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.
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