it. And so even this leper understands that I can't do anything to make Jesus heal me. There is nothing that I can come and provide for him, beg him enough, give him money.
It has to be that Jesus is willing. If you're willing, I know that I will be clean. And Jesus says, I am willing moved with compassion for him and cleanses him. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
And Jesus sternly warned him and immediately sent him away. And what was the warning that Jesus gave? Verse 44, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
If you've been with me in my read through Leviticus, the other podcasts that I have here, the word of the Lord, which is just, uh, it's just a straight reading of scripture. So through Leviticus, you had heard all of the different instructions regarding the cleansing of a person.
If, if a person has leprosy, if they are determined by the priest to be leprous, then they're supposed to be isolated. If the leprosy clears up, then the priest shall inspected. There's a certain period of, of cleanliness that has to happen.
And then he goes and he takes a sacrifice to the priest who has declared that he is cleansed and it is a cleansing sacrifice. So you see all those instructions that have been given there in the law. And that's what Jesus is telling this now cleansed leper to do.
Go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them so that they are able to see that this man has been healed. He has been cleansed. Now the Pharisees are probably not going to go around spreading the word that Jesus has this power and authority to cleanse the sick because they don't want people to know that.
And even when faced with that, what's the accusation that they make? We don't have that here yet in Mark's gospel. But of course we know that the Pharisees will say, well, he has a demon himself. That's why he's able to cast out demons.
They dismiss that he has the power to do this. So Jesus doesn't want him to go about spreading the word about, uh, about this miracle. He just wants him to go to the Pharisees and testify to them by keeping the law, by obeying the law.
And then it's a testimony to the Pharisees that there is a man who is going about who is doing these great healings. That needs to be a testimony to them so that they recognize that the authority of God has come in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
But instead what happens? Verse 45, the leper went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city. Now can you blame the leper?
I mean, if you were to have been miraculously healed by somebody, is that not the way that you would respond? You're going to go around to everybody. Look at me. I was sick. I was ill. I was dying. And this man healed me.
And amazingly, immediately to use the word from Mark, all of my sickness was gone. So he goes around and he spreads the word. People apparently knew that this man was a leper and here he is miraculously cleansed.
So Jesus couldn't go anywhere because everywhere he went to enter a city, he was drawing attention to himself. Instead, he stayed out in desolate areas, much like John did. And they were coming to him from everywhere.
So the end of chapter one or chapter one ends rather the same way that it began. You had John out in the wilderness proclaiming and people were coming out to John to be cleansed with this baptism, of course.
Now John says one is coming who is mightier than I and he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And so then at the end of chapter one, we have what Jesus out in the desolate places just like John was and people are coming to him and he is also cleansing them, but cleansing them in a different way than John did.
He's cleansing them miraculously. John baptized with water. Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit, but he is cleansing them of their diseases and continuing to preach and proclaim the message of the gospel.
And thus we have come to the conclusion of Mark chapter one. Once again, seeing that the heart of Jesus ministry here is this is the, this is the thing that Mark is laying out in chapter one. He's introducing people.
He is getting us familiar with Jesus and his miracles and his ministry. And so at the heart of the ministry is his desire to preach. And that is something that doesn't take center stage in many churches anymore, is it?
You're probably familiar with a, with the recent hubbub surrounding this thing called the stronger men's conference that's in Springfield, Missouri. And every year they try to up the ante from the year before.
They try to get bigger and better and batter. You've got huge pyrotechnics, tanks rolling over cars, monster trucks. You've got incredible feats of strength. You've got stunt performances, you've got men doing athletic stuff and all different kinds of thing.
And of course there's rock music and there's aggressive preaching, but, but the attraction to all of this and the thing that makes the headlines about it is all of the spectacle, whatever preaching you get is going to be watered down.
It's never heavy hitting preaching. It's heavy hitting style and spectacle, but light on the preaching. And that is pretty emblematic of the way that many churches in America are today. There's a lot of style, but not a lot of substance.
There might be a lot of flash to get you to pay attention to it, to try to draw you in. But what preaching is there? What warning is there of the judgment that is to come? What assurance do you have of your salvation because of what Christ has done for you having died and risen again from the dead and whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
What sort of preaching comes about in these kinds of events? You've probably heard the saying, what you win them with is what you win them to. If you're going to win them with a bunch of spectacle, well then it's going to take a lot of spectacle to keep them there.
Even though Jesus performed many miracles, the reason for the miracles was to draw attention to the teaching. And it's the teaching that saves. It's putting faith in what Jesus has said that cleanses us from all unrighteousness, that we may be holy and upright before him.
Listen to the words of Christ, obey him, follow him today. May he lead us in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word that we have read here and may these things be continual reminders to us to put away sin and be in pursuit of holiness as Christ had commanded us to do, as his apostles would go on to command us to do, as the Holy Spirit convicts us to do.
Turn us from sin, from our fleshly desires, our worldly passions and help us to pursue Christ desiring his righteousness. It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.