Untitled Sermon (2)

Rabbinic tradition understands fevers as being linked to divine punishment or demon possession

But mark makes the distinction between healing those with physical disabilities and those with unclean spirits

There are two things going on with peter’s mother in law. One, once she is healed, it would be normal for her to act as the host and start serving those who have come to her house. Two, the word used for ‘began to wait on them’ is Diakonein - which is also used when Mark speaks of the angels that waited upon Jesus in the desert, and also the word used when Jesus declares that the Son of Man has come ‘not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark A Day in the Life of Jesus (1:29–34)

For Mark, the proper response of one who has been touched by Jesus is to serve “them,” that is, the Christian fellowship.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark A Day in the Life of Jesus (1:29–34)

The Sabbath extended from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, during which Jews were forbidden to work or travel. This explains why the crowds gather only after sunset on the Sabbath.

healing of peters mother in law takes place on the sabbeth

had everyone not waited, they could have been healed sooner

she is healed, then serves (make connection to last sermon)

The Gospel of Mark 4. The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law. Ch. 1:29–31

The reference to Peter’s mother-in-law serves to clarify what it meant for Peter to be confronted by Jesus’ summons to follow him. He had a family and a home for which provision had to be made; the call to be a fisher of men demanded total commitment to Jesus. The healing accomplished within Peter’s home indicates that salvation had come to his house in response to the radical obedience he had manifested.

the crowd comes for the miracle worker, not the messiah

It is suggested that there is a relationship between Jesus leaving early in the morning to pray in the ‘wilderness’ and earlier in the book when Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness

Jesus pray’s only 3 times in the Gospel of Mark

The second point of interest is the reference to Jesus’ praying. In Mark’s Gospel Jesus is seen in prayer only three times: at the beginning of the account, when his ministry is being defined (Ch. 1:35), in the middle after the feeding of the five thousand (Ch. 6:46), and near the conclusion when Jesus is in Gethsemane (Ch. 14:32–42).

Each prayer is in the evening - temptation from Satah

William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), 81.

William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), 81.

The Gospel of Mark 6. The Decision to Leave Capernaum. Ch. 1:35–39

The crowds that gathered in Capernaum had made their decision, but it could not be the appropriate one because it involved not repentance but attraction to Jesus as a performer of miracles. That is why Jesus interrupts the miracles to go elsewhere to proclaim “the gospel of God.” His purpose is not to heal as many people as possible as a manifestation of the kingdom of God drawn near in his person, but to confront men with the demand for decision in the perspective of God’s absolute claim upon their person.136