Calling His Disciples (Mark 1:21-45)

Intro

The first taste of authority and power...it corrupts most of us, including myself. Not so with Jesus.

Main Point

Jesus is one with great authority who steps down to care for the weak and wounded, sick and sore. Christian, let us therefore marvel and gladly submit to our Servant King.

Points

Point #1: A new kind of teaching

Point #2: A ministry of compassion

Point #3: A spreading ministry

Point #4: A ministry of trading places

Point #1: A new kind of teaching (1:21-28)

In verse 21 we see for the fifth time the word immediately. This will be used many more times throughout Mark’s gospel account. It is to show the quick moving days of Jesus’ life and ministry. So, following him calling his first four disciples, they enter Capernaum and immediately Jesus goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach.

And while Jesus teaches, there is something different about his teaching, for in verse 22 we read…

To say that Jesus' teaching is one with authority, not as the scribes puts a clear distinction between Jesus and the scribes. The scribes are those who are most likely the ones who normally taught in the synagogue since this is where Jesus had gone to teach. But their teaching lacked that of authority. They most likely only passed down the traditions and teachings of others. Where Jesus on the other hand proclaimed God’s word clearly and handled that word well.

For I am most certain the Scribes of the day would clearly lay out God’s law and the need to keep that law. They would certainly have known the law inside and out. But it was not authoritative teaching they possessed in this. For they failed to apply God’s word and point the people to the solution, namely a need to draw near with humility before a Holy God. Where Jesus most certainly had already come proclaiming the gospel of God and pointing people to the way of salvation in himself. For one is not authoritative in their teaching if they merely give the law and fail to apply the law to the hearts of their audience. And they cannot be authoritative if they fail to point to the means of hope in Christ.

A well known pastor in both London and Wales in the early 1900’s, Martyn-Lloyd Jones made a similar point saying, “I argue that in many ways it is the departure of the Church from preaching that is responsible in a large measure for the state of modern society. The Church has been trying to preach morality and ethics without the Gospel as a basis; it has been preaching morality without godliness; and it simply does not work.”

Brothers and sisters, this is why I strive each week to labor to get to the point of the text and try my best to work at applying it where we are as a church. I strive to teach under the authority of Christ, that our hearts will be constantly cut by the word of God. And as our hearts are cut, that I would point us to the yes and amen in King Jesus himself. It is my prayer for us, that we be built and edified by this kind of authoritative teaching as God’s word is proclaimed and applied to where we are today as a church. For it is not my words that are authoritative, but the words of Christ in which I strive to proclaim by the power of the Spirit at work in me.

In a day and age when preachers are easily heard on the radio (yes that still exists), podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, etc, it is easy for us to be overwhelmed with options of preachers and teachers. Not to mention all the Christian books out there. Therefore, be selective in who you are listening to. There are many teachers out there and many writers out there who are along the lines of teaching in the traditions of the scribes, all law and no gospel. They burden the listener or reader without ever pointing them to Christ. Run from these. Choose those that will teach the law, but give the hope of the gospel in the midst of it. For the law is to point us to Christ!

For this was the model of the teachings of Christ, and it was this that caused those who heard it to be astonished and marvel. Who as we see down in verse 27 wondered what is this?

But, not only did Jesus teach as one with authority, he was one with authority. For as he was teaching, we read in verses 23-24 (READ them).

I want you to notice a few things in the unclean spirits question. First, it is Jesus teaching with authority that seems to drive this crying out. For it is while he was teaching with authority that seems to cause them to cry out. Second, they know who Jesus is and know he is one with authority to cast them out and destroy them. Third, they know that Jesus is the Holy One of God, something no other outside of John the Baptist has yet to acknowledge in Jesus’s ministry.

It is remarkable to see how the demons know exactly who Jesus is. Yet, even here should be a sound of warning to many, it is not enough to know who Jesus is apart from submitting to his authority. The demons here know who Jesus is and recognizes his authority, but make no mistake they do not willingly bow in allegiance to it. Friend, it is not enough for you to know who Jesus is if you are unwilling to bow your knee willingly in allegiance to him. It is not enough to know all his life story and details, but fail to submit to his authority.

For as we see in verse 25, even in the unclean spirit recognizing Jesus, Jesus silences it and calls the unclean spirit out of the man and the spirit doesn’t easily give the man up there in verse 26. It puts up a fight coming out by convulsing the man and crying out again. Although in the end, the unclean spirit is no match for the authority of Jesus.

The unclean spirit is forced to obey the authority of Jesus as one day every knee and tongue will also. For we read in Philippians 2:9-11 which says, Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The only question is, will it be willingly now before it is too late? For one day all will indeed bow to Christ, but it is only those who do so now who will inherit eternal life and enter his kingdom. What will it be? Will you bow to the authority of Christ? Or will you miss it like those who witnessed his teaching and casting out the unclean spirit did?

For while the unclean spirit recognized who Jesus was, notice the reaction of those who heard him teaching in verse 27, it says (READ)...

Those present that day are amazed at the authority he has both in teaching and in commanding the unclean spirit. But they merely wondered what this was. They recognized it was a new teaching, but they in that moment did not respond to the teaching. They did not bow to that authority, at least not that we are made aware of. And this would have been unlikely as other moments when faith is the response, it is pointed out.

So even though the people were left amazed at Jesus, the response was making Jesus’s fame known throughout Galilee. And we can gather from the remainder of Mark 1, that the fame that was spreading wasn’t one of here is the Beloved Son of God, but a spectacle to come and watch and see. There wasn’t a swarming of people to come to Jesus so they could be rescued from their sins. And this is what we must see when we acknowledge the authority of Jesus, whether for the first time or the millionth time. Jesus is one with authority, and it is this authority that we need to submit ourselves too.

We need to submit ourselves under Jesus and his teachings. We need to obey all that he has commanded. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is not enough for us to say we submitting to Christ in the areas of pro-life, heterosexual relationships, not murdering, while rejecting Christ’s teachings on hating being as guilty as murder, lust being as guilty as adultery, his teachings against divorce, or teachings against gluttony. To submit to the authority of Christ is a call for us to submit across the board to it, not just the hot topics of the day. Oh that we would submit gladly and willingly to the authority of all of Jesus’s teachings and not falter into the traditions of man, for it was that the scribes were holding to. And Jesus is one different than they, for he is one with authority. Let us bow to that authority.

Point #2: A ministry of compassion

Now, turning to our second point this morning, the heart of Jesus’s ministry. Following Jesus’s teaching and casting out of the unclean spirit, they immediately (see there it is again) leave the synagogue and go to Simon and Andrew’s house for a post Sabbath service lunch. Probably on their way they were thinking about eating some good Fried Fish or maybe some good baked Cod, or whatever they had planned for that day.

However, when they entered, along with James and John, Simon’s mother-in law was laying there ill with a fever. Given the response there in verse 30, with them immediately telling Jesus about her, it was probably new information to Simon that she was sick. So instead of a feast, they walk in to a sick older lady laying there with fever. But notice the heart of Jesus in verse 31, he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

As Jesus learns of her sickness, Jesus walks over to Simon’s mother-in-law and probably bent down, taking her hand with a gentle, caring touch, and helped her gently rise up with great care. While these aren’t in Mark’s details, it is alluded to with his care and pity for those who were sick and hurting. And even more remarkable, as Jesus does these things, the fever leaves her. Not only does Jesus have authority in teaching, authority over unclean spirits, but even over sickness.

This is good news for many, for while sickness comes and goes, even sickness will be given over to Christ. For in the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more sickness and sorrow. It will be pushed back and cease to exist as Jesus brings the kingdom of God in its fullness. And even now, he shows his authority over it in casting it out of Simon’s mother-in-law.

But, we must return to the point in that Jesus makes her well in a manner of gentleness and compassion. He ministers to her in the private of her home with none but his four disciples present with him. Jesus doesn’t just do miracles to be seen by the crowds, he does it in the private of homes to care for the suffering. For in this being included here in the gospel account of Mark, Jesus could have merely rebuked the fever from afar and not aided Simon’s mother-in-law at all. But it says even in this brief account that Jesus took her by the hand and lifted her up as the fever was leaving her.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the heart of Jesus as he has come with a gentle and compassionate nature for the poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love and power. To quote again that rich hymn, Come Ye Sinners.

Jesus has great compassion on us. Brothers and sisters, in the midst of sickness, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of our weakness, we have a Savior who has compassion on us. He invites us to come near him and he comforts us, he strengthens us. And while sickness and sorrow will not cease in this world, their days are limited. Death is limited. Jesus is in the process of bringing them all to an end, and for that we can celebrate and rejoice!

Even as we face death whether of our own or that of a loved one, we can entrust that Christ has compassion on us and will reach out his hand in comfort and strength in the midst of it. For this is the type of compassion that Jesus continually showed in his ministry to those in need.

Notice also the response of Simon’s mother-in-law, as the fever left her, she arose and responded by serving. While this is a minor detail, it is important for us to understand in our Christian discipleship. Our service to Jesus and his church is not the prerequisite of our faith. It is the outward response of our faith after coming to salvation in Jesus. This is crucial for us to grasp. Our service, our deeds, our works are not what gets us into heaven, they are the sign of a transformed life and our outward worship and thanks to God. For Jesus ministers to us, just like Simon’s mother-in-law while we are still sick. He ministers to us out of compassion, with gentleness and tender care even when we aren’t yet put together.

We see that compassion furthered as the Sabbath ended and people began bringing the sick and oppressed to him there in verses 32-34. For here the Sabbath ended, and as Jesus' fame had spread throughout Galilee as we saw back in verse 28, the peoples started bringing all who were sick and demon oppressed to Jesus, while he was a guest in the house of Simon and Andrew.

And as the whole city gathered together at the house where Jesus was staying, he healed many and cast out many demons. While the crowds were certainly overwhelming, while there were many, Jesus took time to heal them, to cast out the demons, for he is the compassionate Savior.

Each of these healings, each of these casting out of demons continues to show the authority of Jesus over sickness, disease, and demonic powers. But, again the most important thing it shows us is the compassion of Jesus and how approachable he is.

However, there is one other important thing for us to note with Jesus casting out the demons. There in verse 34 we read, “And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.” This is now the second time we have come across this in Mark. We saw it back up in verse 25 earlier in the sermon.

So why does Jesus keep the demons from telling all who he is? The clearest explanation is not wanting to either pre-maturely have this revealed or have false understandings of why Jesus had come. Jesus without a shadow of a doubt knew he was the Beloved Son who had come as the Christ, the Messiah. His mission was to spread God’s kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. And in doing this, even Jesus’s disciples missed his mission as the Messiah. Peter will be told in Mark 8 to get behind me Satan as he rebukes Jesus for saying he would be heading to the cross.

You see, Jesus indeed did come to be the Messiah King, but he was also the suffering servant. And this is probably the best reason Jesus silenced the demons and spirits from announcing who he was. Jesus knew his mission, and it ended with the cross. And anything that would halt that mission or confuse that mission he wanted silenced.

We even see this as we turn to our third point this morning, a spreading ministry.

Point #3: A spreading ministry

While Jesus had compassion on many in healing them, while he silenced the demons, his heart was to spread the message of the gospel of God by going out and preaching it. And that is what we find in verses 35-39 of our text.

Many were coming to Jesus in Galilee. They all were seeking something from Jesus, and Jesus had compassion on them. However, it is worth noting that here many sought Jesus, but we see nothing within the text that they were coming to Jesus, repenting and believing. It says nothing here in all of these healings and demons being cast out, that they were seeing themselves who Jesus was. Only the demons recognized him.

-And it is here that Jesus rises early before anyone could see him and find him and escapes to a desolate place. And after a busy Sabbath day the day before, and while still early, Jesus isolates himself and prays. The beloved Son isolates to have a moment of quiet with the Father, enjoying that sweet communion together. Before we even move on to the point of this, I want to make a quick application for us as a church. It is wonderful that we have ladies in our church who gather on Tuesday mornings to pray. It is wonderful that we have a small faithful group that gathers to pray on Wednesday nights. And I would encourage more of you if possible to join in on these.

-But even with that, I would urge each of us to find moments of silence and come to the LORD alone in prayer. There is nothing sweeter than finding moments alone to talk with the Father. If the beloved Son of God made this a priority, how much more should we? Make it a habit to come to the Father praying, talking with him. If you are unsure what to say, take up a Psalm, read it, and pray that Psalm back to the LORD.

You can even take the Psalms, divide them by 5 groups of 30, and match one of those groups of 5 with the day of the month, so today you could pray Psalm 7, 37, 67, 97, or 127.

Going back to Jesus isolating to prayer though, as he was alone praying, Simon and the others began searching for Jesus and found him. All had begun to look for him, I wonder how many more did expect Jesus to heal him and cast out demons? Yet, Jesus says in verse 38….

Jesus came out in private to pray, but he desired to continue his preaching ministry by going to other towns in Israel and in these also preach the gospel. In fact, it says in verse 39 that Jesus went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Jesus’s ministry was never intended to stay in one spot. Jesus desired for all to hear the gospel of God and to repent and believe.

The compassion Jesus has for the poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore is remarkable. But the greatest need we have is not our sickness or disease, not our wounds or physical blindness. Not our muteness or deafness. Our greatest need is Christ. And apart from us being pointed to our ongoing need in him and seeing that it is Jesus who is our only hope in life and death, even if we are physically healed, we would soon perish in death. Jesus has a mission, and has already been stated this morning, nothing will stop him from completing that mission. So he comes out to go and preach the message of the gospel elsewhere. He here is showing his disciples, as well as us the great need in going and proclaiming the gospel so all can hear.

Once more I ask us, will we be faithful to go out and help others to hear this gospel message?

Point #4: A ministry of trading places

And with that question, we come to our final point this morning, a ministry of trading places. This point won’t make sense at the moment, unless you are very familiar with the laws of leprosy from the book of Leviticus. But I pray that it will soon leave your heart in awe, as it has mine this week.

In verse 40, a leper comes to Jesus pleading and begging him to be made clean. Now, leprosy was a skin disease that could easily spread. And a leper was considered ceremonially unclean and forced to go outside the camp of Israel. Only a priest from the tribe of Levi could examine the leprous person and declare them clean or unclean. And they had a list back in Leviticus 13 and 14 for this process. So, one thing to note right off the bat, the leper who came to Jesus didn’t just want healed, he wanted to be declared clean. And second, the leper acknowledged Jesus' authority in stating, “If you will, you can make me clean.” So the leper is coming as one who recognizes Jesus as one with authority, as the beloved Son of God. His faith is active even before what takes place in verse 42.

Of course, Jesus seeing this is moved to pity and doesn’t just heal him from afar, he does the unthinkable. Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him and declares him clean. And Mark, using his favorite term, immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

There is so much here with these verses. First, it is here we see Jesus as Priest. Jesus came as a Prophet, Priest, and King. We have already seen some of how Mark shows Jesus as both Prophet and King, but now we see Jesus as Priest. He stands where the Priests would as an example of our Great High Priest. A Final Priest who would never need replacing. This is most clearly laid out in the book of Hebrews. Jesus being a priest to go before us and minister to us is what we have been seeing this morning. He goes to the Father on our behalf to intercede for us. Jesus as priest is the one that cleanses us according to the law in it being his blood shed to cover our sins, not that of a lamb, goat, or bull. Jesus steps in as our Priest in these ways.

For even in Jesus touching the leprosy, which by Jewish law would have left him unclean, which is remarkable even as we see there in verse 45 following the spread of this news, that it was Jesus who was forced into a desolate place, outside of the camp instead of the one who had previously had leprosy. Here in this section we see Jesus’s authority continue to be shown, even over that of leprosy. But we also see Jesus to seemingly exchange places with the leper. The leper is made clean, and called to go and show the priest in fulfilling the law given through Moses. But while he goes and tells of what Jesus has done, Jesus is thrust out into the wilderness once more as his fame spreads. Jesus is forced out of the camp, that the leper may enter the camp.

Brothers and sisters, I hope this is starting to click a little. For this is exactly what Jesus has done for all of us when he went to the cross. He who was innocent from sin, was condemned in our place, that we might be declared righteous. He was put to death for our sins, that we might enter into the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life. Jesus exchanged places not with just the leper, but he exchanged places with all of us who would believe in him.

Jesus exchanged places with us on the bloody cross, so that we might have eternal life in him. Christian, we should marvel at this reality. Seeing how Jesus went outside the camp, so that we could enter in. He became a curse, that we could be blessed in him. This is what has been already done for us in having come to faith in Jesus.

And friend, if you are here and have not come to faith in Jesus, this is what Jesus has done for you too. He has made a way for salvation to be yours. All you need to do is come to him. Come, confess your sin and acknowledge him. Come and believe that he went to the cross to save you from your sins. Come, believe that he defeated death by rising from the grave 3 days later. Come and believe in this good news! I’ll be up here during our final song this morning if you would like to talk, as well as after the service. Come to Jesus today! Come submit to his authority!

Conclusion

Mark 1:21-45 probably looked like a story of healings beforehand. But it is much more. The narratives of the gospel accounts show us much of who Jesus is and help us see his love and compassion for the hurting, for the weak, for the sick, for those that society has cast out as even hopeless. Jesus comes with authority in his teaching, over demons, over sickness, and much more. And yet, we have seen he came gentle and lowly to serve as the Suffering Servant, as the Great High Priest to draw us near to his Father. May this strengthen and encourage our hearts this week, causing us to get up and respond in worshipping the LORD our God!

Let’s pray...