A Day In The Life: Jesus Edition (2)

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You may recall from our last study in Mark 1, it would have been two Sundays ago,

that we started just a few verses prior to this.

And what Mark is covering here in the narrative is a single 24-hour period in the life of Jesus Christ.

And it's somewhat of a summary of what we might expect Jesus' regular routine in life to have been like in his ministry,

especially as at this point, this is probably year two of his ministry,

and he's really starting to grow in popularity.

More people are beginning to hear about him.

And we start to see this is probably what Jesus' life was like day by day.

And Mark kind of gives us a summary of that by pointing out three events in this particular day.

His emphasis is on Jesus' supernatural power and authority.

And his point in writing it, again, is to serve that same purpose from verse one,

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

And at this point in his writing, Mark is primarily concerned with the identity of Christ.

And when we get to the second half of the Gospel of Mark,

we're going to see his focus shift to where he's going to emphasize the work of Christ in salvation.

But for now, at least in these first eight chapters,

he's really zeroing in on who Jesus is, his identity.

And he's doing that by writing these various scenes and telling these various proofs

that really happened in his life that give proof to who he was.

We have to understand his identity before we can really understand his purpose and his work in salvation.

And it's important for us to remember that Mark's goal here is not to entertain us about Jesus' life.

His goal is to provide objective proof that would draw us to believe and follow Jesus.

So it would be easy for us to read these verses and think,

wow, that's pretty amazing.

Look at the way that he healed.

Look at how he had compassion.

Look at all of these things that he did and the power.

It would be one thing for us to be entertained by the life of Christ,

but that's not what Mark's trying to do.

He's not writing that for us to be fascinated.

He's writing it that we may fall in love with this Jesus,

that we may fall before this Jesus,

that we may believe him and follow him as Lord,

not simply be entertained or amazed at his life.

So the question for the reader inevitably becomes,

who else could do these things but God?

When we read these individual scenes of Christ's life,

who is this person?

Who could possibly do this?

Well, there's only one who could,

and that is God himself.

And so they end up giving proof to what ultimately becomes Jesus' own claim

as being one with the Father.

Well, in these few verses,

Mark presents three different locations for the events of this particular day.

We studied the first one last time.

We looked at this episode in the synagogue of Capernaum, the synagogue.

And what was Mark writing about in the synagogue?

His authoritative word.

That was the emphasis.

You remember, he went into the synagogue at Capernaum.

He was invited to speak as a visiting rabbi that day.

And the people were amazed by his teaching.

And then the man who was possessed with a demon

causes a bit of a stir in the middle of the service.

And Jesus, through his word, cast out the demon.

He simply tells it to leave, commands it to be quiet,

and the demon has no other choice but to obey.

And so the people are astonished in this moment.

Not only are they amazed in and of themselves

that the authority with which he taught,

it was very different from the scribes

and the religion that they were used to in Judaism.

But they were amazed that only by his word,

even the devils had to listen.

What kind of person is this?

What kind of individual is this?

They were amazed.

Today, we'll examine the other two scenes,

the other two locations in this 24-hour period.

One is Simon's house, and the other is a solitary place.

Let's look first at Simon's house and the events there.

Look with me at verse number 29.

When we come to Simon's house,

what we really see Mark emphasizing now

is Christ's compassionate heart, his compassionate heart.

It tells us in verse 29,

when they were come out of the synagogue,

they entered into the house of Simon.

The scene is set in Peter's house.

Jesus went there along with him.

Andrew was there.

James and John, these four disciples

that he had just called in Capernaum on the seashore.

Now, Jesus had already given Simon the name Peter.

That's how we often refer to him.

But Mark hasn't revealed that yet in his gospel book.

We're not gonna see that until chapter three.

So until we get to chapter three,

we're gonna keep seeing this name Simon pop up.

And who is that?

Well, it's Peter, it's Simon Peter,

who eventually became the leader of the disciple group,

the 12 men that followed Jesus closely.

Now, interestingly, archaeologists believe

that they have actually found Simon Peter's house

in Capernaum, the very house that we read about here.

And I'll leave it to you to study their findings,

but you will discover that there is quite compelling evidence

to suggest that what they have found in ancient Capernaum

is indeed the house of Simon Peter,

the place that this miracle, these miracles,

actually took place that we just read about.

It's interesting.

James Edwards says that his house

would have been an insula complex,

insula being a Latin word for island,

and it would have been different than our homes.

You would have walked in from the street,

not into the house, but into a courtyard.

And surrounding this courtyard is a single house.

It would have been referred to as one house,

but various residences within it.

And they all kind of surrounded this courtyard area.

The courtyard was the center of life for the family.

That's where they had their hearths.

That's where they would have done their cooking.

That's where they would have done various things.

That's where they would have gathered as a family.

And then their residences were kind of on the outskirts

of this little courtyard.

Now, when you walk in, all of the windows and the doors

would have faced the inside courtyard,

and all of the walls that faced the street

would have been the back of the house.

They didn't have windows on those walls.

They didn't have doors on those walls.

So the only way to get to the residence

is to go through a single gate from the road

that would have led to a courtyard,

and then there were these houses or these residences.

This is one house with multiple residences,

which is important for us to understand,

because how else could Peter have housed,

not only he and his wife,

and Christian tradition tells us he had children as well,

and so he's got his own family.

His mother-in-law is there as well.

Andrew, this says that it's Andrew's house as well.

So it's Peter's house,

but there's multiple people living there, this residence.

And it's another reminder

that although Peter and Andrew were not educated people

in the sense that the scribes would have been,

they weren't these kind of strange, ignorant men either.

He was a successful businessman.

That is the only explanation

for him having a residence such as this

in a place like Capernaum.

It's just a few steps away from the Sea of Galilee.

I would encourage you to look it up

and see the pictures of it yourself online.

They've also discovered the synagogue,

the ancient synagogue that Jesus taught in that morning

and cast out the demon in Capernaum.

It's a stone's throw away from Peter's house.

So it would have been incredibly convenient

for Jesus and these three men

to walk out of the synagogue after the service is over

around lunchtime is when it would have typically ended.

And they would have walked out,

they would have taken a right out of the synagogue

and just a few steps down, there's Peter's house.

It was convenient for them to retreat to.

It would have been easy for them to get there

and it would have been easy for everyone else in the town

to know where they went and where they were

when it came time for them to pursue Jesus.

And so we see this as the place

where this next scene is taking place.

And what we see revealed here

is the compassionate heart of our Lord,

the compassionate heart of Jesus.

Two observations about this.

The first one, if you're keeping notes,

is his healing touch.

His healing touch.

Look with me at verse 30.

It says,

but Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever.

Apparently when the men came home,

they discovered that Peter's mother-in-law

had developed some type of debilitating infection.

The gospel records of this moment

always refer to the illness as a fever

or a high fever as Luke places it.

But they all suggest that whatever the illness was,

it was physically debilitating.

She could not function as normal.

It was potentially life-threatening.

Now you can imagine in this particular timeframe,

there was no technological advancement

and medical advancement like we have today.

As I understand,

and some of you that are in the medical field

can correct me on this,

but as I understand,

there was really no true cure

medicinally for diseases

until something like 1885.

So we're thinking most of history

really didn't have anywhere near the advancement

of medical knowledge and understanding

to treat various illnesses.

In this primitive time,

a fever was a serious thing.

You just couldn't go to the doctor

and just get whatever medicines.

You couldn't just go get a vaccine

once it was developed.

You couldn't get these other things.

Once you were sick,

you just prayed that the Lord

would provide some kind of healing

and that it would pass.

Whatever this infection was that she got

had affected her physically to the point

that she couldn't serve in the way

that she normally would.

Perhaps Peter and Andrew and James and John

and the others were used to coming home

on the Sabbath after their time in the synagogue

to his mother-in-law having prepared the Sabbath meal

or the Shabbat meal on that day.

But on this morning when they were afternoon,

when they come home,

she's nowhere to be found.

There's no meal ready.

And they find out quickly

that she has fallen perhaps deathly ill

and could not physically function

as she normally would.

So Peter does what all of us would have done

in that case.

He went to Jesus and he told him immediately,

Jesus, my mother-in-law, she's sick.

Knowing that Jesus would do something about it.

Now we've talked about this curse this morning.

Peter's mother-in-law was subjected to this curse

in the same way that we are.

But Jesus had both the desire

and the power to overcome this curse on her life.

That's the theme of these verses.

The power of Jesus,

but also his desire to help.

Look at verse 31.

And he came and he took her by the hand

and lifted her up.

Now in the scene at the synagogue

when Jesus cast out the demon

out of the possessed man,

Mark was presenting the power of Jesus's word.

Jesus literally said a word

and the demon had to flee.

But here he puts the focus

on the power of Jesus's touch.

He didn't only rebuke the fever.

Luke tells us that he did do that verbally.

But as he was doing that,

he took the woman by the hand

and helped her up.

And what is that all about?

There's compassion in this action.

Compassion that was so often demonstrated

in Jesus's willingness to touch and approach

and even embrace those who were sick and diseased.

There was no social distancing in Jesus's mind.

There was no need for him to be concerned

about flattening the curve.

He could with one word

destroy every illness and every ailment

and he immediately with compassion

approaches her and takes her by the hand

and lifts her up.

It's showing his compassionate heart.

Hard.

Jesus wasn't just performing a favor

for his friend Peter.

It wasn't as if he was kind of indifferent

to what was going on with his mother-in-law.

It wasn't that at all.

He cared passionately about her condition.

Why?

We see this all over the scriptures with Jesus.

In fact, the Pharisees tried to use it

to their advantage sometimes.

Jesus couldn't be around someone

who was affected physically by the curse of sin

and not do something about it.

Why?

Because of his compassionate heart.

He came to set things right.

So when he saw someone who was sick,

when he saw the diseased,

when he saw the demon possessed,

he acted compassionately in every circumstance.

The Pharisees would one day try to expose this.

They invited a man with a withered hand

on the Sabbath day to Jesus.

Knowing that Jesus couldn't help himself

but to heal the man.

And they were hoping to entrap him

in some type of Sabbath violation.

Everywhere Jesus went,

he had this compassionate heart for those

who were bound beneath the curse of sin.

And he always acted compassionately for them.

This was not just a demonstration of his power.

It was an overflow of his compassionate heart.

Dane Ortlund in that little book

that I gave you on Anniversary Sunday wrote this.

Jesus did not simply operate in deeds of compassion,

but actually felt the inner turmoils

and roiling emotions of pity toward the unfortunate.

What a savior that is.

He's not just demonstrating power.

He's showing his love for this woman.

Look at the next part of the verse.

And immediately the fever left her

and she ministered unto them.

Now here's where his power is demonstrated once again.

After Jesus takes her by the hand,

we're told she was immediately

and completely healed from the infection.

And we're reminded there are no half measures with Jesus.

Jesus didn't set her on the road to recovery.

It wasn't as if she went to him

for some kind of prescription

and he gave her a particular plan to follow

and that set her on the road to recovery.

No, her recovery was instantaneous.

Immediately she was completely healed.

She was completely free from this fever.

We see this all the time with Jesus.

Remember when Jesus was on the boat with his disciples?

It was the middle of the night

and Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, remember?

And the storm was so heavy and harsh

that the boat began to break apart

and the disciples who many of them

had lived their lives on the water

were fearful of their life.

And remember they ran and they woke Jesus up

and said, master, do you not care that we perish?

And remember what Jesus did?

He gets up from where he was sleeping

and he said three words, remember?

Peace, be still.

And what does it say happened with the storm?

With his word, he completely harnessed creation.

The waves became as glass.

The wind immediately ceased.

An eerie silence overcome so much

that the men immediately are fearful now,

not of the storm, but of Jesus.

With his words, he had just harnessed creation.

But when Jesus said, peace, be still,

it's not like the wind just kind of slowly came to a stop

and the storm just kind of settled itself.

There was no way for that to be pointed back to

by those disciples as some type of coincidence.

No, it was immediate.

It was instantaneous and it was complete.

The same thing with Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law.

It wasn't that it took her half an hour or so

to kind of get her thoughts about her

and get her legs underneath her.

No, it was immediate as if she'd never had the fever

to begin with and how do we know that?

The last phrase, look with me again.

She ministered unto them.

Why would Mark make this note?

Why would he care to mention what the lady did

after the fact?

Because there was no way that the people present

could deny her healing was the direct result

of the power of Jesus

because the change was so instantaneous in her life.

When Jesus showed up at the house,

she was physically debilitated.

She couldn't move.

But now that Jesus has taken her by the hand

and rebuked the fever,

now she is doing everything

as she normally would have done.

And she's doing it immediately.

What power is this?

What power is this?

What compassion is this?

We see his healing touch.

Secondly, we see his willing spirit.

His willing spirit.

Look with me now at verse 32.

The men went about their afternoon,

their typical Sabbath.

They enjoyed their Shabbat meal, no doubt.

And then it says in verse 32,

when the sun did set,

they brought unto him all that were diseased

and them that were possessed with devils.

Interesting, isn't it?

We wouldn't have expected anything different than this, right?

This guy shows up in Capernaum on this day.

He speaks with such authority in the synagogue.

He cast out a demon in dramatic fashion.

And by this time, word had begun to spread

through Capernaum of what happened that morning

at the synagogue.

And people were interested to see

what he could do for them as well.

Now it notes here that it was after the sunset

at the end of the Sabbath.

That's important for us to acknowledge.

Why did they wait so long?

Did it take that long for word to spread?

No, not really.

It was a fairly well populated.

It was a fairly small town.

Word would have spread quickly.

Remember, this is the Sabbath day.

It was actually against the law for them to do

what they were gonna do this evening.

It was against the law for them to do that

before the sun went down.

When the sun went down,

and at least the Jewish tradition

was when two stars were clearly visible in the sky,

that was the signal that Sabbath was finally over.

And they could leave their homes,

and they could go,

and they could carry the sick and the ill to Jesus.

And that's exactly what they did.

Once the sun went down,

it was considered the first day of the week.

It would have been Sunday at that point

in Jewish recounting of time.

And they begin to bring all of these sick people

to Peter's house.

All of these demon-possessed people that they knew.

Whether they understood them to be demon-possessed or not,

we don't know.

But they brought them to Jesus

because something wasn't right.

And one by one,

they started to come

so that a great crowd had gathered.

Once they were able,

they couldn't wait to get people to Jesus.

But can you imagine what this was actually like

for Jesus and Peter and his family?

This would have been somewhat apocalyptic

as far as their minds are concerned,

like what we would see on some kind of movie, right?

Can you imagine this?

Jesus had every reason in the world

to turn these people away.

Think about it.

Who are they bringing to Jesus this night?

They're not bringing healthy people to Jesus.

They're bringing diseased people to Jesus.

But this is in a primitive time

where there's no medicine

to just kind of patch things up.

And they probably hadn't bathed.

People were probably typically afraid

to even be around them

because they're afraid that they might catch

whatever it is that they've got.

So they probably are alone most of the time.

They're debilitated.

Whatever infections they have probably stink.

Can you imagine the sights

as these crowds of people begin to gather

at night outside of your house,

clamoring out the door to get in?

Except when you look out the window,

the people that's there are people

that are just absolutely rotten

as far as their physical ability is concerned.

Jesus could have easily thought,

you know what?

It's probably not a great thing

for me to subject Peter's kids to this.

You know, their immune systems are vulnerable.

You know, this might be a little scary

for them to see all of these people

that are literally out of their minds

because they've been possessed by demons.

It might be unusual for us

to bring them around.

Maybe we should turn these people away.

But Jesus didn't do that at all.

It's late in the day.

They're tired.

The implication here is that

they just kept coming

that once the sun was down,

it was just,

it wasn't like an immediate mob.

It was a progressive mob

that continued to grow and grow and grow.

And over time,

it got larger and larger.

It went later and later into life.

There was every human reason imaginable

for Jesus to turn these people away.

But despite the chaos and inconvenience,

he turned no one away.

No one.

He healed them all.

It's amazing.

No one was left out

that came to Jesus that night.

You know where I'm going with this, don't you?

No one was left out.

Everyone that was brought to Jesus

received the healing that they needed.

His compassionate heart

endured every possible inconvenience

in order to do for the people

what they could not do for themselves.

And this is truly the heart of Christ

for all of us.

And it's much greater

than just our physical condition.

No possible inconvenience

or hardship would prevent him

from taking our place on the cross

and doing for us

what we could not do for ourselves.

He was not only able

to provide healing through his power,

but he was willing to do it.

For the lowest of the lows,

the sickest of the sick,

those that no one else wanted,

he wanted.

They brought them to him

and he couldn't help

but exercise his compassionate action

and his willing spirit

to provide healing for them.

We're immediately reminded.

Anyone who comes to Jesus,

truly,

he doesn't turn any of them away.

He doesn't turn any of them away.

Any of your friends and family members

that will truly come to Christ,

he will not turn them away.

So tell them that.

Why were these people bringing him to Jesus?

Because at this point,

they knew

no one would be turned away.

And then we see in verse 33

or verse 34, excuse me,

he healed many

and cast out many devils.

That's not to say

that there were some

that he didn't heal

and some devils

that he didn't cast out.

It's just a note

that there was a lot of people that came.

There were a lot of sick people healed

and there were a lot of

demon-possessed people

that were free.

Mark mentions this

authority over demonic powers

three different times

in these verses.

Between verses 21 to 39,

three times,

Mark mentions this,

Jesus casting out demons.

And he seems to link

the sickness and disease

of these healings

with this same satanic darkness.

He doesn't say

that every illness

is a direct result

of demonic influence,

nor does he say

that satanic possession

is itself a sickness.

But both disease

and satanic power

are linked

as representative

of the fallen world

that Jesus came to save

and to restore.

remember that curse

we talked about.

What's Jesus doing here?

He's setting it right.

He's showing

that he does actually

have power over evil,

spiritual evil,

and what we would consider

to be physical evil.

His miracles confirmed

his ability

to rescue souls

and to give believers

new bodies

that are free

from sickness

and death.

How can we come

to Jesus with hope

because of the foreshadowing

that he showed

in this power,

this healing power?

Juergen Moltmann said this,

when Jesus expels demons

and heals the sick,

he's driving out of creation

the powers of destruction

and is healing

and restoring created beings

who are hurt and sick.

The lordship of God

to which the healings witness

restores creation

to health,

restores it to health

to its original purpose.

Jesus' healings

are not supernatural miracles

in a natural world.

They are the only true

natural thing

in a world

that is unnatural,

demonized,

and wounded.

It's amazing.

Everywhere Jesus goes,

most people ran from the sick

and the demon possessed.

Jesus embraced them.

Why?

Because he came

to set things right

and he shows his power

in these miracles

to do just that.

And so we see

Simon's house,

his compassionate heart.

The third place,

and we'll wrap it up.

The third place,

third location

in this passage

is a solitary place.

A solitary place.

So in the synagogue,

we see Jesus'

authoritative word.

In Simon's house,

we see his compassionate heart.

In a solitary place,

it all builds

to where we see

his priority of purpose.

His priority of purpose.

Look with me at verse 35.

In the morning,

rising up a great while

before day,

he went out

and departed

into a solitary place

and there prayed.

We're again learning

about the unique communion here

that exists

between the three persons

of the Trinity.

You know,

it would be easy

for us to kind of

read through this verse

and miss what's happening.

Mark is shifting

his attention now.

Apparently,

sometime in the middle

of the night,

enough people were healed

and enough demons

were cast out

that the crowd

had subsided

and gone away.

Perhaps Jesus had got

maybe a couple of hours

of sleep.

But then he gets up

a great while before day

before everybody else

gets out of bed.

And what does he do?

He goes to a secluded place

somewhere,

probably outside of the town

where people couldn't

easily find him

and he prays.

Why?

Why does he pray?

He understood

the necessity of prayer

to the Father.

Communion with the Father

in this moment.

And there's a little bit

of a mystery in this

for us,

isn't there?

It's a mystery for us

in that we do our best

to hold in tension

the truths

that Jesus is both

God and man

at the same time.

We've referenced

Philippians 2

in our service already

and I would encourage you

to read it again

if you're confused on this.

But Jesus is not just

a man that has

divine qualities

and he wasn't God

who just had

a few things

that resembled

humanity.

No,

he was entirely God

and entirely

man and human

at the same time.

when he was

in his deity

or in his deity

he could never

have gone against

the will of the Father

but in his humanity

he was driven

to prayer

and we see

the role of prayer

in Jesus

knowing the will

of the Father

to follow.

It's interesting

as we see it here.

There's a tremendous

example in it

for us to follow,

isn't there?

If the Son of God

felt it so necessary

to make time

for prayer

how much more

should it be a priority

to our daily routine?

He'd been up all night.

He was tired.

He was busy.

He could have slept in

to get some rest

that morning

but he didn't do that.

What did he do?

A great while before day

he made prayer

a priority.

He got out of bed

before everybody else

got out of bed.

He went and found a place

where the people

wouldn't easily find him

and he spent time

doing what he knew

he needed to do that day

and if Jesus

the very Son of God

felt that this was

a necessary action

in his life

to know the will

of the Father

and to please

and glorify the Father

with what he was

going to do next

how much more important

is it for us

sinful beings

who are constantly

inundated

with our own flesh

and our own selfishness

and our own will

how much more important

is it for us

even when we are busy?

Even when we are

tired

to do whatever it is

that is possible

to get alone

with God

day by day

and to spend time

in communion

with him

in prayer.

This time of prayer

is what gives way

to the shocking scene

that comes next.

Look with me

at verse 35

or 36

excuse me.

Simon and they

that were with him

followed after him

and when they

had found him

they said unto him

all men seek for thee

and then he said

let us go

into the next town

that I may preach

there also

for that is why

I came.

That's not exactly

what you would expect

if you hadn't read

this passage before

it's not exactly

what you would have

expected to have been

Jesus' response

right?

It wasn't long

before he was found

Mark reveals

here

that there were

competing agendas

taking place.

Peter probably

gets up that morning

notices that

Jesus is gone

and he's immediately

on a frantic search

to find Jesus

and he gets Andrew

and he gets James

and John

and maybe someone else

that might have been

with him

it doesn't say

exactly who

and he goes out

on this desperate

search to find Jesus

why?

Because the town's

looking for Jesus

too.

Everybody's trying

to find him.

They don't know

where he is

and finally Simon

finds him

and what is it

that he wants

Jesus to do?

In this pursuit

he's begging

for Jesus

to come back

to Capernaum

excited about

the events

of the previous day

no doubt

Peter and the other

disciples

demonstrate here

somewhat of a

skewed perspective

of Jesus' purpose.

They weren't blind

to the amazing

popularity

that Jesus

was gaining

and they felt

it necessary

to compel him

to capitalize

on this growing

fame

and in this sense

they weren't acting

as submissive followers

to Jesus

but they were rather

determining

to control

the Lord's movements

and ministry

in this moment

but it wasn't

just the disciples

remember what they

would have been

thinking in this moment

Jesus has been

talking a lot

about the kingdom

remember that's

the message

he's been preaching

repent for the

kingdom of heaven

is at hand

and they keep

thinking about

the kingdom

as if Jesus

has come

to finally

run Rome

out of town

and finally

set up this

physical kingdom

that the prophets

of old

had foretold

for hundreds

of years

that's what

they're expecting

right now

in their mind

they haven't

understood exactly

what Jesus

meant by his

kingdom

and so they're

trying to get

Jesus to come

back to Capernaum

because he's

going to need

a following

right

and now he's

getting famous

now he's

getting popular

they want him

to come back

so that this

following can

continue to grow

and it can

accomplish the

purpose that they

were hoping

that Jesus

would accomplish

so there's the

disciples on that

end pulling him

back to Capernaum

and then there's

the people

words continuing

to spread

no doubt early

in the morning

they're all trying

to get to Jesus

again they want

to see what

Jesus can do

for them

come back to

Capernaum

come and help

me with my fever

no doubt they

were thinking

at this point

there's probably

some other

beneficial ways

that Jesus

and we could

use this power

that Jesus

possesses for our

own good

and in Mark's

gospel we start

to see the

formation of the

first prosperity

seekers in his

gospel and in his

letter

Kent Hughes wrote

this they cared

little about the

spiritual implications

of Jesus's miracles

and teachings

but much about the

material and temporal

that's the way it was

in Capernaum he wrote

how nice it would be

to have a Jesus to

heal us when we

have a fever

to make us wealthy

and to give us

prestige

it's natural to want

a magic Jesus

can't use rights

but we must always

remember that God

is not someone

to be used

he is to be loved

and worshipped

and served

regardless of what

comes in this

world

we have this same

tendency today

don't we

we all do

how many people

do we witness to

that at least

on the surface

and in the beginning

are attracted to

Jesus in hopes

that Jesus might

do something for

them in this life

this temporal life

he'll make their

life more convenient

or he'll make

their life better

he'll give them

a better job

or he'll provide

them with some

type of prosperity

or wealth

or fame

or whatever it is

that they're

searching for

and so they come

to Jesus

not hoping that

Jesus will actually

change their heart

but hoping that

he'll make their

life just more

convenient and more

comfortable at the

time

this is why the

prosperity gospel

preachers of the

day are so

successful

they're getting

rich off of our

insatiable desire

for health and

wealth

they're con men

that manipulate

people into thinking

that if they will

just send them

some money

then their greatest

desires will be

met

people flock to

these so-called

churches only

wanting Jesus

if he will make

them rich and

heal their sickness

but very few of

them are actually

concerned about his

message

Jesus understood

that

the disciples

were somewhat

falling into that

trap here

the people certainly

were

but then Jesus

does something that

they weren't expecting

look at verse 37

or verse 38

Jesus said unto them

let's go to the

next town

that I may preach

there also

for that

is why

I came

you gotta think

that Peter

and these other

men were

taken aback

by this

here they are

thinking

Jesus

all these people

are following you

what you did

yesterday was

amazing

let's go do it

some more

the people are

thinking

stay around

a little longer

we need

somebody like you

in Capernaum

Jesus says

you know what

fellas

why don't we go

to the next town

over

the people that

don't really

know about me

yet

word hasn't

gotten to them

about these

miracles

and he said

I don't want

to go to those

towns in order

that I might

heal there also

he says I want

to go to those

towns in order

that I might

preach there

also

for that

is why

I came

do you see

his priority

of purpose

taking shape

here

no

he was clear

his primary

purpose

was to preach

the gospel

and while

he continually

healed the

sick

and there

was never

a demon

possessed

person

that came

across his

path

that he

didn't cast

out the

demon

that was a

part of his

compassionate

art

he poured

out of

compassion

for these

people

everywhere

he went

but those

were not

the reasons

he came

those miracles

were only

temporary

reprieves

for those

people

they're only

temporary

Peter's

mother-in-law

was healed

of this

fever

but another

fever is

going to

come

she's still

going to

die

one day

those

people

that were

healed

throughout

the night

they might

get sick

again

those

people

who were

possessed

with demons

at the

moment

they might

be possessed

again

these were

just temporary

reprieves

Jesus came

to do

something

far greater

for them

and that

purpose

made it

necessary

for him

to leave

Capernaum

and preach

the gospel

in other

places

doesn't mean

that he

wasn't

concerned

about them

he healed

everywhere

he went

so what

was his

purpose

if it

wasn't

to do

this

his

purpose

was

the

gospel

Matthew

chapter

one

as we

understand

the

incarnation

of

Jesus

as we'll

study

the next

few

weeks

she will

bear a

son

you shall

call his

name

Jesus

for he

will

save

his

people

from

their

sickness

no

he will

save

his

people

from

their

sin

Luke

19

10

the

son

of

man

came

to

seek

and to

save

that

which

was

sick

no

he came

to seek

and to

save

that

which

was

lost

1st

Timothy

1 15

Christ

Jesus

came

into

the

world

to

save

those

who

were

possessed

with

devils

no

he came

to

save

sinners

his

emphasis

was

the

gospel

that

was

his

primary

purpose

it

looked

beyond

their

ailments

to

the

condition

of

their

souls

Jesus

came

to do

a much

greater

work

than

heal

our

fevers

and

multiply

our

successes

he's

compassionately

concerned

for the

effects

of sin

on our

physical

lives

but he

is

infinitely

more

concerned

about

the

effects

of sin

on our

hearts

and our

souls

and our

eternity

so it

wasn't

for Jesus

to stay

around in

Capernaum

and just

heal every

person that

fell sick

no

that's not

why he

came

it was

time to

leave

how did

he know

it was

time to

leave

because he

got up

early in

the morning

and he

went to

a solitary

place

and he

communed

with the

father

this

truth

and

example

of

Jesus

should

radically

change

the way

that we

think

about

ministry

as

believers

because

that's

the purpose

of being

a Christian

right

it means

little

Christ

is what

it means

it means

to be

like

Christ

we are

being

fashioned

into

his

image

that means

when we

study

the

gospels

we

gaze

at

Christ

we

look

at

how

he

responds

how

he

acts

and we

pattern

our

lives

after

his

he

is

our

Lord

what

was

he

doing

here

yeah

he

had

compassion

hey

we

should

have

compassion

for

people

we

should

have

compassion

for

our

fellow

man

we

should

care

about

those

who

are

hungry

we

should

care

about

those

who

are

sick

we

should

care

about

those

who

are

struggling

against

various

injustices

in their

lives

we

should

come

to

their

defense

that

is

a

very

Christian

thing

to

do

the

Bible

tells

us

to

do

that

to

defend

the

fatherless

and the

widow

those

who

society

has

rejected

who

no

one

is

caring

for

it

is

in

us

as

believers

to

follow

the

pattern

of

Christ

to

show

compassion

on

those

people

but

that

is

not

our

purpose

while

we

care

and

while

we

help

and

while

we

show

concern

what

good

is

it

if

we

come

to

their

defense

what

good

is

it

if

we

feed

their

bodies

what

good

is

it

if

we

comfort

their

illness

but

we

never

give

them

the

gospel

that's

the

purpose

that's

our

purpose

and

these

actions

they're

not

at war

with

one

another

they're

not

competing

elements

but

everybody

in our

society

right

now

is

trying

to

tell

the

church

what

it

needs

!

to

be

!

it's

the

crowd

in

Capernaum

that's

seeking

for

Jesus

it's

the

disciples

who

are

the

ones

that

have

spent

a lot

of

time

with

them

they're

trying

to

dictate

what

the

purpose

of

the

church

is

and

they're

missing

the

mark

our

banner

and battle

cry

is not

social

justice

our

banner

and our

battle

cry

is not

the

comfort

of

those

who

feel

bad

our

banner

and our

battle

cry

is the

gospel

of

Jesus

Christ

that

must

be

our

priority

mark

8

what

does it

profit

a man

if he

gained

the

whole

world

and

lose

his

soul

there's

a

balance

here

for us

I

know

but

Jesus

made

it

clear

that

not

only

for

his

ministry

but

also

for

ours

there

is

a

priority

of

purpose

and

that

purpose

is

first

the

gospel

and

it

is

the

overflow

of

that

gospel

care

that

we

should

bear

compassionate

hearts

that

we

should

seek

to

help

and

to

love

and

to

defend

and

concern

but

not

at

the

sacrifice

of

the

message

of

the

gospel

itself

when

we

look

back

on

these

verses

we

have

been

amazed

by

Jesus

authoritative

word

I

hope

you

have

I

hope

you

have

been

encouraged

by

his

compassionate

heart

he

turns

no

person

away

you

realize

most of

those

people

that

came

for

healing

that