The Power of Jesus

Mark 1:29-39

            “29 ¶  And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to Jesus about her. 31  And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them. 32  When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. 33  And the whole city had gathered at the door. 34  And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. 35  In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. 36  Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37  they found Him, and *said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You." 38  He *said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for." 39  And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”

            I really don’t have a title for this lesson but we will seen in this lesson the power of Jesus to overcome diseases and we will discuss the reasons that He healed those that He healed while here on earth.  John MacArthur calls this section “Kingdom Power,” and that is surely a good title for this section if one needs a title.

            We need to remember that Mark’s Gospel is different in the other four gospels in that it begins at a different point in the life of Jesus and the audience is different than those of the other gospels, as Mark is writing to Romans.  We have discovered that Mark was living in Rome and may have even lived with Peter, and it is from Peter that Mark gets a lot of his information in order to write this gospel.  We have learned that Mark writes in a fast pace way and uses the word immediately in his writing many times to show this fast pace style.  His audience would not want to know about the birth and beginnings of Jesus here on earth, but Mark wanted to convey to them that Jesus is the Son of God and he does it in a way that shows Jesus as a servant. 

            Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan, and then He preached the good news of the gospel, which will overcome sin, and then He called four disciples showing that He can overcome sinners in order to teach them how to follow Him and then be able to leave them on their own whenever He goes back to the Father.  However they will not truly be on their own for Jesus will leave the Holy Spirit with them in order to continue to lead them and to tell others about how the Lord saves.

            If Mark’s audience is to believe that Jesus is who He claims to be Mark will show them that Jesus is able to overcome physical illnesses as well as overcoming the spiritual issues that we learned in the last lesson when Jesus rebuked a demon that was in a man at the synagogue where Jesus was teaching.  We will not pick up the story after Jesus leaves the synagogue, which may have been around noon.

            Verse 29: “And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.” 

            We see here that after Jesus ended his message at the synagogue that He along with Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John went to the house of Peter and Andrew.  Now we know that this could not have been too far from the synagogue because the Law states how far one can walk on the Sabbath.  In  his message on this section John MacArthur said that he had been to Peter’s house and there was great evidence to show that it really was the house that Peter lived in along with his wife, his wife’s mother, and also his brother Andrew.  They moved from another town that was on the lake to Capernaum and it was probably because of their business. The town that they moved from was Bethsaida.

            Verse 30:  “30  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to Jesus about her.”

            We see in this verse that Peter was actually married for his mother-in-law had a fever and was unable to get out of bed.  Paul speaks of Peter being married in 1Cor. 9:5 “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” 

            We see that Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever and this was something that could have caused her death in that day and age so it was a very serious matter her have a fever.  The text then says that immediately Jesus was told about this situation.  The disciples knew that Jesus had the power to overcome a demon in a person and now they wanted Him to heal Peter’s mother-in-law.

            Verse 31:  “31  And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them.”

            We read in the account of Luke “And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them (Luke 4:39).  Rebuking a fever is something that Jesus did in order to heal Peter’s mother-in-law and that is amazing to be able to do that.  We read in the OT prophet Isaiah that Jesus would heal people:  “4  Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you."  5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. Isa. 35:4-6.  This is one of the reasons that Jesus healed people while He was on earth to fulfill the prophecies about Him that were written in the OT.  Jesus had compassion on the people and that is another reason why He healed them.  We can see that some of those Jesus healed came to know Him as their Savior and Lord and that is another reason He healed people while on the earth.

            When I was a very young Christian the subject of healing came was something that I thought about and so the man that was my mentor after I became a believer for the first four years told me something that I have never forgot.  He said “God heals you every time except the last time.”  I want you to notice that after the healing that Peter’s mother-in-law immediately got up and fixed a meal for those in the house at that time.  First it was a different time than we live in and so preparing a meal was a great deal different and a great deal harder.  Second we so no effects of the fever after Jesus healed this woman.  If you ever had a fever, and most of us have, the you know that you are weak after the fever leaves you and you need time to get your strength back, but not for this woman as she got up and had no ill effects of the fever.         

Verse 32:  “32  When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.”

The question that comes up here is why did these people wait until after the sun went down?  And of course the answer is that it was the Sabbath and after the sun went down it was no longer the Sabbath. These people could hardly wait until the sun set in order to bring their family and friends to Jesus.

Verses 33-34:  “33  And the whole city had gathered at the door. 34  And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.”

We see at sundown the “whole city gathered at the door” and this of course was the door of Peter’s house. We see that Jesus healed all who came whether or not they were ill or had a demon in them.  In Mark’s account we do not see the word “all” but many, but in Luke’s account we see the word “all” and so what is meant here is that Jesus healed all who came and that there were many who came.

Verse 35:  “35  In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

We must assume that Jesus did not get a full eight hours sleep that night and probably he didn’t get eight hours sleep on many occasions after He began His ministry on earth.  Being fully God and fully man Jesus still had to get sleep in order to function.  But we see here that He also had to pray to His Father in order to function too, and this was more important than sleep for Jesus.  Jesus praying is seen many times in the gospels and what a wonder example for us today to see that and to incorporate it into our walk with the Lord. 

Verses 36-37:  “36  Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37  they found Him, and *said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You.”

What is seen here is something that will be seen at different times throughout the life of Jesus while on earth and that is that the disciples will have a different agenda for Jesus than Jesus had after all Jesus had just been praying to His Father and probably praying about what He was going to do this day and so that is what He will do and not what His disciples wanted Him to do on that particular day.

Verse 38:  “38  He *said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.’”

Jesus said that he had other places to go and others to talk to.  We said in the last lesson on Mark that someone has said that God only had One Son and He was a Preacher and we see here that this is why Jesus came to do.

Verse 39:  “39  And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”

We see in this verse that Jesus did do what He came to do and this verse is probably talking about many weeks or even months to fulfill, that of Jesus going around to other towns and into their synagogues doing what we just saw Him do.

We can take many different things from this section in the life of Jesus while on planet earth, but praying and telling others about Christ is on the top of my list.  Praying and then telling others is a good way to do it.