Staying on Track
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Mark 1:29-39
The New Testament in a Year sermon series
Rev. Brian North, Westminster Presbyterian, Chehalis, WA
October 16th, 2011
So this morning we continue in our sermon series going through the New Testament in a year. I hope you’re taking this opportunity to read through the New Testament in a year along with me and others in the church. In fact, how many of you are working on reading the NT in a year? Good, a number of you are. For those who aren’t: It’s not too late to start! Can still get 25 of 26 books of the NT if you jump in with Mark 1 and 2 today…or even read the Gospel of Matthew when you get home. Then you can follow along with the 5 chapters a week, which are listed each Sunday in the What’s Happening, and each day I put a reminder up on our WPC Facebook page as well.
You know: So often in life it’s easy to get distracted from what’s important. This can happen for a variety of reasons, some of them are good, some of them are not so good. For instance, if you have a job, that’s an important thing in life. Having an income is needed. But if it gains too much of a foothold in your life and gets in the way of our relationships – with God, with our spouse, kids, friends, and so forth, then that needs to be sorted out. And at times like that, it’s important to get back on track with our calling in life, with what really matters.
And in this morning’s passage we see Jesus get centered on what He’s here to do as well. He reaffirms his mission, and gets himself on track with it, and I think it’s instructive for us as well. (First service: Pray here.)
So I invite you to follow along in your Bibles or grab a pew Bible and follow along there…Mark 1:29-39, p. 35 in the pew Bibles. This is God’s Word to you and me this morning…
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured 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.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Just a quick couple of historical background things that I think might help us to better understand the setting and what’s going on. First, as you read Mark each day for the next couple weeks, you’ll see that he’s very fond of saying “immediately” or “as soon as” as it’s translated this morning. Sometimes that’s just his literary device to transition things along, and as a result, Mark’s gospel really moves at a fast pace. But in this case, it probably was true that as soon as they left the synagogue, they went to Peter’s house. Archaeological evidence in Capernaum shows houses right up against the synagogue, and at least in one case, even so close as to be touching the synagogue.1
The second thing is that in their day, a high fever could be deadly. We certainly have cause for concern when someone’s temperature rises, but we’re usually able to treat it with medications and other treatments. In their day, an infection, or a flu, or some other medical concern that would cause a fever could easily lead to death. So this was not something to be taken lightly, and it’s why they told Jesus about her condition right away.
Now, Jesus had been in the synagogue just prior to this. It was the Sabbath day and He was teaching and preaching, and even cured a man who was demon-possessed. He then goes to the home of Simon – who later became known as Peter, which is how I’ll refer to him this morning – and Andrew, his brother, lives there as well, along with Peter’s mother-in-law. This kind of extend family living situation was pretty typical. Homes were different then…not so private. 3 or 4 homes would be connected together by sharing a common courtyard, and would often be thought of as “one house”.
The upshot of all of this – from his teaching and healing in the synagogue earlier in the day to this event in the home – is that in the evening, once the sun had gone down and the Sabbath day was over: People from the village showed up at the house with their friends and relatives for Jesus to heal them. And so we see that Jesus is an instant celebrity in Capernaum. His ministry is a huge success by whatever standard of measuring you want to use. People are healed, they’re transformed, the people comment in the synagogue about how he teaches with authority unlike other teachers, tons of people are showing up…so whether you’re measuring quality or quantity, either way, he’s a huge success.
And this brings about a crisis of sorts for Jesus. Maybe the crisis was a temptation to be famous. That kind of thing can certainly get to us. When I decided to coach Blakely’s soccer team, I was tempted to have visions of grandeur: winning lots of games, the boys progressing so amazingly in their skills that parents would be amazed, W.F. West asking me to coach their varsity soccer games, then the Sounders calling…but then reality hit, and we lost our first 8 games of the season. We finally won one on Thursday, and so I told the parents I was retiring as coach. Now, I didn’t actually think any of that other stuff would happen…but we can get distracted by those kinds of things. And Jesus has success that is off the charts, and maybe there was a temptation to give into that success and all the fame and praise that came with it.
Or maybe the temptation was to keep expanding on this healing ministry not because of the fame, but because of the impact on people’s lives. I mean, let’s be honest: Helping people with their physical ailments is a noble calling and something that’s sorely needed. And he was really good at doing that. And who would have blamed him for making that his life mission and purpose? But as we’ll see, he realized that wasn’t his primary calling and mission in life.
And so in the face of great need in the community, and the fame that was coming to him as a result of meeting that need, Jesus takes time away from the pressures of life to get himself centered on his Heavenly Father’s mission for him. And if Jesus needed quite prayer time with his Heavenly Father, then for sure we do too. Prayer is a great mystery in a lot of ways. People have studied prayer, tried to analyze it like a scientific experiment, and so forth. But prayer isn’t something that can be put into a box like that. And I think oftentimes we misunderstand prayer. We think it’s us telling God what we want, or what we want him to do…and we kind of expect him to do it then. The problem with that attitude toward prayer is that it puts us in the position of God. We think we know what’s best, we think we see the whole picture from the beginning of time to the end, from one end of the universe to the other, from our own birth to our own death, and everyone else’s too…but only God can see all of that. We don’t know what’s best: God does. And so prayer can never be about us telling God what to do, but rather we place our lives in God’s hands through prayer.
But we also see in this that prayer is about getting ourselves on track with God’s will, and being encouraged in following that will. In writing about Jesus’ time of prayer in this passage, William Barclay, the great Scottish pastor and theologian, writes, “Prayer will never do our work for us; what it will do is to strengthen us for the tasks which must be done” (William Barclay).2
And that is exactly what happens to Jesus here. We see that prayer strengthens Jesus. He is reminded of his mission. He gets on track with his mission. We know that because the disciples hunt him down and let him know that “everyone is looking for [him].” The onslaught is beginning again with the new day. Yesterday was a ministry slam dunk and it’s time for another, because there are people to take care of, there are opportunities for more miracles, more fame, and so forth. And so there’s pressure from his disciples and the whole community to do it all over again, just like yesterday.
But Jesus says, “Let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also. That is why I have come” (Mark 1:38). I don’t know about you, but that’s not the answer I would expect when reading this. After all the great stuff that happened, all the people impacted by new physical and mental health, I would think Jesus would say, “Awesome! Let’s get to work.” But he doesn’t, because that is not why he came. All that stuff is related to why he came. It’s a part of his broader ministry. It’s an indicator of who he is. But it’s not his primary mission. It’s not the reason he came.
The only thing that happened between the end of the previous day, and the disciples coming to him saying that everyone was looking for him was that he prayed. Well, he got a night of sleep, presumably, as well. But the place where his Heavenly Father reminded him of his purpose was in that time of solitude, quiet, and prayer. It was there that Jesus was convicted by the Holy Spirit that while the ministry of the previous day was amazing, it’s not as amazing as living into the true mission that God has planned for him. The reason He came is that He came to preach. He didn’t preach about just anything; He had a particular message he preached – He preached a message of Good News, always pointing people to Himself, His Heavenly Father, and his Heavenly Kingdom. He preached a message of forgiveness and repentance and peace with God through a relationship with Himself. That is why he came. Everything else – including miraculous healings – supports that mission, and to get the supporting things confused with the main things would prevent him from accomplishing his mission. The main thing has to stay the main thing for Jesus…and for us too.
And so the question remains: How do we live this out? Are we taking time for prayer? Are we spending time listening to God? I want to encourage you right now, let this morning’s passage to lead you to a regular time spent with the Lord, and staying on track with His plans and purpose for your life. Because every single one of us has all kinds of people and things wanting our attention, just as Jesus did. And if he needed time to get centered – and he does this throughout the Scriptures, it’s not a one-time thing for him – then so do we.
And for some of us, maybe we need to sit down and have an honest conversation with God about why we’re here on earth. Maybe you don’t have a sense of the mission and purpose that God has given you. If someone were to ask you, “Why are you here on planet earth?”…Do you know what your response would be, and is that purpose guided by Scripture and the Holy Spirit? Someone once said that they exist “To know God and to make him known.” That’s a good, Biblical mission statement. Jesus’ mission statement, which he gives a little more verbiage to elsewhere, is to “preach the good news” which he defines elsewhere as “seeking and saving the lost.” If Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him, then our own personal mission in life ought to reflect Jesus’ mission. Our lives, collectively and individually, can preach Christ: his life, death, and resurrection. That is the great opportunity that we who follow Jesus have.
I want to encourage each of us to follow Jesus’ example, and get in tune with God’s purpose for ourselves. If you know, like Jesus, what your purpose is, then ask yourself if you’re living that out. As God to help you get on track if you’ve gotten distracted, and to stay on track if you already are. And then, do like Jesus does, and live it out. There are tons of great things to do, but if we try to do them all, we won’t live out the mission that he has for each of us individually, or collectively as a church. Not even Jesus could do it all. And so he stayed true to the calling on his life. Let’s do the same thing in ours. Let’s pray…Amen.
