Power, compassion and priority are words that come to my mind as I re-read Mk 1:21-45.
Jesus is not like the teachers the crowds are use to, he teaches with authority. He walks into a synagogue and straight-off a demonized man is powerfully impacted; the demon within knows their game is up. Jesus isn’t some traveling rabbi, he is the “Holy One of God” (see some xref ).
The power Jesus has as God’s Holy One, does not isolate him from people and their needs. He enters Peter’s house, whose mother-in-law is ill, and he heals her…in fact he spends the whole night healing the sick and delivering the demonized. Near the end of the chapter again we see this compassion expressed as Jesus touched the untouchable leper and healed him.
Healing people and delivering the opressed is a key part of Jesus’ ministry, but it wasn’t the reason he came. He came to proclaim the gospel of God saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). It seems to me that he didn’t want either the demons or those healed to broadcast his miraculous works as if they were the headline story. No he wanted his message to be heard, even if that meant keeping his identity and power under wraps.
What I was struck with is that there is no picking and choosing with Jesus. For example, you can’t say, “Oh I like that he can heal, but I will pass on his repentance message.” I have to be open to the whole influence of the Holy One.
Let’s start that dialogue…what did you see in the passage regarding Jesus?
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Hi David,
I feel like I’m playing catch up here, but I really want to be a part of your study, even if I’m a few lessons behind.
I like your comment on Jesus’ identity vs his message theme. Thanks for making it clearer for me.
In answer to your question, what strikes me appears right at the end of Chapter 1 when Jesus heals the leper. As Pastor Paul has preached, coming near a leper was a big-big deal back then. I find it interesting that in the previous 20 verses Jesus dramatically cast a demon out of a man in a synagogue, healed Simon’s mother-in-law and with the whole city outside the door Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons but it is with the leper that Mark under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes that Jesus was “moved with pity”. Why write that then and there? There is something very intimate in that passage. Considering the volumes and volumes of people in need of healing, in need of a Savior, He is individually with each one -moved with pity. Jesus was moved with pity with me, and with you. Each on an individual basis. This is not some blanket salvation, like a brush stroke with a wide paint brush. This is intimate, personal, one-on-one stuff in a sea of humanity in a universe that is beyond my comprehension created by the One who is moved to pity with me.
I also find it interesting that having been healed, the leper didn’t follow Jesus’ commands. Did he forget in the excitement of being healed? Or did he in the flesh disobey his Savior who just performed a miracle in his life? How obedient am I? What are my percentage stats in the obedience to the Holy Spirit department? Thankfully, even though the leper was disobedient, Jesus’ plans were not thwarted. There is a lot to the whole of the Holy One!
Craig, great observation on the flow of the passage from the miraculous and the masses to the moment of pity with the untouchable one. You and I are not just fringe-effects of God’s broad-brushed engagement with the canvas of creation. No, his interaction with each of us is compassionate and merciful, heartfelt engagement between the Creator and his creation.