Mark 1b (7-23-25)

What's up everybody? It's Pastor James. Welcome back to our Midweek Bible study.

Today we're going to finish chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark.

And this is a good bit of scripture, so let's jump into it and get started.

So read with me verses 21 to 28 as Jesus casts out an evil spear.

So Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.

When the Sabbath day came, he went to the synagogue and began to teach.

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority,

quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly a man in the synagogue who was

possessed by an evil spirit cried out, Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

But Jesus reprimanded him, Be quiet, come out of the man, he ordered.

At that evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what happened,

what sort of new teaching is this, they asked excitedly.

It is such authority, even evil spirits obey his orders,

and the news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

All right, well, starting with verse 21,

we see a very common trait of Jesus.

He went to the synagogues and temples regularly to teach and worship,

as was the custom and expectation of the day from a Jewish person.

Now, this wouldn't mean particularly a whole lot to the Roman people.

Other than the fact that Jesus was going to the temple to worship God.

Now, verse 22, Mark does not give us an indication as to what Jesus taught,

but we do know that his words were powerful.

They were moving.

They were full of authority.

And this was unusual, especially compared to the teachers of religious law

that the people were accustomed to during the day.

So we see this very different, new, and powerful version of teaching

that Jesus is presenting to the people.

Now, in verses 23 and 24, these are quite interesting

as we see spiritual warfare presented for the first time in this gospel,

and we will see this frequently throughout the gospel.

Mark goes back and forth between presenting Jesus physically healing people,

and yet at the same time, casting out spirits and having authority over the spiritual world.

So we see this demon-possessed man in the temple.

Now, this reveals to us a couple of things that are quite unique.

First, we see that the evil spirit is in a holy place.

We should not be surprised that Satan would try to occupy a place that was meant for God.

And the evil spirit, although identified as a singular spirit,

asks, why are you interfering with us, indicating that it is not alone in its efforts.

So whether or not there was multiple spirits,

or perhaps more people present who were filled with demonic spirits,

they have an agenda, and Jesus, his mere presence interferes

with what they have been doing and what their goals are.

And the second thing we see is that they very much know who Jesus is,

and they identify him as the Holy One of God,

and they also acknowledge his authority to destroy them.

And this fully reveals Jesus' authority over the physical and the spiritual realms,

and all things fall underneath his domain.

And Mark does a really good job of presenting this regularly throughout his gospels.

Now, in verse 25 and 26, this affirms Jesus' authority over the spiritual realms

as he commands the demon to be quiet and to come out of the man,

and it does just that.

It does what Jesus tells it to do.

And then we see in verses 27 and 28,

where they quickly tell of the popularity of Jesus as people are amazed by him.

This is another thing that we see early on,

is that the people were just absolutely amazed at what Jesus was doing,

and his popularity is growing and growing.

They're talking about what they are seeing.

They questioned the origin of this new teaching,

and they had always associated the aspect of exorcism with a certain type of teaching or practice.

And there were Jewish people who that was what they did.

Their specialty was to go and to cast out demons and things like that.

And Jesus is doing this almost effortlessly with great power and authority.

So they consider this a new kind of teaching.

Now, the people acknowledged his authority once again

and talked about how even evil spirits were obedient to his commands.

And then the news about Jesus begins to spread quickly

as people have witnessed such wonderful things.

So a couple things to take away is reminding you that

this is written to Roman people and not to Jewish people.

So there wasn't really any pushback

as far as the religious leaders questioning who Jesus was in this moment

and saying that, well, he must be Satan

because he's able to cast out his own spirits or he has authority over them.

You know, there wasn't this whole dynamic between the religious leaders and Jesus

because that would have been counterproductive to what Mark was trying to do

and the message he was trying to convey.

He'll mention it somewhat, but it's not going to be as much as the other gospels.

So let's read verses 29 through 34.

And we'll talk about how Jesus heals many people,

bringing it back to his physical authority again.

So after Jesus left the synagogue with James and John,

they went to Simon and Andrew's home.

Now Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever

and they told Jesus about her right away.

So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand and helped her sit up.

Then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them.

That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus

and the whole town gathered at the door to watch.

So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases

and he cast out many demons.

But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

All right, so in this passage,

we see this awesome example of Jesus' ability to heal

both the physical and the spiritual alien people.

Peter's mother-in-law was one of the first physically healed people

we see in this gospel.

And notice so far that Mark tells of a spiritual healing at the synagogue

and then physical healing with Peter's mother

and then with other sick and demon-possessed people.

So there's this balance that Mark is presenting

that Jesus is ministering both physically and spiritually.

He has authority both physically and spiritually.

There's this balance here that he's trying to communicate

that the physical and the spiritual are connected.

But at the same time, the most important aspect of life

is the spiritual because the physical will fade away anyway.

So it's important to notice that also every demon knew him.

That as he is casting out these demons,

he's having encounters with demons.

These demons are very much recognizing him,

identifying him, proclaiming who he is

because they don't have a choice.

They have to recognize God because that is what they were created to do.

And so Jesus in this is telling them to keep quiet.

And this is the first indication of Jesus trying to keep him being the Messiah a secret.

And this is what we've talked about earlier as the messianic secret

that Mark really tries to portray here

that Jesus is not trying to proclaim himself as Messiah

and bring all this attention on himself.

Rather, he's trying to keep this under wraps through the best of his ability

so that he can minister and do the things that God has called him to do

so that the whole issue of him being Messiah

is not necessarily ushered in so quickly

that it takes away from his ability to love on and care for

and serve people the way that God has called him to.

So let's read verses 40 through 45 really quick.

So a man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed.

If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean, he said.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him.

I am willing, he said, be healed.

Instantly, the leprosy disappeared and the man was healed.

Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning.

Don't tell anyone about this.

Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you.

Take along the offering required in the law of Moses

for those who have been healed of leprosy.

This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.

But the man went and spread the word for claiming to everyone what had happened.

As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus

and he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere.

He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming.

So in this final passage, we see Jesus having a deep compassion

for people who are sick and beat down in this world.

And as he heals this man with leprosy, we see the concern that Jesus has for him

as he clearly reaches out to physically touch him and say, yes, I am willing.

And this is very deep and meaningful as the Son of God

who cares for those who have been discarded and ostracized from the rest of the world

with no hope.

This man who had leprosy, he would have been an outcast.

I mean, he would have had to have lived outside the town.

If he had family or friends, he would not have been able to come into contact with them.

He would not have been able to hug them, to be touched by them.

To have intimacy with anyone in a physical way, just from a simple hug, a kiss or anything.

And so he comes up to Jesus and he says, Jesus, if you want to, you can heal me.

And Jesus clearly communicates that he wants to.

And that's what's amazing is that we see that Jesus is not just the Savior

who's doing this out of obligation.

He's the Savior who's saving us because he wants to both physically and spiritually.

And interestingly, we see this messianic secret once again,

as Jesus tells him, don't tell anyone.

And this is the second time already in chapter one

that we see Jesus trying to keep his identity of being the Messiah a secret.

And maybe it's just because he doesn't want the heat from the religious leaders yet,

because that will obviously come with this claim.

But maybe it's because Jesus is setting this example of being humble

and just simply doing what God has called him to do

without trying to draw attention to himself

or receive this honor and praise by large groups of people.

But the command for the man to go to the religious leaders to be examined,

this is important as it was required by the law of Moses

and Jesus is perfectly obedient to the law, qualifying him to be the Messiah.

Now again, he doesn't explain that because it's not super important to the Romans,

but if a Jewish person were to come across this,

this would have been important as it would have been required

for him to go and present himself to the religious leaders

to show that he had actually been cleansed.

And he needed to go to the religious leaders

in order to be fully restored to the community of Israel

and once again, interact with people as normal.

But what's funny is, is that as this man does this, he goes,

but he's not quiet.

He proclaims to everyone what Jesus has done for him

and he lets the cat out of the bag.

Now verse 45 reveals that he is the first of many people

who just cannot keep a lid on it.

Okay, I mean, he's got to tell people

and we are very much like this as people

and I think that anyone who has a true experience

and true encounter with God cannot keep quiet about it.

It's something that we have to tell other people.

I think that's one of the first signs of God

truly doing a great work in someone's life

is the need to verbally express it to other people around him.

And as this man does this, it drew tons of attention to Jesus

to the point where he could hardly operate in public

without chaos or difficulty.

So we see already in chapter one

that Jesus is immediately this powerful, amazing, loving,

caring, and extremely, extremely popular figure among people.

And so because of this, he's a little bit like John the Baptist

where he has to remain in secluded places

due to the number of people coming to receive something from him

or to hear him preach or to just try to figure out

whether or not they were going to believe and trust

that he was the true Son of God, the Messiah

that was supposed to come.

And that's where we'll end off for today.

Let me pray with you and I'll let you go.

Father, thank you so much for the opportunity

once again to share with one another,

to love you, to serve you, to honor you, and to read your word.

And I pray that you would use it to speak powerfully to us.

Help us to see all the wonderful things

that you want us to see as your followers.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you and we ask all this

in Jesus' precious and holy name.

Amen.

All right, guys.

Thanks for tuning in for another week.

We thank you for being a part of the Graham Chapel family.

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As always, we love you.

We're praying for you.

Hope you have a great week.