In Jesus Holy Name February 6, 2021
Text: Mark 1:38-39 Epiphany V Redeemer
“Our Missionary God”
Almost 2,000 years ago when Jesus walked this earth, He began preaching in the village of Capernaum. (Mark 1:21) In the middle of His sermon about God’s grace, a man possessed by a demon interrupted Jesus. The haunted man pointed out to everyone that Jesus was the “Holy One of God”. I can see the man pointing to Jesus standing in the synagogue. The demon knew that the Messiah had arrived. He believed it was the final judgment. The demon did not know the true reason for the arrival of Jesus. Jesus had arrived to fulfill the promise to Mary and Joseph. He will save humanity from our broken commandments and defeat the power of Satan.
As soon as they left the synagogue Jesus and his disciples went to the home of Peter and Andrew. Peter’s mother – in -law was ill with a fever. Jesus healed her on the spot. She felt so good that she got up and served a meal.
That day there were two healings in one day. What did people get out of it? Did they say, “Wow, this is God’s Son?” and agree with the words of the demon possessed man, just a few moments ago? No, they did not. Even Jesus knew that his purpose was more than healing people. Do you know your purpose in life? Does your church know its purpose? We are to carry on the work of our “missionary God.” He has given us His Holy Spirit to empower us to tell His story.
During WWII there was a Jewish concentration camp in Hungary. Hundreds of prisoners were enslaved in the compound’s factory which processed garbage into alcohol which could be mixed with gasoline. One day, everything changed. Allied bombs leveled the factory. All work was canceled. That’s what the prisoner’s thought.
Surprisingly, the next day, they were marched out of the factory as if nothing had happened. They were ordered to shovel a great pile of sand into carts and deliver it to the other end of what had been the factory. The next day the process was repeated, all in reverse. The same pile of sand was moved back and forth, day after day after day.
Slowly the prisoners realized their future had no future. One man broke down in tears and was dragged away. Another started screaming. He was beaten until he was quiet. One individual, a veteran of three years in the camp, ran toward the electrified fence. Prisoners shouted a waring. Guards demanded he stop. He didn’t. These, first of the living dead, were soon joined in their madness by many others. Men went mad because their lives had no purpose. They discovered life without purpose was empty. (illustration Rev. Klaus 2003 Mark 1:29)
This is why, very early in the morning, before everyone else was up. Jesus left the house and went off to a solitary place where He prayed. Healing people was important but it was not His purpose. All the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus healed thousands… but He did not heal everyone in the land.
(read Matthew 4:23-25)
The miracles were acts of compassion and they grabbed attention…so that people would hear the message of a loving God who offers mercy and forgiveness to His wayward children. His message was consistent. To the men standing around, with stones in their hands. He said: He who is without sin may throw the first stone…. Thump, thump, thump. They all left. We are all prodigal sons and daughters who have been invited to “return home” and enjoy the offer of grace and mercy.
Early in the morning, in His conversations with His Father I’m sure Jesus was reminded by His father of God’s promise to Adam, Eve and Abraham. The mission was clearly spoken by Peter in Acts 4. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Our God is a missionary God. He has always been a missionary God, seeking the lost, offering forgiveness to Adam and Eve and their descendants. God’s plan was to use a special people to tell the good news of salvation. What did God tell Abraham in Genesis 12?
“I will make your descendants into a great nation. I will bless you”….because I want all people on earth to be blessed through you.” The rest of the bible is a story of how God would accomplish the task of blessing all people so their broken commandments might be forgiven just as He forgave Adam and Eve.
The tragedy of the Old Testament is that Israel kept forgetting the universal scope of God’s promise. They became preoccupied with their own history, and over time caused them to boast in their privilege status that they were immune from God’s judgment. The prophets kept reminding them that they were to be a “light for the Gentile nations”. That’s why Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. The overly self righteous Jews would not even walk on the same side of the street or enter a Gentile house. (Acts 10) Rev. John Stott The contemporary Christians p 326.
In the small town of Capernaum, it didn’t take too long for the news of Jesus’ miracles to get out. It got out, because in a small town everything gets out.
That day people heard that miracles were being performed at Peter’s place. No appointment needed. No embarrassing physical; no sitting on a cold doctor’s table with all kinds of shiny, painful, cold and threatening stainless steel instruments. No gown that won’t stay shut. No blood pressure check, no cholesterol, no blood sugar tests. No prescriptions. No co-pays. Just come in, and zip you’re better.
(from Rev. Ken Klaus sermon 2003)
Before sundown, Peter’s doorway was crammed with ailing people. His foyer was filled with the lame, the blind, the crippled, the possessed. It must have been an unusual parade. I’m sure others came for the show. We are told that Jesus had compassion on them. He healed them. The word kept spreading.
They did not come to hear words of salvation the Preacher was sharing. Their hope was on an immediate need. The only purpose in their mind was to wrap up their family member, put them on a stretcher and head off to Capernaum. When they arrived, Jesus was gone. Even the disciples didn’t know where he went. So they went searching. When they found him: “Everyone is looking for you!” they said.
Watch how Jesus answered. “let us go to nearby villages ..so I can preach there!” So I can heal there? No. “So I can preach there.” Preach what? The good news that God has arrived. Not only can your body be healed but your “sins can be forgiven.” This exactly the point Mark makes in the next few verses when friends brought their friend to be healed. It was so crowded they had to take off the roof of the house to let their friend down to where Jesus was standing. What is the first thing Jesus said? “Son your sins are forgiven”.
When Jesus met a woman at well, He preached. When He met a rich man or a leper, He preached. To big crowds on shore, He preached; to disciples on boats He preached. He preached that His Father, God the creator was on a mission to bring salvation. Sins forgiven. Eternal life offered. Peace in your heart, no fear of God’s wrath against your broken commandments, because God chose to nail them to the cross of Jesus, and left them there. (Colossians 2:14)
Jesus left heaven and actually entered the world He created. John writes: “He came to that which was His own but they did not recognize Him. He made his dwelling in our midst, we saw His glory.”
Paul tells us that Jesus humbled Himself by taking on our human nature, lived our lives, endured our temptations, felt our hurts, then took our broken commandments to the cross, where God judged each believer “holy, without blemish, if we continue holding on to our faith in Jesus.
After the resurrection Jesus met the disciples in the upper room and he “gave them” the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit He possessed as part of the Trinity. On the Day of Pentecost the Spirit actualized Himself in a powerful and visible way. Jesus had told the disciples they would do the same miracles that He did, and they were now to be His voice in the world, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
When the Holy Spirit indwells in each believer there is love for the lost soul. There is a desire to serve. All we do is live and imitate Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts the sinful, not our words. It is the Holy Spirit that enables blind eyes to see spiritual truth about Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to repent and believe. It is the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from a stone grave, and will raise us as well.
Jesus has commissioned all of us to go into the mission field, it is probably as
close as our neighborhood. The Bible tells us that our God is a missionary God. “all evangelism involves spiritual warfare with the principalities and power of evil in which spiritual weapons can prevail using the Word of God and The Holy Spirit and prayer.
What made the Holy of Holies so holy was not the ark, not timeless truths engraved in stone. What makes the Holy of Holies so holy was the presence of the living God.
A young missionary came to a tribe in Namibia. After preaching the gospel and telling them about Jesus, how He lived and what He did, the Namibians stopped him and told him, “We know this many you are talking about, for He lived with us.!
The young missionary was confused because his agency told him he was the first to witness to these people. “When did he live here?” “Five years ago.” They replied. The missionary said, “I’m talking about Jesus who lived 2000 years ago.” “No, No.” they protested. “He lived among us, and became one of us. He spoke like us, and even came to look like us. And we’ll prove it to you.”
So they took him to a grave, where they showed him the tombstone and pointed to his name. It was the only name they knew him by. “Reverend.” 1897-1963 (Jesus Speaks, Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola p.78)
It was the gospel without words. My friends. Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit speak to your hearts. Then go and do the “good works God has prepared in advance for you to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)
