2 Hours with Mark and Friends - #3a

Mark 1:21-34

1. One of the most striking things to me in this passage is that Jesus has become so well known for his authority over the natural and the supernatural that vs. 33 says this, “And the whole city was gathered together at the door.” Now, Capernaum was probably only a city of 50-100 people, but that is still astonishing that they were so enamored with the presence of Christ that there was not a person not attracted to the authority. Is it ludicrous to think that with enough prayer and surrender to the same Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we could not see a whole community basically crowding the doors of our churches because his power and authority had become so famous. Jesus himself said that we would do greater things than He did after he went away. Do we believe Him? We have seen evil spirits run out of people since we started The Bridge. We have seen people physically healed. We have seen marriages that were apparently not repairable get repaired. People are off drugs, not dependent on alcohol. The Gospel has made radical changes in many people’s lives. You may be one of them. Why has this not brought the entire city to our versions of Simon Peter’s door? Discuss the power of prayer and proclamation to this analogy.

2. PRAYER In Joshua 10, Joshua was given a task to perform to make the God of the Bible famous. As God was supplying him success in this endeavor, Joshua actually prayed that Jesus make the sun stand still in the sky so that he would have enough time in the day to complete his task. God responded in vs. 13, “The sun stopped in the midst of the heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.” What is your “sun stand still” prayer that might bring all of our community come to the door to see the Jesus that does such miraculous things? I have prayed that all churches in St. Francois County (and now Jefferson County) be such conduits of the power and authority of Christ that the entire community crowds the doors to get a peak at such things. Is that ridiculous? Why or why not?

3. PROCLAMATION I believe the second issue is proclamation. If you re-read Mark 1:21-28, something tells me that it was only a matter of minutes before the entire city had heard of the authority of Jesus’ teaching and the exorcism that took over the usually boring church meeting at the synagogue. How did that happen? PROCLAMATION. Proclamation about Jesus. Some who had been regenerated proclaimed the Gospel on a personal level. Think about (if you are doing this in private) and/or discuss (if you are in cell) how if God has performed miracles in our midst that our entire community has not heard about them. God’s authority and grace is spectacular and when proclaimed (not as fanatics, but as awe-struck worshipers) should attract the entire city to our homes and churches. What prevents this?

4. Christians are commanded to practice hospitality. Ben noted that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law began to immediately serve upon being healed because she could. Our taking care of the needs of others in love is a NATURAL outcropping of the healing of grace. Think and discuss how you feel about your service to others. Is there any? If so, does it feel obligated, like you owe somebody something, or does it feel natural and in a flow of your life in Christ. You are a new creation.

5. Read 1 Corinthians 9:5. We keep coming back to this deal about ‘radical abandonment’ and ‘take care of your family.’ I find it interesting that apparently Simon Peter’s wife must have also have abandoned all her agenda and followed Christ with her husband. Discuss how a one flesh marriage must go this way.

6. We learned that the Greek word for authority here (Mark 1:22) means, “out of the original stuff,” or “out of the origin.” This has ramifications in many different directions. Remember that through His partner in the trinity, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus wrote all Scripture. He is the author and perfecter of our faith -- the beginning and the end. This is fun. The use of this Greek word for authority also shows up at the end of the Sermon on the Mount as the scribes declared it about Him there also. Matthew 7:28-29. To finish up your 2 hours of study here, take off on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7 (which must have been given in a very close time proximity to the events of Mark 1). Reflect on our teachings and look closely how Jesus redefines (from authority) the Kingdom of God.

That will be more than two hours, but I have some more thoughts on this in an upcoming 3b.