Daily Archives: August 31, 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.