Mark 1:29-39
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 together 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.
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.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, February 4, comes from Mark chapter one, verses 29 through 39. 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 together 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. 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 are with him, search 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, they're also for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons, here, hence the reading. So there are a couple of stories that are happening in this reading. It begins with a story of Simon's mother in law. Now Simon is also known as Peter. So they leave the synagogue and they go to Simon's house with Andrew, and James, and John. And Simon's mother in law was sick with a fever. And it says, and immediately they told him about her. And love, John of the gospel of Mark has lots of immediately, and immediately he left the synagogue, and immediately they told him about her. And so what Jesus does, he comes and he took her, took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and she was healed. I love it. And what's the response of a healing from Jesus? Service, Jesus heals the woman, and she begins to serve them. Isn't that how it works? God comes to us to give us healing, and then sends us through service. So the next story is what Jesus does in that town. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who are sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And they would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. Now, of course, if you didn't have modern medicine, and somebody who was there who could miraculously heal, we would all line up, wouldn't we? I think even with modern medicine, we probably would, all the all the people who have sores on their legs that just won't heal all the diabetes stuff that does terrible things to your feet, all of the long term illnesses that just won't go away. Yeah, I'd line up to, maybe he could get rid of my epilepsy. But it was more than that. He also casts out demons, and he wouldn't allow them to speak because they knew him. Now, the demons and the diseases all have something in common. They're oppressing people, there are people who are feeling the weight of the sinful world, whether it's the kingdom of Satan coming in with demons, or the results of a world that is filled with sin that brings disease to people. And that's just weighing down on them. And Jesus, the Son of God comes to bring the kingdom of God by driving away the sickness and the demons. And he doesn't allow the demons to speak, which often confuses people, like if the demons know who he is, why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't Jesus want them saying you are the Son of God? Well, cuz they're demons, silly. Who's gonna take the word of a demon? Now, even if they are testifying the right thing, you don't want them on your side. And so he does not let them to speak. He lets his actions speak for him, casting out demons and healing the sick. Now in the next moment, he goes to bed and then he rises early in the morning while it is still dark, and he departed and went out to the desolate place and there he said, he prayed. So we see Jesus over and over again goes out to pray. He takes the time to pray to his father. Jesus is the prayer perfect human being. And even though he's also the Son of God and divine himself, he fulfills the role of perfect humanity for us. Just like when he was baptized by John, he repented for us. And he didn't need to. But he did it perfectly for us because we can't. He also prays, even though perhaps maybe the Son of God, who was perfectly united with his father doesn't really need to pray, the humanity of Jesus to live as a perfect creature does. So that's what he does. Now, everyone wants to get round two of healing. And Peter goes out, Simon goes out and says, Everyone is looking for you. But Jesus says, Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach, they're also for that is why I came out. So Jesus was not there to set up a little mini healing kingdom in this one town. He goes out to all of the towns and everywhere he goes, he preaches, he heals and he casts out demons. Because his message and his job was not to set up a little healing kingdom and gather together a base of support out in any of the one towns, but to go to all the people of Israel and tell them that the kingdom of God is at hand, Repent and believe the gospel. And that's what he does. And his his travels, his journeys and his preaching end up leading him to the cross, where he finally relieves us of all of the oppression, not just casting out demons from town to town are healing the sick, but ending the power of death forever, where he dies and rises to give us life. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai