The Gospel of Mark 1:35-45
35 And in the early morning, while
it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out of the house, and went away
to a desolate place, and was praying there. 36 And Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37 and they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”38 And He said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I
may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.”
39 And He went, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and
casting out the demons.
40 And a leper came to Jesus, pleading with Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in desolate areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Too many of us waste our mornings away with overindulgent hangovers and all-nighters, unable to wake up and even meet the sun as it dawns over the horizon. But Jesus spent His time having compassion on the diseased and demonically possessed people who came to Him and He healed them.
All that
came to Him were healed or exorcized for He was willing to do so at His
expense. Yet, He found time in the early morning to commune with His Father.
Mark states that “in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up,
went out of the house, and went away to a desolate place, and was
praying there.”
Jesus prayed to His Father, He loved Him and trusted Him. It
seems odd that the Son being God would pray to the Father who is God, but let
us note that the incarnate God, Jesus who is of the same essence as the Father,
was praying as a mortal human being. For Jesus is the God-Man, meaning He is
Fully God and Fully Man capable of knowing all as God and executing obedience
to the Father and loving Him as Man. He is the Son of Man and Son of God.
Because of His love, He made the time to go early in the
morning to a quiet, desolate place and pray to His Father. What He prayed we do
not know, but we can infer it had to do with His relationship with the Father
and His mission, for Jesus was not to stay just in Capernaum, but to go to all
of Judea.
Simon and his companions searched for Him, it’s safe to say
that Jesus arose earlier than they did. Their night was probably late as well
but being of the flesh it may have been very tiring. They weren’t even done for
they came looking for Jesus so that others might be needing Him because
everyone was looking for Him.
Jesus directed them and said, “Let us go elsewhere to the
towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.“
His mission is to go to His people and preach in the synagogues the good news
of the Kingdom. Throughout all of Galilee and casting out demons.
As both Eric and I have stated before, these demons are in
the congregation of the synagogues. As Jesus is preaching the Law of God and
the arrival of His Kingdom, the fallen angels who know who He is, the Son of
the Most High, cry out, plead, and but are cast out of the afflicted.
While He was preaching a leper came to Jesus pleading with
Him, falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can
make me clean.” This diseased man humbly placed himself before Jesus and
pleaded for mercy because He believed that Jesus could heal Him as either God
or a prophet. The leper gives Jesus great honor with a firm belief in His power
for he said, “You can make me clean.”
There is no doubt in this man’s mind, that faith in Jesus
and what He can do, is strong, and with full submission, He implores Jesus’
will. This is hard for most people, submitting to the will of God. It requires
an abandonment of oneself will and engaging in obedience to His will. Trusting
Him to do good and not evil. But God is good and there is no evil in Him. It is
an impossibility for God to be evil since He is Good, perfectly.
And filled with compassion at this diseased man’s humble and
submissive plea, Jesus says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” So, He reached out
and touched him and the man was no longer diseased because the leprosy was
cleansed from him. Jesus’ own internal will, his goodness, moved Him to
compassion and to exert His power put forth by a word and even touched the man and
cleansed him.
You must understand that when Jesus healed this man he was
healed completely. Leprosy causes body parts to die and fall off and is
considered in scriptures as a disease that must be cut off from the body of the
congregation lest there be a greater infection. Sin is like leprosy and through
Jesus, one can be cleansed of their sin through forgiveness.
And once this man was cleansed, Jesus sternly warned him as
He has said to others to not sin again, and immediately sent him away, and He
said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the
priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to
them.” Once forgiven, once cleansed it is our response to obey Jesus because of
our love for Him.
But the man went out and began to proclaim what Jesus had
done freely and spread the news around, causing such a stir that the city
became filled with people coming to see Him by the word of the former leper to
such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out
in desolate areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Perhaps the crowds were too big, and His popularity spread like a viral tweet. This is not a bad thing for Jesus knew this would happen for
He is God. Wisdom prevailed and He went to desolate areas to preach and teach.
For we know that at one point Jesus fed 4000 people who gathered to Him in one
of the desolate places.
What we can learn from this is simple, Jesus can heal you by
forgiving you of your sin. Jesus is the life of men, He is the way, the truth,
and the life. He has by His will and His grace come to you through the
preaching of His word. If you would humbly submit yourself to Christ Jesus and
follow Him by repenting of your sins, you too will be cleansed.
There is great joy in Jesus who brings life to all who
repent and believe. Jesus the Messiah has risen from the dead, conquering it,
and lives. He is in your midst with us, but you cannot see. You are blind and
your heart is darkened thus we bring the light that we proclaim.
Death will soon take you and when you die you will face
judgment for your sins. God is just and cannot by His nature abide by sin nor
dismiss it. Every act of rebellion and transgression against God is wrapped up
in sin, yet you have foolishly chosen to do it because you love your sin, rather
than follow Christ and His righteousness that would truly enrich you.
From the Ten Commandments, we have false worship,
idolatry, misusing God’s name and living vain lives, violating the Sabbath,
dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/false witness, and
coveting.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5–7), Jesus took some of these same sins to a new level. Regarding
murder, Jesus said, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment.... But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell” (Matthew
5:22).
Regarding adultery, Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
This includes men lusting other men and women lusting other women.
In Galatians
5:19-21, we are told, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In addition to the
various lists that can be found in Scripture, we are told in 1 John
5:17 that “all wrongdoing is sin.” Not only does the Bible tell
us the things not to do, but in James 4:17,
we are informed that anyone “who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do
it, sins.”
God is just and He must bring recompense to every sinner.
You are that sinner, and you cannot comprehend your sins to
root them all out and make yourself right with God. Not by obeying the Law, nor
by deciding that you are right with God. Only God can make you right with Him
and He sent His son Jesus to live that perfect life without sin, die, and rise
on the third day alive.
Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who
believe in Him. He suffered the totality
of God’s Wrath upon Himself that every sinner deserves, willingly, so that
those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God.
As it is written, “God, being rich in mercy because of
His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been
saved—and raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been
saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not of
works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5-8
Turn away from your unrighteous sinful ways which lead to death and turn toward and follow Jesus which leads to life.
Comments
Post a Comment