Mark — Zac Poonen

Mark as the Gospel of the Son of God

Let's turn now to scriptures, to the Gospel of Mark. Now, there must be very good reasons why God allowed four biographies of Jesus Christ to be written, not just one consolidated one. And people who have studied these books usually have one fixed view.

I think every single book and commentary I've ever seen always says, Matthew shows Jesus as the king, Mark as the servant, Luke as the man, and John as God. Matthew shows him as a lion, Mark as an ox, Luke with the man's face, you know the four faces in Ezekiel and Revelation, and John as an eagle.

And people, since most Christians are too lazy to think, they just accept that. And since even most theologians are too lazy to think, they just accept that. And since most Indians just repeat what the Americans and the British people say, they just repeat it over here.

India has become a big echo for all that is said in the West, unfortunately. It's almost as though God does not speak to anybody in India. He only speaks to people there, and we just got to echo what they say.

I decided when I came to this book, I'm not going to stick in this rut that has been dug for hundreds of years, and I want to get out and allow the Holy Spirit to bring me some freshness and thinking in my own mind.

And I just mentioned that in passing. Don't accept traditional concepts always. That is how they missed out on Jesus, who he was. They said the traditions of the fathers, and that's how they completely missed the will of God in that time.

And if you're going to be a blind follower of tradition and just an echo of what hundreds of other people are saying, you will never get what the Holy Spirit is saying to you personally. I'm not saying we go outside the scriptures.

There's no revelation outside the scriptures. There is no revelation chapter 23. It finishes with chapter 22 for me. But in this book, God can give us revelation which affects our life. So I don't know what the purpose is fully.

I must tell you honestly, I don't understand fully yet. As I go along, I probably get more and more revelation. But I have tried to look at the first verses when a person writes something. He probably writes something at the beginning.

And I see that Matthew wrote that he was a son of Abraham, the son of David. I say, OK, that's what he's trying to say. This is how he came as a Jew, born of Abraham and David. And he's introducing the kingdom of heaven.

Mark begins like this. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. He's telling us that this person is the son of God. And you find in Mark's gospel as you compare it with Matthew's. Matthew has a lot more teaching.

But if you flip through the pages of Mark's gospel, it's a lot more action and activity. Of the miracles and many other things that he did. Not as much teaching. Not as many parables as in Matthew's gospel.

There he was laying down the teaching of the kingdom of heaven. And in Mark, he was demonstrating that he was the son of God on earth. Now I want to turn to Mark chapter 1, first of all. And verse 17.

Discipleship and God's Call to Ministry

When Jesus was going by the Sea of Galilee, verse 16. He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net. For they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

There were hundreds of fishermen along the coast of Galilee. He did not call all of them. He called two. Then he called James and John as well. What I want to say is, if God calls you, only can you go for a ministry.

You cannot just say, I want to be an evangelist. I want to be a teacher. I want to be a prophet. I want to be an apostle. We all like to be many things. But God has to sovereignly come by us and call us.

It is so important. If you are going to serve the Lord in some important ministry God has for you. And I believe every ministry is important. May not be as big, but everything is equally important. Like the parts of the body.

Every part of the body is important, even though it's not all parts are not obvious. You can see my face, you can't see my kidneys and my liver. So some believers ministry is more prominent. Some are more invisible.

But if you want to fulfill a purpose according to God's will in your earthly life. It's important that you learn to hear God calling you. And even if you're on a secular job. God's got a function for you in his body.

You got to wait on him and hear him calling you to fulfill that function. And these people heard a call. And said come. And follow me. That's all he said. What do you have to do? Follow him. This is discipleship.

In Matthew 11 we saw, learn from me. Here he said follow me. These are the two things. A disciple is a learner and a follower. All our life we have to learn and we have to follow. And learn and follow and learn and follow.

It's like in the military they say left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right. It's learn and follow and learn and follow and learn and follow. Till Jesus comes again. It's like taking steps. That's how we walk.

If you're only learning. You're like a man who's only walking on his left foot. It's like a military parade. Left, left, left, left, left, left, left. What sort of parade is that? Maybe just moving forward like this and that's the odd type of way a lot of believers are living.

Because it's learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning. No. It's learning, following, learning, following, learning, following, learning, following. This is a disciple. That means what you learn you must practice.

If you don't you're not a disciple. Otherwise what's going to happen is you're going to learn such a lot. And you're going to produce another bunch of people who walk on one foot all the time. Neither can you say well I've learned enough now.

Now I can keep following. No. Till the end of our life we have to learn. Not the scriptures but God. Through the scriptures we come to know Jesus. Okay. And what does and the second part of that is a promise.

If you follow me. I will make you. Think of that expression. I will make you. It's like a potter making a vessel. And you know potters don't make all vessels the same shape. Have you seen a potter's? You see it down the street sometimes where people sell these earthenware vessels.

They're all types of different shapes. And God also makes us in different shapes. Don't ever try to tell God that you should be in the shape of that brother there. You must have that brother's ministry.

He'll never give it to you. And if you struggle to try and have some other person's ministry. You will hinder the shape God is trying to make of you. I've told people repeatedly in my church. Don't ever try to imitate my ministry.

Don't imitate the way I speak. Don't imitate the way I teach. Don't imitate my ministry at all. Because God wants you to be you. God wants only one person like me in the church. In ministry. He wants one person like you.

And if you try to imitate somebody else. You will never fulfill what he wants you to be. I will make you. That's the Lord's responsibility. In the case of these people. What were they supposed to become?

What was their ministry? Fishers of men. That was the ministry for James and John. For you. It may not be fishers of men. It may be teachers in the church. It may be some other ministry. Some are called as apostles.

And some are called as prophets. And some are called as evangelists. Those are the fishers of men. Some are called as teachers. And some like Paul are everything together. Apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist.

Very rare people who are all together like that. Most of us usually have one thing. I think in the early days. Many of the apostles had to be so many. With so many gifts. Because there were so few people.

But now we are so many believers. And God has distributed the gifts. But the important principle is. Whether you are a teacher or an evangelist or an apostle. Or whatever it is. The principle is. I will make you.

The Lord has to make us. We can't make ourselves. Don't ever try to make yourself into an evangelist or a teacher or an apostle. You will just be a total failure. Don't ever try to do a ministry God never called you to.

Humble yourself. Wait on the Lord. Let him fill you with the Holy Spirit. And let him show you what he has called you for. I have seen numerous people in this country. Who have tried to have a ministry for themselves.

Yeah. You can get money from somewhere. And continue your ministry. One day God will pull it all out and destroy it. Don't waste your earthly life. Please remember. You got only one earthly life. Don't waste it trying to impress some people that you got a ministry.

Fulfill what God has called you to fulfill in the body of Christ. Wait on him. The Lord will make you. And he doesn't call everybody to the same thing. Out of all those people. All of them could become disciples of Jesus.

Those fishermen by the sea of Galilee if they wanted. But all could not become apostles. No. Those he had to call specifically. All could not become evangelists. All could not become teachers. But all can be disciples.

So we need to distinguish between the two. Don't try to make everybody have your ministry. That's foolish. Okay. Now we go to verse 35. This is a habit that Jesus had. Which is a very good habit for all of us.

Jesus’ Prayer, Guidance, and the Will of God

To do. In the previous evening. It says. Verse 32. After the sun had set. They brought to him people who were ill and demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered near the door. Mark 134. He healed many who were ill with various diseases.

Casting out demons. And he did not permit the demons to speak. Because they knew who he was. Why did he not permit the demons to speak? The demons would have said. This is the son of God. Isn't that a good testimony?

Would you like a demon to say. Oh, you are a great man of God. You want everybody to hear that? Jesus did not want a testimony from demons. And I don't want any testimony from demons. That I am a man of God or any such thing.

They are liars in any case. What is that testimony worth? Anything. You know there are people. I just want to say a word about casting out demons. That there are people who when they cast out demons. Carry on a conversation with demons.

When did you come? It's like sitting and talking to somebody. It's foolish. Jesus never did that. He just cast it out. So, when you encounter that. Let me mention that. And verse 35. Even though it was late into the night.

That he had this ministry. It says. In the early morning. Before the sun rose. While it was still dark. He got up. You want to be a disciple of Jesus? In what area? In healing the sick? Or in this verse written here.

A lot of people want to follow Jesus in the healing ministry. What about this verse? Where after a late night. The previous night. He probably missed his supper. I don't know. The next morning. He got up.

Because he wanted to find the will of God. What shall I do today? He lived from day to day. And he arose. And went to a lonely place. And prayed there. See, somebody has said. Just like tourists. When they come to a city.

They always ask. Which are the important buildings and sites to be seen here? Whenever Jesus came to a new place. He would always look around to see. Where are the lonely places here? And the deserted places.

Where I can be alone for a little while. Depends whether you are a follower of tourists. Or whether you are a follower of Jesus Christ. He always wanted to find some lonely place. He was always looking for that.

See, some people don't like to be alone. They always like to be with company. Jesus was always looking for a place to be alone. Because that's where he would get his strength. Where he could get alone with God.

Talk to God. The Father. Hear Him. Do you have a desire for that, my brother, sister? This is how we can be true servants of God. So, after a little while. Simon and his companions were hunting for Him.

And they found Him. And they said, everyone wants you. He said, sorry. We are not staying here. We got to go somewhere else. Because I've got to preach there. My father has told me that. Just think. If Jesus had not waited on the Father at that time.

And he had woken up late. And Peter had said, you know, there's a great revival going on here. Last night was a fantastic miracle ministry here. And everybody has come now for a further preaching from you.

Jesus would have stayed there. And he would have missed the will of God for one day. And our attitude is, what does it matter if we miss the will of God for one day? That is the careless way in which we behave.

It's like a millionaire saying, what is there if I lose thousand rupees? You lose thousand rupees. For us, thousand rupees is a large amount of money. For a millionaire, it's nothing. Jesus was very careful with one day.

He said, I don't want to waste one day. I've got only three and a half years. I don't want to waste one day outside the will of God in my life. Keep that attitude. We may not be able to find the will of God so perfectly as Jesus did.

But I want to have that attitude. That Lord, I don't want to waste a single day of my life. I have arranged my circumstances that I should be in the place where you want me to be every day of my life.

It's a good prayer to pray. Even if I don't hear a voice from heaven, God can still arrange my circumstances such that I can be where God wants me to be every day of my life. I'll tell you that this is the passion of my life.

I don't want to be in a place where God doesn't want me to be because I know I'll waste my life there. Don't ever go to a place because it's a comfortable place to live. Ask yourself whether God wants you there.

And then you won't miss the will of God. When you come to the end of life, you won't have any regrets. Let me go to chapter 2 and verse 3. We read about this man who was paralyzed and he could not come himself.

Faith, Fellowship, and the Body of Christ

And four people carried him and they opened up the roof and lowered him into the place. And this is the one or two places like this where we see. You know, yesterday I said to you there was a law. According to your faith, be it unto you.

That's right. But sometimes it's a great encouragement to me to see this. Sometimes when I'm so weak that I'm depressed and discouraged and I don't have faith. Thank God for the body of Christ. Where four other brothers can carry me, the paralyzed man, discouraged man, depressed man.

And bring me to Jesus. And here is this wonderful verse. Verse 5. Jesus, seeing the faith of the four people, healed this man. I don't know whether this man had any faith at all. But this is the one verse in scripture where it says Jesus looked at one person's faith and healed another person.

It's not the only place. Once we read he saw father's faith and healed his demon-possessed son. The Syrophoenician woman. Jesus saw her faith when she said give me the crumbs that fall and healed her daughter.

Saw the centurion's faith and healed his servant. So it's not always only your faith. A father can have faith for his son. Four brothers can carry a paralyzed brother and have faith for him. I praise God for the body of Christ.

I don't want to live a Christian life all alone. I don't want to be a loner. I don't want to work alone. I'm not interested. I know it's inconvenient when we have to work with other people. It's much more convenient to work on our own.

We can do what we like, go where we like. We are answerable to nobody, subject to nobody's authority. I want to tell you in Jesus name, you will destroy yourself. If you don't understand it today, you'll understand it at the judgment seat of Christ when it'll be too late.

Seek fellowship. That's your salvation. I've seen many loners in India. And I've always seen, they don't have any light on their spiritual condition even if they are doing some so-called work for the Lord.

And they ultimately destroy themselves. Don't be a loner. Subject yourself to somebody's authority. Find a godly brother, particularly when you are young. Find a godly brother, subject to his authority.

Work with the body of Christ. Sometimes when you are weak and helpless, their faith can help you. I know when my children were growing up and they came to their teenage years. Teenage years are difficult years for some boys particularly, maybe girls too.

I found that the young brothers in my local church could help those children of mine more than I could at that time. How thankful I was for the body of Christ. That I was not a loner living all by myself.

Don't think you can manage on your own. Jesus saw their faith and healed this man. Wonderful. Now chapter 2 verse 18 to 22, Jesus answers a question about fasting. The disciples asked John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting and they came and said to him, Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees fast and why do your disciples not fast?

New Covenant Fasting and the Danger of Mixing Covenants

Actually the answer is, you mind your own business. But anyway, Jesus gave an answer. Because you know, I've had people come to our church and say, why don't you all fast? We fast, why don't you fast?

The same old question is here. I say, if you want to fast, go ahead and fast. Why do you want to push that on me? And even if I do fast, why should I tell you about it? But anyway, Jesus answered and said, while the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom do not fast, do they?

And now listen to this. Verse 20. Here is the one word where Jesus spoke about fasting. Another word rather, we saw one yesterday about don't tell others. When the days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away, those are these days.

And then my disciples will fast. That's not a command. Jesus never gave a command, you must fast. It's a statement. There's a difference between a statement and a command. He never told his disciples going fast, but he made a statement that my followers will fast.

From that verse, I understand that the bride will fast in the days when the bridegroom is away in heaven. If you never fast, something is wrong. That's all I say. And then he said about this new covenant type of fasting, which applies to everything in the new covenant.

It's not like the old covenant fast, which are by rules on certain such a day you must fast and certain such a day you must fast. No, here it's different, a different spirit altogether. He said, if you take a new patch of unshrunk cloth.

In those days, they didn't have Terraline and these type of materials, synthetic stuff, it was all cotton. And you know, cotton, before you stitch it, you must always soak it in water. Whenever you buy cotton materials, soak it in water, then only stitch it.

So he was talking about that, because when you soak cotton in water, new cloth, it shrinks. And if you stitch it before you wet it, before it is shrunk, it'll be too tight for you. So he says, if you got an old dress, which is already washed many times.

And you take a new patch of cloth, which is not shrunk and stitch it onto that old dress. What will happen when you wash it? This will shrink and it'll tear the old dress. So he's saying, if you take a little bit of new covenant truth and attach it to an old covenant type of understanding, it's not going to work.

There'll be a big hole in your life. The whole garment must be new. Don't take, oh, that's a good bit of teaching. I like to take that teaching and attach it to my work. It doesn't work. It must be totally new covenant.

You can't have a church which is run 75 according to old covenant principles and take a 25 new covenant patch and patch it on. It doesn't work. You will not be able to build a new covenant church that way.

It must be 100 new covenant. The whole garment must be new. Otherwise it'll tear. It doesn't agree. And the same thing he said about wine skins in verse 22. Those days they did not put wine in glass bottles.

Glass was not invented those days. They used to put it in skins, animal skins, which were stitched so well that they were watertight. It could not flow out. But the thing about animal skin is again like cloth.

Animal skin, when the wine inside begins to ferment, you know, when wine ferments, it expands. If you keep it in a bottle, it just flows out from the top. So here in the skin, they wouldn't fill it up.

The skin would expand as the wine fermented. Because the skin has got a stretching power. But once the skin is expanded to a certain extent, it cannot stretch anymore. And then if you fill it with wine, it'll burst the skin.

The new wine speaks of the life of Jesus. The old wine is the life under the law. The old wine skin is the old covenant system. The new wine skin is the new covenant church. Now, if I try to take a new covenant life, the life of Jesus, and put it into an old covenant system with priests and tithes and Sabbath days and rituals and legalistic rules, what's going to happen?

Thing is going to burst. It won't work. If you want an old covenant system with priests and tithes and laws and regulations and rules and don't touch and don't taste and don't all that, then you must have a life under the law also.

You can't mix the two. If you have the life of Jesus, you must have a new covenant church. Everything in the new covenant. Get rid of that old covenant system. Do you know that the vast majority of Christians live in church systems which are not following the new covenant?

There are new wine trying to be put in old wine skins and the whole thing is bursting here and there. Naturally, it's exactly what Jesus said. Okay, we go on to chapter 3 and verse 5. Here we read about Jesus going into a synagogue on a Sabbath day and the people were watching him, verse 2, to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day.

Holy Anger and Jesus’ Concern for the Oppressed

And this is the one place in scripture where we read, Jesus was angry. I'm sure when he made a whip in the temple and chased people out, he was also angry. But here it doesn't say that. But here it specifically says in verse 5, he looked at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.

And he said to the man, stretch out your hand. He was not bothered what they were going to do to him and he stretched out his hand. And as soon as the Pharisees saw it, verse 6, they immediately went out and took counsel with the Herodians how to destroy him.

Did you read that phrase? Destroy him. Do you know there are people who would like to destroy your ministry, destroy your life? They are the followers of the Pharisees, not just the heathen. There are Christians who try to destroy the ministry of other Christians.

By scandalizing them, speaking evil about them, they are jealous. It's mostly based on jealousy. Why? Because that man could accomplish something in his ministry which you could not. And you are jealous of that.

They could not heal this man with the withered hand who sat there for so many years. Here is this unlearned carpenter from Nazareth who comes and heals him immediately. Naturally, they get jealous because everybody will see this preacher can help these people far better than we can.

So what to do? We lose our congregation. Destroy him. Destroy his ministry. Call him a false prophet. Call him a heretic. Destroy his ministry. It's happening today. Just make sure you don't get involved in that type of work.

Destroying the work of God and destroying men of God. And I want to mention here something about anger. There is a verse in Ephesians 4 .26 which says, Be angry but don't sin. There is an anger which is not sin and there is an anger which is sin.

And you see that in Jesus' life here. When is it angry? When is anger sinful? Anger is sinful when I react to something people have done to me. Like for example, when they slapped Paul on the face and he got angry and yelled back at the high priest.

That was sinful anger. And he repented of it. When they slapped Jesus, he did not get angry. When they spat on him, he didn't get angry. When they crucified him, he didn't get angry. When did he get angry?

When he saw people making money in the name of religion in the temple. When he saw people not helping some poor man with a withered hand. He saw the Old Testament prophets were concerned about the poor.

Jesus came in the spirit of those prophets, concerned about poor people in the church. People who are enslaved to sin and the devil. You can't deliver them and you don't let some other preacher come and deliver them either.

Jesus is angry where people are exploiting religion for their own benefits. Where people are exploiting poor people and not allowing them to be delivered. But he was never angry when anybody did anything to him.

Judas Iscariot stole his money, he was not angry. They spat on him, they called him the devil, he was not angry. Now human beings, it's exactly the opposite. Human beings are angered, children of Adam are angry when people do something to them.

You steal my money, I'm angry. You call me a devil, I'll be angry. You speak evil about me, I'll be angry. You slap me, I'll be angry. And they are never angry when the name of the Lord is dishonored.

Oh, there are so many people in India making money in the name of Jesus Christ. What to do, these things happen. They are not angry. Poor people are being exploited. What to do brother, this is the way it is in the world, they are not angry.

They are exactly the opposite of Jesus Christ. And I'm sorry to say, many believers are like that too. You ask yourself, do you get angry when you see people making money in the name of religion in the temple?

Like Jesus got angry? No. You are angry when somebody calls you a devil. Or when somebody insults you or spits on your face. Then you are behaving like a child of Adam. Jesus says, learn from me and follow me.

Comfort, Compassion, and the Value of One Soul

Okay, we go on to chapter 4 and verse. We read about a time. Just one little thing I want to mention here, which has encouraged me through the years. I don't know if it will encourage you. Little verses.

It says when they were in the boat. Now we know that there was a storm and Jesus still the boat. But there is another little thing mentioned here, which encourages me. It says in the chapter 4 verse 38.

They were in the boat and the waves were beating. And it says he was asleep on a cushion. To me a cushion speaks of comfort. And Jesus was not ashamed to use a cushion. That's the thing that blessed my heart.

That there is no virtue in being an ascetic. And saying no, I will sleep on the hard floor, on the hard bed. If you have a cushion brother, use it. There is nothing wrong in it. Because there are a lot of Christians who think you become more spiritual.

If you sleep on a hard bed or on the floor. That's not spirituality. And it's not following Jesus either. Chapter 5. We read about this demoniac who was healed. This man who had an unclean spirit. And when the demon was cast out.

They said please send us into these pigs. And there was a big herd of swine there. And this man must have had at least 2000 demons. Because it went into all these pigs. And the thing I want you to see here is.

That when the people who were looking after the pigs. Saw this. They went to the city, verse 14. And reported it. And when they saw. This man whom they always knew was a demon possessed man. Sitting there completely healed.

Instead of being excited. And saying praise the Lord. This is wonderful Lord. You have healed this man. Come and minister in our country. It says in verse 17. They began to entreat him. To depart from their region.

Have you read that verse? What does that teach us? They valued pigs. More than human beings. That's what you learn. They lost 2000 pigs. They are not bothered that one man is healed. Yeah, it's a very sad thing.

When people do not value. The conversion of one soul. More important than any amount of property. The conversion of one soul. Even if 2000 pigs is your entire business. Do you believe that the conversion of one soul is better than that?

So Jesus didn't stay. He told this man. Verse 19. You go. And tell other people the wonderful things. The Lord has done for you. In chapter 6. Verse 3 is the one verse in scripture. That tells us that Jesus had younger brothers and sisters.

He had four brothers. Born of Mary. Verse 3. The son of Mary. And the brother of James. Joseph. Judas. And Simon. And he had sisters also. We don't know how many sisters. But sisters means at least two.

So he had four brothers and two sisters. So Mary had seven children. So since we don't hear of Joseph. We presume Joseph had died. And presumably in the many years of Jesus life. He worked as a carpenter.

To support a family of eight members. There are not many families of eight members nowadays. But Jesus, that is the mother and seven children. Including Jesus himself. So Jesus went through that experience.

In order to learn and to be an example. To people who have to struggle through difficult circumstances. And bring up a large family. Great example. Of a person who worked hard. To support his family. Because there also he had to be an example.

For us. One more statement here. Verse four. Jesus said. A prophet. Has honor everywhere. Except in his hometown. And among his relatives and his household. That is. That was true in the first century.

Is true in the 20th century. A prophet. Is never accepted by his own relatives. His relatives devalue him. Other people value him. And usually. A prophet is not valued in his own home church. Other churches value him.

A hundred times more. That was true in the first century. It's true in this century. It's very sad. In his own hometown. His own relatives. They don't value him so much. Because. They see him all the time.

And familiarity breeds contempt. That's what Jesus said. And because of that. Attitude. It says in verse five. He could not do any miracles there. When you don't value a brother. His ministry does not bless you as much.

As it blesses those other people who value him. If you want to be blessed through a brother's ministry. You got to value him. They did not value Jesus. And so he could not do any miracle there. And he wondered at their unbelief.

So we see that. Because of unbelief. He could not. Do all that he wanted to do. By unbelief we tie the hands of Jesus even today. That he can't do for us all that he wants to do. In chapter seven. We read in verses.

God’s Word Versus Human Tradition

One onwards about. God's word versus human tradition. This was the great conflict that Jesus always had. With his people. With the people of his time. God's word versus human tradition. Jesus stood for God's word.

And all the Pharisees stood for the traditions of the elders. Now we may think that this is not a very big thing. But this is the great conflict that we find in Christendom today as well. Here's a tradition that we have received for years and years and years and years and years.

That's the way my father did it. My grandfather did it. My great grandfather did it. But is it the right way? And Jesus said. Tradition. First of all. If you hold on to tradition. Verse eight. You'll neglect God's commandment.

Step one. Step two. If you keep your tradition. Verse nine. You will set aside the commandment of God. And step three. You hang on to your tradition. You will cancel the word of God. There are three steps here.

Verse eight. Verse nine. And verse thirteen. You start with neglecting God's commandment. Then you set it aside. Finally you cancel it. That's the danger of holding on to traditions. Check your traditions with the word of God.

If it's not according to the word of God. It cannot be. What God wants you to do. I'm surprised that so many Christians. When they want to go. See for example. If I want to take my children. My small children are sick and I want to take them to a hospital.

I don't find out which hospital my great grandfather went to. That doesn't interest me. I don't even want to find out which hospital my father went to. Because we have got more updated hospitals today.

Right. You'll do the same. You don't go to the hospital your father or great-grandfather went to. Okay. When I want to put my children in school. I don't find out which school my great-grandfather went to.