Trading Spaces

Trading Spaces

Mark 1:39-45

A couple of weeks ago we looked at how Mark describes the first Synagogue incident. The people were amazed a Jesus teaching style. It was unique and authoritative. Add to that with words only Jesus commanded the spirit the hush and leave a church member and it did. This further amazed the witnesses.

That same day Jesus was invited over to Sabbath Lunch at Simon and Andrew’s house. They tell Jesus about Sally-Jo’s (Simon’s mother-in-law) fever and in the privacy of their home Jesus heals the woman instantly.

She pops up out of bed and starts serving them. We considered how she was saved to serve in the way that she probably enjoyed most. The when the Sabbath ended people started showing up at the gate of the house asking for healing. Also last week we heard about how everyone was looking for Jesus.

We noticed how lots of people came to see what they could get from Jesus and not what he was offering to them…and yet he met their needs with little expectation of a response from the crowds.

-- I don’t watch a lot of the reality TV shows. There is one I have only seen a few times called “trading spaces.” The basic idea of the show is that two people do a makeover on one room of a home. They get the expert help of a decorator and a carpenter and a budget of 1000 dollars and they start to work.

However, they are not redecorating “their” home they are decorating someone else’s. Most of the time the other person is complete stranger and the few times I have seen it they seem to have lass than compatible tastes. They leave their homes for a couple of days and allow the other person complete freedom to make choices.

They trade spaces and make changes…improvements?

The show ends watching the reaction to the changes.

-- Let me just say that it is not always good.

So this morning we again pick up with the story in Mark 1.

It seems to start that next morning when Simon and the others interrupt Jesus quiet time. In fact it is his response to the statement “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus has been alone in prayer in some quiet spot. Even thought he has had a long exhausting evening he has gotten up before daylight. He has gone away to be filled and renewed by spending time with the father.

Instead of directly resisting, he basically says, Hey, I have an Idea!!!

"Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."

If you have ever wondered why Jesus came; here is a clear statement of the answer. As a Christian we learn that this is just the tip of the ice burg the beginning of the mission. He came to preach/teach people about Jehovah in a way that humans could accept. He came using the way man has learned about God since the Garden of Eden. .

He came to preach! His message is stated in Mark 1:15, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

After only one day in Capernaum, Jesus is having trouble keeping the focus on his purpose.

It is not his personal focus that is the problem…it is the focus of the people that have witnessed his healing of desperate people.

They want and need something from Jesus that no one has ever been able to offer. They want healing for themselves their family and friends.

-- They want freedom in their health without having to offer a response.

They have no interest in the Good News of eternal healing of forgiveness of sins because, they are only interested in what they can have today.

-- They aren’t interested in the preaching (good news) they want a personal stimulus package with no strings.

Jesus came to teach that their sins are forgiven and they can have a closer, more personal, more meaningful relationship with God.

The crowds just call out, “what about me?” Will you heal me?

After the Sabbath the people had swarmed in with overwhelming needs and the simple mission of Jesus have veered off track.

Why did it go wrong? Jesus had compassion and healed people’s physical and mental and even spiritual problems. He sparked a human appetite!!!

That is not what he came for, however it is a wonderful understanding of how caring Jesus…God is. He had the power and the compassion to meet the needs of the people that came to him.

He provided the stimulus with no strings and instead of the people realizing that God was actively working just as prophesied… they gather wanting personal satisfaction for today.