He Who Brings God’s Kingdom

Video: https://youtu.be/BC2M_B5lNOg

Over the next many weeks we are going to be digging deep into the gospel of Mark, so I would like to invite you to open up your bible to the very first pages of Mark. It is the second and shortest gospel after Matthew and before Luke. Follow along with me. 

Last week in the very first verse Mark introduced us to the amazing Good News about Jesus, the Messiah, God’s anointed one, the Son of God. Mark comes right out of the gates by telling us who Jesus is, but then begs the question, “Why is Jesus such good news for everyone?”. The Gospel of Mark attempts to tell us the story so that we might decide for ourselves. 

The story begins in verse 2 not with Jesus, but with a prophecy about a herald for the Lord. So, John the baptist came proclaiming in word and person a kind of humble confession of sins and repentance so that he might prepare the way both for God and Jesus through. This is the bedrock for God coming into our lives. In the beautiful next moment in verse 9 Jesus confirms that humble approach as He Himself comes to John to be baptised like all of us; so he transforms baptism into an invitation, an invitation into Christ and an amazing opportunity for a changed humanity and changed world. 

In vs. 10 we saw the sheer opportunity and blessing offered to us in Jesus' baptism as God literally tears open heaven so that He might come down in the Holy Spirit and speak to us and anoint Jesus. In vs. 13, we saw that Jesus is recreating humanity as Jesus Himself a human is the very first person to reject temptation and do all for God. In vs. 15, we see that potentially transformed humanity is followed by Jesus offering a new world as Jesus’s first proclamation is that the presence of God’s Kingdom has come close. As if there is any question to what God’s Kingdom is we begin to see it take shape in Jesus in His gathering of community, His work and life. In vs 16-20 we see some people respond with trust as they give up everything to follow Jesus. Others like in vs. 27, weren’t sure, so last week we were left with their question, what is this new teaching with authority?

Today we get an answer to that question as Jesus begins to perform amazing miracles and driving out demons. What this should teach us is that this new teaching and authority is the authority of God to change us. To change the current state and reality that we are trapped in. Sometimes in our lives and prayers we make the miracles the point, the thing we are looking for, but God does not willy nilly overthrow the normal order of created good; God always does miracles with a purpose.  Miracles are important and wonderful things that we should pray for, but these healings are so much more than just awe inspiring. 

The first exorcism we heard about last week in vs. 23-26 challenged people to see the authority of Jesus in a new way as He literally was quieting and dispelling the powers of darkness that hung over this man and all of us. The first healing we get today in vs. 30-31 is of Simon’s mother-in-law. She was in bed with a fever, but when Jesus heals her it isn’t just to make her better. Jesus takes her hand and lifts her up. Again, Jesus takes her hand and lifts her up. As the first healing, this gives us a guide post for all future healings and for Jesus’ authority and teaching. He has come to take our hands and lift us up. Lift us up out of our sickness, whether physical, social, mental, spiritual or whatever else. It is only as a byproduct of Jesus lifting her up that she is healed. The healing is not the point. It is this new found connection and a lifted up life, even if she wasn’t completely healed this is a new potential of life and relationship. 

It is interesting that the first thing she does once she is lifted up and healed is that she waits on them. Once healed she immediately starts taking care of them. Again, this is not the point, but the byproduct. This is the natural result of her meeting Jesus and being lifted up. I won’t have time to talk about unproductive gender norms or expectations, but that is not the point here, because as the first healing this is meant to be normative for all of us. Have we all taken Jesus' hand to be lifted up? What kind of relationship has been healed? How do we serve Jesus as a result of our lives being raised up and freed?

We continue to hear about the power of Jesus in the verses following. This is what we might see at first on the surface but there is more going on here. The people have been turning to Jesus for what He can do and not for who He is. Like so many of us, the people mistake the sign for the destination. We hear about people’s misunderstanding more in the gospel of John as people literally go to Jesus because they want to have food, but here they come because they want to find healing. Healing and sustenance are not bad reasons for turning to Jesus, but as the gospel of Mark began we must first realize who it is we are turning to and realize that there is far better news and opportunity in him. 

It seems even the disciples have made this mistake as they interrupt Jesus' prayer time. Imagine this, the sun sets, it is already time for people to start winding down, yet this is the time that people begin to bring the people in need of healing to Jesus. Jesus works tirelessly through the night. The morning is coming, so Jesus takes this short opportunity to get away and connect with God, His Father, the centre of His work and life, the power behind His healings and purpose behind it all. The disciples come and interrupt Jesus' prayer and time connecting with God because they don’t even realize that this was the purpose of it all, which we will see played out in the stories to come. 

Just a quick side note. Every single word of Scripture is significant and has purpose, so when we hear that Jesus began this mass of healings once the sun was set and prays while it is still dark, both of these should point us to the reality that Jesus is overthrowing the night. The darkness, fear and disconnection that is a byproduct of a dangerous and invisible world is now being changed by a new light that is coming into the world, which should remind us of the first few verses of John’s gospel but Mark in his conciseness leaves it up to us to put everything together and decide for ourselves what the good news of Jesus truly is. 

Back to the story. The disciples have found Jesus praying. They interrupt because as they say “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus doesn’t argue with them in vs. 38, because He knows people, healing and social work is important, but he does gently reguide their thoughts. Let’s go somewhere else - to other villages, why? So that Jesus might preach there. Jesus tells us, that is why He came. The healing, the people are important, but the word, the message, His presence and connection are of absolute importance. Why is the message and His presence even more important? Well, we will see in the next three stories. 

Next, we hear about a man with leprosy. Leprosy back in the day and according to the Old Testament was a common general term used for many different skin diseases. The thing though was that anyone with leprosy was barred from most society, cities and the temple. This would have been life shattering in a way that we have never experienced, but we may begin to get a sense of what this would have felt like because of the isolation caused by Covid-19 and for those that have experienced ostracization because of racism or sickness or any other reason. Just like with Covid-19 we might feel like the social disconnect is the worst part, but Jesus knows that the real sickness and pain comes from a disconnect with God. So after Jesus heals him, He sends Him not back into community, but to a priest to give sacrifice and cleansing. Jesus wants first and foremost for this man to have a restored relationship with God, because Jesus knows this restored relationship leads to other restored relationships. His going to the temple would have been a testimony of God working through Jesus, but in vs. 45, the man doesn’t listen and so He makes it harder for God in Jesus to connect with others.

Finally, if we were still thinking the healings and miracles were the point. We get the story about the paralysed man and his faithful friends. Once again Jesus was teaching and preaching. There were so many people gathered around him that no one could get close. So, these faithful and loving friends tried to do everything to help their friend, which even included destroying someone’s house. Just like today, they would have faced ridicule and isolation from doing this. 

I have little doubt that these were hoping first and foremost that Jesus would heal him, but Jesus flips that on its head and does what is first of importance. The same thing John the baptist was trying to point them to earlier. Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven”. 

What would you have thought if you were one of this man’s friends who brought him? What would you have thought if you were the crowd? Would you have been angry at these men for destroying someone’s roof? Would you have been frustrated with Jesus that He didn’t heal this man? Would you have been like the teachers of the law questioning Jesus' authority to forgive a man in the place of God and whoever else this man might have hurt? There are so many reasons in our modern and ancient sensibilities why we might be offended or angry at Jesus as they were. Yet, this is the whole point of Jesus’ life, ministry, authority, teachings and healings. Jesus is attempting to restore our relationship with God by being God in our midst, because it is only through that restored relationship that we might ever enter God’s Kingdom. It is only through that restored relationship that we might ever find true healing of the body and soul. It is only through that restored relationship that we might find purpose and connection. 

As if to confirm this whole point, Jesus says, “What is easier, to say ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘get up, take your mat and walk’, but I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. So he says to this man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home”. The whole point is so that they might know forgiveness, so that they might know a restored relationship with God in Jesus. That is the purpose behind this miracle and the others. 

They all rightfully respond, “We have never seen anything like this”. That is the rightful response. Even now, we have rarely seen what it would mean to have a right relationship with God. Luckily, thanks to faithfulness in others and Jesus, I have seen some healings, miracles, new purpose, restored community, but these are just the first fruits of a restored relationship with God that brings His Kingdom in our midst. Jesus has already shown us that His good news means the complete transformation of our weak and sinful lives through a restored relationship with God in Jesus and we have only just entered into chapter two of Mark’s Gospel. So it is in our lives, we have just finished a chapter of God’s blessing and now we only need to look ahead to a fuller transformed life as we build up our relationship with Him. AMEN