A Day in the Life of Jesus

       I have never been tempted to Twitter or tweet. 

       For the uninitiated, like me, to Twitter is to send out a brief text message on your cell phone to the many, many people who desperately want to know how you are spending your day.  Twittering is the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you doing?”   The message itself is called a tweet.

       I have never been tempted to Twitter because my life usually pretty dull. My tweets would say things like, “I’m in line at Costco – great buy on ribs.”  Fifteen minutes later it would be “Still in line at Costco.”

        Jesus would have a whole lot more to say about how He spends His day.  Listen to Mark’s exhausting description of a single day in the life of Jesus.

Read Mark 1:21-39

       The day starts in worship at the synagogue at Capernaum.  If you go to Capernaum you can go to the ruins of this synagogue (picture). The ruins you are looking at are from the synagogue built in the 4^th Century.  It sits on an older foundation which came from the synagogue where Jesus taught.   Mark says that “the people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. “

        The teachers of the law, the Scribes, never gave decisions of their own.  They would always begin, " There is a teaching that …”   Then they would quote all the great legal masters of the past – “Hillel says this, and Akiba adds this, while other authorities contend . . .".   The last thing a Scribe ever gave was an independent judgment.

       Jesus is totally different.  When Jesus teaches the authority is all Jesus.  Its not “Truly, truly, Hillel says to you or even Moses says to you.”  It’s “Truly, Truly I say to you.” 

       Mark notes the amazement of the congregation at Jesus' teaching.  He doesn’t tell us what Jesus says.  The focus is on Jesus the teacher. 

        How much authority does Jesus claim?  He even feels free to add to the teaching of scripture. In the Sermon on the Mount He says, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.”           

       You can’t do that with the commandments unless you have the authority to do it – and only God has that authority.  Every time Jesus teaches He makes a claim about His own identity as the Son of God.  No mere human being has had or ever will have the inherent authority of Jesus. A human religious leader like a Confucius, Buddha or Mohammed might speak truth but they are not, themselves, the truth.  Jesus makes incredible claims and makes incredible promises.  Then He backs them up by rising from the dead.  That’s what separates Christianity from man-made religion.

        So here is Jesus’ first tweet.  “I just announced my authority as the Son of God.  The people are amazed.  They ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

        He’s right.  As the people sit thunderstruck by Jesus' teaching, "a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

       This man with the demon has always been perfectly comfortable in the synagogue.  Nothing in the synagogue service threatens him.  But when Jesus shows up the demon reacts like a scalded cat.  This demon wants nothing to do with Jesus. His shriek is full of malevolent aggression. "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?”   He uses the plural because he knows that Jesus' mission is not simply to defeat one demon, but to destroy the entire demonic power structure.

        The in-breaking of God's kingdom starts in the cosmic arena.  In Mark 3:27 Jesus says that He has come to bind the "strong man", Satan, in order to free the enslaved.  As supernatural powers the demons recognize Jesus’ mission and authority of Jesus before humanity does.  But the demon’s dramatic, final cry: "I know who you are —the Holy One of God!" isn’t meant as a testimony.  It is the demon’s pathetic attempt to control Jesus through magic where it was believed that pronouncing another’s name would give control over him.

       It doesn’t work.  Jesus will never be controlled by any demon.  Jesus responds. "'Be muzzled.  Come out of him!' The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek."  

        The people in the synagogue all grab their cell phones and start texting.  The Greek word here is twitteroi.  (No, not really.  I’m just keeping you on your toes.)  Mark records, "And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee." When Mark says "at once" he means at once. By evening, everyone in the area brings their sick and demon-possessed friends and loved ones to be healed by Jesus.   The word has gone out like wildfire.  Here is a man who commands the spirits of darkness, and they obey.

       Jesus sends out his second tweet of the day, “I just cast out my first demon.   All this preaching and exorcism works up the appetite.”

       Fortunately Peter says, “Jesus, why don’t you come over to my house for lunch. It’s not too far” – which is a good thing because you can’t travel too far on the Sabbath.

       Within a stone's throw of the Capernaum synagogue is the foundation of a house that is identified as the house of Peter. (picture)  Archaeologists have found devotional graffiti in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic scratched on the plaster walls that indicate that this home was a gathering place for Christians from the end of the first century.  So there is a strong probability that the site really is Peter's house.

       Mark writes:  “And immediately He left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told Him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.’

       Peter and Andrew had invited Jesus, James and John home with them, only to find that the mother-in-law who is sick. So they apologize to Jesus – they “tell him of her” to explain the labor shortage in the home. 

       She was suffering from what the Talmud called "a burning fever" which is still common in that part of Galilee. Up until this point, Jesus hasn’t healed anyone.  He’s turned water into wine and cast out a demon but there have been no healings.  But with a touch and a word of unique authority and power, He heals her.

       She wasn’t that sick. It was not a necessary miracle – no more than turning water into wine to help a party was a necessary miracle. The fever would have run its course, and she would have recovered in a few days. But Jesus responds to her suffering, light though it is, touches her and restores her.

      Verse 31 says that Peter’s mother-in-law "began to wait on them." This verse has been used in some churches in support of relegating women to serving capacities.   But it certainly doesn’t carry an idea of subservience or inferiority to Mark.  It is the same word translated "to serve" in 10:45, where Jesus declares that the Son of Man comes "not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

        Serving is simply the way of Jesus and those who are touched by Him.  Service is the telltale sign of everyone who has truly received the healing touch of Christ. Our response to Jesus’ touch on our lives should be like that of the talkative woman who received Christ under Charles Spurgeon's ministry in London and said, "Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, Christ has changed my life - and he shall never hear the end of it!"

        So we come to Jesus’ third tweet: “I just did my first healing.  Lunch was great.   Spending the afternoon with friends.”

       The peaceful interlude doesn’t last.  People are waiting to storm the house.  They wait until evening because the law forbade carrying a burden like a sick person on the Sabbath day.  The Sabbath ran from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday but they didn’t have watches or clocks.  So the law was that the Sabbath ended when three stars came out in the sky.  Three stars appear and the people head to where Jesus is.  The people bring to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.

       Jesus' responds with healing power.  He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who He was. He laid a vocal quarantine upon them. His ministry is not going to be founded on the testimony of demons.

       It’s also not going to be founded on healings.  On a number of occasions Jesus says to those He heals, "Don't tell anyone about this. Just accept your healing. But don't spread the word around." Yet invariably they disobey Him.  Soon Jesus can no longer come and minister in the city because of the crowds that follow him. Jesus did not want those crowds —not on those terms.     

       Now, God does heal—and thank God for physical healings. But they are only temporary blessings at best. What Jesus continually emphasizes is the healing of the spirit of people -- the healing of bitterness and hostility and lust and anger, of worry and anxiety and a critical spirit. This is what he is after —deliverance from these ugly and evil things, because this is of eternal value. The healing of the spirit is a permanent thing. So Jesus turns his back on popular acclaim, tries to suppress it and keep it under control, so He can focus on the ministry of greater importance – the ministry of the Word.

       This brings us to Jesus’ fourth tweet:  “I’ve been healing and casting out demons all evening.  I need to go talk with my Father.”

        Mark records that early in the morning, before it was daylight, Jesus went out on the mountainside and there, alone by himself, He prayed. But even there he was not safe. His disciples interrupt this communion, telling Him that everyone is looking for him. And Jesus reveals the heart and substance of his prayer in what he says in reply: "Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also; for that is why I came." This is what He was praying about—that God would lead him, doors would be opened, and hearts prepared in the cities to which he would go next.         

       As I have wrestled with this passage the thing that has jumped out at me over and over is the authority of Jesus.  He has authority over the Word of God.  He has authority over demons.  He has authority over illness.  And, in obedience to His Father, he has authority over His own schedule. 

        So in closing I want to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ authority for us today. 

        Jesus still has authority over the Word of God because He is the Word made flesh. Jesus accepts the words of God as the word of God.  Even when He changes it, it is to make it harder, not easier.  And since Jesus is the one with authority over the Word, we need to follow His lead in our use of scripture and treat it the way He treats it with reverence and obedience. We live in a time when many people want a loose-leaf Bible in which they feel free to remove the parts they don’t like – especially in the area of sexuality.  We live in a time when people don’t want to be judged by the Word so they set themselves up as judges of the Word – “I don’t like that so God must not have really said it.”  Jesus doesn’t do that.  He accepts the reality of inspiration.  He accepts the reality of the Bible’s prophetic nature.  Since He is the authority on how to treat the Word we must treat the Word the way He treats it.       

       Jesus still has authority over the demons.  As Christians we cannot be indwelt the way the poor man in the synagogue was.  But we can certainly come under spiritual attack.  I know I have.  We can hear the voice of Satan which means “the accuser.”  We can hear his accusations of God to us – “If there is really a God who is powerful and loving, this bad thing wouldn’t be happening.”  We can hear his accusations of us to ourselves, “You might as well give up trying to live a Christian life after what you’ve done.  You’re hopeless.”  We can hear his accusations of our brothers and sisters in Christ, “Those people at church act so loving but they won’t really be there for you.”  But Jesus has the authority over that accusing voice.  So when we hear it, when we come under its attack, we need to say, “Take it to Jesus.”   Jesus is still the one with the authority to tell the demonic to stick a sock in it.

       Jesus still has authority over illness.  He is still the healer.  But He also has the authority to decide what kind of healing we really need.  There are times as your pastor when I have earnestly prayed for a physical hailing that has not yet occurred.  If Jesus set up shop in a house here in Moorpark, I wouldn’t wait until evening to head that way and take a number of people here with me.   But I also have to accept for myself and others that physical healing is not always our greatest need and is not always God’s will.  If Jesus is my Lord, I need to accept that He knows which prayers to answer and how. 

       In the same way, Jesus still has authority over His own focus and mine.  As a pastor there are many, many things I can do and some of them I would be applauded for doing.  But I know from the Bible’s description of my role that my primary responsibility is for your spiritual growth and that the primary God-ordained means to that growth is through the preaching and teaching of the Word.  So even good things have to go if they get in the way of the main thing. 

       The final lesson for us from this text is that Jesus also has authority over how we do what we do. 

       We can sometimes compartmentalize out lives.  We know that Jesus has authority over our prayer lives and maybe even over how we relate to our spouses and raise our kids.  But we are slow to give him total authority over things like our vote, our daytimer and our wallet.  We are slow to let Him tell us how to behave at a party or how to behave at work.  But if Jesus is Lord that means that He is Lord of every part of our lives and not just the religious stuff. 

       For myself I know that my instinct is to get up and get doing.  That’s why I’m a “Type-double A.”  But Jesus shows me the need to stay connected in times of reflective prayer if I am going to be productive and not just active.  Jesus knew that it was time to leave Capernaum because He had spent time with His Father.  If He needed it, boy do I need it.

       Mark gives us one day in the life of Jesus.  There’s a lot to write, preach and even twitter about.  There’s more to come as we continue our series on Jesus as “The human face of God” – the One with authority.