Mark Sermon Week 5

Intro/Welcome

Good morning

We are in the Gospel of Mark

as we’ve been looking at the life and teaching of Jesus and see why we should follow Jesus and what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Today we are going to see.

Jesus has the ability, authority and ardent desire to meet out deepest needs.

Christ Can. Christ cares.

We may not know what our deepest needs are.

If we do know we may doubt either Jesus’s desire or ability to meet these needs.

Today, Jesus illustrates both of these truths as we look at two events in the Kingdom Ministry of Jesus.

so we will follow Jesus

Bible

We’ll be in Mark 1:39-2:12.

You can go there in your Bibles.

Follow along with us

Welcome

My name is Justin, one of the Pastors here

good to gather with you.

God is at work in this church

the man saved

Let’s Pray

meet our needs

The Leper — Does God love me?

Jesus is out doing Kingdom Ministry

Mark 1:39 (CSB)

39 He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

[Map]

Things are going well, people are getting saved

delivered from demonic oppression

Mark 1:40 (CSB)

40 Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Leprosy

Also known as Hansen’s Disease (though it could have been any number of skin ailments)

Bacterial Disease that attacks the nerves and can cause the affected areas to lose the ability to sense touch or pain which can lead to injuries not being realized. (CDC)

Picture of Sin: we become numb to the things of God

Each year, about 150 people in the United States and 250,000 around the worldExternal get the illness.

Affects

The leper was confined by a strict set of rules that governed his contact and relations with other people. (NIVAC)

found in Lev 13–14 and mentioned in Num 5:2-4.

They were required to live outside of cities and towns, have no contact with anyone, and declare themselves unclean when anyone approached. (NAC)

This banishment was not rooted in any fear of spreading the disease but of spreading religious impurity.

Leprosy was considered a primary source of uncleanness.

Like a corpse, the leper could impart impurity to objects found within the same enclosure.

As a result, he or she was viewed as a living corpse, and a cure was likened to raising the dead.

Life as a Leper

This man has been living in isolation and is desperate.

he’s carries a lot of shame, unworthiness

He is unclean — in fact he has to call out ‘unclean’ if people come near.

Perhaps he hasn’t even been touched in years

no loving embrace of a friend or spouse

no shared meals together with loved ones

What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without human contact?

This guy has spent years alone.

The Faith of the Leper

He must have heard about Jesus and sought him out.

He believes that Jesus is able to heal him.

His fear is that Jesus won’t receive Him

That Jesus would be unwilling to heal him

That Jesus would cast him out just like all the others.

The word their is the greek word “thelo”

which can be translated as to ‘wish’ or ‘desire’ or even to ‘want to’

So he comes to Jesus.

so he falls on his knees and begs Jesus, tears filling eyes, hopeful and in faith.

Has this been you?

We may say that we all believe that Jesus is able to do great things

But in our hearts we doubt that it is his desires to cleanse us, to come near to us.

Like the leper, some of us feel untouchable by God

unlovable by God.

Some of us feel that way, so unclean, dirty and defiled that everything we touch is defiled too.

We feel shame. We feel unworthy. We feel dirty. Untouchable.

because of the things we’ve done

and some of the things that have been done to us.

Annie Lobert felt all of these things

If this is you, right now, I want you to see and believe what happens next.

B/C this was recorded for you. This story was told for you.

Jesus’ Response

Mark 1:41–42 (CSB)

41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he told him. “Be made clean.” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

Compassion

This word translated as ‘compassion’ there is anger.

Often we may thing that Jesus is angry with us, but that’s not what he is angry at

It is why most versions translate it as compassion,

he is angry at evil and brokenness

it is a righteous anger against sin and suffering

it’s a way of saying Jesus fights for you.

He is moved from a deep emotion into action.

I picture his eyes fill with tears as he moves towards this man, longing to change his life.

his views of himself, his views of God and his bitterness towards others.

He was willing

Jesus had overcome this man’s deepest fears

Jesus was not just able to heal him, but he was ‘willing to’ — desired to

He believed that Jesus could do it, but he doubted whether Jesus would want to do it, desire to do it.

One of our elders says to me often that he isn’t so amazed that God could do good to us, but that he chooses to do good to us.

This is God’s love for us.

Gospel:

For us, Jesus was willing

willing to go to the cross in our place

willing to take on all of our shame, all of our sin and redeem it.

Nearness

He comes and TOUCHES the leper

Like walking into the ICU of COVID

this would have been unheard of

partially due to the possibility of infection, they believed it to be highly infectious in that day

but certainly due to the transference of uncleanliness.

But Jesus comes near and touches the man

He has no fear of absorbing defilement for that is why he came.

GOSPEL:

This is Jesus demonstrating the gospel through his actions

It is interesting that the Bible never speaks of healing leprosy, always of cleansing it.

He touches this man ‘risking’ uncleanliness

but the reality is on the Cross Jesus would touch all of our uncleanliness

all of our sin, our dirt, our shame, and self-disgust

And he would wash us all with his blood.

Only Jesus’s blood has the power to cleanse us. (1 John 1:7)

1 John 1:7 CSB

7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Look at the words in Isaiah 1.

Isaiah 1:18 (CSB)

18 “Come, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.

“Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow;

though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.

Jesus meets this needs, especially his deepest need.

And it wasn’t cleansing from leprosy

it was a soul level cleansing from shame and condemnation.

His Power

“Be clean” - says.

this is not a declaration but rather a demonstration of his power

it is the words themselves that drive out the leprosy

for the verb in not indicative (indicating what is true)

but imperative meaning a command.

He commands to leprosy to leave in the same way he commands demons to leave.

And Immediately the leprosy leaves

it has no option but to obey Jesus’ voice.

but more importantly, the shame and the stigma of leprosy are gone.

this man has been cleansed externally and internally

Application: You are not a leper

Jesus Cleanses you

God wants to come to you as well, he desires to do good to you

maybe you feel unclean, unlovable, unapproachable

Let me say this to you “you are not a leper” in God’s eyes

Jesus is not afraid of sin, of shame, of defilement

he comes to take it away, all of it

and he wants to come near to you

If you would come near to him, as the leper did — and ASK.

I promise you Jesus wants to come near, to cleanse, to purify, to make you new.

You see Jesus doesn’t have the ability to meet our deepest needs, but he has the desire to do so.

But cleansing isn’t our deepest need, forgiveness is

Transformation of the Leper

his life will never be the same

He will be able to embrace others, get married

go to feasts, enjoy life

Jesus has given him everything back.

When you meet Jesus you are never the same.

Nothing is the same after you meet Jesus

Christ can. Christ Cares

The Paralytic

Mark 2:1–2 (CSB)

1 When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them.

Mark 2:3–4 (CSB)

3 They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

The Faith of Friends

This is amazing

Sometimes it is the faith of our friends that keep us going.

There is no mention of the paralytics faith, only of the four friends.

Sometimes we need the faith of others

This is the power of Christian community

even when you doubt, and are despairing

it is our brothers and sisters and Christ that can lift us up by their faith in Jesus.

This is why we believe in not just coming here on a Sunday to worship together, but meeting in groups throughout the week doing life together.

knowing one another and being known

praying for one another and lifting each other up.

Sometimes we need the faith of others

The Man

maybe he’s been a paralytic his whole life

been cared for his whole life

shame, helpless, hopeless

maybe he thought it was b/c of his own sin

Jesus Response

Jesus is amazed by their faith.

I mean, he has really been put on the spot

Seeing this as an opportunity he doesn’t something which no-one expected

and would ultimately get him killed.

Mark 2:5 (CSB)

5 Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Is he saying this man’s paralysis was a result of some sin he had committed?

no that’s not what he’s doing, there’s no indication of that.

He again, is speaking not to our temporal needs, as important as they are, but our eternal needs

our deepest needs.

We are all paralytics without the power of God, without the forgiveness of sins in our life

This man’s greatest need wasn’t to be able to walk again, it was to be forgiven of sin.

This is so often true of us, certainly of myself.

I often don’t realize that my greatest need is the forgiveness of sin.

it is not just a one time thing when we come to Jesus

but it is an ongoing need to be forgiven

for we continue to sin even as we seek to faithfully follow Jesus.

But Jesus died for sin once and for all (Romans 6:10)

Think about it.

What is the sole reason for all the suffering, sadness and evil in the world?

Is it not sin.

Sin’s Effects

For the result of human sin is all the brokenness we see in the world

all suffering, sadness, and sickness

every moment of isolation, desperation, exasperation and frustration

it’s behind every tragedy, all apathy, and every catastrophe

It has ruined lives, blinded eyes, and languished lies

It has deadened hearts, hidden in the dark, broken us into parts

it results in division, willful omission, and lack of provision for those in need

It has destroyed families, caused tragedies and committed atrocities

It brings shame, prolongs pain but its reign is over.

Forgiveness

But Forgiveness — he came to removes and reverse of all this.

The word for forgiveness literally means to ‘send off sins”

to be forgiven means to ‘have your sins sent off”

Forgiveness results in reconciliation with God

it allows for reconnection with the source of life.

Just like a light when we sinned we were unplugged from the source of power for light and life

But Jesus bridges the gap

Through him we reconnect to the source of life and godliness

we literally are turned back on and can shine as light in the darkness

he doesn’t make bad people good, but dead people alive

When we are forgiven in Christ, we are made new.

we are as new as this paralytic when he is healed and can do things he has never been able to do before

Walk with Jesus.

The Scribes hard heart

Mark 2:6–7(CSB)

6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: 7 “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

The scribes rightfully understand that Jesus is making a claim about something that only God can do.

They would have cited such places as:

Isaiah 43:25 (CSB)

25 “I am the one, I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.

They are going to accuse him of blasphemy — a crime punishable by death Lev 24:16

Leviticus 24:16 CSB

16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; the whole community is to stone him. If he blasphemes the Name, he is to be put to death, whether the resident alien or the native.

They have retracted to their understanding of the OT

their understanding of the world

Don’t we do this, especially in the west

we are so confident in our ability, our understanding, our intelligence

that we can so often miss the work of God right in front of us

or miss what God wants to do.

this is the scribes.

they didn't’ see Jesus

they hardened their hearts behind their high walls of knowledge.

Jesus doesn’t even let them finish their thoughts before he addressed them.

Mark 2:8 (CSB)

8 Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

It says ‘they were thinking this in their hearts”

Jesus perceived this in his spirit

he’s reading their mail and addresses it directly

which should have been another sign to them about who Jesus was.

he asks them a very important question:

Why are you thinking these things?

There’s only three options here:

either Jesus a lunatic living in some false delusion of himself

demonically possessed to work miracles (an accusation they will make later in mark)

Or he is the God in the flesh, the Son of God.

Then just to prove that he has the authority a.k.a. that he is God and this is the most important verse;

Mark 2:9 (CSB)

9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’?

Both are easy to say, much harder to do

Which is easier to say “your sins are forgiven” or “get up and walk”

Jesus said both and did both.

What does this mean for you?

What are you thinking in your hearts?

This means that Jesus has the power to forgive any sin.

There is nothing you have done that cannot be cast off by Jesus

as miraculous as a paralytic getting up and walking is

forgiving sin is the greater miracle

for it would cost Jesus everything.

The wages of sin is death — and somebody has to pay.

Jesus pays our debt at his own expense.

Here’s the key verse:

Mark 2:10–12 (CSB)

10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic—11 “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.” 12 Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

His purpose in healing the man was two-fold

Christ Can, and Christ cares

The man gets up and walks

and everyone is astonished and they all glorify God

but not the scribes — in their pride, in their close-mindedness they harden their hearts this Jesus

who has just one a miracle before their very eyes.

such is the nature of sin.

Conclusion

We have seen Jesus do the miraculous today

That he not only has the ability and authority to cleanse, and heal, and forgive sin

but that he has the ardent desire to do so.

Christ can. Christ Cares

The leper learned this truth and was never the same

the paralytic experienced the power of God and was able to do things he never could

he was raised up and could walk with Jesus.

This is as true for them 2000 years ago as it is for you and I today.

learn from the leper — Jesus desires you, so much he wants to be near to you — will you come to him and be clean, washed, made new

learn from the paralytic — Jesus can raise you up and you to can walk in a newness of life

It is not just when we meet Jesus it is what it means to follow Jesus.

Let’s Pray

pray for those feeling shame and need cleansing and forgive ness