Jesus: Inside and Out
Text: Mark 1:29-35
Introduction: Last Sunday we considered the work of the Lord in the synagogue at Capernaum. You will recall that as he was preaching His message was disrupted by the cries of a demoniac, and the result of this confrontation was the rebuke of the devil and the release of the man. These events caused quite a stir that day, the people “were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.” His fame, we are told, “spread abroad”. Jesus had become something of a local hero. Tongues were wagging, and people were talking. It was quite a victory.
When the service was over, (usually around noon), the Lord left to enjoy dinner at Simon Peter’s house. Peter’s home was not too far away from the synagogue, in fact, in time, a church was built over it and in 1990 a Roman Catholic Church with a glass floor was built over that site so that you can see the old church beneath. Peter’s house was no more than a a couple of hundred feet from the ancient synagogue, and it was a short stroll from the service that day to Peter’s home for dinner. Entering the house that Sabbath noon was Simon and Andrew, James and John along with the Lord Jesus, but everything did not go according to plan. You see Peter’s mother-in-law, was unwell, and consequently their meal was unready.
Now this is a very telling little incident. It serves in part to rebuke the Roman Catholic tradition of celibacy for the priesthood. Bearing in mind that the Roman Church lays claim to Peter as the first Pope, it seems rather strange that he should have a mother-in-law, because you can’t have a mother-in-law without a wife. So the first Pope, evidently, was a married man!!
More importantly than that, this incident tells us something else. It shows us that the apostles were not single men, footloose and fancy free, to follow Jesus the length and breadth of Israel. They had many of the same responsibilities we have. Here we see Peter had a wife. In fact Paul makes reference to this fact in his epistle to the Corinthians saying, “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” (1Cor 9:5). So Peter wasn’t the only married apostle it would seem. These were men with responsibilities, men with wives, and who knows, maybe even children.
Coming back to our text. Though the service at the synagogue was over, Jesus was not finished for the day. His work must go on and in our text we see that work continued inside and out, in private and in public. Aren’t you glad that Jesus was the same indoors as he was outdoors? Aren’t you glad He was the same in the sitting room as He was in the synagogue? A lot of people need to learn from this. Many a fellow appears to be one thing in the church hall who is something else in his family home. There is a name for that. It is called “hypocrisy” and the Lord was certainly no hypocrite. What He was outside the home was what He was inside.
I. Jesus on the Inside: His Private Ministry. – verses 29-31
A. I don’t know about you, but one of my favourite moments of the week is when you get back home after church Sunday morning, and open the front door your senses are bombarded by the smell of Sunday lunch.
1. Our kids have often commented on that when we got home on Sundays.
2. I imagine Jewish homes on the Sabbath aren’t any different, with hungry family members looking forward to some time together around the dining table.
3. But on this occasion as Peter arrived home from the Sabbath service with his guest there was no welcoming aroma to greet them at the door, and as he made enquiries as to how long before the meal would be served he discovered that his mother-in-law, who appears to have been the cook that day had taken ill.
B. Mark yells us she lay sick with a fever.
1. There is no indication that this was anything other than a mild illness, no suggestion that it was in anyway a life or death situation – she simply had a fever and felt unwell, and who hasn’t been there?
2. Now I love what happens next: We read, “… and anon they tell Him (Jesus) of her.”
a. The word “anon” is an old English word, and it means, “at once”.
b. Do you know what I like about this account? Though this was not a serious illness, they wasted no time at all in taking it to Jesus.
3. Let me make a couple of practical suggestions here:
a. First of all, there is no problem to small to bring to the Lord.
(i) Sure, this was no demoniac writhing in convulsions, screaming at Christ, creating a disturbance, and causing a stir.
(ii) It was just an older lady with a flu bug, or a head cold or something minor, but still they took it to Jesus.
(iii) Sometimes we are tempted to think that the Lord only cares about the big things in life, but Peter, perhaps even reflective of instances such as this instructs to cast all our care upon Him.
(iv) We look in Scripture and what do we find? We find the Lord has counted every hair on our head, we find his eye is on every little sparrow, we see him lifting children on to His lap, rebuking His disciples for trying to send them away. He invites us to ask for our daily bread, He knows when we sit down and when we stand up, when we go to bed and when we arise. He reads our thought and knows every concern of our hearts. Yes! We can come to Him with the little things. In fact we are really telling Him what He already knows!
(v) Sometimes in a prayer meeting one will request prayer for a loved one with cancer, whilst another asks for a cold – and it is easy to despise the latter in contrast to the former – but the Lord cares about it all!
b. The second thing I want to see is that we should come quickly to the Lord.
1. We think we ought not to bother Him with the little things, but here they came at once with this lady’s fever.
2. Prayer ought not to be our last resort, but our first resort. We should come to Jesus at once with all our cares.
C. Upon hearing of the poor woman’s illness Mark tells us Jesus “came”.
1. Speaking of this moment Luke records, ““He stood over her…” (Lk 4:39)
a. The picture is of a conqueror standing proudly over the conquered.
b. In the synagogue He proved He was Lord over the demon, now, in the sitting room He shows He is Lord over disease.
2. Luke continues, ““He stood over her, and rebuked the fever... ”
a. Just as He was able to rebuke the wind and the waves, He was able also to rebuke her fever and the virus.
3. Now Mark says He, “took her by the hand, and lifted her up...”
a. Notice how Peter’s wife’s mother became conscious of the Saviour’s power:
(i) He bent over her... so she saw His face.
(ii) He rebuked the fever ... so she heard His voice.
(iii) He lifted her up...so she felt His touch.
b. Is that not what we need every day of our lives? To see His face, to hear His voice, to feel His touch?
4. “… and immediately the fever left her.”
a. This was no slow convalescence this was an instantaneous cure.
(i) Everyone Jesus healed was healed wholly and immediately - there was no partial or progressive healing and no waiting period after the healing, none of “the devil keeping the symptoms there” nonsense.
b. The healing was instantaneous and complete. Jesus never leaves His work unfinished.
D. Now, “she ministered unto them.”
1. So complete was this healing that immediately she got up and went back to the work of serving a meal.
2. You see Jesus did in private, many of the same things He did in public – He was the same Man inside and out, which brings us now to verse 32.
II. Jesus on the Outside: His Public Ministry – vss 32-34
A. The family meal out of the way the rest of the afternoon was spent no doubt as the Sabbath day was intended, relaxing with friends and loved ones.
1. Remember the word Sabbath means, “rest” it is supposed to act as an intermission, a break in the normal schedule of the week.
2. But that break was not long past until a crowd was gathering at Peter’s door.
3. Notice the timing of it, “And at even, when the sun did set…”
a. That phrase tells us that no one came until the Sabbath was over, but when they came “they brought unto Him all that were diseased.”
b. They literally carried people to Jesus – that is what the language intimates.
c. But it says something of the environment in which they lived, under the law, governed by fear, that no one dare ferry the sick to Him whilst it was yet the Sabbath.
B. Nevertheless, with the restrictions of the Sabbath past, they brought both the diseased and the demoniacs to Him, and we read, “He healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many devils…”
1. He met them at their point of need; he healed them of both physical and spiritual maladies.
2. He didn’t just help those with “enough faith”, nor did He just showcase one or two upon a public platform, no, he healed them all, believer and unbeliever, those with much faith and those with none.
C. Finally we read He, “suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.”
1. Which really puts to bed the notion that it doesn’t matter how God is worshipped or who worships Him.
2. Here we see, for the second time in this chapter, that Jesus will not receive a testimony from devils.
a. Though they knew Him no doubt from creation, knew Him from before their fall, still He would not permit their testimony of Him to stand.
b. He silenced their tongues and refused them permission to speak.
Conclusion: How refreshing it is to see the integrity of Jesus. He is neither a hypocrite nor a pragmatist. He is the same inside and out. He is constant, steadfast, and sure. When we place our trust in Him, we place our trust in someone who is totally dependable, one who is the same in private as He is in public. No wonder he was a popular figure in and around Galilee, the people loved Him, at least for the time being, and they heard Him, and He in turn responded with love and compassion for them.
May I say to you tonight, He will also respond to you. If you need to be saved, He will respond and save you. If you have a care, no matter how great or how small, He will hear it, and may I encourage whatever your need, to be swift in bringing it to Jesus.
He is a wonderful Saviour and a marvellous Friend. He Lord over all and well able to help us.
