Peace in War, Restoring Brothers

Recall

Building the Kingdom of God

Message of Jesus (v. 15)

The calling of Jesus (v. 17)

The teaching of Jesus (v. 22)

Remember - Jesus was acting to restore Israel

What was the significance of healing the demoniac or Peter’s mother in law? - The King has come to restore Israel and call a people to Himself.

It is no accident that in Jesus’ ministry, people flooded to Him (v. 33)

V. 35 - Jesus in Seclusion

V. 35 gives us the detail that Jesus — the very one who was about His Father’s business (John 4:34) — finds time to be alone with His Father.

This passage is striking because it is surrounded by Jesus doing work.

Jesus is modeling something important — Though Jesus had much work to do — He made it His business to spend time alone with the Father.

For some of you, you may have been sitting in church the past couple of weeks thinking: “If I am supposed to copy Jesus, how could I copy that?”

You certainly will not heal people or cast out demons without God’s strength.

This passage, though, has a particular sweetness because it is so doable.

Our stay-at-home moms and work-a-holics might find this passage just as far off as casting out demons — but it is critical to see this.

We will talk about Sabbath rest a couple of weeks from now; Sabbath rest is a particular rest that I’ve desired to work through with everyone here, but for now, we can suffice to focus on this passage where Jesus spends time alone with his Father in prayer. What I will be shelving for now is a discussion on what some have called the ruthless elimination of hurry. Being overly busy and not having enough time for anything is something that kills Christians. We will take time to walk through the dangers of over-busyness and the joy of Sabbath rest soon.

What we will hone in on here specifically is prayer with the Father alone. A couple of notes:

Though not featured in Mark, Jesus gives us a model for prayer in Matt. 6:5-13 and Luke 11:1-4.

It is clear from Luke that Jesus’s disciples watched their Rabbi praying and desired to know what exactly was happening.

Jesus’s model prayer has a handful of different parts:

My Father who art in Heaven (Relational God who is Above You)

Hallowed be you name (Your name is Holy)

Your Kingdom come (Judgment of the wicked, Redemption of those who are yours, Arrival of the King in the heart of a person, etc. I desire to see your Kingdom

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Let my words, thoughts, affections, emotions, be shaped by You and You alone)

Give us today our daily bread (We ask that you meet our needs)

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors (Give me a heart that is quick to seek out forgiveness in all directions)

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil (we desire to be lead as Psalm 23:3 describes: “Lead me in paths of righteousness for your name sake.”

Then, the tag which is now bracketed in most Bibles as being featured in later manuscripts, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Everything belongs to you and is for your glory. I ask all these things for those ends. Amen”)

Relational/Above You

Holy

Kingdom/Respond to You as King

Need

Seek to Model Your Heart in Forgiveness

Seek Your Leadership

What does this time of prayer do for the believer?

Orients the person toward God and God’s desires (John 4:34)

Brings to the surface the person’s desires before God (John 17)

Reminds the person that they are under good authority (John 5:30)

Am I Praying Alone to Orient Myself to God OR to Hear His Voice?

Both.

You need to know the words that God speaks through the study of His word.

God gives wisdom and discernment freely (Prov. 2:3-5) (James 1:5)

General Point: Out of today’s passage, I wonder if this moment is what our congregation needs to grab ahold of the most.

Take Action: Find time to be alone with God and pray. Why did Jesus do this early in the morning? No distractions. His prayer wasn’t rushed or distracted.

V. 36-37

Jesus made Himself hard to reach.

V. 38-39

Jesus changes location. His preaching extends throughout all of Galilee. He continues to cast out demons.

V. 40-45

V. 40 (Situation) - A leper comes to Jesus

This would have been a risky move. Lepers were cast out of Israelite society because

They were considered unclean and weren’t permitted by God’s Law to be inside the camp. Note the language of “You can make me clean.”

They could infect other people.

Notice that the Leper coming to Jesus and falling before Him is an extreme move of faith. It is probably not accidental that this scene with the Leper is put beside the story of the friends who break through the roof. Both stories exhibit a reckless abandon to be healed by Jesus.

Summarizing the Leper’s Problem:

His condition has led to Him being separated from the people of God

His condition is incurable. In the OT, there are only a handful of moments where Leprous people actually survive:

Moses with His cloak when God is showing Him miracles (Ex. 4:6-7)

Miriam when she sins and is cast outside the camp and Moses pleads for her (Numb. 12)

Naaman who is healed by Elijah (2 Kings 5) (Luke 4:27)

Realistically, this is an incurable disease that always results in death unless God miraculously intervenes.

Every time anyone has ever been healed as a Leper in the Scripture, it has always been because God works in power and confirms Himself through His representative.

(Moses and Elisha)

The Leper’s Statement reflects radical faith that Jesus has come in power from God.

V. 41 (Compassion)

Of the details that Mark includes, one of them is the fact that Jesus had compassion towards the leper. To the one comes in faith, Jesus receives with open arms.

V. 42 (Cleansing)

Between verses 41-42, one of the interesting things that shows up is the fact that Jesus commands the cleansing of the Leper and the cleansing occurs.

Note that this is slightly different language than healing. The fullness of why this is significant comes forward when we unpack Jesus’s command to the Leper.

V. 43-44

The man was commanded to show himself to a priest and offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to the priests.

Leviticus 14

(Read v. 1-4 of 14)

POINT - Given the scarcity of Leprous healing in the ancient world, this whole passage has unique weight within the Scripture. The natural question is: “Why would God include within His Word passages which relate to the cleansing process for Lepers if Lepers never get better?”

Some argue down on the translation in Leviticus as simply relating to a general skin condition, but that doesn’t escape the forcefulness of what Jesus is getting at in Mark 1. He told the Leper to go to the priest as a testimony to them.

In effect, Jesus was announcing His coming in a special way through the healing of the Leper.

[As a side note] It is also valuable to see that Jesus both healed and cleansed the leper at his command. Nothing was lacking from Jesus’s provision of grace.

The Leper as Symbol

It is not an accident that many people have understood this scene with healing the Leper along Messianic Lines. The parallels between the Leper and the Sinful Man are also stunning.

Just like the Leper was cut off from the people of God, in a deeper sense, all who are sinners are cut off from God.

Just as leaprousy was bound to kill the man, all who are sinners are bound to be destroyed and killed by their sin.

Just as Jesus healed the Leper, cleansed him, and restored him to the people of God, so too did Jesus heal those who believe in Him through faith by redeeming them from sin and cleansing them.

You are not the same

Any person who casts themselves before the Lord is changed.

2 Cor 5:17 - Anyone who is in Christ is a new creature

Eph. 4:22-24