Greeting and Introduction
Well, good morning. Oh, I skipped it. I should go back. I’m Pastor Conrad. Hello? Thank you. Thank you, Tanya, Kim and Graham, and everyone else, I guess, as well.
So I don’t know if you remember when I first introduced the book of Mark, which we will be continuing on for some time. I talked about how Mark has this propulsive, active writing style. It’s like a freight train, and it’s a lot of sentences that start with “and then.” And I think that’s particularly noteworthy this morning, because we have 6 verses that we’re looking at, and 4 of them start with “and then.” And then, and then, and then it’s like listening to a story by a little kid. You ever heard a little kid tell you a story and then this happened and then this happened. And then this happened, and then this happened, and they’re so excited to tell you this.
And I just thought it was really funny and it reminded me of this clip from a TV show community. Once? A poem? A, time there was a big spaceship. And? Aliens. And mercenaries. And? War. And? Betrayal. And… romance? And… karate. And credits. The… End. We should write a screenplay together. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
Um, yeah, just the joy that comes with that sort of story style. Now, if you read this passage, which we’re about to do, in English, they remove all of the “and then” and “then” and “then” because it’s poor English grammar. But as we’re reading through it, see if you can spot where those pop up.
Anyway, let’s read our passage for this morning and then I’ll pray and then we can get started. So we’re still in chapter one, picking up in verse 29.
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:29–34 (NET)
Now, as soon as they left the synagogue, they entered Simon and Andrew’s house with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was lying down, sick with a fever, so they spoke to Jesus at once about her. He came and raised her up by gently taking her hand. Then the fever left her and she began to serve them.
When it was evening after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and demon possessed. The whole town gathered by the door. So he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons, but he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him.
Hmm, let’s pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth that is contained in here, and I pray that this morning, as every morning, that you would bring some new thing to light in what we’re studying today, God, that each of us would leave with a new understanding of a word or a phrase or an idea or a concept that you are presenting here through your disciple, Mark. So yeah, open our eyes, open our hearts, open our ears to hear and listen, and to be changed by what you have to tell us this morning. Amen.
Peter’s House in Capernaum
All right, let’s dig into it, starting in verse 29. Now, as soon as they left the synagogue. They entered Simon and Andrew’s house with James and John. I love this. Some things never change, right? Right after church, what do they do? They go for lunch. These are traditions that have lasted as long as time, and that’s for a good reason, I suppose. So after church, go for lunch in the same way that Jesus did.
But you know what’s interesting? That’s right. We’re headed to Tangentown for the first time in a while. Do you remember the synagogue picture that Mike showed last week? I think I have it here. Yeah. So Mike was saying that this is very likely the actual synagogue that Jesus went to and preached in, that is recorded in the book of Mark. But it’s not just this synagogue’s place, existence in Capernaum that is noteworthy that gives us that idea. There is additional evidence that I’m excited to tell you guys about.
So here is another structure in Capernaum. Okay? Now I’m going to try to help you understand what is happening here. Oh, I turned the wrong way. This center circular area was sort of the main sanctuary, and then you have these outer octagonal sort of hallways. And to give you a sense of scale, because it sort of looks like a well, that’s 3 inches deep. Those walls are about 6 feet high on that inner circle. Okay, to give you a sense of the scale of this thing.
Now, this is about a 4th century, I think it’s Byzantine church, which is not particularly noteworthy, except that Italian archaeologist discovered that this is actually built on top of an existing house, like a personal residence. You guys probably know where I’m going with this. Um, Which is also not that uncommon. But we also need to keep in mind that it’s not built like on top, like a stack of pancakes. It’s sort of built around the existing structure. And this center circle, this inner area, was what would have been the primary living space in this ancient house.
But what’s interesting, there’s a couple of interesting things about this space. One is that it didn’t have the things that you would expect to see in a family living space, namely things like pots and pans. We didn’t see any of that. Instead, what we saw, well, I didn’t see it, but they thought, was large containers to hold vast amounts of grains and oils, things that you would need for large quantities of people, certainly more than would live in a single house.
And the other thing that makes it interesting is that the walls, the old walls, not the church walls, but the house walls are actually covered in plaster, which is extremely uncommon for houses of that area. It was all masonry, stone and mortar. But this plaster, thick, thick plaster, as though the walls had been patched and repaired and kept up for 100s of years beyond the initial use of this house. And in the plaster, you can go there to Capernaum today and see it. It doesn’t look like this anymore. They’ve built like an observation deck on top with a glass floor that you can look through. You can actually look down and see into it, and there’s plaster with carvings all throughout it. And the carvings have things like God help us, God save us, God have mercy. And we see the name of Peter recorded 4 times. Well maybe three. They’re very old inscriptions.
So what I’m saying is, we believe that this actually was the house of Peter. The house of Peter that became the base camp for Jesus. We see it throughout Mark. We’ll read one of those verses later today. Jesus was in this house. And this house became not just a residence, it became a meeting place of the early church, right? That’s why we see those large containers for oils and grains and things like that. And then it became a church, and now we have found it.
And here is the most interesting thing of all. This last picture, which is blank because of course it is. Um, so imagine, picture, if you will. The, uh, in the bottom right is actually that synagogue and in the top left is this house. Peter only lived about a block from the church. I just thought that was super fascinating and worth sharing because, I don’t know, tangents are my jam.
So anyway, now that we’ve established all that, let’s get back to the actual sermon for this morning with verses 30 and 31.
Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law
Simon’s mother-in-law was lying down sick with a fever. So they spoke to Jesus at once about her. He came and raised her up by gently taking her hand. Then the fever left her and she began to serve them.
Notice that in the account, Jesus is not recorded as saying anything to Peter’s mother. He doesn’t actually say anything to her, right? He just offers a hand and she gets up, healed, complete and total healing. There’s no after effects. She’s not groggy. She’s up and serving people. That’s her response to this up and serving is not like I need to sit down and recover. That’s it. It’s over, it’s complete. Jesus offers a complete healing. It’s done, it’s finished. Don’t. Finished. It’s done and it’s finished. Jesus is not leaving lingering effects, right?
You hear some of these churches. I won’t get into names where they talk about, oh, if you lost your healing, you need to come back and praise some more. If you lost your healing, Jesus didn’t heal you. You just had a rust of adrenaline because you felt good in the moment. If people tell you that you lost your healing, that means that Jesus didn’t heal you, okay? Let me just be clear about that. Anyway.
So we see this evidence of healing, and the evidence is her service, right? She doesn’t need recovery time. But what’s interesting is that the word service that we see here. She served them is the exact same word that is used in Mark’s account of the temptations. When the angels ministered to Jesus, it’s the exact same word. That service, because Mark sees service as a sign of greatness. And I’m going to give you 2 examples of what I mean by this. Mark sees service as a sign of greatness.
And we’re going to look at chapter 9, verse 33 to 35 and chapter 10, verse 45. And let’s start with 10. Verse 10, 45, or chapter 10, verse 45 says, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Right? People are expecting the Messiah to come as this military leader. And he doesn’t come as that. He doesn’t come as someone who is going to put himself over top of other people. He comes as someone who’s going to put other people above himself and give sacrificially.
And then the next one is 9, 33 to 35. And this is more related to the disciples. You and I. Then they came to Capernaum. That’s the town we were just talking about. And after Jesus was inside the house, that’s Peter’s house that we also just talked about. He asked them, what were you discussing on the way? But they, the disciples, were silent. For on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. After he sat down, he called the 12 to him and said, if anyone wants to be first, he must be least of all and servant of all.
Servant of all. Now, does that mean that as Christians, we need to be last, lowest, least the bottom rung of society? No, it means that we need to strive to raise other people up, to lift other people up, right? We shouldn’t be stepping on folks to get to the top. We should be hoisting them up ahead of us, okay? That is the call of Jesus to us, and that is the example that he set, right? That service is our response to the wholeness that Jesus offers, just like Peter’s mother-in-law. And by not serving, if this is not a thing that you’re doing, you’re robbing yourself of the honor of God and the joy of his kingdom. Service is king. It’s like a fast food restaurant.
Healing and Exorcism at Sunset
Verse 32. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and demon possessed, the whole town gathered by the door, so he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons.
Again, with the demons. So Mike had to talk about demons last week, and here we have demons again. I think it needs to be addressed. You know what this means. We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back. We have to go back. Um…
So, Jesus actually talks about, we have this event of Peter’s mother in law being healed, recorded a couple of times. We also read it in Luke, and I hope this is it. Yes, perfect. Luke 4, 38, 39. Notice the difference here. After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now, Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help. So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.
So people have speculated that this means that the fever was a demonic possession. You remember, Mike talked about this at length last week, that the fever was a demonic possession, and maybe I haven’t done a deep study on Luke, but I’m not so sure that that’s what this is. We also see Jesus command the wind and the waves. Do we declare that they are demon possessed? I mean, I would be willing to listen to the case. I’m not sure. But I don’t think so.
So the question is, is it a demon? May heaven is May heaven. A habit is, it may have a date. Thank you, Mother Abigail. See, we see throughout these accounts, in all the different gospels, that people were healed and demons were exercised. People were healed and demons were exercised. These are presented as 2 distinct events.
If you want to read this exact story. Again, it’s in Matthew 8 versus 16 and 17. And it should be noted that when we read that Jesus healed many and cast demons out of many. Some people have said, well, If the whole town was at the door, and by the way, this is obviously hyperbole for the sake of the story, I doubt the entire town of Capernaum. I’m sure if several dozen people or 100 people showed up at your door, you might be tempted to say the whole town was there. So let’s not get caught up on that.
But hordes of people show up, and then many were healed and people will say, well, why didn’t Jesus heal everybody? Why did he only heal many? And I think it’s because we get this healing and demon possession thing all conflated. We get them confused together. Right? He healed many, and he exercised many, many plus many equals the whole town. All right? So let’s not get too caught up on that part.
But here’s the thing, and I’m going to go back into what Mike said last week, and some of you are here, so that works out well. But the fact is, we have people who say, well, we need to pray about these things because if it’s demonic possession, science can’t help, and we want to find demons everywhere, right? Mike gave some pretty funny examples. I was thinking like, you know, the person who wakes up, I was like, my hair is a mess. Satan is after me today. Um, That’s not based on a real person.
Um, We say, is it prayer, is it medicine? And I say, yes. Right? If something is wrong, 1st of all, you’re going to pray into it. Second of all, you’re gonna talk to your doctor. Pray for him. That’s another prayer, and then pray again after it’s over. Right? Because here’s the thing. Whether you’re healed miraculously by some divine thing that occurs, or whether you’re healed by medicine, either way, God did it. Because you know what? God made and created an ordered universe, in which the laws of science and math were out there to be discovered by us, and we could use those to apply to our lives in ways that matter. Right? So ultimately, all of that creativity that God gave us allows us to tap into the creation that he made, and he is the one who is ultimately responsible for all these things, whether we did it, or he did it. He’s at the end of the chain either way. Amen?
Amen. So, God and science, BFFs. Prayer plus your doctor equals good health.
Wholeness, Evidence, and Service
So, um, Sorry. Yeah, okay. So here is what it all comes down to. Jesus is seeking to complete and restore us, right? Jesus is seeking to complete and restore us. I mean, that’s why he came. That’s why he’s here at all. Is because we were broken and he came to fix, and not to sort of fix it, right? To kind of, you know, wrap some duct tape around the fender and, well, it’s not falling off anymore, so it’s better now. This is complete and total restoration. That’s Jesus’ goal.
And that’s what we see in Mark’s mother-in-law, or excuse me, Peter’s mother-in-law. Right? Total complete restoration. But also, God is a God of evidence. Let me say it again. God is a god of evidence. I don’t know if you remember. I talked about this way back when we were studying Hebrews, right? And God wants to provide that evidence, and we see that all over the place, right?
Before Jesus even starts his ministry, what is he doing? He’s out there preaching with authority. He’s out there healing people. He’s out there exercising demons. Jesus is doing all of the things. He’s setting up this trail of evidence for us. And he wants us to look at that evidence. When you hear someone talk about blind faith, that’s not Christianity. Christianity is not blind faith. Christianity will stand up to any challenge that there is out there. Okay? And I said this one time. I remember one time when Pastor Graham was 1st starting to invite me back to preach a church and I said, I would be willing to lay down the cross of Christ and here’s someone’s argument against it. And you could just see like sweat coming out of his eyes. He’s like, what is this heretic going to say?
But the fact is that I know that the cross is safe, because it’s true. Whatever objection someone can bring to it, I can say, okay, here is why that’s not true. Here’s why this is true and I can take it back up. If what you believe is true, you don’t need to defend it and protect it. It will stand up all on its own, right?
Again, this is why we talk about these healers. And I was going to show a video, and I ultimately took it out, because I thought it was sort of iffy, but, um, this YouTube pastor talks about, um, churches where we see these miraculous healings. And one that he points to specifically is Bethel Church. Right? And I don’t know if you guys remember, there was a big thing to do there a couple years ago, but a little girl who drowned and they were trying to pray her back to life. And she got all sorts. This mother got all sorts of prophecies about this girl’s going to be healed. And Nabil Kareshi, who is a touring evangelist, who died of cancer. He got all sorts of prophecies about how he was going to be healed. And they’re the church that promotes this idea of, you know, if it doesn’t stick, then you got to, you know, reclaim your healing.
Now, I should say at the outset that I’m not trying to slander Bethel Church. I think that as a church, we should be praying for healing more. If we really believe that God is healer, why are we not praying more for that stuff, we should be doing that. But we should also recognize that God has a will. God has a will and his will might not be for the thing that you want. So we always pray. We ask God, but we recognize that he ultimately is the authority, and we might not see how his plan comes to fruition in our lifetime. It might be some time, generations, for the decisions that he’s made are sort of unfolded, you can look back, right?
They say the great tragedy of time or history is that it has to be lived forward, but it can only be understood in reverse. And I think that the gospel writers understood this evidence-based faith, right? We don’t need to make up for God. We don’t need to protect him and shield him because someone might, you know, not like it. God’s got this. He’s okay.
And we see that in Peter, right? Because you remember I talked last time about how there are 3 distinct callings of Peter that are recorded. Excuse me. The 1st one we see in the Gospel of John. Right? It’s after Jesus’ baptism. And then Andrew says, oh, yeah, listen, we found the Messiah. I was there. I saw it. And Peter’s like, cool, cool story bro. And then the next time is the one that we see recorded in Matthew and Mark. And then the 3rd time is the one in Luke when Jesus says, you know, they overfill the boats and then he says, come with me. It’s go time.
And so you have to think to yourself. Well, if Mark is a disciple of Peter and is recording Peter’s account of the gospel, surely Peter lived through these 3 callings, why are they not all recorded? Maybe you didn’t think that, but I did. Why would Peter not record all 3 of these events? Because the 2nd one was the most important to him. The 2nd one was the most important to him. Because the 1st one, he wasn’t there. He didn’t see this thing. He saw Jesus, he speaks with authority. Okay, that’s cool. We’ve had lots of authoritative rabbis. That’s good. And the 3rd one didn’t matter anymore because Peter was already committed. Whatever Jesus needed he was in.
So what happened after that 2nd one? Well, they went to Peter’s house and Peter’s own mother-in-law was completely healed. Because here’s the thing. You hear about a healing, I don’t know, some healing in, I don’t know, Yugoslavia somewhere. Is that still a country? I don’t know. I’m terrible. The 80s. Um, what’s a country? The Ukraine. There you go. One that’s in the news. And you hear about some guy that just grows his right leg back. It was a stump, and now he’s got a full leg again. You’re like, wow, that sounds cool. Okay.
But if it’s your own friend who has a persistent cough that they can’t get rid of and you pray and instantly it’s gone forever, that’s going to stick to your ribs, as they say. You’re never going to forget that experience. Because the fact is that when it’s close to us, we understand it. And God understands that. And that’s why he gives us these miracles. Again, this evidentially based faith, right?
So this is why Peter includes this one of his calling because he sees his own mother-in-law completely restored, and he knows that there’s no gimmicks here. There’s no shenanigans, there’s no, you know, Benny Hinn, plants, guy comes in the wheelchair, but he’s actually an athlete, right? None of that stuff. It’s all on the level.
And here’s the last thing that I want to talk about today, is that the advance of the kingdom is the retreat of the enemy. Okay? So how does this come together? God wants us to be whole. He’s pursuing wholeness in us. And he gives us evidence to support that this is his goal. And then we are called, that’s what we see, right? We are called to serve. And how do we serve? By going out and giving people the evidence of wholeness. Right? We’re called to share, to advance the kingdom.
Because let me tell you, the kingdom is a 0 sum game. Okay? You are either saved or not saved. There is no in-between area in the same way that you cannot be sort of pregnant. Okay? You cannot be sort of saved. You are in or you are out. It’s very simple. Um, So we are called, sorry. So we are called to bring this truth to people. All right? And that should be evidenced in our own lives. So we can say Jesus has restored me, Jesus has broughten me wholeness. Jesus has done this in me, and you know me, and because of that evidence, you want whatever I have to offer.
I used to work years ago at a pizza place. And, um, They would always talk about how I was weird, and by weird it meant that I didn’t smoke or do drugs or even drink, and that was really strange to these kids in Surrey, who, you know, we were all like 19, 20 years old. And then one day I brought in one of my textbooks from Bible college. And I said, biblical Hebrew on the front. And they were like, oh, you’re one of those Jesus guys. And they said, that explains it. And I was like, well, I guess I’ve done a good job.
But we see how God’s work of restoring and building wholeness in us enables us to share that as evidence with other people, right? That’s what we’re trying to do is share that evidence with other people.
Yeah, so I really don’t have a whole lot today. That is the crux of this thing. So we are trying to bring wholeness. God is trying to bring wholeness. We trying to share that through our evidential faith.
Closing Prayer
So with that, I guess I’ll bring the worship team up. Nice, short and concise, but then you say, Conrad, what about 34B? He didn’t address 34B. But he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. Like, why would that matter? That he wouldn’t let the demons speak because they knew him.
I actually love this because it is super duper interesting. And Mike talked about this. I don’t know if you guys remember, the Messianic secret. And so then the question becomes, well, what is the messianic secret? And the fact the matter is… You’ll have to wait until 2 weeks to find out. We’re going to discuss that in 2 weeks when we get into the next sermon that I’m up here for.
So with that said, let’s pray and we’ll turn it back over to Jaira and the team.
Father God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. Thank you that you are an evidentially based God, that we can seek truth and when we do that, it leads us to you. I pray that you would help us to share, as a result of this healing that you’ve brought into our lives, that you would enable us to share a gospel of wholeness, a gospel of said, we don’t need to be half empty, walking around looking for meaning in our lives, God, but we can find what we need in you. We can find the wholeness for our heart and our soul in you. So be with us today. Be with us for the rest of this worship set, and in the weeks and days that are ahead of us, God, that we would look for those opportunities, as though someone was hiding a $1000000 check somewhere, that we would seek out those opportunities to share this gospel of wholeness and healing. Thank you, Jesus, in your name. Amen.