A new name

 

The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.  --Isaiah 62:2

I have gone by many names over the years.  When I was young, my parents called me "Rusty" because of my fiery red hair.  Although it was not my legal name, it was a name I answered to and became identified with.  Actually, "Rusty" was the second nickname I received, and it was chosen by my mother, who cringed every time a friend or acquaintance would approach her baby, tousle my hair, and say something like, "Hey , it's Booger Red".

As an aside, Booger Red was the nickname of professional cowboy Samuel Privett (1864-1924) who was known as the greatest bronc buster of his time.  The moniker was also applied to Tommy Nobis, a linebacker at the University of Texas from 1963 to 1965, and the first pick in the NFL draft in 1966 by the expansion Atlanta Falcons.  He played 11 years before being moved up into the front office of the Falcon organization.  Knowing that, it wasn't such an insult in the early 60s to be called "Booger Red", especially in the South.  But my mother hated it, and called me "Rusty" until I went off to college.

I've never really hated my given name, but I have always felt that it needed to be explained to people because it is so unusual.  If I ever have to spell it out for folks, I will often add the tag line, "It's a strange family name; I come from a strange family."  This sometimes evokes a chuckle, especially from other folks with unusual names.

There are names that I have been called, and some that I call myself, that I hate with a passion.  Names like "Idiot" and "Liar" are especially hurtful.  You may have been called by names like this, names that will never be seen on your drivers license or letterhead, but hurtful things you have been called that stay with you a long time.

In our Bible passage today, I will show you a man who people called many derogatory names, but whom Jesus called by a new name.  He was given a new purpose, a new mission, and a new legacy.

He (Jesus) went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.  And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow me."  And he rose and followed Him.  And as He (Jesus) reclined at table in his (Levi's) house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him.  And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, "Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

The names people called him

The name Levi means "Joined" or "In harmony with".  When Alphaeus and his wife had a baby boy, they chose "Levi" to signify that they, as husband and wife, had joined together in harmony to become Father and Mother.  They remembered their Jewish history, knowing that Levi was the third son of Jacob (Israel), from whom Moses and Aaron and all of the priestly line descended.  That was his given name.

Identity goes beyond a person's given name.  When you first meet someone and introductions are made, one of the first questions you may ask is, "What do you do?"  Identity is sometimes caught up in vocation.  Levi was known as a tax collector; that was his vocation.  To his fellow Jews, he was identified as a cheat, a thief, and one who betrayed the Jewish people.

You see, in the Roman empire, the Jews were identified as an oppressed people.  The Romans conquered more and more territory, and taxed the people heavily. When the Jewish economy was first established, tithes were collected instead of taxes, because the priests would handle most of the administrative duties in a Theocracy.  When the people clamored for a king, taxes were collected for military defense and kingdom expansion under Saul and David, and then for a new Temple and a huge palace for Solomon.  Having your taxes diverted to a foreign occupying force was both demeaning and degrading.  On top of that, for a Jew to collect those taxes was considered treasonous.  To counter the hatred among their countrymen, Jewish tax collectors would skim some of the proceeds for themselves.  Often, they would inflate the tax rates in order to line their pockets.  As a result, the tax collectors often lived lavishly, using their wealth to psychologically offset the shaming of their countrymen.

No wonder the Pharisees tried to shame Jesus by associating Him with tax collectors and other "sinners."  They knew that the tax collectors were traitors, cheats, and thieves.  These are the names they gave to Levi.

Names he called himself

I can only imagine what Levi must have thought of himself.  In the loneliness of the darkest night, Levi must have called himself much worse names than the slanders slung by his fellow Jews.  This is human nature. In the sound chamber of the human psyche, epithets thrown out by other people get magnified in our minds.  The meaning he gave to his own name may have been Levi, one that is joined in harmony with sinners.  Note the guest list in the dinner party he threw for Jesus.  All his friends were other tax collectors and "sinners."

When people are convicted of their sin, God uses this natural self loathing for His glory.  Notice how quickly Levi got up and walked away from the tax booth.  We have seen this before with the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John.  God had been working in their lives prior to their meeting Jesus, so that when He walked by and commanded that they follow Him, they were ready.  I'm not saying that these other men had low self esteem, or that any of them were involved in open sin before meeting Jesus.  However, God was working in their lives in such a way to make them respond, just as He had been working in the life of Levi so that at the right time, he would respond to Jesus calling.

Levi had been called a tax collector, a traitor, and a cheat.  Henceforth he would be known as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, and a leader in the church.  He would even be known as the author of one of the four Gospels.  Note here that it was Jesus who elevated the group, not the association with sinners that denigrated Jesus.  When the Pharisees called Him out for associating with openly sinful people, Jesus responded that it was they who needed repentance and forgiveness and healing.  Remember this when some scoffer tries to justify his own sin by saying that Jesus associated Himself with "sinners."  Jesus only ate with them, He did not become one of them; He called them to repent, to leave their life of sin and to follow Him.

Names Jesus called him

When this same story is recounted in the book of Matthew, it is the author who is identified as the tax collector whom Jesus called.  I have seen some liberal theologians who have tried to explain this away, saying that Levi the tax collector must have fallen away, as his name is not listed among the disciples.  They say that Matthew, who wrote the first gospel and is, in fact, listed as one of the disciples, must have substituted his own name into the story so as not to make Jesus look bad (having called someone who didn't or couldn't follow Him, calling into question Jesus' deity, His sovereignty, and His power to save--never mind that He called Judas, who would eventually fall away.)

I don't believe this for a minute.  Let me go on record here as one who believes in the veracity and authority of Scripture.  God's inerrant Word is foundational to faith and to true theology.  Therefore if Matthew says he was the tax collector called Levi, it means that Jesus gave him a new identity.  Where the name Levi means "joined in harmony with," the name Matthew means "gift of God."  Instead of his being joined in with sin and in harmony with sinners, he is now both a recipient of God's gift of grace and a gift to generations of Christians who have read his gospel.

The Bible has many stories of people who have changed their names after meeting Jesus.  We have already talked about Simon being called Peter in our study of Mark chapter one.  The persecutor of Christians called Saul (meaning "prayed for") met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and from that point forward was known as Paul (meaning "humble" or "small").  I think of Isaiah 65:15, "You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord God will put  you to death, but His servants He will call by another name."

Jesus gives us a new identity, a new purpose.  He changes the name we call ourselves, and gives us a new name (see Revelation 3:12).  For Levi, whom we know as Matthew, it meant a complete change of who he was into who God wanted him to be.  It's the same for us.

When People Don't Hear A Word You're Saying

 

I must listen to the gospel.  It tells me not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ the Son of  God has done for me.  --Martin Luther

Early in my father's pastoral career, a drunk man staggered down the center aisle in the middle of a church service.  Dad was associate pastor in a very large church in Denver.  The pastor there was preaching to a crowd that may have been over 1000 people (I don't recall for sure, as I was only 12 or 13 at the time--it was a very big church.)  The drunk climbed up the steps to the platform, put his elbow on the podium, and said, "Preacher, I need Jesus.  I've been baaaad!"

The pastor looked over to where my father was sitting, and motioned for him to come assist the inebriated gentleman outside.  Quickly, my dad took the fellow by the arm and ushered him out a side door.  The whole incident may have taken no more than 30 seconds, and the pastor went on with his sermon as if this kind of thing happened all the time.  It was like what might happen at a national political rally, when the President is on stage and an over-eager voter rushes the stage.  A secret-service agent quickly dispatches the interloper and the rally continues unabated.

Fast forward several years, and Dad is senior pastor at his own church.  On one particular Sunday, he is preaching to a crowd of about 300.  In the middle of a sermon, a woman sitting near the front of the auditorium is not feeling well.  She decides to slip out, but since she is seated near the center aisle, she decides to take that route to the back door.  Unfortunately, she is overcome before she reaches the back, and she faints. As it happens, this woman is the wife of the associate pastor in our church.  All eyes turn to the unfortunate woman lying in a heap in the middle of the church auditorium.

Trying to stay calm, Dad looks for the associate pastor, but he has rushed over to where his wife had collapsed, holding her hand and making sure she is not badly hut.  My father was desperately scanning the congregation for other options, someone whom he could signal that would help take the poor woman out of the sanctuary so that the sermon could continue.  Unfortunately all eyes are on her, so he cannot discreetly get anyone's attention.  In frustration, my dad says, "Can't anyone get her out of here?"

Now I'm sure that my father was not so crass and uncaring that he was trying to get rid of a major distraction without any concern for the people involved.  Of course he wanted the young woman attended to.  We found out later that she was pregnant and did not know it at the time.  The associate pastor and his wife had been trying to start a family for quite some time and had just about given up.  In that moment, however, there was a congregation assembled for corporate worship, and the one member who needed personal, one-on-one ministry would have been better served in a private setting, not in the center aisle of the First Baptist Church during the eleven o'clock service.  In retrospect, it probably could have been handled better if Dad had mirrored what Jesus did In Mark 2:1-12.

And when He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home.  And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.  And He was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak like that?  He is blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic--"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home."  And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 The Preaching

Jesus always had crowds around Him.  Wherever He went, people would gather around Him, hopeful that He could somehow meet their individual needs.  With so much attention being drawn to Him, the religious leaders--the Scribes and Pharisees--also took an interest.  They followed as well, not so much to have Him meet their needs, but to see whether His message conformed to their ideas of orthodoxy.

Despite all these distractions, Jesus never passed up an opportunity to preach the Gospel.  Wherever crowds gathered, Jesus tried to teach them.  Never mind that they did not listen to Him.  Think about that for a minute:  in this account, Jesus was preaching the word of God to a crowd so large that there was no room in the building to even get near Him, but we do not hear about anyone receiving the message, listening to the words He spoke and applying it to their lives.  What we see instead are people intent on getting their own needs met, or in the case of the Scribes, questioning His motives and His methods, and not hearing His message.

How often do we see that in our churches today?  A sincere pastor who feels called by God to preach the word of God to the people stands in a pulpit, yet the people do not listen to a word he says.  Some may be there for show, like the business owner who wants to be seen in the community as a good, "church going" person in order to build their business.  Some may go out of habit or a sense of duty, but they are most often the ones looking at their watches and thinking of which restaurant they want to go to after service for Sunday dinner.  Some may even be there with evil intent, to cast judgment on those who are not there, or to try to catch the preacher in a lie.  Folks like this may want to gossip more than hear the gospel.  They may want to disparage the messenger rather than listen to the message.  A good pastor knows this about his congregation.  A great pastor will continue presenting the gospel anyway.

The way that Jesus handled the distractions was by getting to the heart of the distractors.

The Paralytic

We don't know much about the paralyzed man, other than the fact that he had four strong friends who were intent upon getting him to Jesus.  These five men were not necessarily religious fellows.  They had heard that this man Jesus was healing the sick, and they went to where Jesus was.  When the crowds blocked the doors, they climbed the roof and created their own access.

Imagine being in the room, listening to this amazing Teacher, who could heal the sick, sure, but whose words sounded like the words of God Himself.  Then you hear some rustling up above, and you can't help but look up.  Someone up there is removing a portion of the thatched roof.  You try to focus on what Jesus is saying, but debris from the roof starts falling down, maybe hitting some of the people on the head.  Jesus may have paused his sermon and looked up, too.  He may have paused, patiently waiting for the man to be lowered down to the ground.  Jesus looked at the man with compassion.  He had empathy for the paralytic, and intuitively knew the man's heart.

Jesus' first words were not, "Get him out of here."  It wasn't, "This is not a good time, come see me later.  Make an appointment with one of my staff, and I'll speak with you about your needs at that time."  No, Jesus immediately saw into the man's heart, and His words are telling:  "Your sins are forgiven."  I think it was more than forgiveness for being a major distraction in the worship service that day.  I also think it was more than forgiveness for destruction of property, since his friends had damaged the roof.  I think Jesus saw that this man had more needs than just physical healing.

It's sometimes hard for those of us who are able-bodied to imagine the depression and self-loathing that haunt the lame and disabled.  Maybe he had become paralyzed in an accident that he thought could have been avoided.  It may not have been a "here, hold my beer" moment of stupidity that caused his disability, but it's possible.  That would certainly have made the man think that he was responsible for his condition, that he was somehow at fault for his disability.  More likely, however, is the possibility that he was paralyzed through no fault of his own, but that the message he got from the able-bodied world was that somehow he had was being punished by God.  Well meaning people may have pounded into his head the message the God blesses those who do enough good, who have enough faith, or who give enough money.  Where did that leave people like him?  Were they not good enough?  Was God somehow angry at them?

For Jesus to say, "Your sins are forgiven" may have been such a relief to the man that he was overjoyed.  On the other hand, it may have confused him.  Surely his friends had not carried him all this way to have his sins forgiven.  That may be why he stayed on the floor while Jesus had the subsequent discussion with the Scribes about His authority to forgive sins.  In other words, the man did not know he was fully healed until Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed, and go home."  You see, Jesus meets every need of ours according to His riches in glory.  Titus 3:5-6 says, "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior."

It is not just our physical needs that are met by Jesus.  He is able to heal, yes, but also to forgive, so that we are no longer paralyzed by our sins and our past mistakes.  By His word and in His power we are able to rise, take up our pallet, and go.  God is not glorified in our lying paralyzed, but in our going, and in so doing, our giving glory to God.  That's why His atonement is complete, not just for our present life complete with its needs and hurdles, but also for our hope of heaven.

The Purpose

Jesus was able to look into the hearts of the scribes.  He knew their thoughts.  He knew that they were judging Him, calling Him blasphemous.  Not only was he reading their minds, but what He was about to tell them was going to blow their minds.

In telling them that He did indeed have authority to forgive sins, He referred to Himself as "the Son of Man."  Knowing that the Scribes were well versed in the Scripture, He knew that they would know that the phrase "Son of Man" was a reference to the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel.  When God spoke to Ezekiel directly in Ezekiel 2:1-7, He commissioned Ezekiel to bring the word of God to the people, whether they believed the message or not.

And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you."  And as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me.  And He said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me.  They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.  The descendants are also impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.'  And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.  And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions.  Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.  And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house."

I don't think that the reference was lost on them.  Jesus' message here was a scathing reprimand.  He was in essence telling them that He did not care whether they listened to Him or not, that He would preach God's word because that was His purpose.  Jesus calling Himself "Son of Man" was identifying Himself with one in whom the Spirit was living.  He was identifying Himself with one who had been sent to a rebellious people, impudent and stubborn.  He was also identifying the Scribes as the stubborn, impudent, rebellious people.  Jesus was also affirming that He would continue to preach the word of God whether they listened to him or not.

What distracts us from glorifying God?  What distracts us from hearing and preaching His word?  The demands of the world are many.  Headlines are not only distracting, but distressing.  Nevertheless, we should not give up on our purpose, our mission.  We should mirror what Jesus did all day long, and when we fall, we should get up again and continue to do what Jesus did all over again tomorrow.

When I got older, I asked my dad what happened to the drunk guy in that church in Denver.  Was he kicked to the curb?  Did dad give him a cup of coffee and dry to sober him up?  Did they call the cops and have the man arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace?  My father's answer showed me that he was trying to mirror Jesus.  He said, "I led him to the Lord."  Yes, the man needed to sober up.  Yes, he needed to not be a distraction in church.  His most basic need, however, was to know Christ and Him crucified. 

Protecting the Message

Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God, but believe in the sovereignty of man.                  --R.C. Sproul

Most people have seen the 1984 movie Karate Kid starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, a teenager who is ripped away from his friends and family and thrust into a new school full of cliques and bullies.  Throughout the film, our hero befriends a wise, old teacher (Pat Morito as Mr. Miyagi) who, though able to defend him, teaches Daniel to defend himself.  The protagonist falls in love, learns karate, and fights bullies.

In the 36 years since the movie debuted, there have been 3 sequels and one remake.  There has also been an alternate version put forth by a YouTube video (created and edited by J. Matthew Turner) that casts Daniel as the real villain of the film.  With some creative editing, this video portrays Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zabka) as the real hero.  Johnny, this version says, is a high school senior with a passion to atone for his past mistakes.  Daniel moves in on Ally, Johnny's former girlfriend whom Johnny is trying to win back.  After an initial violent confrontation at a beach party, Daniel is said to hold a grudge against Johnny's friends, provoking a fight at school.  Months later, Daniel is still harboring ill will toward Johnny, and initiates an unprovoked attack at a school function (the Halloween party).

I won't go any further, in case you want to look up the YouTube video yourself.  Suffice it to say that while the original movie remains popular, it is also summarily panned by critics, lambasted and lampooned by some, and re-imagined by people like J. Matthew Turner.  We are humans.  This is what we do.

I thought of this when I was studying today's passage from Mark chapter 1.  It seems that Jesus spent a lot of time trying to quiet people, to keep them from promoting His message and methods.  I don't think Jesus was necessarily trying to "protect His brand" like a big corporation of today, but He was trying to keep people from diluting His message of repentance into a cult of health and wealth.

Don't Let Demons Define You

We are still very early in the ministry of Jesus, but we can clearly see His sovereignty over sickness.  We also can see His command over the spirit world, and the submission of demons to the Son of God.

And immediately He left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told Him about her.  And He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening at sundown they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.  And the whole city was gathered at the door.  And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.  And He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him.  --Mark 1:29-34

 You will recall that Simon was one of the first people that Jesus had called to follow Him.  Simon Peter left his livelihood to follow Jesus, but a sick mother-in-law could have been a big distraction to him.  Peter had already demonstrated a great deal of faith, and he had seen Jesus heal other people.  It seems like a no-brainer to ask Jesus to heal his wife's mother.  However, human nature being what it is, Simon may have had to overcome some timidity.  Think about it.  How many times have you found it difficult to ask your friend or your boss for a favor?  We may have a need, and we might even know someone who is uniquely suited to meeting that need, but we still waffle.  What if they say no?  Who am I to even ask?

Jesus is a friend to sinners.  Jesus said, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."  Never be afraid to bring your requests to Jesus.  If it is within His sovereign will, He will grant us our requests.  It does not matter how big our faith is; it only matters how great our God is.  Jerry Bridges said, "Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God.  If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that He is able to answer our prayers.  Our prayers would become nothing more than wishes.  But while God's sovereignty, along with His wisdom and love, is the foundation of our trust in Him, prayer is the expression of that trust."  At the same time, do not think that God is some fairy godmother, some sacred Santa Claus whose only job is to do our bidding.  If it was God's will that Lazarus die, it was so that the Son could be glorified. Spurgeon said, "When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head."

I want to draw our attention to verse 31 in our text: when Jesus took her by the hand and raised her up so that the fever left her, what did she do?  She began to serve them.  When Jesus heals us, it is not for our glory, but for His.  We are called to serve Him, and to serve others for His glory.

Verse 32 says that the crowds started gathering at Simon's house around sunset.  This may have indicated that it was the Sabbath, and that Jewish law prohibited them from travelling earlier that day.  This demonstrates that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, but it might also indicate that Jesus was tired after a long day.  If He began the day teaching in the synagogue and healing many there, then going to Simon's house and healing Simon's MIL, by the end of the day Jesus may have been quite tired.  Word had spread from those who had been at the synagogue and seen Him heal many there, so these who crowded around the house that night may have been those who were not at the synagogue that morning.  Jesus is no respecter of persons, and healed some of them there, and cast out many demons.  Verse 34 says He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.  We have already discussed how people can distort a message; imagine how He would be portrayed if the demons spoke of Him.

Can't Let the Crowds Conform You to Their Purposes

We don't know how late it was when Jesus turned away the crowds and went to sleep.  We do know that He didn't get to heal them all, because of the next passage in our text.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.  And Simon and those who were with him searched for Him, and they found Him and said to Him, "Everyone is looking for you."  And He said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out."  And He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.  --Mark 1:35-39.

First I want to emphasize the need that Jesus had to pray, to spend time with the Father.  Even though He'd had a very tiring day on Saturday (the Sabbath), instead of sleeping late to restore His physical strength, He got up before sunrise to get away to a secluded spot for prayer.  If Jesus needed prayer, and made it a priority, how much more do you and I require that daily time alone with God?  When the crowds woke up Simon's household asking for Jesus, Jesus was not there; He was getting His spiritual needs met through prayer, spending time with God.  Jesus knew that even He could not meet the needs of others until His own needs were met.

Individual people, like Simon Peter, have very specific needs, like the healing of his wife's mother so they could be served by her and enjoy her company.  Crowds, on the other hand, have very general needs: food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare.  Here, hoards of people gathered in one place to get their healthcare needs met.  Word may have spread to other towns and villages by this time that here could be found a man who could do what no other doctor could do.  He could have set up a clinic in Simon's house and had people lined up for months to be healed by Him.  Fortunately, this was not His mission.  It is not why He came.  He is called the Great Physician, but that would not have made Him a Savior to all men.

My father was a pastor for 30 years, and most of his ministry was in Texas.  His first pastorate was in a small town in northeast Texas.  About 70 miles south in a town just east of Dallas is a state psychiatric hospital located in a town called Terrell.  The hospital was established in 1885 and was so well known in East Texas that whenever anyone would speak of going to Terrell, no matter what their business was there, it was assumed to have something to do with the psychiatric hospital, probably as a patient.  Well, in my dad's first little church, there was an elderly woman named Ruby, who would always speak her mind.  Ruby had no filter.  Anyway, one time my dad was trying to make a point, comparing Jesus with the current faith healers who always had "crusades" in which the sick and lame were invited to come to them, instead of their going to where the need was.  His sermon notes said that if he were to realize the gift of healing, he would not have people come to him, but instead would go to the Children's Hospital in Dallas, or to other major hospitals in the area, so that the gift could be shared with those who had no hope, who truly needed healing.  It was a powerful point.  However, when he started to make the point from the pulpit, he framed it as a rhetorical question: "If I woke up one day and discovered God had given me the gift of healing, do you know where I'd go?"  Before he could say another word, Ruby shouted out from the pew, "Terrell?"

It is not crazy to believe that if Jesus had stayed in that place, He would not have fulfilled His ministry.  Therefore He left, doubtless leaving many there without the healing that they sought.  He went from town to town in Galilee, and later to Jerusalem, because all people had needs, and not all of those needs were physical.  It was the sovereign will of God that Jesus leave Simon's house and move on.  It was the sovereign will of God that He not get distracted by the crowds, but that He speak to individual needs on a mass scale.  Remember the passage about the feeding of the five thousand?  After seeing Jesus divide the five loaves and two small fish to feed the multitude, they wanted to make Him king.  He is the only One who could ever truly promise "a chicken in every pot."  Thank God that our salvation is not found in politics.  The crowd is only interested in getting their physical needs met for a time, then afterward moving on to the next big thing, sometimes ridiculing the old source in the process.  Friend, if you follow the crowd to have your needs met, perhaps you should be committed to the state psychiatric hospital in Terrell.

Don't Be Distracted By the Dying, or Can't Let Compassion Keep You From Completing Your Commission

Jesus had compassion.  He was moved to tears at the funeral of Lazarus, and He shed even more tears over the spiritual state of Jerusalem (see Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34).  He was not without feeling, so when a man with leprosy (who would therefore be a social outcast--leprosy was the one disease that caused quarantining and social distancing at that time) came asking for help, Jesus had deep feelings for him and healed him.

And a leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, "If you will, you can make me clean."  Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, "I will, be clean."  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them."  But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.  --Mark 1:40-45

Here I want to emphasize that this man, whether knowingly or not, admitted to the sovereignty of God.  "If you will," he said, "you can make me clean."  This is a point missed by so many so called faith healers today.  Healing is not up to us, it is up to God.  If God chooses not to heal, it is by His wisdom and love that He allows sickness and pain.  It is the broken that God forgives who can best speak to broken people about God's work and His will.  If you reject God because he did not heal you or a loved one, then you would rather place yourself as sovereign over God than to humbly come in submission to Him.  He therefore cannot use you for His glory, and you will be cast away and burned like chaff.  God does not want you in His heaven if you reject Him here on this earth.

Next, when the leprosy left him, the man was given specific instructions.  First, he was to tell no one.  Jesus's notoriety was already getting out of hand, making it difficult to preach in the synagogues.  Second, he was to go and submit to a physical inspection by the priests.  In that culture, this was necessary before he could go home and be accepted back into society.  Without this step, he would have again been banished from society, and might have been stoned to death for not complying with the mandatory social distancing that lepers were required to do.  Third, he was to give the sacrifice required under Mosaic law.  Jesus was not asking him to radically change his religion.  Jesus Himself said he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.  Clearly, though, the man's religion had been dramatically changed.  He had not only become a Christian, but an evangelical, because he could not keep quiet about what had happened to him.

I do not believe Jesus faulted him for his zeal, but from that moment on He could not go to the synagogues without overwhelming crowds following Him.  He went to "desolate places" out in the wilderness.  Why?  I think maybe He knew people's hearts.  Mobs of people in the city would only bring discord and destruction.  The select few who did get their needs met would follow Him without thought of their physical needs, making Him responsible for their food, clothing, and shelter.  People who did not get their needs met may be disillusioned, discontent, and degraded; they may have started riots.  People who only came out of curiosity may have taken advantage of the riots, and started looting.  This is not a situation that honors God in any way, and something that Jesus wanted to avoid.

So we see that God is sovereign, and that Jesus, being God, is also sovereign.  We see that Jesus did not seek fame or fortune, but only to glorify the Father and to draw all men to Him.  We see that not all followed Him, but those that did sometimes had to go a long way out of their way to find Him.  Finally, we see that Jesus and His mission were not defined by people or politics, by spirits or synagogues, by lords or lepers, but by the Father Himself manifesting Himself in human form through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.