Finding Our Place in the Mission of God
Mark
1:29-34
Introduction: Looking back
to the opening of Mark’s Gospel, Mark gave us something of a “thesis statement”
that he has been expanding on in the first chapter: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The
Jews were expecting a descendant of David who would lead them to a life of
security and prosperity in the Land, but they had little clue that this Rescuer
would be One who would provide a much more profound deliverance: He would save them from their sins by
making a way, actually by being the
Way, for them to be reconciled to God. They were rightly expecting the
coming of Messiah, but they had a limited, and ultimately inadequate, view of
His nature. Jesus’ authority in the
spiritual and physical realm revealed His identity: the kingdom was “at hand” because the King was present. Jesus
presented himself in the synagogue at Capernaum and astonished those present by
teaching, not as the scribes, but with authority.
He amazed the onlookers, showing his authority even further by speaking, and
casting out a demon. And now, in this passage, He shows His power to heal—His
authority extends to the physical as well as the spiritual.
Mark is not only telling us what happened,
then and there, in the life of Jesus. He is writing a “gospel,” and calling on
us to believe, and to follow Him. Remember,
God, in His sovereignty, chose to give us four accounts of the life and
ministry of Jesus. He could have given us a single, exhaustive biography of the
life and times of Jesus of Nazareth, but instead he gave us four gospels,
written by different authors to different audiences, answering pastoral or
theological questions that were relevant to them and their readers, and in
accordance with the inspiration of the Divine Author, each has a message that
is relevant to us. We are approaching Mark’s gospel under the rubric of three
primary questions that he is answering: 1) Who
is Jesus? 2) Why did He come?
And, 3) What does it mean to follow Him? All three of those questions are not only
important, they are essential if we are going to be a disciple of Jesus.
The Maine* Idea: Jesus is the answer to the deepest need of every
human and He would use us to bring others to Himself.
I. Welcome
Jesus in Your Home: Simon and Andrew did!
They brought Jesus to their home [oikos]
where Peter’s mother-in-law lay sick (29, 30).
29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the
house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and
immediately they told him about her.
They
welcomed Him in their home. The
sequence is emphatic. They went with Jesus to the synagogue, they heard Him teach
with authority and they saw Him cast out a demon. And then they went to the nearby home of two
of them, Simon and Andrew. They welcomed Jesus, and also two of his other
followers, James and John, into their
home. It is easy for us to center our life on our career, or our hobbies, or
even our family. Yes, if you are a
believer, Jesus is part of your life,
of course. But is Jesus the center
of your life? How do you know? Do
you spend time with Him daily? One of the means of grace is the Bible, God’s
written Word. And another is prayer. Both of these take time. We speak to God
in prayer, we listen, and meditate, and seek Him. We spend time in the Bible,
reading, studying, reflecting. Does His presence guide you through the day? Do
you repeatedly, without ceasing, utter prayers, seeking guidance or wisdom or
help with what you are dealing with in your life? Is Jesus welcome in your
home, or is that for Sunday, for “church”? These men followed Jesus, and
invited Him not only into their home, but into their lives. And one who they
loved was in need...
They immediately
“told Him about her...” These men had decided to follow Jesus. There
was something about Him, about His teaching, about the call He extended toward
them, about the astounding authority He seemed to have in the spiritual realm.
This was not simply a new or engaging rabbi that they were following! Could He
be the One? Were they already thinking
that perhaps Jesus could help Simon’s mother-in-law as they walked to the
house? She was probably quite sick, unable even to get up from her sick bed and
come to the door to great them as they arrived.
Immediately, “they told him about
her.”
Now as we
read the story, with a fuller sense of who Jesus was than the disciples had at
that moment, do you think He needed them to tell Him about her? He is the
eternal Son of God, surely He knew! But it was a step in their faith, an
opportunity for them to grow. It was a
preliminary occasion to look to Jesus for help with something they had no power
to address on their own. Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, really sick, and she
needed help. What about those in your
home, your extended family, your friends and neighbors. What are their
needs? Have you told Jesus about them? Let’s
take to heart our calling as a Royal
Priesthood (I Pet 2:9) and intercede on behalf of our family, friends, and
neighbors! If they don’t know Christ, that is their greatest need. Let’s tell
HIM about them! Are we praying for those in our oikos? Yes, He already knows all about them, but we are called
to pray. Do you agree that Jesus is the
answer to the deepest need of every human? He would use us to bring others to Himself.
II. We are
saved to serve: Jesus raised her up,
and she began to serve (31).
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.
Jesus
raised her up, he healed her. One
thing that is striking about this miracle is that there is no request on the
part of the woman, no action at all on her part as far as we know. We don’t hear anything about her faith. We don’t know much about her illness, but she
is in bed, with a high fever, apparently unable to rise to greet her house guests.
Jesus comes to her, He takes her by the hand, and He lifts
her up. Jesus did it all. And the fever “left her,” she was healed. As
surely as the demon left the man in the synagogue, the fever leaves this sick
woman. She is well. Notice that there was no recovery period, no action or
preparation for what comes next, immediately, she began to “serve” them.
Immediately,
without any request, she began to serve. The sequence seems immediate, the
fever left, she began to serve. It seems her action is necessary and natural.
What else could she do? How could she not
serve? The love of Christ constrains us! I told you before of my experience as
a young Christian, driving a bulldozer at the dump. I saw the name “Jesus”
written in large type on a paper in the garbage, and I stopped the machine and
went down in the garbage to get it—I wanted to learn everything I could about
Jesus! It was an advertisement for a Christian conference that was happening
down in Florida in just a couple of months. I decided to go. And there I heard
Keith Philips of World Impact challenge the audience, seemingly speaking
directly to me: “In view of what God has
done for you in Christ, are you willing to allow Him to use you in whatever way
He determines to use you?” I didn’t have a clue as to how God could use me,
but I knew I owed Him everything, my life, my eternity. I had to be available
to serve is whatever way He desired. So I raised my hand at the invitation, “Here am I!”
The word
“serve” in our text in Mark is the verb diakoneo,
a word used for serving at the table, but also used more widely for “service”
in general. The noun form of the same root is where we get the word “deacon” (see also 1:13). After Jesus’ gracious intervention in her
life, after experiencing His healing touch, she served them. Has Jesus touched
your life? You might think, “I wasn’t
sick!” Maybe not, but you were more than sick, you were dead in your
trespasses and sins. He made you alive! Yet sometimes, even though we have been
raised up by the Master, we have a new life, we’ve been “born-again,” even so
we hesitate to serve, we hesitate to raise our hand and say, “Here am I, send me!” He saved you on purpose, for a purpose.
He has given you a gift to use for the edification of the body. How are you
serving? If not, why not? God has designed us as a body. Each part is
important, essential, to the proper working of the body. No one can do
everything, but everyone can do something, if we belong to Him. Do you know
your gift(s)? Are you engaged in serving? And we are all called to be His
witnesses. After all, Jesus is the
answer to the deepest need of every human and He would use us to bring others
to Him.
III. Jesus
is the answer to the deepest needs for every person (32-34).
32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who
were sick or oppressed by demons. 33
And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 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.
They brought the needy to Jesus. “That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or
oppressed by demons...” For most of the people, the motivation was simple:
their friends needed help, and Jesus, this rabbi, or prophet, or whatever He
was, seemed like He could help them. So they came, and they brought their loved
ones to Jesus. They came at sundown, after the Sabbath had ended, looking for
help from this remarkable teacher and miracle worker. Did they have faith in Jesus? Did they know
who He was? Probably not. But they loved those who were in need enough to come
seeking help. It was worth a shot, they probably thought, others had failed but
maybe He could help. The news about Him spread quickly!
“The
whole city was gathered at the door...” That is surely an example of
oriental hyperbole, a deliberate exaggeration to make a point (cf. 1:5). Not
that every single person in town had come, but a huge crowd, from all groups
and from all over the city was there. His fame was spreading, word was getting out.
And people came, looking for help, looking for hope.
He
healed “many” and cast out “many” demons. On other occasions it says that the multitudes
came, and Jesus healed them all. Here is doesn’t say that, simple that He
healed “many.” Mark’s point it that there were a lot of them! By the way, we need to think about what Jesus
was doing, and why He was doing it. He taught with authority. That was
different. He healed, in some cases He healed people that were essentially
without hope: a man born blind, a paralytic who hadn’t walked in nearly 40
years. There was nothing psychosomatic
here, these were genuine, indisputable miracles! What was going on? Later, when John the
Baptist is imprisoned, we read in Luke 7:18-22,
...And John, 19
calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are
you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 20 And when the men had come to
him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you the
one who is to come, or shall we look for another?'" 21 In that hour he healed many
people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he
bestowed sight. 22 And he
answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
What is Jesus saying? He is saying that His works
confirm His identity. He is showing His sovereignty, giving a preliminary
“glimpse” of the future kingdom. He has
all authority, and the day will come that Paul speaks of in Romans 8:16-24,
...we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs-
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order
that we may also be glorified with him. 18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the sons of God. 20
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him
who subjected it, in hope 21
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain
the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole
creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but
we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.
The day is
coming when the curse will be undone, when there will be no more sickness or
suffering, when Satan will be bound, and ultimately cast into the lake of fire,
and when God himself will wipe away the tears from our eyes. Jesus came to
provide the redemption that would make that day possible. But God had a plan,
and the works Jesus did were a glimpse into the future, and a revelation that
He is Yahweh, the God of the Bible. The people that He healed would one day get
sick again, and eventually die. It is appointed unto men once to die... The good news is that if we trust Christ,
death does not have the last word! For
now, we pray as He taught us, “...thy
kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...” These
people brought the sick and the demonized to Jesus.
Do we
hesitate to bring the “hard cases” to Jesus? The sick? That is easy, we’ll pray for anyone,
no matter how sick they are. And we’ll hope for a miracle to the end. But is
physical healing the greatest need of those in your oikos (your “sphere of influence”)? What about the hard of heart? What
about our sibling, who for 40 years has rejected the gospel? What about the
spouse, who tolerates his wife’s faith, but has resisted making a personal
commitment to Christ? What about your lifelong friend, who knew you before you were
saved, and apparently is still just counting the days until you go back to your
old ways? What about the wayward child, who grew up in the church but has
seemingly gone the way of the world and is living like his or her unsaved
friends? One question: Is anything too hard for the Lord? Tell
Jesus about them. In other words, pray, pray for a softened heart, and, as we
heard last week from Wayne Raychard, pray for an open door, an opportunity to
give a reason for the hope that is in you.
P.S.
He would not permit the demons to speak. We saw Him silence the demon in
the synagogue and we’ll see Him consistently forbidding them to speak. Why? He
did not desire or want their testimony – When the time came, that would be the work of His followers (see
Acts 1:8)!
What is God
saying to me in this passage?
Jesus is the answer to the deepest need of every human and He would use us to
bring others to Himself.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? You have heard about the person and the work of the
Master. Do you believe in Him? Do you know Him?
Has he graciously, mercifully, brought healing to your soul? Would you serve Him? If you know Him, and understand what He has
done for you, you will love Him. And If you love Him, it will be a joy to serve
Him. For every one of us that means recognizing that the Holy Spirit has given
us a gift to use for the building up of the body. In fact He is the Potter, you are the clay,
and He has given you a unique “S.H.A.P.E.”—(Remember Rick Warren’s acrostic: Spirtual
gift(s) Heart’s desire, Abilities, Personality, Experiences). He has made you who you are, and He has a
purpose for your life. Some may be called to be teachers, some might have a
gift, like Barnabas, of encouragement. Others might be able to “help” or to
“serve.” Are you a friendly, “people person”? Couldn’t you be a greeter, making
it your business to welcome people, especially visitors, to our church? God has molded you into the person you
are, and He desires that you have a part in His mission in the world. He
has also called everyone of us to be His witnesses. One near term opportunity
is to invite someone, or several “someones,” from your oikos for our Palm Sunday or Easter services! We’ve printed
post-card sized invitations for all of us to use.
Our lives are a testimony to those people that are around us, first of
all our family and closest friends, our neighbors and the people we work with
or go to school with. We are a witness
right where we are at, right where God has placed us. The disciples told
Jesus about Peter’s mother-in-law. We do that when we pray for those around us.
God works through prayers. He may soften the hearts of our loved ones to
listen, and He may embolden our hearts to speak. He would use us in His
mission, as He continues to build His church. AMEN.
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