Gospel of Mark Study #4

“The Man Is the Message”

Mark 1:21-34

Study #4 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

At the end of John’s Gospel, he tells us why he wrote all the things he did. In 20:30-31 he says, “Many other signs [i.e., miracles] therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and the believing you may have life in His name.” In other words, John is saying that the miracles that Jesus performed were like His professional business card, identifying who He was, what He came to do, and what He had to offer.

TRANSITION:

Everyone understands that in the sales business the salesman must sell himself before he will be able to sell his product. His first and biggest job is to convince people about himself and make them believe in him and his ability to provide them with a valuable service. We might say, “The man is the message.”

This was true of Jesus as well. He came to earth to accomplish a mission—to save people from their sins and to establish His Church. But to do that He had to sell Himself to a world filled with skeptical sinners.

In today’s passage we see Him beginning to do just that, to present Himself, and to give a little glimpse of His infinite power to heal and to save.

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 21: They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

• “Kapharnaum” (or Capernaum) means “village of Naum” (not the prophet). It was a bustling little fishing village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee with about 1,500 inhabitants. It was an important town on the main road to Damascus in Syria.

·         “The synagogue” – There is a synagogue there that you can visit today but it was not built until 300 years after Jesus’ time. Synagogues were primarily teaching institutions. The synagogue service consisted of only three things: prayer, the reading of God’s Word, and the exposition of it. There was no music, no singing, and no sacrifice. Those things only went on in the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was regarded as a rabbi (i.e., teacher) and therefore was granted the honor of reading the scripture portion assigned for that day and commenting on it. That was the custom. In the absence of a rabbi the ruler of the synagogue would fulfill this role, or else call on someone to do it.

·         “When Sabbath came” – Apparently this was just the regular Sabbath, which had begun at sundown on Friday evening and went for 24-hours until sundown on Saturday. This meeting apparently occurred sometime on Saturday morning.

·         “Began to teach” – We have no idea what He said, nor do we know the passage from which He was teaching, but we can see the effect that it had upon His hearers.

Verse 22: The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

·         There were four (4) primary groups of religious people in Jesus’ day.

o   Pharisees—They were the fundamentalists of their time, sticklers for the Law and mostly rich men. They highly valued the oral traditions that had been passed down to them.

o   Sadducees—They were the theological liberals of that era. They did not believe in angels, resurrection from the dead, or an afterlife. They had little use for the oral traditions and only considered the Torah to be authoritative.

o   Essenes—They were hermits and mystics, living in the desert and having little to do with anyone.

o   Scribes—They were professional copyists of the sacred scrolls. They hand-copied the Scriptures and thus knew the text better than anyone else. For that reason, they were valued as teachers of the Law. Because the Pharisees were in power, they and the scribes formed a united religious front against the Sadducees.

·         Jesus amazed them because He taught in a way that was so different from anything they had ever heard before. His words rang with truth and authority. They were used to hearing, “Rabbi So-and-so says this, and Rabbi What’s-his-nose says that.” But Jesus spoke, “Thus saith the Lord!” John 7:15 gives this same thought in the minds of the people. – The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”

·         Let me give you an idea of the kinds of things the Jewish people had become accustomed to hearing from their teachers. Here is a portion I picked at random from the Talmud discussing regulations concerning what garments (serving as ornaments) women may go out with on the Sabbath.

o   MISHNA I.: In what ornamental apparel may a woman go out, and in what may she not go out? A woman is not allowed to go out even in private ground either with woolen or linen bands or with straps on her head to keep her hair in tresses as a precaution lest she enter public ground and take off the bands to show to her friends, thereby becoming guilty of carrying movable property for a distance of four ells or more. Nor is she to bathe herself with the bands on unless loosened. Nor is she to go out with either Totaphoth or Sarbitin on, unless they are fastened; nor with a hood in public ground, nor with gold ornaments, nor with nose-rings, nor with finger-rings that have no seal, nor with pins. But if she did go out with these things, she is not bound to bring a sin-offering as they are ornaments and not burdens.

o   GEMARA: “Bathing.” Where is bathing referred to and what has it to do with the Sabbath? Said Rabbi Na’hman ben Itz’hak in the name of Rabbi ben Abuhu: The Mishna means to say: What is the reason that a woman is not allowed to go out with either woolen or linen bands? Because the sages have decided that she is not to bathe herself with them on, even on week days, unless loosened; therefore she shall not go out with them on the Sabbath at all, lest it happen that she become in duty bound to bathe herself, and, while untying her hair, be forced to carry the bands in public ground for a distance of four ells or more.

 

Verse 23-24: Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ²⁴ “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

·         Try to picture this… “a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit.” It is certain this guy was well-known in the community and in the synagogue. Remember, they did not get a lot of drop-in visitors to their meetings. And I am sure that no one in that meeting except Jesus knew that the guy was demon possessed.

·         Can demons get into people and even have them sit through church services with no one knowing? YES! But in the presence of the Son of God the demon could not keep up his disguise and his charade. The evil spirit was subject to Jesus and obviously frightened of Him, knowing who He was and what power and authority He possessed.

·         “What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us?” The demon speaks using the man’s voice. Notice that he speaks first using the plural, “us.” But then the demon switches to the singular: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Perhaps the demon was referring at first to the fact that Scripture says that someday Christ will utterly destroy Satan and all his demons. Perhaps he was thinking that day had come. It is obvious that he was aware of Christ’s identity. All the supernatural forces of Hell know who Jesus is and they fear Him.

Verse 25-26: “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”  ²⁶ The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

·         Literally Jesus told the demon to “muzzle himself.” Jesus addressed the demon the way I used to address my dog, Bubba, when he barked at the cats or at some sound he heard. I would yell at him to “Be quiet! Shut up!” Jesus showed no fear whatsoever. He ordered the demon to come out of the man immediately. Having no choice, the demon did as he was told, although not without complaint. Petulantly he shook the man and let out a shriek. What happened to the man and the demon after that we are left to guess. Mark does not tell us any more details about what happened.

Verse 27: The people were all so amazed that they asked each other [or “debated among themselves” NASV], “What is this?  A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits, and they obey him.”

·         “The people were amazed” – this is the second time in this text that we read that the people were amazed at Jesus. They were amazed at His teaching, and now they are amazed at His power to perform miracles.

·         The Scribes could not teach like Jesus did. The Pharisees could not cast out demons the way Jesus did. No one could do the things He did, and the people were amazed at what they had heard and witnessed.

·         “He even gives orders to evil spirits, and they obey him.” – This observation reminds me of Luke 8:25. Jesus and his disciples were in a boat crossing the lake and Jesus fell asleep in the back of the boat. When a terrible storm arose, the disciples were afraid they were all going to drown so they awakened Jesus and begged Him to do something. He spoke to the storm and immediately the winds and waves ceased. Jesus spoke to His disciples saying: “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

Verses 28: News about Him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

·         This verse is sort of an aside. It should have a parenthesis around it because it is a general observation about what effect this miracle had.

·         They say, “bad news travels fast,” but so does Good News. There was no TV, Internet, radio, or newspaper back then but information about Jesus quickly spread by word of mouth.

·         As soon as they heard what had happened people began saying to themselves and to those around them, “I wonder if this rabbi from Nazareth might be able to help So-and-so. Let’s take him to Capernaum and find out.”

Verse 29: As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.

·         I take this to refer to the five: namely, Jesus, James, John, Simon, and Andrew, probably followed by a bunch of people who had been in the synagogue meeting. Apparently, this was Simon’s house, but it appears that Simon was the patriarch and head of the extended family. Andrew must have lived there too. 

Verse 30: Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.

·         This verse is one of the Roman Catholics’ worst nightmares. They insist that Peter was the first Pope. But popes are not allowed to marry. However, the only way to get a mother-in-law is to be married so it is a big mystery. The Bible tells us nothing about Peter’s wife, or about any children he might have had. But that’s not a surprise because it doesn’t give any information about any of the other apostles’ families either. Yet according to 1 Cor. 9:5 many of them were married, including Simon Peter.

·         Anyway, Peter’s mother-in-law was extremely sick, in bed with a high fever. That would have been a big concern to Peter’s whole family. People often died from fever in those days. Someone shared the problem with Jesus. 

Verse 31: So, He went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.

·         She was probably lying down in a back room. Jesus went in to where she was and simply took her by the hand. No details are given about how He did it but apparently the miracle occurred the moment He touched her. Luke’s Gospel records that Jesus “rebuked” the fever and it “left her immediately.”

·         Her healing was immediate. Minutes later she was back on her feet waiting on Jesus and the other houseguests.

Verse 32: That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed.

·         Why did the people wait until after sunset? Remember the rules of the Sabbath. People could only travel a short distance on the Sabbath, so they waited until the Sabbath closed at sundown. Can you imagine that scene? The street in front of Simon’s house was jam-packed with sick people. They came limping, crawling, and hobbling. Some had to be carried on pallets by their friends or family members. It was getting dark, and the breeze coming off the lake was getting cold. The people were calling out Jesus’ name, asking Him to come out and help them.

Verse 33-34: The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴ and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak because they knew who He was.

·         Here Mark uses hyperbole to tell us that a whole bunch of people showed up at Simon’s door wanting Jesus to come out and heal all their diseases and cast out all their evil spirits.

·         But why did Jesus not allow the evil spirits to speak? According to Luke 4:41 the demons were identifying Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, but He repeatedly refused to let them speak. Mark’s use of the Greek imperfect tense here indicates repeated action. This knowledge of His person is further evidence that these were not merely cases of mental illness, as many sceptics contend, but of genuine demonic oppression.

·         We see that the Lord steadfastly refused to accept demoniac testimony to His Godhood. All such testimony is non-voluntary, an unwilling recognition of an observed fact, and thus corresponds to no moral or spiritual transforming discovery. Besides, everyone knows that a testimony is only as valid as the character of the witness. That is why we give so little credence to the testimony of a jailhouse snitch. Character counts. Jesus did not need character references about His holiness and Godhood from demons from Hell. It makes sense when you think about it. 

CONCLUSION:

In this story, covering only one day in Jesus’ life, we see Him healing people three times. First, He healed in the synagogue; second, He healed in the house of His friends; and now, third, He healed in the street. Wherever there was trouble Jesus was ready to use His power to help and to heal.

The people flocked to Jesus because they recognized in Him a man who could do things. There were plenty who could talk and expound and lecture and teach; but here was someone who dealt not merely in words but also in actions.

But I see something sad here as well. The crowds came because they wanted something from Jesus. They did not come because they loved Him or really believed in Him as the Messiah sent from God. In the last analysis they just wanted to use Him. Still today, that is what most people want to do with God and with His Son, Jesus.