THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God

Part II: The Perfect Service Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 1:1-10:52

D. Christ's Withdrawal From A Humanly Appealing Ministry To Serve In God's Will

(Mark 1:29-39)

I. Introduction

A. As we learned in our first lesson in this series, Mark's Gospel presents the perfect service of God's Perfect Servant, Jesus, with Mark's focus of having rebounded unto upright Christian service from personal failure.

B. At times such failure arises from becoming obsessed with a humanly attractive but unbiblical direction in ministry, and Mark 1:29-39 reports how Christ Himself overcome this lure. We view it for our edification:

II. Christ's Withdrawal From A Humanly Appealing Ministry To Serve In God's Will, Mark 1:29-39.

A. When Jesus began His ministry at Capernaum, it quickly became a humanly appealing ministry, Mk. 1:29-34:

1. As soon (euthus, "immediately," Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 321; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 122) as Jesus and His disciples left the synagogue where He had exorcised a demon and He taught with authority, all to the amazement of the crowd (Mark 1:21-28), He and His disciples entered the house of Simon and Andrew where Simon's mother-in-law lay sick of a fever, Mk. 1:29-30.

2. Jesus was there "promptly (euthus) told that Simon's mother-in-law was lying in bed . . . with a fever" (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 110; Mark 1:30b), so He felt compassion on her, He came and took hold of her hand and lifted her up, Mark 1:31a. The fever left her so completely and quickly, her strength was immediately restored that she started "to serve (diekonei, imperfect tense) her guests," Ibid.; Mark 1:31b.

3. News that Jesus spoke with authority (Mark 1:22), that He could successfully command demons to come out of men (Mark 1:27) and that He could also instantly restore the sick to full health (Mark 1:30-31) quickly spread, and when the sun set, many brought Him all their diseased and demon-possessed, and the city was gathered at the door to observe Jesus' healings, Mark 1:32-33. Christ healed many with various diseases and cast out many demons, not permitting the demons to speak as they knew Him, Mark 1:34. His not letting them speak revealed His authority over them, authenticating His message, Ibid.

B. However, Jesus withdrew from that humanly appealing ministry to serve the Father in His will, Mark 1:35-39:

1. Though Christ had been up late into the evening the previous night in a busy ministry with many people, early the next day before daylight, He got up and left for a solitary place and there He prayed, Mark 1:35.

2. Mark's Gospel selectively presents Jesus at prayer in the setting of loneliness and darkness, here in Mark 1:35, then in Mark 6:46 after the feeding of the five thousand and again in Mark 14:32-42 in Gethsemanee, and each time He faced "the possibility of achieving His messianic mission in a more attractive, less costly way. But in each case He gained strength through prayer," Ibid. (cf. Mark 14:38)

3. In this case, the temptation was to take advantage of the huge local response of the people of Capernaum and just stay there, ministering in great popularity and acceptance when the Father willed that Jesus go to "all the lost sheep of the house of Israel," the entire nation of Israel, cf. Mark 1:38 with Matthew 10:5-6.

4. This calling for Jesus was not understood by the disciples and the people of the town, so the disciples followed after Jesus until they found him and complained, "All men seek for thee," Mark 1:36-37 KJV. This expression "implied some annoyance because they thought Jesus was failing to capitalize on some excellent opportunities in Capernaum," Ibid.

5. Christ replied that the Father's ministry assignment included His going into the other towns of Israel, not just Capernaum, so He directed them to follow Him into those towns to fulfill God's will, Mark 1:38.

6. Thus, to obey the Father, Jesus took His disciples with Him away from the humanly appealing ministry of Capernaum to preach in all the synagogues throughout all Galilee, and to exorcise demons, Mark 1:39.

Lesson: In obedience to His ministry calling from God the Father, Jesus began to minister in a quickly developing, humanly appealing ministry in Capernaum only to leave it to minister in other cities, looking to the Father in prayer to handle the temptation to yield to that which was humanly appealing over the Father's will.

Application: (1) May we believe in Jesus as the true Messiah from God, John 3:16; Mark 1:15. (2) May we like Him by prayer for God's help put obedience to God's will for life and ministry above what is humanly appealing. (3) After a busy time of extensive spiritual service, may we like Jesus go apart to pray and read God's Word for our own nurture, a necessary practice to avoid "burn-out," cf. Mark 6:31.