Do You Recognize The Messiah Series

Mark 1: 32 – 34

Do You Recognize The Messiah

32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

There was another Gospel written before Mark wrote down this event. The Apostle Matthew recorded this same situation. Later the disciple Luke also penned this unique miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, let’s see what they say and then compare all three to gather more information.

Now please remember that Matthew was probably there when our Lord performed these miracles. In addition, although Mark probably wasn’t there, his step father in the faith, Peter was there and witnessed the very miracles which are described here by our Lord Jesus. Luke wasn’t there with our Lord but later came back to Jerusalem and interviewed those who were there when these miracles took place. So, let’s see what all three have in common and are different.

Matthew 8: 16 – 17, “16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

Luke 4: 40 – 41, “When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.”

Do you see any problems. Well, many skeptics do. For example, we read in Luke that our Lord ‘laid hands’ and in Mark we read that our Lord Jesus just spoke. So, which Gospel is correct? The answer is that both are correct. I will explain.

We can see that all three Gospels are in agreement regarding the fact that many who were sick, had diseases, and were demon possessed were brought to the house where our Lord was at.

32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

I see an important fact here at work. Please remember that it was the Sabbath. Many wanted to be healed but had to wait until the Sabbath was over, that is why they all came now. If you have never been to Israel, I would recommend that you try to get there. It is well worth your investment. The Sabbath starts on Friday evening at sunset. Then to a large extent the day time on Saturday is like a ghost town. The only movement of people is from non-Jews. However, at sunset the whole city comes alive again because the Sabbath is over. This is what we are seeing here with the people now flocking to our Lord.

You see if you look throughout the Gospels you will not find that our Lord touches anyone who is demon possessed. In those instances our Lord speaks to the evil spirit and orders it or them to leave the person. On the other hand in His Loving Compassion our Great and Wonderful Adoni Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ reaches out and touches those who have probably not been touched by a human for a long time. He enters into their sorrow and pain and through His Mercy heals.

One thing that you can keep aware of is that our Lord Jesus Christ many times touched people who were sick or had diseases. It indicated that He was identifying Himself with our infirmities as spoken by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53, “ 1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”