ASSASSIN
07-11-2008, 03:55 PM
Sunday School Lesson For July 13, 2008
POWERFUL HEALER -
Mark 1:29-45
BACKGROUND:
Today’s lesson falls on the heels of a portion of last week’s lesson. The events of Luke 4 largely duplicate Mark 1. It is the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, after the call of four disciples – Peter, Andrew, James and John. He is preaching in Galilee , the region in which He was raised as a young lad. Jesus popularity is beginning to grow, and word of His wondrous works is beginning to spread. But Jesus was concerned. Why? Because He was more interested in people hearing what He had to SAY as opposed to standing around witnessing His miracles. After all, the greatest miracle of all would be the salvation of mankind, and for that people needed to be prepared – and that was what His teaching was all about...
JESUS HEALS (Mark 1:29-34)
It is Saturday evening. Jesus and His disciples have completed a day of worship in the synagogues of Galilee . They come to rest at Peter’s mother-in-law’s home (Peter was obviously married). But there, the men faced a woman lying sick with a fever (Luke calls it a “great” fever). It would appear that any treatment to this point had met with measured success. But Jesus stepped in, took her by the hand, and lifted her up. At that point, the fever left. Now what happens next is important: she ministered unto them. That is, she showed gratitude. This is how all Christians should respond today – when God does something wonderful, recognize Him...
Now that Jesus had something of a resume, the people came. Jesus had already demonstrated His ability to cast out demons; now, He has just shown that He can heal diseases. So they all came – with devils and with diseases. They came after sunset because the Jews of that day reckoned the day ended at about 6pm. That was important because religious leaders had decreed that healing should not take place on the Sabbath. It is clear here that no one was interested in trying to entrap Jesus. That would come later. Right now, they were all coming with the sincere intention of getting relief from their ailments...
It is interesting that Jesus would not only cast out devils, but He directed them to say nothing about who He was. This is because Jesus had a strict timetable for His activities, and also, as the writers of The Interpreter’s Bible observed, “Jesus does not encourage the demons to proclaim his divine nature or his superhuman calling. He will not accept testimony from such unclean, unholy sources!” That truth stands today...
JESUS PRAYS (Mark 1:35-37)
If nothing else, these verses underscore the importance of prayer. Notice what Jesus did: He left everyone else and went to be alone with His prayers. Jesus was no show-off when it came to praying. The only reason the disciples found Him in prayer was because they sought Him out. At this point, the disciples apparently had no prayer life; they would get that later when Jesus taught the Model Prayer...
The disciples came with a simple message: “..all men seek thee…”. But at this point, they were seeking Jesus for what Jesus saw as the wrong reason: they wanted physical (not spiritual) healing...
JESUS HEALS AGAIN (Mark 1:38-45
Look at where Jesus places emphasis: “…Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach…”. Why? “for therefore came I forth.” Not to heal. Not to impress. To preach. Still, in His preaching, He attracted those with physical needs. To this point in Jesus early ministry, His miracles had been limited to diseases and casting out demons. It is not surprising, then, that a leper had to employ faith to come to Jesus with HIS problem. Jesus had not yet been known to heal leprosy. In fact, lepers of that day were forbidden to mingle with “healthy” people, for they were plagued with a highly contagious skin disease, and since there was no known cure, these patients were forced to live a life of solitude, away from the general populace. And if a leper were to be approached by someone, the leper was responsible to say “unclean! Unclean!” And of course, the leper was never himself to approach anyone...
But this leper broke all the rules. He somehow determined that Jesus could help, even though Jesus at that point had no reputation with leprosy. So the leper approached Jesus. Is our faith today limited to the things we have already seen?
Now Jesus, in performing the “cleansing”, did the unthinkable: He reached out and touched the leper! Now think of just why people would normally not want to do that. It’s because of the fear that the unclean would render the clean unclean. But with Jesus (as it always is), His cleanliness overtook the unclean. That is, instead of the disease contaminating Jesus, Jesus’ purity chased away the disease. Again, the same is true today: you don’t “rub off” on Jesus, He “rubs off” on you...
Following the cleansing, Jesus instructed the man to respond to the Law of Moses and go to the priest at the Temple for inspection (cf. Leviticus 14:2-32). This custom was for the purpose of determining that the leper was “officially” clean, and (as some authorities believe) receive a written documentation concerning his cleanliness. This was important because people with ailments were not allowed in the Temple on the theory that their ailments were the result of sin, and that once God forgives the sin, the ailment leaves...
Now we cannot be sure that the man obeyed that part of Jesus’ instruction, but we do know that he DISobeyed the part about being silent. In fact the man made so much “fuss” that Jesus could no longer preach in the area. Can any of us be that excited about what God has done for us?
A
POWERFUL HEALER -
Mark 1:29-45
BACKGROUND:
Today’s lesson falls on the heels of a portion of last week’s lesson. The events of Luke 4 largely duplicate Mark 1. It is the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, after the call of four disciples – Peter, Andrew, James and John. He is preaching in Galilee , the region in which He was raised as a young lad. Jesus popularity is beginning to grow, and word of His wondrous works is beginning to spread. But Jesus was concerned. Why? Because He was more interested in people hearing what He had to SAY as opposed to standing around witnessing His miracles. After all, the greatest miracle of all would be the salvation of mankind, and for that people needed to be prepared – and that was what His teaching was all about...
JESUS HEALS (Mark 1:29-34)
It is Saturday evening. Jesus and His disciples have completed a day of worship in the synagogues of Galilee . They come to rest at Peter’s mother-in-law’s home (Peter was obviously married). But there, the men faced a woman lying sick with a fever (Luke calls it a “great” fever). It would appear that any treatment to this point had met with measured success. But Jesus stepped in, took her by the hand, and lifted her up. At that point, the fever left. Now what happens next is important: she ministered unto them. That is, she showed gratitude. This is how all Christians should respond today – when God does something wonderful, recognize Him...
Now that Jesus had something of a resume, the people came. Jesus had already demonstrated His ability to cast out demons; now, He has just shown that He can heal diseases. So they all came – with devils and with diseases. They came after sunset because the Jews of that day reckoned the day ended at about 6pm. That was important because religious leaders had decreed that healing should not take place on the Sabbath. It is clear here that no one was interested in trying to entrap Jesus. That would come later. Right now, they were all coming with the sincere intention of getting relief from their ailments...
It is interesting that Jesus would not only cast out devils, but He directed them to say nothing about who He was. This is because Jesus had a strict timetable for His activities, and also, as the writers of The Interpreter’s Bible observed, “Jesus does not encourage the demons to proclaim his divine nature or his superhuman calling. He will not accept testimony from such unclean, unholy sources!” That truth stands today...
JESUS PRAYS (Mark 1:35-37)
If nothing else, these verses underscore the importance of prayer. Notice what Jesus did: He left everyone else and went to be alone with His prayers. Jesus was no show-off when it came to praying. The only reason the disciples found Him in prayer was because they sought Him out. At this point, the disciples apparently had no prayer life; they would get that later when Jesus taught the Model Prayer...
The disciples came with a simple message: “..all men seek thee…”. But at this point, they were seeking Jesus for what Jesus saw as the wrong reason: they wanted physical (not spiritual) healing...
JESUS HEALS AGAIN (Mark 1:38-45
Look at where Jesus places emphasis: “…Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach…”. Why? “for therefore came I forth.” Not to heal. Not to impress. To preach. Still, in His preaching, He attracted those with physical needs. To this point in Jesus early ministry, His miracles had been limited to diseases and casting out demons. It is not surprising, then, that a leper had to employ faith to come to Jesus with HIS problem. Jesus had not yet been known to heal leprosy. In fact, lepers of that day were forbidden to mingle with “healthy” people, for they were plagued with a highly contagious skin disease, and since there was no known cure, these patients were forced to live a life of solitude, away from the general populace. And if a leper were to be approached by someone, the leper was responsible to say “unclean! Unclean!” And of course, the leper was never himself to approach anyone...
But this leper broke all the rules. He somehow determined that Jesus could help, even though Jesus at that point had no reputation with leprosy. So the leper approached Jesus. Is our faith today limited to the things we have already seen?
Now Jesus, in performing the “cleansing”, did the unthinkable: He reached out and touched the leper! Now think of just why people would normally not want to do that. It’s because of the fear that the unclean would render the clean unclean. But with Jesus (as it always is), His cleanliness overtook the unclean. That is, instead of the disease contaminating Jesus, Jesus’ purity chased away the disease. Again, the same is true today: you don’t “rub off” on Jesus, He “rubs off” on you...
Following the cleansing, Jesus instructed the man to respond to the Law of Moses and go to the priest at the Temple for inspection (cf. Leviticus 14:2-32). This custom was for the purpose of determining that the leper was “officially” clean, and (as some authorities believe) receive a written documentation concerning his cleanliness. This was important because people with ailments were not allowed in the Temple on the theory that their ailments were the result of sin, and that once God forgives the sin, the ailment leaves...
Now we cannot be sure that the man obeyed that part of Jesus’ instruction, but we do know that he DISobeyed the part about being silent. In fact the man made so much “fuss” that Jesus could no longer preach in the area. Can any of us be that excited about what God has done for us?
A