-2-
“Follow Me and I will make you to be Fishers of People”
Mark 1:16-45
-2-“He Leadeth me, O blessed thot!”John the Baptist is in prison. Why? For standing up for his convictions, for preaching his convictions in high places.
We should be so bold.
Matthew 14:3 For previously Herod had arrested John and had him bound and put in prison, all on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
4 For John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have this woman."
5 Herod wanted to kill him for this, but he was afraid of the people, since they all thought John was a prophet.
Most of Jesus ministry was in the north Galilee
Mark 1:16 As He was going along the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. According to Mark, the first 4 of Jesus’ disciples are fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people."
The disciples of Jesus literally followed Him for over three years. As we will see in Mark’s gospel, they would follow him geographically, and much more than that. They would observe and learn from Jesus in multiple situations. In that sense we can also follow Jesus from situation to situation and learn from Him how to be good fishers of people.
Some of the same principles will apply.
18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
They were ready. John had preached powerfully against sin and clearly had predicted and then pointed out the Messiah.
19 And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, who were also in the boat mending the nets.
20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went away to follow Him.
I don’t know if there is any significance in the fact Jesus called two sets of brothers. Perhaps the interpersonal conflicts that can happen between siblings would be faced by Jesus. As we share the gospel, most of the time we will reach a husband and a wife. As they have children and the children grow up in the church, now the church has in it a number of siblings. Several families of siblings. How will they get along? Jesus will address this in this Gospel.
21 They went into Capernaum;
Roughly, how far is Capernaum from the sea of Galilee? About six kilometers. By the way, Jesus spent most of His three year ministry here, visiting Judea and Jerusalem periodically. Capernaum would be known as HIs home town.
and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.
The First rule of fishing that we learn from Jesus, go to where the fish are. And are they biting? A synagogue would be a place with quite a few ‘fish’. And while He is here, He has one main message to get across. People need saving. The Saviour has to be sinless. He is that sinless Saviour, the Son of God. Jesus will attract the attention of the people, first by His teaching.
22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes. How could they tell the difference? The scribes would say, “We think this means …” And that is how they wrote in their commentaries. Jesus told it like it is. We can do the same. We have the authoritative word of God. We simply use it.
23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 saying, "What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!"
Satan can have his messengers in church. Maybe this was the first time such a thing happened. Satanic activity escalates when Jesus is around. Perhaps this fellow had attended synagogue for some time and people tried to ignore him. Or perhaps no one ever knew that he was possessed. We have to imagine how this man presented himself since the scripture does not elaborate.
How might it be known that this man has an unclean spirit? Of course everyone would know the moment the demons cry out. But before that, unless he had had periodic fits he might have appeared as a regular member of the synagogue.
If the man did in fact have periodic ‘fits’, how was this displayed? Would there have been a barrage of unclean words and language? There is quite a commotion as the demon comes out of the man, but that was only a one-time occurrence. The normal demonic expression may have been quite different. It might have taken the form of filthy talk and use of four letter words. Or perhaps this only happened on brief occasions and the man had no control over his tongue whatsoever. And even though present day ‘authorities’ have provided definitions, we just don’t know.
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"
26 After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him.
Casting out a demon would certainly attract attention. This action would support Jesus' claim that He was the Son of God. But Jesus will say a bit later on, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48 ) So it is essential that people recognize that Jesus is God before they can come for salvation. But Jesus is expressing disappointment with people who will not simply take His word by faith. But this is the way that the Son of God would make Himself known, through His words and by His actions.
And this is also the method that the early disciples learned from Jesus.
And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Mark 16:20
They preached. “God’s Son, the Messiah was here. He has been crucified for your sin. He has risen again. And He will return in judgment. So repent of your sin, ask for forgiveness. Confirm your belief that Jesus, God’s Son has died for you, was buried and has risen again, and you will be saved.”
The disciples would continue using the method that Jesus gave them throughout most of their lifetime. And then, at some point the message would change.
Regarding the future generations coming to know Him, He said, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20.29
For almost a couple of thousand years people have put their faith in Jesus … without seeing any special signs or miracles. So what do we base our belief on that the people of Jesus’ day could not? What we have now is the complete written New Testament. The people of Jesus’ day did not have that. They only had the spoken word, but ever since the written word has been available and as it became published more and more, at the same rate the special signs and wonders decreased. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
8 ¶ Love never fails. For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are "tongues" the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth.
9 For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete,
10 and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete. The Philips Translation
27 And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." The fish are biting.
28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.
29 And immediately after they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. It would appear that Jesus still only has four followers.
30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately 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 served them.
32 Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they [began] bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.
The healing of Peter’s mother in law was
News of the public miracle in the synagogue is what became very attractive.
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 would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. For everything there is a time and a season. At the right time Jesus will want His identity spread around. But because the spreading of HIs identity will ultimately lead to His arrest, Jesus made sure that He did not rile up the authorities too early.
35 And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time.
Jesus did not use His simple divine authority in His ministry, but for a great part of it, He made it a practice to follow the lead of the Father. He set an example for us to follow.
Starting His day after first having contact with His father is good for any of us to do. God answers prayer, particularly when the request is like Jesus’ requests. He did not ask for Himself, but He asked for direction in ministry. Let’s learn to do that.
36 Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; 37 and they found Him and said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."
The interest of the crowd around Peter’s house is not dying down. To the average eye one might think that this is a good thing. Isn’t that what most preachers would want, bigger crowds? But Jesus has just been talking with the Father, and so He could respond in a way that they did not expect. The Father’s will for us is not necessarily logical on the human level.
38 He said to them, "Let's go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also preach there; for this is why I came." Jesus had a clear knowledge of His primary purpose. That purpose was not to ‘minister’ to people’s needs, but rather to make Himself known as the Son of God. Believing who He is would lead to eternal life. Bringing sick people to Him resulted only in temporary healing, not eternal. 39 And He went into their synagogues preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons. Advertising Who He is would be the ongoing ministry of Jesus. It is our ongoing ministry as well.
40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."
How big is God? Big enough to heal sore backs, crippled legs, eyes that could not see … but is He big enough to cure the impossible? Can He cure cancer? The next phrase indicates a new motivation for Jesus to heal.
41 Moved with compassion, [Jesus] reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." No one ever touched a leper. Leprosy is highly contagious and at that time, was considered terminal. Lepers were restricted from contact with humans. Many had gone years with no human contact, other than to go to prescribed drop off points to pick up donations of food. It was compassion that motivated this healing. This was not to further offer proof of Who He was. And this is the ‘human’ side of Jesus experiencing compassion. That is to say, the limitations of being human. If God, globally, by virtue of His being present everywhere, based His actions solely on compassion, He would globally have compassion on everyone and remove all disease. We read in the Revelation, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Re 21:4 So God will act with compassion at a certain point in time. But Jesus, limited to what He saw here on earth, and limited to what the Father revealed to Him, day by day, moved with compassion in this instance, reached out and touched a leper.
42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,
44 and He said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Crowds are forming. Popularity is rising exponentially. As the number of His followers grows, the number of followers of the Jewish church is growing less. Soon their leaders will try to put a stop to their declining numbers.
But at this point there seems to be no opposition. What we have seen is - Jesus has taken simple people who have confessed their sin, submitted to baptism, and responded to a call to follow Him, to observe Him in action.
They saw Him enter a congregation of worshippers who were looking for the Messiah and begin to teach them with very authoritative language. They saw Him perform a clear miracle that would confirm that His teaching is authentic. They saw Him responding to many needs in the vicinity of Peter’s home and saw the crowd of admirers grow in number. They saw Him move on from there because His mission was to present Himself as the Saviour from Heaven. They saw His compassion toward the worst kind of outcast. What an example to follow!
The whole story has by no means unfolded, but at this point, what we have seen of Jesus ‘going on before us’, is a picture that is becoming, and will become very clear.
We should be so bold.
Matthew 14:3 For previously Herod had arrested John and had him bound and put in prison, all on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
4 For John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have this woman."
5 Herod wanted to kill him for this, but he was afraid of the people, since they all thought John was a prophet.
Most of Jesus ministry was in the north Galilee
Mark 1:16 As He was going along the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. According to Mark, the first 4 of Jesus’ disciples are fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people."
The disciples of Jesus literally followed Him for over three years. As we will see in Mark’s gospel, they would follow him geographically, and much more than that. They would observe and learn from Jesus in multiple situations. In that sense we can also follow Jesus from situation to situation and learn from Him how to be good fishers of people.
Some of the same principles will apply.
- Go where the fish are plentiful (ask for direction, guidance and wisdom)
- Use a variety of effective methods - Jude mentions two extremes; love and fear. Try love first.
18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
They were ready. John had preached powerfully against sin and clearly had predicted and then pointed out the Messiah.
19 And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, who were also in the boat mending the nets.
20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went away to follow Him.
I don’t know if there is any significance in the fact Jesus called two sets of brothers. Perhaps the interpersonal conflicts that can happen between siblings would be faced by Jesus. As we share the gospel, most of the time we will reach a husband and a wife. As they have children and the children grow up in the church, now the church has in it a number of siblings. Several families of siblings. How will they get along? Jesus will address this in this Gospel.
21 They went into Capernaum;
Roughly, how far is Capernaum from the sea of Galilee? About six kilometers. By the way, Jesus spent most of His three year ministry here, visiting Judea and Jerusalem periodically. Capernaum would be known as HIs home town.
and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.
The First rule of fishing that we learn from Jesus, go to where the fish are. And are they biting? A synagogue would be a place with quite a few ‘fish’. And while He is here, He has one main message to get across. People need saving. The Saviour has to be sinless. He is that sinless Saviour, the Son of God. Jesus will attract the attention of the people, first by His teaching.
22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes. How could they tell the difference? The scribes would say, “We think this means …” And that is how they wrote in their commentaries. Jesus told it like it is. We can do the same. We have the authoritative word of God. We simply use it.
23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 saying, "What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!"
Satan can have his messengers in church. Maybe this was the first time such a thing happened. Satanic activity escalates when Jesus is around. Perhaps this fellow had attended synagogue for some time and people tried to ignore him. Or perhaps no one ever knew that he was possessed. We have to imagine how this man presented himself since the scripture does not elaborate.
How might it be known that this man has an unclean spirit? Of course everyone would know the moment the demons cry out. But before that, unless he had had periodic fits he might have appeared as a regular member of the synagogue.
If the man did in fact have periodic ‘fits’, how was this displayed? Would there have been a barrage of unclean words and language? There is quite a commotion as the demon comes out of the man, but that was only a one-time occurrence. The normal demonic expression may have been quite different. It might have taken the form of filthy talk and use of four letter words. Or perhaps this only happened on brief occasions and the man had no control over his tongue whatsoever. And even though present day ‘authorities’ have provided definitions, we just don’t know.
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"
26 After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him.
Casting out a demon would certainly attract attention. This action would support Jesus' claim that He was the Son of God. But Jesus will say a bit later on, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48 ) So it is essential that people recognize that Jesus is God before they can come for salvation. But Jesus is expressing disappointment with people who will not simply take His word by faith. But this is the way that the Son of God would make Himself known, through His words and by His actions.
And this is also the method that the early disciples learned from Jesus.
And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Mark 16:20
They preached. “God’s Son, the Messiah was here. He has been crucified for your sin. He has risen again. And He will return in judgment. So repent of your sin, ask for forgiveness. Confirm your belief that Jesus, God’s Son has died for you, was buried and has risen again, and you will be saved.”
The disciples would continue using the method that Jesus gave them throughout most of their lifetime. And then, at some point the message would change.
Regarding the future generations coming to know Him, He said, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20.29
For almost a couple of thousand years people have put their faith in Jesus … without seeing any special signs or miracles. So what do we base our belief on that the people of Jesus’ day could not? What we have now is the complete written New Testament. The people of Jesus’ day did not have that. They only had the spoken word, but ever since the written word has been available and as it became published more and more, at the same rate the special signs and wonders decreased. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
8 ¶ Love never fails. For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are "tongues" the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth.
9 For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete,
10 and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete. The Philips Translation
27 And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." The fish are biting.
28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.
29 And immediately after they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. It would appear that Jesus still only has four followers.
30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately 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 served them.
32 Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they [began] bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.
The healing of Peter’s mother in law was
News of the public miracle in the synagogue is what became very attractive.
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 would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. For everything there is a time and a season. At the right time Jesus will want His identity spread around. But because the spreading of HIs identity will ultimately lead to His arrest, Jesus made sure that He did not rile up the authorities too early.
35 And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time.
Jesus did not use His simple divine authority in His ministry, but for a great part of it, He made it a practice to follow the lead of the Father. He set an example for us to follow.
Starting His day after first having contact with His father is good for any of us to do. God answers prayer, particularly when the request is like Jesus’ requests. He did not ask for Himself, but He asked for direction in ministry. Let’s learn to do that.
36 Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; 37 and they found Him and said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."
The interest of the crowd around Peter’s house is not dying down. To the average eye one might think that this is a good thing. Isn’t that what most preachers would want, bigger crowds? But Jesus has just been talking with the Father, and so He could respond in a way that they did not expect. The Father’s will for us is not necessarily logical on the human level.
38 He said to them, "Let's go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also preach there; for this is why I came." Jesus had a clear knowledge of His primary purpose. That purpose was not to ‘minister’ to people’s needs, but rather to make Himself known as the Son of God. Believing who He is would lead to eternal life. Bringing sick people to Him resulted only in temporary healing, not eternal. 39 And He went into their synagogues preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons. Advertising Who He is would be the ongoing ministry of Jesus. It is our ongoing ministry as well.
40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."
How big is God? Big enough to heal sore backs, crippled legs, eyes that could not see … but is He big enough to cure the impossible? Can He cure cancer? The next phrase indicates a new motivation for Jesus to heal.
41 Moved with compassion, [Jesus] reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." No one ever touched a leper. Leprosy is highly contagious and at that time, was considered terminal. Lepers were restricted from contact with humans. Many had gone years with no human contact, other than to go to prescribed drop off points to pick up donations of food. It was compassion that motivated this healing. This was not to further offer proof of Who He was. And this is the ‘human’ side of Jesus experiencing compassion. That is to say, the limitations of being human. If God, globally, by virtue of His being present everywhere, based His actions solely on compassion, He would globally have compassion on everyone and remove all disease. We read in the Revelation, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Re 21:4 So God will act with compassion at a certain point in time. But Jesus, limited to what He saw here on earth, and limited to what the Father revealed to Him, day by day, moved with compassion in this instance, reached out and touched a leper.
42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,
44 and He said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Crowds are forming. Popularity is rising exponentially. As the number of His followers grows, the number of followers of the Jewish church is growing less. Soon their leaders will try to put a stop to their declining numbers.
But at this point there seems to be no opposition. What we have seen is - Jesus has taken simple people who have confessed their sin, submitted to baptism, and responded to a call to follow Him, to observe Him in action.
They saw Him enter a congregation of worshippers who were looking for the Messiah and begin to teach them with very authoritative language. They saw Him perform a clear miracle that would confirm that His teaching is authentic. They saw Him responding to many needs in the vicinity of Peter’s home and saw the crowd of admirers grow in number. They saw Him move on from there because His mission was to present Himself as the Saviour from Heaven. They saw His compassion toward the worst kind of outcast. What an example to follow!
The whole story has by no means unfolded, but at this point, what we have seen of Jesus ‘going on before us’, is a picture that is becoming, and will become very clear.