The Compassionate King

Lord, we ask that you would bless us, bless our minds, bless our ears, bless our hearts,

so that we may hear you and understand, and that our hearts will be turned towards you.

Lord, we thank you for this gospel reading.

And Lord, we ask that you would meet us this morning,

that we would encounter the living God through your word.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

So I've been listening to the Revolutions podcast for some time now.

I don't know if anybody's listened to this podcast. It's excellent.

It's this guy named Mike Duncan who started out with a podcast on the history of Rome,

and somehow it just snowballed into a career.

And he is actually just wrapping up season 10 of 10 seasons on various revolutions.

So he started with the English Revolution.

He's finishing on the Russian Revolution.

So I've listened to like four seasons.

I'm tracking with him for this Russian Revolution.

And it seems like the most common thread in all of this,

I mean, apart from there actually being a revolution in each season,

because that's what the podcast is about,

is that leaders are really bad at leading.

They are.

And they lead in such a way that never seems to put their people first,

but it seems to lead in such a way to make their coffers shine a bit more brightly with more gold,

or expand their land,

to tax people in such a way that leaves them destitute,

to have this big ego trip,

to conquer the world,

and it's at the expense of just regular people

who are just trying to live a regular life.

Appreciate that, guys.

And you know, these leaders,

they don't show compassion to their people.

They seem to show contempt.

Let's keep that in the back of our mind

as we continue to explore the ministry of Jesus

as we wrap up Mark chapter 1 this week.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

So a bit of a recap,

if you weren't here,

if you forget,

no problem.

Jesus returns from the wilderness.

After Jesus gets baptized,

he goes to the wilderness.

He returns from the wilderness to the Galilee region,

which is kind of like in the north part of what is today Israel.

And he begins his ministry by proclaiming the gospel of God.

And we learned last week that the gospel

isn't just this kind of interesting good news

that kind of gets us out of hell and gets us to heaven,

but it's actually Jesus himself.

And the implications of the gospel

are that the kingdom is at hand,

and that the kingdom of God

comes against the kingdom of this world,

the kingdom of evil.

And we start to see goodness

and humanity flourish in the way that God intended,

at the core of which

is that we get to have this relationship with God

once again that was lost in the garden.

So that is a bit of the recap.

In our scripture portion this week,

after Jesus calls his first disciples,

we start to see a number of miracles that happen.

And they're done in rapid fire succession.

In fact, from this section all the way to the beginning of chapter 3,

it is a rapid fire of Jesus

either healing somebody or doing some kind of miracle

or commanding nature in this supernatural way.

So in this section,

in this section,

Jesus casts out a demon,

he heals a sick woman,

he heals a whole group of people,

and then he heals another demon-possessed man

before he cures somebody of leprosy.

So it's a very, very quick,

intense portion of scripture.

And one of the things that helps us to read this portion better

is to see what Jesus does

and see how people are reacting to him.

So it's really important that we understand what Jesus says,

but really Mark is drawing our attention

more so to what Jesus does.

So the first thing we'll get into this section,

starting in verse 21,

is we're going to see that Jesus enters a synagogue

and he begins to teach.

He is proclaiming the gospel message.

So we remember the gospel message

that Jesus is proclaiming in verse 14 and 15 in chapter 1.

And here Jesus is proclaiming,

it's implied that he's proclaiming that gospel message once again.

So, verse 21, it says this,

And they, Jesus and his disciples, went into Capernaum,

and immediately on the Sabbath,

he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

And it's really important that we understand that

before all these miracles go down,

before all of this incredible supernatural things begin to happen,

Jesus, he teaches.

And he is proclaiming the gospel.

It's never lost on Jesus.

Even though the miracles come,

he is there to proclaim the gospel.

And he teaches it.

He proclaims it.

He preaches it.

And we see this again,

because in verse 38,

Jesus goes away in the early morning to pray.

And this is after a bit of time healing people.

And his disciples come to get him.

And it seems like his disciples are just wanting to ride this excitement.

Like, Jesus is getting notoriety.

People are pretty excited about him.

He's doing miracles.

His fame is spreading.

And they are going to get him,

like, let's keep this up.

And what does Jesus say in verse 38?

Jesus says to his disciples,

let us go on to the next town,

that I may preach there also.

And then a very key bit here.

He says,

for that is why I came out.

Jesus is proclaiming the good news of Christ.

The gospel.

And that is what he is doing.

And his preaching,

interestingly,

is connected to his divine authority.

That Jesus isn't some Messiah figure

that's a bit of a poser.

He's not this faith healer, so to speak,

that just shows up and does a little abracadabra.

He has authority.

And how do we know this?

Well, let's go back to verse 21 to 28.

Jesus enters the synagogue with his disciples

and was teaching.

Verse 22.

And they, the people in the synagogue,

were astonished at his teaching,

for he taught them as one with authority

and not as the scribes.

And that's not some kind of hit against the scribes.

It is just saying that

this is something they haven't seen.

Even the authority and prestige

of the top of the religious establishment,

Jesus' authority is well above that.

And it's interesting that this authority

is a divine authority.

And Jesus preaches.

How do we know that it's some kind of divine authority?

Because it's,

the people react and they recognize

there's some kind of authority,

but something else happens.

If you look down in verse 23,

And immediately,

there was in their synagogue

a man with an unclean spirit.

And he cried out,

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.

Jesus' divine authority,

his divine proclaiming of the gospel,

that God himself has come

to make all wrongs right,

it doesn't sit well with somebody

with an unclean spirit.

That this unclean spirit

that is possessing this person

has power,

has some kind of authority.

But it's very clear

that the authority pales

in comparison to Jesus.

This person who has the demon,

the demons cry out,

recognizing who Jesus is.

Jesus, he shuts them up

really quickly.

And how does he cast out this demon?

Is it this conjuring?

Is this kind of reverse hex

or some kind of weird magic trick?

It's simply speaking.

In verse 25,

but Jesus rebukes him,

saying,

be silent and come out of him.

There's no back and forth,

there's no kind of swords being drawn.

Jesus speaks and it is done.

And the unclean spirit,

verse 26,

convulsing him

and crying out with a loud voice,

came out of him.

And they,

everybody at the synagogue,

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.

And at once,

his fame spread everywhere

throughout all the surrounding region

of the Galilee.

Jesus has this divine authority.

He has this spiritual authority,

this supernatural authority.

The good news of God,

of God,

who really is God himself,

right?

The good news is Jesus.

Jesus,

it establishes the,

the byproduct,

so to speak,

the implications of it,

is the establishing of God's kingdom

on earth

that just comes up against

the kingdom of Satan,

the kingdom of this world.

And it's a no contest affair.

It is a,

this isn't some kind of cosmic battle

between angels and demons

like we'd see in some kind of

sci-fi or superhero movie.

It's a done deal.

It's a no contest at all.

It is Jesus speaking,

and it is done.

So,

Jesus is the king

who has come to establish his kingdom,

and he has divine authority.

And how does he use his divine authority?

Again,

think back about

any kind of history.

I mean,

I'm thinking of these revolutions

that I've been learning about.

how do earthly kings,

even the best ones,

use their authority?

I mean,

at best,

like,

kind of good,

like,

for the flourishing of people,

but really,

in some ways,

like,

they're making sure

that they're taken care of.

Jesus,

in his divine authority,

he shows compassion

on a troubled soul,

a truly troubled soul.

he shows compassion

to rid this person

of an unclean spirit.

He doesn't show contempt

to the person.

He doesn't say

to the person,

at least,

it's not in Mark's account here,

but he doesn't say to the person,

what kind of stuff

did you get into?

What kind of things

were you dabbling in?

What kind of issues,

you know,

do you really have?

What's your past?

He doesn't say that.

He sees the troubled person,

and what does he do?

He has compassion.

He has compassion.

He doesn't put the person

through some kind of purgatory

or anything like that.

He has compassion.

He doesn't show contempt.

Mark wants us to see

and know

the authority of Jesus

and that it is

a deeply spiritual one.

And here's where I'll pause

in the narrative

of our section here.

And just to talk about something,

if you're sitting here

and there's a bit of like

a question in your brain,

a little maybe self-talk going on

that's saying like,

I don't even believe in some kind of,

like it sounds fanciful.

Like this spiritual type of situation,

a supernatural type of world.

I mean,

I'm sure you're not alone.

I struggle with some of this stuff as well.

For many of us

in this post-modern

time in Canada,

this spiritual world,

anybody that's talking about

spirituality,

it's cool if it's relegated

to just,

like that's your thing.

Enjoy it.

If that kind of helps you

to deal with life

or it kind of,

it reduces anxiety,

it gets good.

Like engage in that kind of stuff.

It's a very subjective attitude

that we have towards spirituality.

We recognize that really,

in a sense,

spirituality,

it's kind of,

it's kind of reduced

to like a therapeutic

type of hobby.

Maybe I'm not being too kind,

but,

and to somehow downplay therapy

or some therapeutic thing,

I'm not at all.

But,

we're cool with the spirituality

if it's your thing,

if it's subjective.

But if all of a sudden

I start talking about

some kind of spirituality

that's completely objective

and that it is a real reality now,

it's a bit of a problem

for some folks,

for our culture at large.

Like we celebrate,

we enjoy Halloween

and we put out ghosts

and stuff like that

if you're,

if you celebrate Halloween.

But nobody's trying to say,

hey listen,

like that's a real ghost.

Like there's some kind of

real spirituality going on.

As a culture,

we're not doing that.

But I find it very interesting

that easily

the biggest franchises

when it comes to entertainment

aren't historical dramas

or even rom-coms.

But it is science fiction.

It is superhero genres.

These larger than life,

supernatural characters

that go on.

I mean,

billions of dollars are spent,

I guess were spent

before the pandemic

at movie theaters.

Now they're spent,

you know,

with subscriptions

to various kind of like

Netflix and whatnot.

but nevertheless,

billions of dollars

are spent

to enjoy a world

that is not this world.

And to say,

well yeah,

I like entertainment.

I think as a culture,

there is this desire to,

like it,

we kind of want it

to be real.

We kind of want

something to,

to be real

about some kind of

fantasy world

or sci-fi world.

And I'm not somehow

trying to say that

like Spider-Man

or the Hobbits

really exist somewhere.

Like,

good luck.

Not,

not saying any of that,

but that,

it's,

it's as if we

have this desire

for something

greater than

the physical realm.

that there is

some kind of

spiritual realm.

But that's not

all of Canada.

There's some people

that it's like,

they're,

they're super into

some kind of

spirituality

where they see

everything as,

as,

there's a boogeyman

or a spirit.

And maybe it's not

so much folks here.

I know that

in the Middle East,

there's this,

there's this thing

that,

it really flavors

almost everything

for a huge portion

of the population.

It's called the Evil Eye.

I don't know if you guys

have ever heard of

the Evil Eye.

But the Evil Eye,

it's in Judaism,

it's in Islam,

it's all over North Africa

and the Middle East.

And all of a sudden

everything is interpreted

through a bit of

a cosmic battle,

some kind of

spiritual back and forth.

I have family

in the Middle East

and they'll wear,

at least one of them,

wears a medallion

to ward off

the Evil Eye.

Because if the Evil Eye

hits you,

game over.

Like you're going to have

to do some hardcore

spiritual stuff.

And again,

I'm not trying to downplay it,

but this is a reality

for a lot of people.

The Bible here

doesn't somehow

negate a spiritual realm,

nor does it talk about

it's the Wild West

spiritual realm.

That there is most certainly

a spiritual realm

in the scriptures

that's talked about

in Mark

and the rest of the Bible.

But make no mistake,

God and God alone

has authority

over everything.

There isn't a 1A

and a 1B

in the spiritual realm.

There is God

and there's everything else.

And this is a case in point

where God,

excuse me,

there's an unclean spirit

that opposes God's will

and it's simply

Jesus with the authority

to say,

be gone.

Be gone.

And it's done.

And this is good news

because for us,

some of the things

that plague us

are physical conditions.

They are emotional problems.

But a lot of it is spiritual.

There is spiritual realities

where we are struggling

and it feels like

there is something

that is weighing down

our life.

That it feels like

I am walking through this life

through thigh-high mud

and I can't figure it out.

And the good news is that

God is above it all.

Jesus is above it all.

And we can come to Him

just as we are.

And He's not going to have

contempt on us.

He's going to have

compassion on us.

And the past is the past.

It is.

We can't undo the past.

But we go to God,

we go to Jesus,

trusting that the same Jesus

we see here

is the same one

we're going to encounter.

The first week we talked about this,

or last week actually,

that Jesus,

a part of the gospel message

is to repent and believe,

this ongoing repenting

and believing.

And that's all we need to do.

We come to God,

I am sorry for what I have done,

I repent of it,

and I'm throwing myself

at your mercy.

He will not turn you away.

The king with authority

has compassion,

not contempt,

on his people.

So Jesus has authority.

It's very, very clear

in Mark

over the spiritual realm.

But also,

this king,

Jesus,

is humble.

What do I mean?

Three times in this section,

and we'll see it in other times

in Mark's gospel.

Jesus shuts down

any kind of good publicity.

He shuts it down.

Verse 25,

Jesus rebukes

the demons,

says,

be silent

and come out.

In verse 34,

he's healing

those who are sick

and with various diseases,

and he casts out many demons,

and he would not permit

the demons to speak

because they knew him.

And then in verse 43,

after Jesus cleanses the leper,

he says,

it says,

and Jesus sternly charged him.

And this,

sternly charge him,

is a very clean way

of saying,

like,

like,

getting in his face.

I think the literal word

is like he snorts at him.

Like,

there's this

kind of,

like,

aggressive streak in Jesus.

And he sternly charges

this young man,

or this man

who is cleansed

of leprosy,

and he said to him,

see that you say nothing

to anybody,

to anyone.

There's a lot of commentators

that,

they're in fits

over why.

And there are some

that look to undermine

the authority of the Bible

by saying,

see,

this is proof

that Jesus never considered

himself divine.

He never considered himself

some kind of Messiah figure.

I would push back

against that.

A number of different reasons.

But one of the reasons

that I'll bring to your attention

I think is absolutely stunning.

Jesus here says,

be silent in verse 25.

He doesn't permit

the demons to speak

in verse 34.

See that you say nothing

to anyone,

anyone,

anybody,

in verse 43.

And here,

we have in view,

Mark has in view,

that Jesus is fulfilling

the suffering servant

person

that the prophet Isaiah

talks about.

There's four,

in Isaiah,

there's four sections

that talk of

this prophecy

of this suffering servant

that will come.

And it's this progressively

revealed person,

and it kind of culminates

in Isaiah 53.

It's a very famous chapter

in Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

But one thing about

this suffering servant

who is understood

to be the Messiah,

who is God himself,

is that he is humble.

He is very humble.

That he is lowly

and he is gentle.

So,

one suffering servant

passage,

Isaiah chapter 42,

Isaiah 42:2

verses 2 and 3,

says this,

speaking of the servant,

he will not cry aloud

or lift up his voice

or make it heard

in the streets.

Very famous verse here,

a bruised reed

he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick

he will not quench.

He will faithfully

bring forth justice.

That his suffering servant

is gentle

and he's humble

and he's compassionate.

But don't mistake it

for weakness.

It's not weak.

This is a very beautiful picture

of a compassionate king.

Some of you

who have been at church

for a while

might know that there's

a bit of a reckoning

happening

for some

specifically evangelical

pastors

that have been bullies.

that have pushed people around.

That have not been gentle

or compassionate.

Who have not been humble.

This is not the way of God.

It is not.

And for whatever reason,

we have equated humility

and gentleness

with weakness.

But that's not the case at all.

I mean, in each case,

Jesus,

it's on,

when he is telling,

be silent,

permits him not to speak,

say nothing to anybody.

He's doing anything

but being weak.

He's doing anything

complete authority

over anything

that opposes him.

But he is humble

and he is weak.

What does he do

when all of a sudden

his popularity grows?

He takes off early

in the morning

and he prays.

We see this

in verse 35 and on.

And rising very early

in the morning

while it was still dark,

Jesus departed

and went out

to a desolate place

and there he prayed.

and then his disciples

try to get him.

Like, listen,

we've got to capitalize

on this kind of stuff.

He is humble.

He's compassionate.

This is who the king is.

He doesn't have contempt

for his people.

He has compassion.

Jesus becomes a servant

of all,

ultimately humbling himself

to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Isn't it interesting

that the king

who is above all kings

doesn't squeeze

his subjects

for every last penny

they have?

Doesn't exploit them

for all of their talents

and treasures.

What does he do?

He lays down his life

for them.

He thinks of their benefit

at the expense

of his well-being.

The humble,

compassionate king.

And this brings us

to the last bit.

Jesus cleanses a leper

and it's remarkable

how little subtleties

in the text

have just a ton of meaning.

Jesus heals people

that are sick,

but for lepers,

he cleanses them.

What do I mean?

Take a look with me

in verse 40.

And a leper came to him,

and it's not necessarily

leprosy,

it might be.

There's like something

like by this time

when Jesus is on the scene,

there's something like dozens,

maybe even more than that.

Different skin conditions

that are like

under the header leprosy.

And anyways,

we'll get into that

in a second.

Verse 40,

And a leper came to him,

imploring him,

and kneeling,

said to him,

If you will,

you can make me clean.

How does Jesus respond?

Move with pity.

He stretched out his hand

and touched him

and said to him,

I will be clean.

leprosy meant

you're done.

You are done.

You're outside

of the community.

You can't be

a part of normal society.

There are,

I mean,

we call them

leper colonies today.

They don't exist

in North America.

They still exist

in parts of the world.

They existed

in Jesus' day.

And to be a leper

meant to say goodbye

to your family,

meant to say goodbye

to a life of work

and the dignity

that comes with it.

And if you were to come

into a town,

you had to declare it,

shouting it,

and people would flee.

So this leper

comes up to Jesus.

He risks soiling Jesus.

How does Jesus respond?

He turns to him,

it says,

and he is moved

with pity.

He stretched out his hand

and he touched him.

He touched him.

The untouchable

gets touched.

And it doesn't say

that he had pity,

but he was like,

all right,

he girded up his loins,

so to speak,

and kind of took

a big, deep,

courageous breath

and touched him.

He had pity.

The king had compassion

and not contempt.

Compassion

and not contempt.

Four times

in this section

verses 40

to 45,

it says,

it talks about cleansing.

Mark wants us

to make no mistake

that Jesus

didn't just do,

again,

some abracadabra.

He cleansed

somebody who couldn't

be cleansed.

this picture of uncleanliness

and Jesus

touching it

and restoring it.

It is such a big picture

for this poor man,

but it's a fantastic picture

for us.

I said earlier,

the past is the past,

but the past

might not be the past

for some of you folks.

And some of the past,

I shouldn't say

some of you folks

as if it's not me too,

it fully is me.

The past isn't just the past.

The past is,

it's a hundred pound weighted vest

that I'm trying to walk around

with day after day.

Maybe it's heavier for you,

maybe it's lighter.

You've done things

that you're not

too proud of.

You're ashamed

of certain things.

You feel unclean.

You do different things

to make yourself feel clean

and it works

for maybe a bit,

I don't know.

I don't know what it is you do

that makes you feel alright

and good about yourself

and I don't mean that flippantly.

I genuinely mean it.

But in the end,

that uncleanliness comes.

Jesus touches the leper

and he wants to do the same to us.

To restore us.

The past can't be dealt with.

This leper couldn't do

a thing about it.

Jesus again doesn't say,

listen,

what did you do

to become a leper?

Like,

why would you ever

hang out with other lepers

or I don't know

what it would be.

It just says that he's moved with pity

and he touches him.

He restores him.

The leprosy leaves him.

There's great hope

for the soul

that feels unclean.

There's great hope.

And that hope

isn't for tomorrow

or the next day.

It's for now.

Jesus doesn't say

to the leper,

listen,

go through the whole

ritual cleansing thing.

He heals him on the spot.

And the man

isn't partially restored.

He's fully restored.

And for us,

maybe that full restoration

is a bit of a process.

Because unlike leprosy

that just falls off miraculously,

some of the inside leprosy

just takes time.

Again,

why in verse 14

when Jesus says,

he proclaims the gospel

and he says to repent

and believe,

it's this ongoing belief

because we forget.

So sometimes it is a process.

Oftentimes it's a process.

But we, again,

can be sure

that the Jesus we see here

is the Jesus

that we interact with now.

He hasn't changed.

The story wraps up

in verse 45

and this is where

I'll wrap it up.

It says,

but the now-cleansed leper

went out

and began to talk freely

about his cleansing

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.

So the reason why

Jesus had to go out,

his popularity was,

it was,

it was just growing

and for whatever reason

he had to go out

and people were coming

to see him.

That's,

like,

that's,

that's the simple reading,

the literal reading

of what's happening.

But the way Mark

positions that

is that right on the heels

of Jesus cleansing this leper,

the leper goes into the town

and Jesus goes outside

of the town.

It's as if Jesus

switches places

with the leper.

He goes to the desolate places,

he goes to the wilderness,

the place where he can't

engage with the community

and again,

Jesus does eventually

go into the town

so I'm not trying to make

a huge thing out of this

but the way Mark

has positioned it,

he is putting breadcrumbs

out for us

because we're starting

to see who this Messiah is.

That he doesn't just

work miracles,

he takes on

our fate

and gives us

his.

He cleans us

and he becomes

unclean.

He takes our sin

away from us

and,

and so we are made

righteous

and,

and that sin

rests on him

and we're starting to see,

Mark is painting this picture

and we're starting to see

of just little bits

of who this Messiah

is and what he's come to do.

And ultimately,

we will understand

who the Son of God is

at the cross

where Jesus dies

not for his own sins

but for your sin,

for my sin.

And we start to see

this beautiful picture

of who this incredible King is.

Jesus has all authority

and yet he is humble

and lowly.

He's compassionate

and does not show contempt

and he will cleanse you.

He will.

It's a promise,

not my promise.

It's his.

He will cleanse you

if you only cry out to him.

Have mercy upon me.

You can cleanse me

if you will.

Why don't we stand

and pray,

stretch out

and then we'll get into

a time of intercession.

Lord God,

we thank you

that your word is rich.

It is very rich

and we thank you

for your Son

who has all authority

over everything

and that the battle

is already won.

It's evil,

can't hold a candle

to your Son.

And yet,

your Son,

he doesn't flex

his authority

at our expense

but instead

he is compassionate,

that he is lowly

and humble

and yet almighty.

Lord,

we ask that you would help us

to not try to perfume

the leprosy,

so to speak,

to hide the stench

but instead

we will go to your blessed Son

and ask for his wonderful

healing touch.

Lord,

for us,

Lord,

help us to grow in our faith.

If anybody here,

Lord,

has not quite put their faith

and hope and trust in you,

Lord,

will you please

draw them to yourself

and that they will simply

repent and believe,

throw themselves

at your feet.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.