:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

Continuing my series of meditations on the Gospel of Mark…

After receiving a clear commissioning from God and an empowering from the Holy Spirit that identified him as God’s Son, Jesus prevailed over temptation in the wilderness and called several disciples to join him. As he began to preach that the Kingdom of God was near, he also took actions that demonstrated its presence.

In the first scenario, we learn that Jesus became a regular teacher at the synagogue in Capernaum. He astounds his audience because of his authority, which we can trace back to God’s acknowledgement of his place and to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. It is worth nothing that Jesus begins to teach so powerfully after spending time in the wilderness.

We wouldn’t expect a demon-possessed man in our churches today, but on one particular Sabbath such a man interrupted the meeting. Jesus demonstrated that his authority and the Kingdom of God’s power extends even to the demons. Rather than let the demon say more about who he is, Jesus silenced the demon and cast him out. Jesus carefully protected his identity at this point in his ministry because he surely knew that names and titles and words can take on different meanings, and he certainly did not want to associate himself with the popular notion of a Messiah.

Later that day Jesus went to Peter’s home and it seems they wasted no time telling him about Peter’s mother-in-law. It seems the exorcism left an impression on them and so Jesus healed her after they mentioned her ailment. After being healed by Jesus she rose and began to serve others.

Between the healing of this woman and the demon-possessed man, word spread through the village that the authoritative teacher also had power to heal others. Mark foreshadows the conflicts to come by mentioning that the people came to Peter’s home at sundown, revealing the belief that healings should not happen on the Sabbath. Jesus also showed that he wasn’t concerned about healing anyone on the Sabbath.

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God took on new dimensions as Jesus healed many people in the village of Capernaum. As Jesus healed those with diseases, there were many who came to watch him at work. Rather than let these many onlookers learn about the coming of the Messiah from the demons, Jesus silenced the demons. My guess is that he wanted them to see his actions and then figure things out for themselves, much like his statement to John the Baptist about recognizing the Messiah.

Keep in mind that Jesus could have built an incredible ministry at this point in Capernaum. The whole village respected his authority and revered his miracles. We don’t know how late he stayed up healing people, but Jesus rose early the next morning to recharge with God in a lonely place. I know I would have been tempted to bask in the success of my ministry, but Jesus, the Son of God, felt the need to pull back at the height of his popularity. In fact, he even pulled out.

Jesus overturned our conventional wisdom by moving out at the height of his popularity to preach and to cast out demons in other villages. He made it clear that he had come to preach to many. He moved on to preach throughout the rest of Galilee, which was still considered by many at that time an obscure backwater.

With so much healing going on, a leper begged Jesus to heal him too. He knew Jesus had the power, but he didn’t know if Jesus would be willing to extend his power to him. Jesus was moved with pity and immediately healed the man. However, Jesus was aware of how fast his popularity spread and didn’t want this particular healing to spread too far.

In making an unclean person clean by touching him, Jesus did something incredible. Instead of defiling himself, Jesus brought restoration and wholeness. Nothing like that had been done before, and after the man ignored Jesus’ command to keep it between himself and the priest and told everyone about this miraculous work that took the people outside the bounds of the Jewish Law, everyone wanted to see Jesus. Rather than embrace this popularity, Jesus made himself more difficult to find, working hard to draw only authentic followers who understood who he was, embraced how he worked, and counted the cost of following him.

In this passage we see Jesus at work extending the power and authority of the Kingdom to others. Some embrace it and even share its benefits with others, though others aren’t quite sure of what to make of it. They impose their own limits on it, watch without commitment, or consider themselves unworthy even if God is able to help them.

Mark has shown us what it looks like for Jesus to act and the scope of his mission, but how we react to it can make a tremendous difference. Are we willing to bring others to Jesus, believing he can help, that he is willing to help, and that he will answer our prayers? Are we willing to do the same for ourselves?