He Came to Preach

Rev. Steven D. Spencer

Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. 31 So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. 32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. 35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You." 38 But He said to them, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth." 39 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

Sickness is a universal experience. People today tend to live longer, yet not necessarily healthier. It would be hard for us to imagine what it would be like to live in a culture without the modern miracle of medicine.  Today we know the causes of many diseases and also how to treat, cure and even prevent them.  Even so, we still tend to associate illness with suffering and death.  Everyone of us will die someday. So when we pray to God for healing, we know that ultimately our prayers can only take us so far, it truly is in the hands of God. And the ultimate healing eventually comes through our death. 

Different cultures have different understandings of sickness.  They use different remedies for healing.  I remember several years ago stopping by a Chinese restaurant to see if it might be a place to take my wife as a surprise one evening.  One of the cooks came out of the kitchen to treat a small cut on his arm.  He took a tiny bottle with Chinese characters on the label and sprinkled some strange looking powder on the cut.  He noticed that I was watching him, and we ended up talking about some of the ways that the Chinese people treat illness and injury.  He thought the Chinese way was more holistic than Western medicine.  

Ancient people became sick, they improved, or they died just like we do today.  But many of them interpreted illness very differently than we do.  So if we want to understand what the people of Jesus’ time thought He was doing, we need to know how their culture interpreted sickness and healing. 

For people of the Bible sickness was caused by either God or by evil spirits.  Sickness was the result of God’s judgment, not bad food or poor hygiene.  Illness came from sin and evil, not germs or diseases.  When we understand the wages of sin is death and sickness often precedes death, this is why in Biblical times sickness had religious and social consequences a very holistic point of view.  Any affliction—barrenness, blindness, paralysis, fever, or a simple skin rash—was seen as unclean and made a person an outcast in their communities. Therefore, many folk healers went from town to town offering their services.  Sometimes their patients got better.  Sometimes they didn’t

Today, most of us might seek cures that; kill the infection, remove the cancer, repair a damaged leg, an eye, or even a heart.  Current medicine in our culture focuses typically on the disease and rarely on the entire person. If you need proof for that, just consider how many doctors are specialists; choosing only one part of the body to deal with.   

In the Bible, when a person was sick what they desired most was to be restored to a condition of wholeness.  Good health was more than physical it was social and spiritual.  Sick bodies and tormented sprits were both serious illnesses.  Is it any wonder Jesus dealt with both physical diseases and the casting out evil spirits? 

When Jesus and the disciples got to Peter’s house, his mother-in-law was sick in bed.  She was burning up with fever.  Jesus took her hand and lifted her up.  As soon as the fever leaves her, she is up cooking dinner for them.  

Jesus was not a counterfeit like some of our modern day TV hucksters. Notice how miraculous, how immediate and complete it is when Jesus heals her. Normally when a fever breaks you're lightheaded and drained and all you want to do is sleep. But not her! She immediately got up and headed to the kitchen to take care of her family an houseguests. How wonderful it is to have the Almighty Jesus care for you and love you. When we say that Jesus can do anything with His almighty power, we mean that He, in love will use that power to show love to us and care for us. And how do I know He loves and cares for me? Because in our text, Jesus shows that same love and care to those who were perfect strangers to Him. “ That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.”(32-34)

It didn’t matter to Jesus that it was already after dark. It didn’t matter to Him that He was tired at the end of a long day. What mattered to Him was people, people who needed Him, people who felt the effects of sin in their lives, people who knew real suffering—personal and up close. Jesus loved people and Jesus still loves people. He loves you!

But Jesus had still more love to give. So Jesus shows love for His Father, taking time out from the work and the stress to commune privately with his Father in prayer. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed (35).” Just before our text, we read that Jesus was in the synagogue for the Sabbath day service. He went there, not just because it was the thing to do but also because He wanted to be there to hear His Father’s Word proclaimed. Strengthened by the Word, Jesus was ready for the ministry of the day. After the service He went to Peter’s house, healed his mother-in-law and spent the day teaching her and Peter and Peter’s wife, and Andrew, James and John. Then after dusk and well into the night Jesus took pity on all the desperate people that came to see Him. That was all on one Saturday. Where would Jesus get the strength to carry on for another day? The same place he got Saturday’s strength. Despite the long evening of work, before it even gets light again, early Sunday morning, as on so many other occasions, we see Jesus taking time to meditate and pray. He was communing with His Father whom He loved and who loved Him. He talked to his Father in prayer. He was refreshed by His Father’s love. He was reminded of the Father’s promises to Him and instructions for Him to carry out. That’s where He found the strength to love all those who came to Him for another day.

What perfect love — love for His friends, love for strangers, love for His Father, love for all! As we sang, “Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down, pure unbounded love thou art. (TLH 351)” We see what is meant by Jesus’ “perfect life of love” in our text. Still, we haven’t yet covered the highest form of love Jesus showed people in this day’s activities. All the love Jesus showed for those close to Him, for perfect strangers who came knocking in crowds at his door, and for His Father, culminated in what Jesus Himself tells us was the highlight and focus of His public ministry: the preaching of the Gospel.

“Simon and his companions went to look for Him, ³⁷ and when they found Him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” ³⁸ Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” ³⁹ So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.”

When we think of Jesus’ earthly ministry, perhaps the first thing that comes to our minds is the miracles, which He did. His miracles are certainly the flashiest part of Jesus’ ministry. And, finally, that’s one of the main reasons so many people crowded around Him in all the villages and cities where His ministry took place. But Jesus Himself did not consider the miracles to be the center of what He had come to do. The Gospels often call miracles, “signs.” And that is what they were. They were sign posts designed to focus attention on something important that people needed to know for their own good.

The purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to draw attention to His message. Just as a picture on a road sign is not there simply to beautify the side of the road, but to tell you something important, Jesus did His miracles to draw people’s attention to His Words the Gospel preached to them.

The purpose of Jesus miracles was to show that He was the one prophesied as the Messiah: “Surely he took up our infirmities,” Isaiah had said that of the suffering Servant, referring to the Christ, and Jesus showed he was the Messiah by taking up even the physical infirmities of those who came to Him suffering. Jesus’ miracles showed that He had the authority to proclaim the prophetic message He brought. They showed everyone that He was the Son of God.

It wasn’t Jesus’ primary goal to deal with all temporal infirmities and diseases. As much as He loved people and wanted to heal those who came to Him sick or handicapped, Jesus didn’t heal everyone. He isn’t traveling around on earth miraculously healing all people today. But He’s still doing today what he considered central then. He's still sending out His disciples to preach the Gospel. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He didn’t tell his disciples to go into all the world and heal, but to show people the higher, yes the highest possible love: to preach the Gospel to every creature. That’s what Jesus came to do.

Undeniably Jesus still has the power to heal. He hears the prayers of His people on behalf of the sick. He still grants healing, sometimes even miraculously in answer to those prayers. But just as when He ministered 2000 years ago, Jesus wants the focus not to be on temporary healing of our bodies but on the permanent healing of our souls, which will lead to eternal life. As difficult as it may be for us to focus on such future glory, that’s precisely where the Gospel wants us to place our focus and our faith.

Jesus came to preach the Gospel — to the people in the villages of Galilee, and to Judea and Samaria, to all the world. The message He came to bring is the lasting ‘Good news’: “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains (TLH 157).”

It’s the Gospel that brings us forgiveness for all our sins. It’s the Gospel that elevates us sinners through faith to the status of kings and priests and children of God, and that’s what we are. Even Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead after four days in the grave, died again. But through Jesus’ preaching of the Gospel, Lazarus, and Peter’s mother-in-law and Peter and Andrew and James and John and you and I have been made spiritually alive.

This is the Jesus of Epiphany, the Christ manifested during his ministry — Manifest in making whole, Palsied limbs and fainting soul, Manifest in valiant fight, Quelling all the devil’s might, Manifest in gracious will, Ever bringing good from ill. He has been manifested as the one who came to preach the good news of salvation, to point us to His perfect life of love in our place and His innocent death as our substitute. He came to point us by His word to His resurrection as our brother, the first-fruits of them that sleep, that we might know His power and His promise to raise us also. He came to preach to us the comforting message of His forgiveness and His grace, that by faith we eagerly await the glories of heavenly splendor yet to come. That’s the Jesus you have come to know as your eternal savior through the waters of your Baptism. For He is the beloved Lord who loves you so much that He has prepared a place for you. All Praise to God for His preaching and for a healing that last for eternity, salvation. In Jesus Name, Amen!

The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen