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*Jesus' Power Over Suffering and Need*
*December 5, 1999 Gospel of Mark*
* *
*C.
His Power over Suffering and Need*
It is not only sin and the evil forces that entice sin that hold us in the bondage of fear.
It is also the effects of sin and evil that causes sickness, disease, paralysis, and hunger.
There is much human suffering, if not directly from our own sins, then from living in a fallen world subject to the curse of sin.
Jesus ministers in power to these needs as well, lifting us up from our fallenness and helping us to see the provision of total healing in him.
* 1. His Ministry of Healing from Sickness *(1:29-31)
As soon as Jesus left his first speaking engagement in the synagogue at Capernaum, Mark records Jesus’ first healing miracle (1:29-31).
It just happened to be the mother-in-law of Simon, one of Jesus’ first disciples.
He cares first for his own.
They went to the home of Simon and Andrew for the Sabbath meal, but this woman of the house who would serve them was ill with a fever.
A fever was viewed as an illness in itself.
Jesus in willing compassion went to her, helped her up, and the fever left.
We see that because she immediately began to serve them that her healing was complete.
Aside from his compassion on her, the purpose of her healing was to be able to serve.
Our response is to serve Jesus who has this divine touch and power.
Coming to Jesus we should not fear the sickness or the disability it causes.
He enables our service and gives us purpose.
He helps us up.
His fame as a healer spread quickly because that evening (1:32-34) many more gather at the door for healing from all kinds of diseases.
* 2. His Ministry of Healing from Disease *(1:40-45)
The press of human need was so strong that Jesus went away to pray.
He felt that he must minister to a wider audience and went on into Galilee where a leper came to him begging to be made clean if Jesus was willing (1:40-45).
A disease was more serious than a sickness because it had an identifiable course leading to a certain end, usually fatal and often debilitating.
This disease in particular was feared all the more because it carried a social stigma that seemed to be even worse than the disease itself.
It is like being found unacceptable.
It is indicative of the uncleanness we find ourselves in before God.
The leper was like a living corpse.
Its cure would be viewed like raising the dead.
The leper came with the right attitude in humility on his knees, leaving the choice of healing to Jesus.
There are times when God may not choose to heal.
But Jesus is filled with compassion and willingness and touches the untouchable.
He pronounces him clean because he is now cured and tells him to go to the priest as a testimony.
The reason for this is that the priest has no power to heal, only to pronounce clean or unclean.
It will be observed by the priest that Jesus has the power of God not only to pronounce cleanness but to effect the healing that makes cleanness possible.
There is no human disease or condition beyond hope in Jesus’ power.
Jesus tells the leper to not tell anyone else.
Jesus does not desire this kind of publicity yet, but he does require our devotion and urges respect for the law.
The first place of our testimony should be in our place of worship.
And when we stay close to God in worship, we need never fear uncleanness again.
But the leper did not do as Jesus said.
He talked freely to others.
Even though Jesus stayed out in lonely places, people came to him from everywhere because they had found a healer.
He did not desire to be a celebrity healer, but he was a soul healer because he had power to deliver from fear of every human need, including disease.
* 3. His Ministry of Healing from Paralysis *(2:1-12)
Another level of human suffering is paralysis.
It is extremely frustrating because the mind can plan action but the body cannot carry it out.
Fear itself can be paralyzing.
Back in Capernaum (2:1-12) at Simon’s house, Jesus is preaching to a sell-out crowd.
Four men wanted to bring their paralytic friend for healing.
They couldn’t deal with the crowd so they used resourcefulness in raising up a hole in the roof and lowering him down in front of Jesus.
Sometimes no matter how much we want to be healed we cannot help ourselves.
Others must stand in the gap for us in coming to Jesus.
And he himself stands in the gap for us before God.
Jesus equated their resourcefulness with faith.
It makes us ask how much we really want to be healed.
Jesus equates this man’s paralysis with sin for a divine teaching moment, pronounces him forgiven, and tells him to take up his mat and walk home.
The roof is again raised in praise.
Jesus has power over every infirmity.
We see here that true faith will gain an audience.
It will not be disappointed.
Where are we in the crowd that comes to Jesus?
Are we on the fringe or will we come as close as we can get?
Like those who sat in judgment on his forgiveness of sin, are we smug and self-satisfied?
Or are we one of those who helps another into his presence?
Maybe one day we will be one who dangles on the rope entirely dependent upon his healing and deliverance.
There is no need to fear.
Jesus won’t drop you – just lift you up and help you walk in forgiveness of sins.
* 4. His Ministry of Healing from Physical Affliction *(5:25-34)
Human suffering need not be just that which is debilitating.
It can be that thorn in the flesh that hinders us even if it doesn’t stop us.
Such is the case of the woman with bleeding for twelve years (5:25-34).
This woman had a female problem that no doctor could cure and it took all her resources to find this out.
She too was at the end of her rope because she only got worse.
We can imagine her embarrassment to the point we can understand that she didn’t want to tell Jesus her problem but only sneak up on him to touch his cloak in the crowd.
Her faith drew healing power from him and she was healed.
Her problem was so severe that she immediately knew she had stopped bleeding.
But no one sneaks up on Jesus.
The disciples were amazed that Jesus knew someone had touched him.
We can touch him or he can touch us, either way faith heals.
He is not ashamed of our bodies or our problems.
He is a true doctor.
He freely heals.
But he wants to emotionally touch this woman who had faith that she might know better the source of her faith.
It has its effect and she falls at his feet in fear that she has somehow stolen this healing, and she is still embarrassed by her problem.
She tells him the whole truth as it should be and finds the rest of her healing that she would have missed except that Jesus heals completely.
He delivers from every fear.
She goes in peace.
* 5. His Ministry of Providing for Daily Needs *(6:30-44)
The disciples had just returned from the commission that Jesus had sent them on to preach and to heal (6:7-13).
On that mission they were to be entirely dependent upon God’s supply.
Now they return to Jesus to report but the crowds are so pressing that they withdraw by boat to a quiet place (6:30-44).
But it isn’t quiet for long since the crowds find them.
Jesus has compassion on them and teaches them and it gets late in the day with no food to be had.
The disciples are concerned for the people so Jesus tells them to deal with it.
This is a teaching moment for them because they will soon discover that the same Jesus who sent them out to preach in dependence upon God is the same God they can depend upon now.
So at Jesus’ instruction they gather the five loaves and two fish they can find.
Jesus gives thanks to God and there is a divine multiplication to feed 5,000 to satisfaction with leftovers men (women and children would significantly increase this number).
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