Great Lessons from the Life of Christ #2
UNIQUE THINGS ABOUT JESUS
(Mark 1:14-45)
Parallel Passages: Matthew 4:13-22; 8:14-17; Luke 4:14-5:16
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways.”
Do you know what that means? God through Isaiah is saying: “Do you understand that I am not like you. I am different from you.”
Last week we began our study of the Gospel of Mark by looking at one that was really different – he was known as John the Baptist. As we saw, he was the forerunner of Christ and called the people to turn from their sins and be baptized.
John’s job was to point people to One who was really different. To point people to the coming Christ and their need to follow Him, and we will look at a text today that shows just how different Jesus really was. I hope you have read the text, and if you have not, I hope you will go home and read it. As I studied the first chapter of Mark, here is what I discovered about Jesus.
• Jesus preached a message that no one else preached.
• Jesus chose people that no one else would have chosen.
• Jesus taught in a way that no one else had ever taught.
• Jesus touched lives that no one else would touch.
In other words, Jesus was different, and let’s see what we can learn from Him.
Jesus preached a message no one else preached.
.
Here in Mark 1, we have Jesus preaching publicly for the first time, and in vs. 14-15 we see what His message is and will be throughout His public ministry – His message - “The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel.”
When Jesus said “The kingdom of God is at hand” or “The kingdom of God has come” – do you know what He meant?
In the mind of the Jew, when they thought about the kingdom of God, they thought about a future event. They thought about a time when the Messiah (the anointed one) would come and establish His rule upon the earth. In their mind, it was a military, a political rule. They believed the Messiah would come and overthrow Rome, end its oppression over the Jewish people, and would establish Israel once again as the great, powerful nation it once had been.
The prophets had spoken of the coming Messiah, and that is what they looked for, longed for, talked about. The Christ would lead them back to their former glory and Israel would once again be the great nation it had been.
When Christ comes on the scene and proclaims that He is the long-awaited Messiah, He was saying that the kingdom had come. And it is not about a physical kingdom and Israel ruling over the nations, but it is about a spiritual kingdom and God ruling in the hearts of mankind. And what people need to do is not stand and fight, but rather repent and turn to God.
You do realize that Christ’s message has not changed. That the message we are to preach is the same message Christ preached – repent of your sins and let God rule in your heart.
Just think about what our world be like if all people everywhere decided they wanted to be a part of God’s kingdom, turned from their sins and lived under the lordship of Christ?
Here were a few of the headlines from this past Wednesday.
• Belmont University student shot while walking in Edgehill park.
• Man sought, accused of Halloween stabbing in Nashville
• Clarksville police search for suspect wanted in vehicle burglary.
Would any of those things have happened if people lived under the Lordship of
Christ? But the fact is, the only control I have is over me, so the question is – How is God’s ruling doing there?
Jesus preached a message no one else preached – the reign, the rule of God in the hearts and lives of people.
Jesus chose people no one else would choose.
Beginning in verse 16, we are told that walking along the Sea of Galilee Jesus sees Peter, Andrew, James and John and says to them – “Follow Me.” And that immediately they left their boats and followed after Jesus.
It is easy to get the wrong impression – if you read this having read nothing else, it is easy to get the impression that this is these men’s first encounter with Jesus and that Jesus walks up to four men He has never seen before and there is something so compelling about Jesus that these men just drop everything and follow Him. That isn’t how it happened. Read John 1 – these men were already disciples of Jesus. They were already spending time with Jesus.
The big story here is the fact that Jesus calls such average guys to follow Him. These men are fishermen. It was the custom of that day for a Rabbi (a Jewish teacher) to select certain ones to follow them. These men would spend time with this teacher – they would observe, listen, learn. Jesus is dong what was common – calling men to come along side Him and learn.
What is significant is that these guys are fishermen. The first followers of Jesus…the ones that are going to be intimately connected with Jesus…the ones who are going to proclaim the greatest message the world has ever known and turn the world upside down…are fishermen.
Put in the context of our day, it would be saying they are truck drivers, waitresses, cooks and plumbers. Put vs. 16 in context today and it would read like this – “Jesus drove by the truck stop and saw Jim Bob and Bubba changing the oil in their truck, because they were truck drivers, and He walked up to them and said, ‘Come on guys, follow me, and I will make you haulers of men.’”
These are as common of men as you could find. They are working class… and while you may be thinking…okay…in that day, in that culture, what Jesus is doing, did not happen. The Jewish leaders believed if you were going to be used by God, if you were going to serve, you had to come from a certain family, have a certain education, have the right pedigree.
Today, if you think you have to have a certain education, or some kind of special training, or a unique talent to be used by God, you are just wrong. Jesus called fishermen. God can take the ordinary and do extraordinary things – because He needs your availability far more than He needs your ability.
At this point in time, these guys have a world view about the size of Robertson County, if that big. They know the Sea of Galilee and the ports surrounding it. Being Jews, they have traveled to Jerusalem on occasions for various feasts. But that is about the sum total of their world experience.
When these guys sat down for a meal, they did not talk about Greek philosophy or have deep theological discussions. At best, they talked about the latest gossip on the lake or how fishing was last week compared to the week before or the current weather conditions. They talked about their families and the political climate around Galilee as they were very aware of the Roman soldiers present in the community…but that was their world.
They had no world perspective – they couldn’t get in a car and drive hundreds of miles or turn on the news to see what was happening in Rome. Jesus rocked their world – John will preach in Ephesus and die on the Island of Paphos having written God’s final revelation. Scholars believe that Peter went all the way to Rome and preached there. Tradition tells us that Andrew carried the gospel to the borders of what is today Russia.
Jesus took fishermen…men that no one else would have chosen, and through them changed the world. What Jesus wants to do and is doing has not changed…the only question is whether you and I will be one of those who makes a difference.
Jesus taught in a way no one else ever taught
If I asked for words that describe Jesus…teacher or preacher would be two that would come up rather quick…
vs. 21 – they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
Capernaum was located on the NE side of the Sea of Galilee and was the largest city on the lake. Luke 4:16 tells us that is what Jesus did every Sabbath…on the Sabbath, Jews gathered together to worship and listen to various teachers teach from the law.
A couple of things about the synagogue…it was a local meeting place. In the OT you had the temple where the priests lead worship. In 586 BC the temple is destroyed, and Israel is taken captive by the Babylonians. There is no temple, and families begin to meet in small groups. The word synagogue itself simply means to come together. Even upon their return from captivity, synagogues continued to meet. 300 years later when Jesus comes on the scene, the Talmud (a collection of Jewish teachings) states that there were 500 synagogues in Jerusalem alone. They were like local churches, local assemblies. They were referred to as houses of instruction because the Law was read and explained on the Sabbath day. During the week it became a Jewish school and civil court,
The synagogue had a pretty informal structure. Unlike the temple where the worship was very formal and led by specific people, you could enter the synagogue and share your knowledge. For the Jew, their lives revolved around the synagogue. Every town or village had a synagogue as it took only ten men to establish a synagogue. Someone oversaw it, but elders did the teaching unless there was a visiting scribe.
When Jesus showed up…the synagogue provided a readymade opportunity in every town to teach and explain His message.
According to Luke 4:14, Jesus’ reputation preceded Him and He was welcomed in the synagogue to teach.
I love the text here…vs. 22 says they were astonished at His words…the English word carries the idea of being slapped. They were astonished, amazed, blown away, they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Jesus speaks and they are on the edge of their seats. William Barclay translates it “they were thunder struck” … some translations use the word surprised. They have never heard anything like this before.
This is just me, but as I have studied the life and teaching of Jesus through the years, three things stand out about His teaching.
• It was SIMPLE…whether a command, a story or a question…it was hard to miss the point that Jesus was making. Jesus put the information He was sharing on the bottom shelve so that average folks like us could get it.
• It was AUTHORITATIVE…unlike the scribes of that day who liked to quote poets, philosophers and numerous other rabbis…when Jesus taught, He quoted Scripture. Do you remember the statement made when He finished the Sermon on the Mount – “They were amazed, for He spoke with authority, and not like the scribes and Pharisees.”
• It was PASSIONATE…Jesus’ message was about the reign and rule of God in the lives of people…about the difference that God can make in one’s life …
Jesus’ teaching was different. The Sermon on the Mount (7:28-29) ends this way – “When Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His words, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
Jesus touched lives no one else would touch.
I love the way this chapter ends, vs. 29-39…Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to Peter’s house and there heals Peter’s mother-in-law. What I love about this story is that Jesus did not have to have an audience to heal people. There was a need and He simply met it.
Beginning in vs. 32 we are told that at evening the people of the town begin to bring their sick to Jesus. They waited until evening because this was the Sabbath, and they did not believe one could or should heal on the Sabbath. So, they wait until sundown, when it is okay.
I imagine Jesus sitting in his recliner, resting after a long day and He hears this racket coming across the front lawn. I do not know how many came, but the text says the entire town came bringing their sick and diseased. Every illness you can imagine is on its way to the front door and guess what Jesus does – takes the time to heal them.
I’ve often wondered what time He went to bed that night, and even more amazed at the fact that according to vs. , He gets up the next morning before daylight. I’ve often said He did that because He was praying for the strength to love the kind of folks that were coming to Him.
Vs. 40 tells us that the following day a leper came to Him. A leper – in the ancient world a leper was an untouchable. One banished from society and abandoned by their friends and family. What began as a small boil or ulcer would break through the skin and literally rot away the skin and if you did not die of the infection, eventually your vital organs would be affected, and you would die.
You were socially unclean…physically unclean…spiritually unclean…no one could come near you or touch you. You were an outcast. A reject. Shunned by society and unable to be a part of anything except to die alone or with other lepers. What a life.
Enter Jesus…the picture changes. He could have spoken a word from any distance and healed the man, but He chose to touch him. This one who had not felt a human touch in who knows when, is touched by Jesus.
When is the last time you touched an untouchable. One of the things that amazes me is, outside of family and church friends, how few hurting people we touch on a regular basis.
Jesus was different…He touched those that others did not touch.
