Tag Archives: Simon and Andrew

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THEY TOLD JESUS

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THEY TOLD JESUS…

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Mark 1:29-34

Fishing, fishing, fishing! After the synagogue service, the two lots of brothers and Jesus went to Peter and Andrew’s house. Another crisis! Peter’s mother-in-law was gravely ill. She had a burning fever – the whole household came to a standstill. Jesus walked right into the situation and took charge. He reached out and took her hand – from tamai – unclean – to tahor – clean – in an instant. Jesus didn’t bat an eyelid. He moved in the environment of God where everything was tahor and perfect.

What went on in the household in that moment? Amazement, excitement, joy? One minute she was really sick and in the next instant, completely well – and all He did was touch her. It was as though her illness was a minor interruption that was over in a flash.

Well, that did it! The news was out and the whole community erupted into pandemonium. Hope rose in every sick person’s heart. Every loved one moved. “I’ve got to get…. to Jesus.” They waited impatiently for the sunset that heralded the end of the Sabbath so that they could legitimately carry their sick folk to Jesus. Not one person did He send away unattended.

What were the people thinking? “O boy, have we got it made! A healer in town and all our troubles are over.” A resident miracle-worker who would take care of all their needs? Is that why Jesus came or what He wanted? He could have won the popularity poll for the greatest beneficiary to the community hands down.

But Jesus hadn’t come as a magic cure for all their ills. What He did was a demonstration of the eternal kingdom He was introducing them to. He didn’t come to run a clinic for sick people. His intention was not to be a one-man show but to teach and train His followers to do the same as He was doing – to be a walking demonstration of the nature of that kingdom He was representing, and to call people to participate with Him in blessing people with God’s favour and kindness. It would take people a long time to get it – to become givers, not getters!

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – CATCHING MEN

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CATCHING MEN

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 1:16-20

How were the disciples to catch men? What was the method and what was the “bait”? As you walk with Jesus and watch and listen to Him, it makes sense that the “bait” was the love and mercy of God which He declared, demonstrated and dispensed freely by touching the lives of ordinary people, forgiving their sin, healing their broken bodies and freeing them from demonic oppression (Act 10:38). Who would not be “lured” by a God like that? For too long the people had been cowered into obedience or driven away by fear of the God who made so many demands that it was impossible to satisfy Him.

Even if the disciples didn’t understand, they followed Him anyway and set out on a journey to relearn the love of the God who had originally called them to be His people millennia before, but whose true character was gradually obscured by a religious system superimposed by men.

Why did the Pharisees hate Jesus so much? Why did they want to kill Him? Could it be that the same fear that controls all other religions locked them into a ritualistic religious system of self-effort so that they could not launch out onto the love of God in case they were right and Jesus was wrong? Did their pride in their self-effort and their perception of “righteousness” make them hold tenaciously to their belief that they were right? Did they hate Jesus because He was too “nice” to the people they despised, and they could not accept God’s generosity to “sinners”?

How do we respond to God’s generosity? Is there a stubborn underlying thought that this is all a mirage: that there is a catch somewhere; that we will wake up and find that it was all a beautiful dream? Why do we struggle at times with the issue of healing? Why do we have nagging doubts when we pray as though the “bait” were a plastic lure and not the real thing? Is this part of the growth and maturing of true faith? How confident are we that what we are offering people is the truth and that God will back it up?