2BeLikeChrist Bible Commentary - Mark Chapter 1
Commentary - Mark Chapter 1
Who wrote the Book of Mark?
The book is commonly attributed to John Mark.
John Mark travelled with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 12:25)
To whom was it written?
Although debated, it is thought the book was written to primarily gentile (non-Jewish) Christians, perhaps those living in the area of Rome.
You will notice the differences between Matthew’s appeal to a Jewish audience:
Mark doesn’t begin with a genealogy.
Mark doesn’t cite as many fulfilled prophecies.
Mark’s writing moves much more rapidly than Matthew’s.
You will notice this immediately.
Mark covers in a few verses what the other gospels take half a chapter to discuss.
Many gentiles probably heard about the ministry of Christ but believed He was a Jewish figure and not something with which they needed to concern themselves.
Mark’s gospel may be so “to the point” because he would lose a gentile audience if he included as much “Jewish” material as Matthew.
It would be like trying to prove a point to an American using detailed points about Mexican culture.
Like a good preacher or teacher, Mark may be appealing to the audience in front of Him.
Rather than point out all the details up-front, let’s get into the text and discover them through our study.
I would encourage you to keep your eyes open for content and stylistic difference between the gospels.
Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mar 1:2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,
Mar 1:3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
Mar 1:4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Instead of being the “Son of David” and the “Son of Abraham” as in Matthew, Mark titles Jesus the “Son of God.”
A Jewish audience would immediately connect God’s anointed one with the names David and Abraham.
But there were probably gentiles who didn’t even know who Abraham and David were.
Unlike Matthew, Mark doesn’t begin with the story of the birth of Jesus.
Mark picks up after John the Baptist has already begun his ministry and Jesus is about to begin His.
Gospel means “good news”
Mark is writing to his audience about the good news of the Messiah.
Jesus was good news to the Jews and Gentiles because His mission was to take away the sins of all people.
In verse 2, the KJV does not cite a specific prophet for the quotation about John but the ESV names the prophet Isaiah.
The passage is found in Isaiah and Malachi.
Isaiah 40:3 - A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Malachi 3:3 - A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John was preaching in the wilderness and in the regions of Jordan.
The Jordan river runs from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea.
The wilderness of Judea was/is on the west side of the Dead Sea and east of Jerusalem.
The wilderness descends from the hill country down to the Dead Sea which is the lowest land point on earth (413 meters/1,355 feet below sea level).
John the Baptist was a Jew (tribe of Levi) who was specifically called to fill the role as the forerunner of Christ (more on this when we study the book of Luke).
Like a messenger who went before a king to announce his arrival, John went into Judea to announce the arrival of the King of the coming Kingdom.
It is interesting that Mark doesn’t mention Jesus’ upbringing to his gentile audience, but Matthew mentions it to his Jewish audience.
Why do you think that was?
When you think about a King, how do kings typically get to be king?
Answer: they are born of royal blood and inherit the throne, right?
To the Jews, the bloodline of David was the most royal blood around.
But the gentiles, the blood of David didn’t mean much at all.
So, Mark wouldn’t have had as much incentive to begin with a discussion of Jesus’ parents, tribe, and genealogy as Matthew did.
John spent his time in the wilderness baptizing for the forgiveness of sins.
The concept of spiritual cleansing by the immersion of water was not a completely new concept to the Jews.
The existence of “mikveh,” Jewish ritual cleansing pools, have been discovered as early as the Hasmonean Period.
Jewish ritual cleansing of people and household items by immersion is described in the Mishnah (collection of the Jewish oral traditions).
Some individuals who had become ceremonially unclean were required to be immersed in water before being pronounced “clean.”
New converts to Judaism were required to be immersed.
The Jews had very specific rules for the kind of water in which these individuals needed to be immersed.
As with the Jewish handwashing traditions, these rituals had nothing to do with cleansing dirt from the body. They were a ceremonial washing for spiritual cleanliness.
For more information, check out Mishnah Mikva'ot.
John’s baptism shared similarities with the Jewish purification ritual but was different in significant ways.
Being unclean under the Old Testament system didn’t necessarily mean the unclean person had sinned.
So, the immersion of the Jews in the mikveh wasn’t equivalent to having their sins washed away, but it was a good picture of the transition of a person from the dirtiness of sin to the cleanliness of righteousness.
John’s baptism offered forgiveness of sins through the power and sacrifice of the coming Messiah.
This would have been a huge mindset change for the Jews because when they thought about having sins forgiven, they probably thought about the need to offer animals as sacrifices.
The closest things the Jews had to forgiveness of sins was the priestly sacrifices offered for them in the Temple.
Upon hearing John’s message, some of the Jews may have asked, “what about the sacrifices? How will our sins be forgiven without a sacrifice?”
What they didn’t know was that God was going to be arranging the sacrifice for them (Jesus, the Lamb of God).
In one sense, the purification by immersion would have been familiar to the Jews while in another sense the forgiveness of sins would have been a whole new concept.
Mar 1:5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mar 1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
Mar 1:7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
Mar 1:8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
This new teaching attracted large crowds from the surrounding region.
Many probably came to hear about the coming King, hoping for another period of Jewish independence.
The Maccabees had gained independence from the Seleucids approximately 150 years earlier but were later brought under control of the Romans.
Antigonus had sparked hopes of a resurgence of the Hasmonean dynasty 60-70 years earlier, but with the help of the Romans, Herod the Great had kept the phoenix from rising.
Now John the Baptist was out in the wilderness preaching about a new King who would deliver the Jews.
Some who heard John accepted his message and were baptized by him in the Jordan river.
Some of the people may have thought what they really needed was freedom from Rome.
They left realizing what they really needed was freedom from their sins.
The Kingdom of God wasn’t interested in only conquering something as small as the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of God was coming to destroy the world’s most evil empire, the Kingdom of Satan.
John pointed people away from himself towards someone greater.
APPLICATION:
As heralds of the gospel, John teaches us how to preach.
We are pointing people away from ourselves and asking them to turn their attention to something greater.
Something of which we are not worthy.
Jesus was greater than John, in part, because He would offer a greater baptism than John could offer.
John’s baptism for the forgiveness of sins was dependent on Jesus’ death on the cross.
Jesus would bring a blessing John could not offer, the Holy Spirit.
Jesus promised the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
Mar 1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Mar 1:10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Mar 1:11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Mark skips over the dialog between the Pharisees and Sadducees contained in Matthew’s gospel and goes directly for the next action-packed scene, the baptism of Jesus.
For a discussion on why Jesus was baptized, see the notes in Matthew chapter 3.
Jesus is then confirmed as the Son of God by a voice from heaven and the appearance of the Holy Spirit.
This isn’t just another man claiming to be the deliverer of the Jews.
This man’s claim begins with an observable and witnessed sign from heaven.
When the book of Mark was written, it still would have been possible to track down someone who had personally witnessed this divine confirmation of Jesus’ identity.
Mar 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
Mar 1:13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
The Spirit then leads Jesus out into the wilderness to be tested and tempted by the devil.
Again, we see the economy of Mark’s writing.
Matthew spends half of chapter 4 giving us the details of the temptation.
Mark gives us 2 verses.
In the wilderness Jesus’ identity and resolve were challenged by Satan.
Jesus did not faulter.
Mar 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
Mar 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
John was no politician. His boldness got Him thrown in prison by Herod.
He angered the Pharisees and Sadducees by calling them a brood of vipers.
He then angered Herod by telling him he was in an ungodly marriage (see Matthew 14, he had married his brother’s wife).
Following the arrest of John, Jesus took up John’s message, “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
God’s Kingdom, His dominion, was about to be made known on earth.
God’s Kingdom was going to be made apparent on earth and it would be a Kingdom that would never be destroyed.
It was going to be greater than any kingdom that existed before it and any kingdom yet to exist.
How could people be a part of God’s kingdom?
They needed to turn away from their real oppressors.
They were oppressed by sin and Satan’s lies.
They needed to believe the good news about Jesus (the gospel). He was coming to be their King and free them from their oppression.
Keep in mind, not all of the pieces of this gospel had been completed at the time of John and Jesus’ early preaching, but they were being announced to put the people in expectation of their arrival and to get their minds ready to embrace the eternal truths which were about to unfold in front of them.
Interestingly, Jesus is announcing His Kingdom in the prime of the Roman Empire.
If there was ever a time to announce the rise of a new kingdom, this wasn’t it!
If Rome was going to be able to squash the Kingdom of Heaven, it was now or never!
APPLICATION:
Satan often does his work through the powerful entities of the world, while God is content to thwart him using much less flamboyant means.
When studying the history of the first century, there is a big temptation for our eyes and attention to go to the Italian peninsula to observe the goings-on of the Romans.
But God is pulling our attention to this nowhere town (Nazareth) so we can watch Him do His greatest work in an area of the world everyone else is ignoring.
I wonder if we sometimes spend too much time with our attention fixed on Washington (or some other center of power).
Watching our nation slip into moral decline (like Rome).
Watching our leaders become corrupt (like Rome).
And we get down and depressed and complain about the advance of Satan’s kingdom.
If we spent more time looking at the nobodies in the nowhere towns, in our seemingly insignificant towns, I wonder if we would see the Kingdom of God winning the victories necessary to defeat Satan in the end.
God doesn’t need Washington to beat Satan, Nazareth will do just fine.
This is what we are about to observe.
Jesus is going to begin His humble work by calling 12 men of humble backgrounds to follow Him.
Mar 1:16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Mar 1:17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mar 1:18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Mar 1:19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
Mar 1:20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Jesus doesn’t go to the universities to pick out the “best and brightest” followers.
God’s design in sending Jesus to the world wasn’t to show off the wisdom and ingenuity of men.
God’s wisdom was to be at the center of attention.
Speaking of humble beginnings, Jesus chose Galilee as the target for His early ministry, rather than the Jewish center of Jerusalem.
If He wanted to gather a following, Jerusalem almost certainly would have been a better pick.
But His choice reveals something about His priorities.
Larger and larger crowds weren’t a necessary part of His purpose.
We will continue to see this as we progress through the book.
Jesus often tells people (and demons) not to publicize His works.
Unlike most “movements” His mindset wasn’t “all publicity is good publicity.”
This is an interesting contrast to the mission Christ gives us, which is to tell everybody about Him.
Was it wrong to be a fisherman?
No, fishing is an honest profession.
But Jesus wanted them for a higher purpose.
He wanted them to capture men’s hearts by telling them about the good news of salvation.
APPLICATION:
As Christians, we should be open to the same call.
We may be engaged on a daily basis in a good honest profession.
But maybe God has a greater purpose for us.
Are you open to that?
Notice, when Jesus called them, not all the details of the future were perfectly laid out.
Not everything about the future was clear to them.
There was a level of trust required.
Their willingness to take the opportunity in front of them led them on the greatest adventure of their lives and to a much more meaningful life than fishing the Sea of Galilee.
The same opportunity may appear in front of you, there may be a level of trust required, and it might lead you to a more full and purposeful life.
Mar 1:21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.
Mar 1:22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
Mar 1:23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,
Mar 1:24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
Mar 1:25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
Mar 1:26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
Mar 1:28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
You will see Capernaum on the map above on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Capernaum was the home of these first 4 Apostles and would be Jesus “home-base” during His earthly stay.
The synagogue:
Josephus, a Jewish historian, mentions at least 18 cities in the Roman Empire with a synagogue.
The origins of the synagogue are obscure, but many believe they got their start when the Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity and needed a place of cultural gathering and worship.
The Jews met in the synagogues on the Sabbath (Saturday) to hear a reading from the Old Testament Law and have it explained by their religious leaders.
The synagogue was a place of ritual cleansing. Many included a Mikveh.
The Pharisees and scribes had a significant number of rules for how Jews were supposed to behave within the synagogue and when it was/wasn’t appropriate for someone to enter the synagogue.
Following the reading and teaching of the Law it appears the people were given an opportunity to speak (see Acts 13:15)
Jesus took the opportunity to preach to His fellow Jews.
Jesus’ teaching was different from that of the scribes.
The scribes could only interpret the Law as given by God.
They probably used the writing in the Talmud (the oral interpretations of rabbis) to teach the people.
These traditions were uninspired and often misguided (as Matthew’s gospel showed us).
But Jesus taught with “authority.”
We won’t ever get to hear God explain His Law to us in a synagogue.
Jesus could give supernatural commentary on the Law and its origins flowing out of the heart of God.
It would have been a special privilege to hear Jesus expound on scripture.
Even though we can’t listen to Jesus speak, we can all recognize someone who teaches with a sense of authority.
There is a big difference between a teacher with a shallow grasp of their subject matter and one with a command and mastery of the subject.
No doubt, in synagogues of the 1st Century, as in churches in the 21st Century, there were those who filled the role of “teacher” but weren’t particularly skilled at handling the scriptures.
There have been several times during this study I’ve used phrases like, “I think”, “I suppose”, “I imagine”, I believe the text implies”, “possibly”, etc…
Hearing a teacher who never had to speak in uncertain terms, who had an ocean’s depth of knowledge on every Old Testament passage, was certain of the accuracy of His interpretation on every statement of God, and knew with perfect clarity the hearts of each Old Testament character, a teacher who intimately knew the God He came from and each person He had created throughout history… you wouldn’t be able to walk away from that teacher without being “astonished at His teaching.”
Jesus, as God, could speak about the Law as the Law Giver.
He did not need the interpretations of the rabbis to speak about the heart of the Law.
He articulated it to the people as its Author.
Many of the Jews may have questioned Jesus’ authority to speak with such boldness about the Law.
He was not a trained scribe or rabbi.
What made Him think He had insights into the Law their respected scholarly leaders didn’t?
The proof was about to be provided!
A man with an unclean spirit was in the synagogue.
The spirit cried out, announcing Jesus’ identity to the attendants.
Christ told Him to “be silent.”
Jesus’ evidence of authority was to be made known through power, not the word of a demon.
Jesus then commanded the spirit to come out of the man, which it obediently did.
Jesus’ words had authority in the spiritual world.
The Jews had exorcists, but none had the power to command demons with a word. This was evidently clear to the Jews (verse 27).
The scribes had religious training and they knew about the Law, but they didn’t have power like Jesus had just displayed.
So, the Jews who questioned Jesus’ authority to speak with boldness about the Law, just had a reason to sit down and pay attention.
It should have been a lesson to the scribes that it was their turn to be students instead of teachers.
The rest of the gospels reveal they failed to learn that lesson.
Their pride wouldn’t let them relinquish the teaching position.
APPLICATION:
Pride is a dangerous opponent to learning new things.
Learning requires the humbling of yourself below a teacher.
There will be many people, even many “Christian” people, who will endanger their souls because they won’t relinquish the seat of the scribes to be taught by Jesus.
Why are their massively different beliefs within the Christian tradition? A lot of times it is because people think they know God and aren’t willing to be taught by
God, through the life of Christ and the instruction of the Spirit through the word, who God actually is and wants them to be.
The scribes thought they knew God. They didn’t know God! Jesus tried to show them and they wrote Him off.
Mar 1:29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
Mar 1:30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.
Mar 1:31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
Mar 1:32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.
Mar 1:33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door.
Mar 1:34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
Jesus then departs the synagogue and goes to Simon and Andrews house.
Simon’s mother-in-law was there sick and Jesus heals her.
At sundown, the people of the city found Jesus and started bringing their sick out to Him to be healed.
Why did they wait until sundown?
Probably because the Sabbath day ended at sundown.
The Jews days ran from sundown to sundown.
They were restricted from walking more than a short distance or carrying burdens on the Sabbath day.
When the sun went down, those restrictions were lifted, and they all came out to find Jesus.
The Bible says the whole city was at the door.
Jesus was running a world changing operation out of a fisherman’s house. Probably the most normal unremarkable house ever.
That is weird! Who on earth would have expected it to be this way?
Imagine if someone came up to you and said, “The Messiah is staying two blocks down in your neighborhood!” (I want you to think about just how ridiculous that would be to hear).
Divine truth was to be found in a normal home accessible to everyone, not an exclusive palace sealed off to all but a few.
I think that is one of the most beautiful things about God’s plan.
God’s truth can be found in the most ordinary places, and it is sometimes encountered unintentionally, in a place one would never expect, by those who are seeking truth.
On the most ordinary day, a person with open ears can encounter life changing truth.
God’s good news moves through the ordinary in an extraordinary way.
This ought to be a lesson to us not to discard truth because we deem its origin too ordinary.
“This person doesn’t have anything to teach me!”
“This person isn’t as educated as me! They have nothing to tell me.”
Either of these attitudes would have pushed Christ aside as too common.
How many people do you think thought the most important news in the history of the world affecting the souls of all men, past, present, and future, would show up first in a fisherman’s house in average old Capernaum?
The delivery of the gospel has to be one of its most shocking attributes.
Jesus again forbid the demons from revealing His identity.
Mark 1:35-39
Mar 1:35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Mar 1:36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him,
Mar 1:37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
Mar 1:38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
Mar 1:39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Here we find Jesus, after a long night of helping needy people, rising early in the morning to be with His Father.
There are times when we need to sacrifice physically to make sure our souls are healthy.
I don’t think that is a very widely practiced spiritual discipline.
What does this precedent do to our excuses for not praying, studying, attending worship, or being present to help our brothers and sisters?
“I was too tired.”
“I was too busy.”
“I did a lot of good work already today.” (This one gets me)
Jesus didn’t neglect His time with God or His time helping those who needed Him.
Obviously, this can be taken to extremes, but I think Jesus’ example here is something we could all do a little bit better at.
When Jesus’ disciples finally find Him, they say, “Everyone is looking for you.”
They were probably thinking, “What are you doing!? You’ve got a whole crowd of people down there waiting for you at the door!”
Why do so many well-known preachers fall into sin?
Because they spend too much time with the crowds of people wanting to see them and too little time alone with God.
Same is true for any Christian, we can get so busy, even busy with “good works,” that we unknowingly drift away from God because we aren’t being intentional about drawing near to Him.
Jesus’ response is curious and worth considering.
When His Apostles tell Him, the crowds are waiting for Him, He tells them they aren’t going back down to the adoring crowds.
Why?
Because the gospel needed preaching in other places.
Weren’t there more sick people that needed healed down in Capernaum?
Yes!
Wasn’t that a good work?
Yes!
But Jesus had priorities.
Healing sick people was a good thing, but preaching was a better thing.
I think this is an important lesson for the modern Church and modern Christians to learn.
There is a difference between good and better.
It is a good thing to go to the lake with your family and appreciate the creation of God.
It is a good thing to devote time to learn to play an instrument.
It is a good thing to go to the gym and lift weights and be healthy.
It is a good thing to put your kids in sports and help them develop as a player.
It is a good thing to have a hobby.
All of those things are good and there is nothing inherently sinful about any of those things.
But maybe the Church is struggling and isn’t growing like it should because Christians are spending a lot of time doing those good things and not pursuing the BETTER things.
Here we see Jesus turning down a good thing to accomplish His better and ultimate purpose.
As followers of Christ we have been given a similar better and ultimate purpose.
Many of the decisions we face are between good and better!
How often do you choose the “good” option over the “better” option?
Just because we aren’t choosing to sin, doesn’t mean we are being everything God has called us to be.
The Christian life is not always a choice between black and white, good and bad, right and wrong, it is often a choice between good and better.
Jesus takes His disciples and begins a short preaching tour in the cities and synagogues of Galilee.
Mark 1:40-45
Mar 1:40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
Mar 1:41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
Mar 1:42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
Mar 1:43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,
Mar 1:44 and 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, for a proof to them.”
Mar 1:45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
During His journey through Galilee, a leper approached Jesus.
(If you would like some more details on leprosy, check out the notes on Matthew chapter 8).
The leper’s request/statement was marked by two proper attitudes.
(1) “If you will…”
A submission to the will and wisdom of God.
(2) “…you can make me clean.”
A confidence in the power of God.
We should be approaching God with the same attitudes.
The text says, Jesus was “moved with pity.”
Jesus, who has never sinned, has pity on those who have to live in a world full of sin’s consequences.
He could have easily said to the man, “well you’ve been a sinner too, so this is what you get!”
I used to lack pity for people caught up in sin.
I used to look at people and think, “How could you be that dumb.”
“How can you be that in love with a sinful life.”
“That is what you get for living that way.”
It wasn’t until I was caught up in sin that my compassion started increasing.
I’m glad Jesus isn’t like me!
He has pity on a world that turned its back on Him.
Psalm 103:14 - For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Jesus stretches out His hand to touch a contagious man and takes away the effects of sin.
All of Jesus’ healings are, in a way, a picture of His greater work.
Sickness and suffering entered the world because of sin and Jesus’ healings are individual pictures of His conquest of sin’s consequences.
Jesus, in compliance with God’s law (see Leviticus 14:2-32), told the man to complete the prescribed visit to the priests for confirmation of His healing.
How many so called “healers” today encourage their patients to follow up with a doctor for confirmation?
Why did Jesus tell the man not to tell anyone if He knew he was going to tell people?
Why did Jesus preach to people He knew weren’t going to listen to Him?
Why did Jesus mentor Judas if He knew he would betray Him?
I think there are a lot of things Jesus did for our benefit and our learning even though He already knew the outcome.
If Jesus never humanized any of His experience for us, His interactions would probably be reeeeaaaallllly confusing!
Why aren’t as many people interested in knowing Jesus today as they were when He was performing physical healings?
We don’t see towns of people flooding into church buildings to learn about Jesus, why?
First, people are not as in tune, or shall I say N-SYNC with their spiritual needs as they are with their physical needs.
When a person is physically sick, it is an inconvenience to their lives.
We feel our physical ailments very keenly.
We often don’t feel our spiritual needs as needing the same immediate attention.
Second, Jesus’ remedy for spiritual needs requires serious long-term commitment!
I think many people in the world feel the symptoms of spiritual sickness.
Their consciences bother them as a result of wickedness in their lives.
They feel a void they can’t seem to fill.
But they often take the wrong medical advice.
Many people go to the doctor seeking a remedy for an ailment.
What they really want is a prescription for some pill that will take away their symptoms.
Many doctors are more than happy to sign a prescription and shuffle patients out of their office.
The problem with this type of treatment is that the pills only mask the symptoms, they don’t treat the underlying problems.
When a doctor tells someone, he won’t prescribe a pill, instead he will prescribe a lifestyle change to address the roots of the problem, people are often much less likely to get on board.
Anyone can take a pill, but a lifestyle change takes commitment.
It is not uncommon for a person to request a doctor they know will give them the pills they want and not ask questions.
The same is true for spiritual ailments.
The devil passes out pills.
He offers you a quick solution to your problems.
He doesn’t want you to get to the root of the problem because then you will realize Jesus is the only one offering what you need.
Satan wants you to find a quick temporal solution that keeps you distracted from the real problem.
Following Jesus’ advice is a lifestyle change.
Jesus asks us for significant commitment.
He offers the only real lasting remedy to the problem of sin and death.
But we must be serious!
Too many people are flooding to Satan’s drive through pharmacy to pick up a quick high.
