GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION
THE AMAZING SON OF GOD
A. Mark 1:22 (READ and COMMENT)
1. Over the years I have sat in the AUDIENCE and have LISTENED to some GREAT PREACHERS
proclaim the Word of God.
ILLUSTRATION:
At a PROMISE KEEPERS conference for PASTORS in Atlanta, Georgia several years ago, I heard Charles Swindoll, Max Lucado, Tony Evans, Philip Yancy, Charles Stanley, and a preacher I had never heard of before named Bob Russell all speak on the same STAGE. These PREACHERS
were GREAT!
There were thousands of PASTORS and PREACHERS in that AUDIENCE who APPLAUDED, LAUGHED, CRIED, and some even fell to their KNEES in REPENTANCE. It was such a WONDERFUL experience that I will never FORGET.
2. However, despite how great the PREACHING was, I don’t think I would have used the words
AMAZED or ASTONISHED to described what I experienced when I heard those men SPEAK that day.
a. Yet, these were the very words used by Mark to describe how the people responded when they heard
Jesus PREACH for the FIRST time.
b. In fact, Mark uses the word often to describe how the people and even the disciples reacted toward
Christ.
-Mark 1:21- “The people were amazed at His teaching…”
-Mark 1:27- “The people were all so amazed…”
-Mark 2:12- “This amazed everyone…”
-Mark 5:20- “And all the people were amazed…”
-Mark 6:2- “…and many who heard Him were amazed.”
-Mark 6:51- “…They were completely amazed.”
-Mark 7:27- “The people were overwhelmed with amazement…”
-Mark 10:26- “The disciples were even more amazed…”
-Mark 10:32- “The disciples were astonished…”
-Mark 11:18- “…the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.”
3. The word that Mark uses most often for “AMAZED” means “to strike out with one’s senses, to strike
with panic or shock.”
a. As one authors puts it: “THE PEOPLE WERE DUMBFOUNDED BY THE INCREDIBLE.”
b. We might say something like, “THAT BLOWS MY MIND!”
c. The people had never witnessed ANYONE or ANYTHING like Jesus before.
B. So, what was so AMAZING about this man named “JESUS”?
1. I cannot possibly LIST all of the AMAZING things about Jesus, the Son of God.
2. But for the rest of this CHAPTER, Mark lists THREE AMAZING things about Jesus.
MESSAGE:
I. HIS AUTHORITY- Mark 1:21-28 (READ)
A. Jesus TAUGHT with AUTHORITY.
1. We see here Jesus and His disciples, the FISHERMEN—Peter, Andrew, James and John—headed
to their hometown of Capernaum, a fishing community on the Northwest side of the Sea of Galilee.
a. Jesus takes at least two of the disciples, James and John, and heads for the SYNAGOGUE.
b. It’s the Sabbath, and Jesus knew WORSHIPPERS would be gathering there.
COMMENT:
Although there was only one Jewish Temple located in Jerusalem, SYNAGOGUES were placed in Jewish communities all over Judea and the Middle East. They were places where Jews
would gather for PRAYER and to hear God’s Law and the Prophets explained.
There would be several TEACHERS, many of whom would be regulars, and some would be invited. But they would also allow GUEST TEACHERS to speak from time-to-time.
2. Jesus moves to the front, sits down and begins to TEACH, and he “BLOWS everybody’s MIND.”
a. Mark- “…they were AMAZED because he taught them as one who had authority, and not like
the teachers of the law.”
COMMENT:
I’m sure that most of these people came to this SYNAGOGUE every SABBATH—every Saturday. They have heard from many TEACHERS—EXPERTS in the Law of Moses. Still yet, they have never heard anyone who taught with such “AUTHORITY”. Jesus wasn’t merely TEACHING God’s Word, but He was calling people to ACTION.
b. Mark tells us that Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Good News: “The time has come,”
Jesus said. “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news”- Mark 1:15.
COMMENT:
Jesus’ message was URGENT: “The Kingdom of God is near.” His message was BOLD
and DEMANDING: “Repent—turn away from your sins—and believe the GOOD NEWS.”
c. Sitting before the WORSHIPPERS proclaiming the Word of God is GOD’S SON, Himself.
COMMENT:
He was COMMISSIONED by God, sent from HEAVEN, filled with the Holy Spirit, and specially ANOINTED for this TASK. He had AUTHORITY like no one else. He was the Eternal Son of God who had entered our world as a HUMAN BEING proclaiming the TRUTH of God’s Word, and not just some Rabbi’s INTERPRETATION. No wonder the people were AMAZED.
B. Jesus commanded DEMONS with AUTHORITY.
1. Right in the middle of Jesus’ SERMON a man possessed by an EVIL SPIRIT cries out, “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!”- vv. 23-24.
ILLUSTRATION:
Can you imagine what that would be like? I never had anyone YELL OUT like that while I was PREACHING, although I had a former elder who, one time, WALKED up to the PODIUM
and INTERRUPTED my SERMON because he wanted to SPEAK to the CONGREGATION.
I did hear about one PREACHER who was preaching on the “church of Philadelphia” from the book of Revelation, when someone YELLED out, “They also make a great cheese steak.”
2. Notice that there’s more than one demon that possessed this man—the plural pronoun “US” is used.
a. These DEMONS know exactly who Jesus is—“The Holy One of God.”
b. Unlike so many people today, DEMONS believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
COMMENT:
But as James writes, “Demons believe and TREMBLE”- James 2:19. Just because you BELIEVE means nothing, if you haven’t COMMITTED your LIFE to Christ.
c. The DEMONS ask Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?” The answer is, “ABSOLUTELY!”
-1 John 3:8b- “…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
COMMENT:
Here is a poor man that is DEMON POSSESSED. Although we do not know what these DEMONS have been doing to this MAN and his family, later Mark tells about a “Father who comes begging Jesus to CAST a demon out of his son who had been throwing the boy into FIRE and WATER trying to KILL him”- Mark 9:22.
d. Satan and his minions HATE us, and they are out to HURT and DESTROY us.
3. Jesus, with DIVINE AUTHORITY, says, “Be QUIET! Come out of him.” And “the EVIL SPIRIT
comes out of the man with a SHRIEK, shaking him VIOLENTLY”.
a. The people are AMAZED and say of Jesus, “He gives ORDERS to EVIL SPIRITS and they
OBEY Him.”
b. The NEWS about Jesus quickly spread throughout Galilee.
II. HIS POWER- Mark 1:29-34 (READ)
A. Here we get a quick glimpse into Simon Peter’s HOMELIFE.
1. Peter is MARRIED and has a MOTHER-IN-LAW who is SICK with a FEVER. Luke the Physician describes it as a “HIGH fever”- Luke 4:38.
2. As soon as Jesus leaves the SYNAGOGUE, He is escorted to Peter’s house by James and John.
a. “Jesus goes in where Peter’s mother-in-law is lying down with a HIGH FEVER, takes her
hand and helps her up.”
b. Luke said, “He REBUKED the FEVER and it left her.”
3. Then the woman gets up and starts WAITING on everybody.
COMMENT:
I don’t know about you, but after suffering with a HIGH FEVER and its finally GONE, I don’t FEEL much like doing anything. After a HIGH FEVER I am so WEAK and DRAINED, and I have BODY ACHES. It’s a CHORE just going to the BATHROOM.
But not this WOMAN. As soon as Jesus REBUKED that FEVER, she is completely WELL—back 100%—as if NOTHING was WRONG with her at all.
4. With AUTHORITY and POWER Jesus REBUKED and CAST OUT a DEMON from a man, and with the same AUTHORITY and POWER Jesus REBUKED a FEVER that immediately LEFT this
woman.
-I find that AMAZING, don’t you! The people of Capernaum certainly did.
B. “By the end of the Sabbath Day, the townspeople were at Peter’s DOOR bringing their SICK and
DEMON-POSSESSED loved ones to Jesus”- vv. 32-34.
1. Now a Jewish DAY was measured from SUNDOWN to SUNDOWN. (Midnight to Midnight.)
a. The people were RESTRICTED on the Sabbath Day.
b. In addition to NOT being allowed to WORK on the Sabbath, nor were they allowed to TRAVEL
no farther than 2,000 cubits or 6,000 feet, which was just a little over a mile.
COMMENT:
The SUN has set, and now the TOWNSPEOPLE are coming out in droves to find the MAN that they heard could CAST OUT demons.
2. And Jesus accommodates them and begins HEALING people with various DISEASES and
CASTING OUT evil spirits. The POWER of the Son of God was SEEN and FELT that night.
COMMENT:
Can you imagine the SCENE of people coming and pounding on Peter’s DOOR? What would it be like if PEOPLE gathered on our FRONT LAWNS some Sunday afternoon because we brought Jesus home from CHURCH? When Christ SHOWS UP, the CROWDS will be CURIOUS.
3. Notice that Jesus would not allow the DEMONS to SPEAK and PROCLAIM who He was.
a. Jesus Christ does not depend on the TESTIMONY of DEMONS, but only on the TESTIMONY
of His FOLLOWERS—you and me.
b. It’s interesting that the DEMONS wanted to DECLARE who Jesus was and were made to keep
SILENT, and those whom Jesus wants to SHARE with others who He is—don’t say a WORD.
c. Maybe we’re just not AMAZED by the Son of God.
III. HIS COMPASSION- Mark 1:40-45 (READ)
A. Among all the townspeople of Capernaum who had gathered at Peter’s house to find Jesus to HEAL
their DISEASES, you would not have found a single LEPER among them.
1. Lepers were not allowed to LIVE in the TOWNS and VILLAGES.
a. In fact, Lepers were never allowed to be around people, for they were deemed “UNCLEAN” by
the Law of Moses- Leviticus 13. They were OUTCASTS.
b. If a LEPER happened to come upon people, he was to WARN them immediately by raising his
hands and yelling out, “UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!” They were highly CONTAGIOUS!
2. In Matthew’s account of this incident, we find “Jesus being FOLLOWED by large CROWDS when
the LEPER approaches”- Matthew 8:1.
a. Imagine what would happen next.
ILLUSTRATION:
A COMMOTION is STIRRED in the CROWD. As Jesus turns to see what is HAPPENING, people begin to SCATTER to the LEFT and the RIGHT. Then Jesus hears a faint voice, “UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!”
Looking up Jesus sees a LEPER, who would normally AVOID crowds at all costs, coming TOWARD Him. The PEOPLE are FLEEING because they know that the Law of Moses FORBADE anyone to come in CONTACT with a LEPER—to do so made them UNCLEAN.
But Jesus isn’t RUNNING.
ILLUSTRATION (cont):
After WALKING up to Jesus, the LEPER kneels before Him and says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Cleansing a LEPER would be tantamount to RAISING the DEAD. But the man EXPRESSES no DOUBT of Jesus’ POWER, only his concern for Jesus’ WILLINGNESS.
Then Jesus does the UNTHINKABLE and the UNLAWFUL. He REACHES out and TOUCHES the LEPER. “I am WILLING,” Jesus said. “BE CLEAN.”
b. Mark writes, “Immediately the LEPROSY left him and he was cured”- v. 42.
B. LEPROSY as described by the BIBLE was a HIDEOUS, FOUL disease.
1. The late Dr. Paul Brand was a MISSIONARY and MEDICAL DOCTOR who spent years in India
studying and treating those with LEPROSY.
ILLUSTRATION:
He wrote in his book: In the Likeness of God that “LEPROSY generally begins with PAIN in certain areas of the body. NUMBNESS follows. Soon the SKIN in such spots loses its original color. It gets to be THICK, GLOSSY, and SCALY.” (Greek word for LEPROSY—
“lepros”—means “SCALE”.) (I OPTED not to show any PHOTOS.)
He added, “As the SICKNESS progresses, the INFECTED AREAS become DIRTY SORES and ULCERS due to poor blood supply. The SKIN, especially around the eyes and ears, begins to BUNCH, with deep FURROWS between the SWELLINGS, so that the FACE of the AFFLICTED individual begins to RESEMBLE that of a LION (also known as Lion’s Disease). FINGERS and TOES drop off or are ABSORBED. HAIR falls out. BLINDNESS often occurs, not because the person can’t SEE but the EYELIDS cannot be OPENED. Leprosy results in a LINGERING, HUMILIATING death.”
b. Luke records that the man in our STORY was “COVERED with LEPROSY”- Luke 5:12.
2. Notice again v. 41- “Filled with compassion Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man...”
a. Jesus didn’t have to TOUCH him.
COMMENT:
In Luke 17 we read that “just by SPEAKING, Jesus HEALED 10 LEPERS who stood at a DISTANCE from Him.” But the COMPASSIONATE Savior knew that this man NEEDED more than just HEALING at this moment—he needed ACCEPTANCE. Who knows how long it had been since this POOR MAN had FELT the gentle TOUCH of someone who wasn’t a LEPER?
b. By TOUCHING the LEPER, Jesus BREAKS the LETTER of the LAW to UPHOLD the SPIRIT
of the LAW—the LAW of LOVE and COMPASSION that God has for HURTING people.
c. How AMAZING is that!
CONCLUSION:
ARE YOU STILL AMAZED BY JESUS CHRIST?
(WE USE THE WORD “AMAZING” FOR MANY THINGS.)
