The Ministry of Jesus in Galilee

Mark 1:16—8:30

A New King (1:16—3:6).

Kingdom is Near (1:15)

  1. Popularity (1:16-45).

    1. First Disciples Called (1:16-20).

    2. Capernaum Synagogue (1:21-28).

    3. Healing Peter’s Mother-in-law & Others (1:29-39).

    4. Cleansing a Leper (1:40-45).

      1. What is leprosy?

      2. Whatever the case, the purpose for this isolation could be for ritualistic reasons rather than for their health.

      3. Consider the faith of this leper.

      4. Moved with compassion.

      5. If He were angry, it would be odd for Him to touch him.

        1. I do not know how long it had been since this man felt another human touch, but it must have been very welcome.

        2. Haggai makes a point about unclean things touching clean things (Hag. 2:12-13).

        3. He notes that a clean thing touching an unclean thing makes the clean thing unclean, though touching a holy thing does not make it holy.

        4. Jesus, being clean, should have been made unclean; the leper was not made holy though Jesus is holy.

        5. What does this say about Jesus? Was He made unclean now? Did He sin by doing this? Perhaps, since He is the definition of holy, His holiness cleansed the leper. Or perhaps He had to go through the cleansing ritual just like any other Jewish man (Lev. 5:2-3, 5-6; 15:11; 22:4-6). Or since the man was cleansed, the ritual was unnecessary—these were uncharted waters.

      6. This man was immediately cleansed—unlike “faith healers” today.

        1. At the same time, leprosy was symbolic of sin, how it festered and spread.

        2. Jesus has the ability to completely and totally remove/forgive our sins.

        3. This was a dramatic display of this ability.

      7. He was strictly warned not to share this with anyone (we’ll see why later).

      8. Despite Jesus’ apparent defiance of Levitical law, He still urged the man to be examined by the priest and to be ritually cleansed.

        1. This showed Jesus’ adherence to and respect for the Law.

        2. Lev. 14 shows an ornate ritual regarding the cleansing of a former leper.

        3. We will talk more about this on Sunday evening when we get there.

      9. Did the former leper listen to Jesus?

        1. No, he told everyone what Jesus did for him.

        2. If that happened to you, wouldn’t it be hard for you to keep it secret?

        3. Who knows how long he had been an outcast, and now he was miraculously able to rejoin society, let alone the physical discomfort his disease gave him.

        4. Why didn’t Jesus want him to tell others about this?

        5. We see that now His fame is even greater, and He couldn’t move as freely about in the cities anymore.

        6. So He waited for His fame to die down before entering Capernaum again.

          -OR-

        7. People now perceived Him to be unclean, so He wasn’t able to go into the city until He was ritually cleansed.

        8. Other gospel accounts don’t indicate this, but Matt. 8 does not seem to be in chronological order and Luke 5:15-16 suggests He often withdrew into the wilderness to pray right after.

  2. Conflict (2:1—3:6).

    1. Forgiving and Healing a Paralytic (2:1-12).

      1. Just as one had broken down societal barriers to see Jesus, another breaks down physical barriers to see Him.

      2. Chapter 2 details some pushback Jesus will receive from those in charge.

        1. He has already broken some of the traditions that are criticized later.

        2. He broke a tradition by casting out the demon and healing Peter’s MIL on the Sabbath.

        3. He also touched a leper.

        4. Only now He has caught the attention of those in authority: scribes & Pharisees (2:6; Luke 5:21). They have come to check Him out.