Monthly Archives: December 2023

Gospel of Mark

Fame, Celebrity and the Son of Man: Mark 1: 45b

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As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to Him from everywhere. (Mk 1:45b)

‘Fame,’ someone once said, ‘is a powerful cultural magnet.’ (i)

The fame of Jesus at this point is because he has been healing people, lots of people, in Capernaum. Suddenly his name is out there. Everyone expects and wants these healings to continue. People are queuing up outside Peter’s door demanding more,  but in the preceding verses, Jesus has declared that His purpose, the very reason He has come, is not to to be a celebrity healer, but to preach the Kingdom of God.

There’s something extremely attractive about celebrity. Something which affects us all. Yet we know that celebrity isn’t always as much fun as it’s cracked up to be. Stereotyping is always unhelpful, and of course many celebrities lead happy and very fulfilling lives, but the lifestyle is not without pressure and can be tiresome and restricting at times. Just occasionally, we hear something of the overwhelming pressures which are borne by some contemporary celebrities. It can be difficult to know who your friends are. Difficult to know who to trust. Other people constantly drawn to you, wanting their moment with you, making demands. The reality is, that sometimes celebrity can be a very lonely place to be.

Personally, I think that this verse attracts less attention in the commentaries than it should, because it lifts the veil on an angle of the life of Christ in these early days of His ministry. Jesus is being hounded by people who want his attention. People are constantly looking for him. He is unable to move anywhere without people pursuing him and making demands of him. If he appears in the town he gets mobbed. If he wanders in the countryside he’s hunted down. His life is no longer his own. He is pursued and watched at every turn. Jesus is a celebrity.

If there had been pens, everyone would have wanted Jesus’ signature. If there had been cameras, there would have been paparazzi riding donkeys. There would have been endless demand for selfies. If there had been Facebook, everyone would have wanted to post pictures, tell stories and spread rumours about Him. For Jesus, there was no safe place to escape to. No gated communities or secure houses where he could take time out. No publicists or media teams to help Him to manage the message. No teams of security guards to keep people at bay.

Wherever he went, people felt a magnetic attraction to Jesus. We do well to notice the  pressures which celebrity put upon Jesus and those around Him. It gives context to those moments when the Disciples tried to protect him, from the leper, from little children. It gives context to those moments when Jesus took time out, withdrew from everyone and everything. It gives context to the times when Jesus needed to reconnect with God, and to refocus on His purpose. Moments when he needed to step back from the pressures of celebrity. We do well to notice that this is a verse which we can connect with. We understand the magnetism of fame, and so we can begin to think about the way people interacted with Jesus. There’s something very contemporary about this verse.

Celebrity is a powerful thing. It has huge impact on our culture today, and that helps us to identify with some of what is going on here. Fame is not always been a good or helpful thing. It needs to be managed. Without control, those who pursue and make demands, the whole publicity machine,  start to define the celebrity. Here is the Son of Man, being hounded by people wanting more healings. Here is the Son of Man, being chased by people demanding more of what they want. Here is the Son of Man, responding to and  managing his celebrity, and recovering control of His own identity. They demand dramatic healings, but His purpose is to preach.

This Scripture gives some really accessible context to the life of the Son of Man in these early days of His ministry. He is a man pursued. He is a man with a mission.

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Gospel of Mark

Touching the Untouchable: Mark 1: 40-45a

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‘Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The disease affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.’ (www.WHO.int/healthtopics/leprosy)

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

40 A man with leprosy[a] came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Jesus was indignant.[b] He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Mark 1: 40-45 (NIV)

In a part of the world where we take medical advances for granted, leprosy, especially if caught early, is curable. In 1st Century Palestine, it was not. The biblical word lepros could have referred to a number of conditions, but we can draw two key conclusions. Firstly, the man was visibly sick. Untreated, this sickness would have been debilitating with visible deterioration of the man’s skin and flesh. Secondly, because of his sickness, he was excluded from the city, banished to live either alone or in what we might think of as a rough encampment of other sufferers of skin diseases. Such people were, in effect, the living dead – abandoned by society to their slow, miserable, lonely and painful death. They were a class apart. Reduced to begging on the open road, from travellers who would avoid contact with them at all costs.

The actions of this man tell that after the extraordinary events in Capernaum, the fame of Jesus as a man of healing had spread beyond the town. The sick man knows who Jesus is. He is absolutely confident in the ability of Jesus to heal. Jesus is moved by compassion, and the extraordinary faith of this man.

I can feel the disciples tensing as this man approaches. Jesus reaches out his hand and actually touches the man. I wonder whether you remember the disciples trying to come between Jesus and small children who were coming to sit with him and perhaps to distract him. This man is unclean, wrought with incurable disease, and rushing to get close to Jesus. Against every cultural norm, Jesus allows him to approach and fall to his knees. We struggle to grasp how this would have looked to the first followers of Jesus. The minds of the horrified disciples are divided, perhaps, between creating a physical barrier between Jesus and the leper, or keeping their own distance from this desperately sick man.

In that instant, at the word of Jesus, the man is healed. His condition is not simply improved. As with Peter’s mother in law, the healing of this man is immediate and absolute. The visible marks of his sickness are gone. They are no longer there. No wonder that, in spite of Jesus’ appeal, he ran off down the road declaring his healing to anyone who would listen. A moment before he was facing a ghastly premature death. Jesus has given him new life. His joy must have been utterly overwhelming. What the disciples think at this point we can only imagine.

The Jewish Law requires that having received healing, the man present himself to the priest who has the power to declare him clean. Jesus direction to go to the priest demonstrates respect for the Law of Moses. But why is this extraordinary healing to be kept quiet. As simple, perhaps, as the fact that Jesus has told us that his purpose in going to the villages is to preach. He needs to be seen as the one who has the words of life, rather than being pursued as some kind of celebrity healer. He has left Capernaum to escape the crowds who want to receive or at least witness healings, and the profound testimony of this man means that his attraction as a healer will only continue to grow.

We are privileged to live in a time and place where leprosy is rarely diagnosed, and where the effects can be addressed and managed.  Our distance from the impact of this dreadful disease means that we might miss the grace of Jesus highlighted by Mark. Here is a lesson for the us, and for those first disciples.

Here is Jesus, ready to very deliberately cross one of the most clearly defined social barriers. Moved by compassion, he not only gives time to this man. He reaches out and touches the untouchable. He lays his hand on that which is unclean, and with his power and authority, in the words ‘Be clean.’ makes it completely, wholly, and absolutely clean.

Richard Jackson, West Sussex: LifePictureUK

A note about Leprosy

Whilst we, in the west, rarely have direct contact with sufferers of leprosy, it remains a serious and life changing reality in many areas of the world. ‘Every two minutes, someone is diagnosed with the disease. That’s more than 200,000 new cases a year. Although it is curable, millions of people worldwide are living with the effects of the disease, from physical disability to mental health problems, poverty and discrimination.’

For more information, and how you can help, please visit the Leprosy Mission website.

 

Gospel of Mark

Prayer, Passion and Preaching: Mark 1: 35-39

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35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Mark 1:35-39

12th December 2023, Horsham

‘After a day of intense excitement, with the news of God’s kingdom going public with a bang, Jesus knew his need of a God given sense of direction and inner strength, both to build on the apparent success of the previous day and to take things forward in the right way.’(i)

Jesus, we are told, didn’t leave the house early. He left very early – before the sun was up.  Maybe he woke early. Maybe, after the excitement of healings on the previous day he was having trouble sleeping. It’s probable that in the early morning, more people were starting to arrive at the house, looking for Jesus the healer. People are excited and desperate for help. They have never seen anything like this. Everyone wants to see Jesus.

Jesus was a guest in the home of the disciples. The fact is, I suspect, that when the disciples awoke, Jesus simply wasn’t there. How can you mis-place a house guest? Especially one as important as Jesus. Where’s Jesus? Surprise and embarrassment turn to panic as they search for him.

When my children were small, I had an older friend who used to tell me that the key to good parenthood was making time for ‘a bit of p & q’. Sid wasn’t a man of faith, but he knew that moments of ‘peace and quiet’ were precious. They could be restorative and energizing. In our modern lives, finding the right place for downtime is a challenge. We have to work at it. So many things are constantly grabbing at our attention, we have to create space. Back then, I used to grab quiet moments to sit, all on my own, on the back step of our house. All weathers – day or night., that was my space. The family respected that this was my quiet place. Of course there were always interruptions. Visitors would occasionally find it strange when they arrived to find me sitting on the back doorstep in the rain.

If you read the Gospel’s, you’ll see that time and again Jesus made space in his life for a bit of very purposeful peace and quiet. A place where he can pray. A place where he can connect with God. A time when he could recover his strength and allow the Holy Spirit to direct His steps. If the Son of God needed that to keep Him on target, how much more do I need it!

In later times I have learned to find my own space in a field, or on a bench in the local park. As a commuter, I could be quiet on a busy tube train and I could pray as I walked across the city between meetings. As I write, I am having some downtime in a local coffee shop.

Of course, even for Jesus there were interruptions.  Can you sense the irritated tone of the disciples who found Jesus’ behaviour strange. ‘What are you doing here? Everyone’s looking for you!’ Yesterday was awesome. Today could be even better!  There are people queuing up outside my house and you’re up here taking a moment!

Yesterday, Jesus demonstrated his extraordinary power. Today he has the opportunity to really consolidate his reputation. But Jesus is not up for that. He is ready to leave Capernaum and head for the villages. The healings in Capernaum have announced his ministry to the world. But from now on,  His ministry is less about physical health. The heart of His ministry – his passion –  is spiritual health. From this point forwards, the heart of His ministry is preaching. ‘That,’ says Jesus, ‘is why I have come.’ (v38)

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