Topic: Mark
The book of Mark is significantly shorter than the three other Gospels. Mark seems to target the Romans as his primary audience of readers and does this by presenting Jesus as a suffering servant. He focuses more on the actions of the Lord than of the teaching/preaching of the Lord. Mark emphasizes the human aspect of Jesus more than any of the other Gospel writers.
Mark gives us insight into:
- The emotions of Jesus: 1:41; 3:5; 6:34; 8:12; and 9:36.
- The divine and human nature of Jesus: 4:38; 7:33-34; 8:12; 9:36; 10:13-16; 11:12; 13:32.
- The Miracles of Jesus.
The miracle in Mark 2:1-12 was one of the earliest miracles in the life of the Lord. After His rejection by the hometown crowd in Nazareth, the Lord adopted Capernaum as His second home. The Pharisees and religious leaders were all perched in the neighborhood waiting to spring upon an unsuspecting Christ with their accusations. These men were from every part of the country waiting to destroy the works of God on the earth.
Mark details the scene much better than both Matthew and Luke. The crowds had gathered, and they probably were the more common people of the town. The crowd was made up of fishermen, those who ran the weaver’s loom, the farmers who worked the fields, the housewives who were building the home, the peasants who congregated so much of life. The Lord moved into the house and soon the house was filled with capacity and overflowed out into the yard. A low buzz of conversation could be heard. There were some who attempted to quieten the voices so that they could hear what the Lord was saying inside the house. The windows were open.
Four men arrived later in the day with their lame friend on a stretcher that they were carrying. We can only surmise as to the blank looks that came to the faces of the four men when they saw the crowd. The four friends looked past the obstacles and toward the alternatives. They began to climb up the stairs and found themselves on the roof of the house that Jesus was in.
Principles of the miracle:
1. Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes it may appear that the Lord is more concerned with the needs of others than with our own needs and that He is hard to get to.
2. Action is necessary and very important. Sometimes there is an action that will be required on our part for the miracle to occur.
3. We always get far more than we anticipate.
4. We get far more than we expect from the miracles of the Lord in our lives. The lame man expected healing and received that plus salvation.
5. The miracle only takes a moment. The process of gaining entry to the Lord often takes more time than the miracle does. It took longer to tear the roof off than it did for the miracle to occur.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem