Monthly Archives: August 2025

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE “MESSIANIC SECRET” – 8

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Mark 1:40-42, 44-45 NLT
[40] “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. [41] Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” [42] Instantly, the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed…
[44] “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” [45] But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.”

Leprosy! Not just a common cold, or ‘flu…or even measles or bronchitis. Leprosy was a slow, agonising death sentence but, not only that, a solitary, lonely death sentence with no friends and family to provide support and comfort. Every leper was automatically cancelled, thrown out and ostracised, forbidden from participating in society.

Imagine if you, a leper, discovered that there was one person in all Israel who was healing people! Wouldn’t you break your neck to get to Him? Wouldn’t you ignore all prohibitions, defy all opposition, overcome all obstacles, just to get as near to Him as you could?

One man did! Mark doesn’t tell us who he was or how he did it. He just records that this leprous man got to Jesus, fell at His feet, and begged Him for healing. The man’s only concern was, not could He, but would He do it?

Isn’t this often our concern, too? We know that Jesus can heal, but will He heal me? This man’s story reassures us that Jesus is always willing. There may be other considerations but never His willingness to meet our needs.

Jesus healed him and sent him to the priest to get confirmation of his healing and to fulfill his obligation to offer sacrifice for his ritual cleansing as required by the Law. These requirements were to witness that he was clean, perhaps so that he could be integrated back into his family and society.

However, Jesus gave the man another instruction, which, incidentally, he ignored and consequently made life difficult for Jesus.

Theologians called this instruction “the Messianic secret.” Why did Jesus instruct him not to tell anyone about what had happened to him? His obedience to ritual law would be sufficient testimony to his healing, according to Jesus.

Let’s look at it like this. Jesus didn’t want to be popular because of what He could do for people. He wanted people to believe in Him because of who He was. The greatest question He ever asked of His disciples was…

Matthew 16:15 NIV
[15] “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

… and the only answer we can ever give is…

Matthew 16:16 NIV
[16]… “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Romans 10:9 NIV
[9] “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The trouble is that, in much of today’s preaching, people are invited to come to Jesus for what He can do for them, not for who He is. Take, for example, some of the great “healing” campaigns. People are urged to attend, to “Come and get your healing.”

Only when we are convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, only when we can confess, with conviction and commitment, that He is Lord, will we know and experience the truth of His salvation. Jesus’ desire is that we never follow Him just because of what people tell us or what He can do for us. He demands that we obey the gospel because it is the right thing to do. We must follow Him because we believe that He is Lord, our Supreme Authority, and we willingly bow to His authority.

In his mistaken enthusiasm, the healed leper did more damage to Jesus’ ministry than good because his testimony fostered people’s attraction to Jesus for what He could do for them without any conviction of who He was. Oh yes, there were debates about Him, but little faith in Him because, to follow Him meant death to self and selfish living. Few would respond to a condition like that.

Matthew 16:24-26 NIV
[24] “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [25] For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. [26] What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

The same principle applies today even if preachers mistakenly present Jesus as the answer to all ills. He is Lord. He commands us to repent and believe the gospel because this is the only way to be reconciled to God.

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE MISSION – 7

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Mark 1:35-39 NIV
[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.”

What an opportunity to make a name for Himself, to win the popularity poll for the most compassionate, most caring, and…yes… most effective miracle worker Israel had ever known! Jesus didn’t need a campaign manager or a marketing expert. His fame spread before Him like a prairie wildfire.

When the disciples awoke, Jesus was missing. They hunted high and low, but He was nowhere to be found. Didn’t He know how popular He was? People came from everywhere, ignoring their need for sleep and food, clamouring to get near Him. The streets of the village resembled a hospital waiting room, every kind of sickness and disease represented in the milling crowd.

Just imagine! Here was a man who, unlike any person they had ever met, could cure disease with a touch and drive out demons with a word…but He was missing!

The disciples were frantic. They searched everywhere and finally…they found Him. Indignantly, they rebuked Him.. “Everyone is looking for you!”

Don’t you understand, Jesus? “This is an opportunity of a lifetime. You are so popular that people are flocking to you from all over the country. Here’s your chance to make a name for yourself.” Who wouldn’t jump at an opportunity like that, especially because He was God’s Messiah, after all! Didn’t He want to reach as many people as possible?

Jesus’ response left them bewildered, flabbergasted.

Mark 1:38 NIV
[38]… “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Instead of capitalising on the situation, Jesus walked away. He left the bewildered crowd with all their desperate needs, clamouring and crying for help. He simply walked away!

Why, Jesus? Why?

Jesus, the Servant of Yahweh, was under orders from a higher authority. It was not for nothing that He spent long hours in prayer. In the quietness and darkness of the night, while His disciples slept, He was in touch with headquarters, fellowshipping with the Father, receiving instructions for His next assignment. He may have been separated from the Father by geography by not in heart.

Without His daily instructions, without the Holy Spirit’s intimate presence, Jesus would be rudderless, left to His own devices to steer His own course. He had a divine and eternal mission to fulfill. Despite His divine nature, He had laid aside His divine power and privileges, making Himself utterly dependent on His union with the Father and His partnership with the Holy Spirit to plot His daily course and to fulfill His divine calling.

What took precidence in His life above all other needs and demands? Not food..not sleep…not creature comforts…not even rest or recreation. When people interrupted His rest time with the disciples, He was quick to respond to their needs, but… above all else, His response to His mandate was…

Psalms 40:7-8 NIV
[7] “Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. [8] I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”

The Father’s Word and the Father’s will stood out above every other demand…and Jesus pursued His purpose with diligence and dedication. To neglect daily prayer and intimate fellowship with the Father would make shipwreck of His mission.

So, Jesus moved on, not because He was unaware or unfeeling towards human need…not because He was oblivious to opportunity… but because He was the Servant, always under orders from heaven. He was never need driven…always Spirit led. When the Father said “Go!”, He went. When the Father said, “Speak!”, He spoke…and what He said, so He assured even His fiercest opponents, was only what He heard the Father say.

John 12:49 NIV
[49] “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. [50] I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

These few verses in Mark’s gospel speak volumes about the Servant of Yahweh. Without engaging in extended and detailed explanations, Mark tells us, in graphic stories, that Jesus was under orders. He was dedicated to fulfil His mission. He was careful to stay in touch with His authority and to obey every instruction.

Despite His disciples’ blundering efforts to assist Him, Jesus steered a straight course through human demands and needs to do the Father’s will and to fulfill the Father’s commission… Even to death!

So, how do we respond, as servant/sons of the Most High God, to this magnificent example of the Servant/Son? We can do no less than He did, through diligent and faithful prayer…not by issuing orders but by reporting for duty.

MARK’S GOSPEL…OPPOSITION – 6

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Mark 1:21, 23-26 NIV
[21] “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach…
[23] Just then, a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, [24] “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” [25] “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” [26] The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.”

Jesus’ appearance on the public scene stirred up a hornet’s nest of demonic activity. In the synagogue, of all places, the place where God’s people met together to worship and to hear God’s Word… one of the resident demons voiced its objections! How could demons be comfortable in the synagogue? Surely, the very Word of God would stir them to frantic opposition!

It seems that demons were quite at home in Israel, judging by the number Jesus encountered in His movements around the country. Like flies on a rubbish dump, demons infested many of the people of Israel, sucking life out of them and being an embarrassment to their fellow Israelites.

How fitting that the first record of the Servant’s work, according to Mark, was a frontal attack on one of His fiercest enemies. Demons were the devil’s footsoldiers, the infantry of hell, occupying ground that Satan desired to possess completely. The people of Israel were meant to be the front line of attack and defense in the battle between heaven and hell for the souls of men and women. Instead, their lives of sinful disobedience to the covenant of their covenant-keeping God had made them vulnerable to enemy occupation.

One thing the demon recognised when Jesus arrived on the scene, was that the commander-in-chief of the armies of heaven was right there, in its face, if you please! There was no negotiating, no peace agreement, no cease-fire pact. This was not a balancing act between two equal enemies. This was war to the death!

Demons were usurpers, squatters in God’s territory. This was not a battle. This was an eviction order…and the demon knew it. Despite its objection to being disturbed, this demon understood authority. It had to obey. In view of all the people in the synagogue, the demon bowed to Jesus and, with a final show of defiance, fled the scene, leaving Its victim dazed but free.

Imagine the effect of the deliverance on the worshippers! This was power and authority they had never witnessed in all Israel. As much as their spiritual leaders swaggered around, claiming the authority and power they could not produce, Jesus had done the unthinkable with just a few words!
“Be quiet!”… “Come out of him!”

Mark 1:27 NIV
[27] “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits, and they obey him.”

So, the battle lines were drawn for all-out war. Most of His struggles were not with Satan’s henchmen but with his representatives…the men who posed as God’s representatives but who, in fact, resembled the devil more than the God they claimed to worship.

Jesus had identified His territory, the kingdom of God, under the authority of the Father… and His weapon of choice, the infallible Word of God, “It is written,” which He used with devastating effect.

Jesus never allowed His reputation or His emotions to take centre stage. In every encounter with the enemy, be it with demons or humans, He always wielded only one weapon…truth. All the Father’s authority and power flowed through His Word.

His first hand-to-hand combat with the devil in the wilderness was convincingly His victory. He had proved the effectiveness of His weapon and established His authority over the only one who had ever dared to challenge His position in heaven.

For the rest of His time on earth, Jesus continued to overcome the world and its opposition forces with one defence…faith, and one weapon…truth. He trusted, submitted to, and obeyed the Father. He did the Father’s works and spoke the Father’s words… a true Servant of Yahweh!

Through the Word, the universe came into being. Through the Word, Jesus upholds all things and all creation functions in harmony. Through the Word, the Son has been assigned the power and authority to judge all people…and, through the Word, He will conquer all opposition.

Revelation 19:11-16 NIV
[11] “I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. [12] His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows, but he himself. [13] He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the WORD OF GOD. [14] The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. [15] Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. [16] On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Jesus’ victory was not His alone. He passed on His conquest to those who would follow Him by faith.

John 16:33 NIV
[33] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus unmasked Satan’s plan to enslave all people by holding them accountable to the law of God. He broke Satan’s power by perfectly fulfilling God’s law, then dying as a law breaker to pay our debt for disobeying the law.

The devil can no longer deceive us into believing that he has us in his power.

Colossians 2:13-15 NLT
[13] “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. [14] He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. [15] In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

Jesus stepped in, paid the debt, reversed the charge, and cut us loose from any obligation to obey the law to be righteous. So, with His word, these squatters were evicted, and their victims freed from all accountability.

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE SERVANT’S FOLLOWERS -5

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The Servant was a rabbi. A rabbi must have disciples.

Mark 1:16-20 NIV
[16] “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. [17] “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” [18] At once they left their nets and followed him. [19] When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. [20] Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”

Mark 2:13-14 NIV
[13] “Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. [14] As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.”

Of the many who trailed after this unusual, authoritative, and charismatic rabbi, Jesus selected His final group of twelve after a night of prayer…and they were certainly not the “who’s who” of the religious world!

Mark 3:13-19 NIV
[13] “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. [14] He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach [15] and to have authority to drive out demons. [16] These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), [17] James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), [18] Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot [19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”

Why, Jesus? Why such a motley bunch?

Why not those who were already schooled in the things of God? Why not those who were familiar with the opinions of the rabbis with authority? Why not those who were schooled in debate and had formed their own ideas about God, themselves, and the world? Why not men who had the whole Tanach at their fingertips, committed to memory from childhood and ready to draw from at any time?

Exactly! Jesus had no interest in those who were already cemented in their religious opinions. He needed raw, fresh, unmolded clay… guys who would be open to truth, ready to receive the kingdom without the clutter of religious notions gathered from people without the Spirit.

Jesus wanted disciples who would, first, love Him, then believe in Him, and be loyal to Him even if it meant suffering. This was not about doctrine. This was, about a person… Jesus, God’s Son and Servant, who would become to them everything He was, did, and taught.

How different from the rabbis of His day whose model was, “Do as I say,” more than “Do as I do.”

So, Jesus’ method of training was simple.

Mark 3:14 NIV
14] “He appointed twelve that they might be WITH HIM and that he might SEND THEM OUT to preach [15] and to have authority to drive out demons.”

Jesus had a mission to fulfil so important, so far-reaching, and with such eternal consequences that He needed followers who would faithfully imitate Him in life and practice, and teach others down the generations to do the same.

2 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV
[1] “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. [2] And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Jesus’ choice of followers, who would live and walk intimately with Him for years, learn who He was, what He thought, taught, and did, as closely as they could, was unusual. He chose fishermen, not scholars… young guys, not well seasoned students of Tanach…rough, unrefined peasants, not sophisticated boffins.

He also chose political rebels, a hated tax collector, hot-heads like James and John, riff raff from the outskirts of society, smelly fishermen.. and slowly but surely, He molded and welded them into a unit of men just like Himself…after Pentecost.

His mission was decisive and specific…

John 17:6-9, 11 NIV
[6] “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. [7] Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. [8] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. [9] I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
[11] I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so THAT THEY MAY BE ONE as we are one.”

What a tall order! Was this ever possible with such an unruly bunch?

Jesus was patient, persistent, often frustrated, sometimes even angry at their unbelief, but He never gave up on His purpose, knowing that they would become what He desired them to be when the Holy Spirit came. He wanted men who would believe in Him, love Him, and be sold out for Him.

So… He taught, demonstrated, and gave them opportunity to practise what He taught them so that, empowered and unified by the Holy Spirit, they would be fully equipped to continue where He left off.

Jesus was no ordinary rabbi. He was God’s Servant and Son, sent by the Father to restore God’s rule in the hearts of those who would believe in Him. How imperative, then, that His followers understand His yoke, commit fully to passing on His teaching intact and uncorrupted, and model what He taught through the power of God’s Spirit in them as He was in Jesus.

On the eve of His departure to the Father, He commissioned them to go, empowered by His Spirit, into a hostile world to be to the world what He was to them.

Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] “… You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus differed from us in one thing…He saw the finished product and kept in mind what His disciples would become rather than what they were. He fully trusted the Holy Spirit who would be in them, to complete the work He had begun. We see the “now”. He saw the “then” and worked steadily towards the pre-determined end.

As with them, so also with us. Whatever we are now is part of the process. What we shall be in God’s perspective, when Jesus returns is already complete.

1 John 3:2 NIV
[2] “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Armed with this assurance, Jesus was committed, with patience and determination, to mold unworked clay into vessels of honour, who wouid faithfully imitate their rabbi and pass in His legacy to the next generation.

MARK’S GOSPEL… THE PREPARATION -4

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To do His work efficiently and effectively, the Servant of the Lord needed training and equipment, and He needed to choose to whose authority He would bow. No servant is thrown into an important task without knowing what to do.

Luke 2:51-52 NLT
[51] Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart. [52] Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

His training lasted for 30 years under the watchful eye of His heavenly Father. Mark said nothing about those years but the Father did…. In His verbal and audible affirmation at His Son’s baptism, the Father owned His Son with love and pleasure.

Mark 1:11 NIV
[11] “And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

To fulfill His commission, Jesus needed a motive and a modus operandi.

There couid be no greater preparation for so enormous a task than the Father’s threefold blessing…providing His Son with the motivation to carry out His mission faithfully with the Father’s approval. No matter how difficult the task, how much opposition He faced, and how severe the temptation to compromise, quit, or act on His own, Jesus never faltered in His purpose because the Father trusted Him and accompanied Him throughout every moment of His journey. Even though His human companions would forsake Him, He was assured that the Father would never abandon Him.

John 16:32 NIV
[32] “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”

Without this assurance, Jesus could easily have given up and gone home…but He did not! Knowing that He was not alone, that He was loved, affirmed, and trusted to finish what He came to do, He endured the suffering and the cross for the reward the Father had promised Him.

His motive was clear. Love and loyalty to the Father would steady and steer Him though every obstacle, both His own humanity and the ferocious opposition of He enemies, to and through the cross, to ultimate victory.

His modus operandi was equally tested and determined before He ever set out on His public ministry. Without this pre-planned and tested method, He would have been driven by circumstances rather than by principles.

The test was severe. He was pitted against His most lethal adversary to defend His most sacred relationship, in the most unforgiving terrain, during His most vulnerable human condition, to test His unwavering commitment to unity with His Father.

The first Adam’s test was child’s play, in the most comfortable and conducive of environments, the Garden of Eden, compared with what Jesus, the last Adam, was up against…and he failed. Jesus, was tested, at the limit of His endurance after forty days of deprivation…and He passed the test with flying colours!

So, what was the test?

Under what authority, would He do the work the Father had assigned Him? Whose word would He obey?

Again, the first Adam was given the same option…whose word would he follow? He chose to follow the deceiver, and the outcome was chaos. Jesus, the last Adam, was offered the same choice.

First test…

Matthew 4:3 NIV
[3] “The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Since you are the Son of God, test YOUR word to see if it works.

How real was this test?

Satan started with the physical, the “flesh”, Jesus’ weakest point at that moment. He was starving…forty days without food! “Check the power of your own word.” How easy it would have been to do a little miracle with no one watching…

… but what was the real issue?

Whose word will you heed, Jesus, mine or God’s? To do the little thing, the obscure, unimportant thing like making a little bread to ease your hunger without the Father’s approval, or to do the big thing, protect your unity with the Father despite gnawing hunger, no matter the cost!

The bottom line…who is in charge…who is Lord? Whose word counts? Satan’s word or God’s word?

Jesus made His choice.

Matthew 4:4 NIV
[4] “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

” It is written… ” How simple yet how decisive!

Second test…

Matthew 4:5-6 NIV
[5] “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. [6] “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

With what defiance the devil mimiced Jesus’ stance! “So… It is written! Now test it. You have chosen God’s Word, now use it!”

Luke 4:12 NIV
[12] Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Satan taunted, “You test God’s Word.” What arrogance! Jesus responded, “It is not my place to test God’s Word but to obey it!” What humility!

Third test…

Luke 4:5-7 NLT
[5] Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. [6] “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. [7] I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

Satan threw down the gauntlet. “I will give you everything you want if you give me what I want most…worship.” So, that’s what these tests were really about. “If you do what I say, you will show me who is really Lord and who will take ownership of the universe.”

The first Adam conceded to the devil his God-given right to manage the earth. Jesus, the last Adam, did not!

Luke 4:8 NIV
[8] “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

Armed with His victory, His modus operandi… to do the Father’s will no matter what the cost… Jesus returned from forty gruelling days in the wilderness, as Luke records, “… In the power of the Holy Spirit,” to function under divine protection, divine authority, and divine power, to usher in God’s kingdom and to make possible the reconciliation of God and man by His own blood.