December 1943
457
“Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5), and; “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14). Points and Problems 1. "He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mk. 1:35). Three things are to be noted about prayer in this incident: (1) The circumstances surrounding the prayer. It was after a remarkable day of ministry at Capernaum and before the beginning of a new preaching ministry (v. 38). What a lesson for present-day preachers and Christian workers! (2) The time of prayer. It was early morning, before the day had fully dawned. This is the ideal time for prayer—before the world gets possession of the soul and ere Satan has an opportunity to dull the per ception. (3) The place of prayer. It was a “solitary” place, away from any distracting influence, where the world was shut out and the soul shut in with God (cf. Matt. 6:6). Every Christian must have such a place. , 2. "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also" (v,- 38). The implication behind Jesus’ words is that the disciples wanted Him to re turn to Capernaum to minister to the multitude there. But Jesus had al ready ministered there. Other towns remained unreached by His healing and saving ministry. Therefore He must press on. Here is an argument for home and foreign missiohs. All people are entitled to hear the gospel. God’s people should not be content to limit their efforts to save the lost in'the local field. The argument that there are enough heathen at home does not justify failure to carry the gospel abroad. • 3. "And Jesus . , . put forth his hand, and touched him" (v. 41). Note how Jesus transcends the Mosaic law in His actions here. The touching of a leper brought ceremonial defilement according to Leviticus 5:3. But Jesus in response to this man’s faith and by reason of His own power Rnew that the leper would no longer be a leper. Doubtless He regarded him as already cleansed even before He touched him. What majesty in the Lord’s words, “ I will” ! That is all Christ has to do to accomplish anything: He wills, and a miracle is wrought. Golden Text Illustration J ohn 9:4 There was a little American mis sionary who was going home to stay after twenty years of service. At the request of the m i s s i o n board, she stopped off at a leper colony, in the Pacific, in order to make a report. Soon after she reached home, she dis covered a small, white spot on her
. 40 And there came a leper to him, be seeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if thou wilt thou canst. make me clean. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42 And as soon as he had spoken, Im mediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. 43 And he straitly charged him, and forth with sent him away; 44 And saith unto him, Seek thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses com manded, for a testimony unto them. 45 But he went out, and began to pub lish it much, and to blaze abroad the mat ter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly, enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter. LESSON TEXT: Mk. 1:32-45. , GOLDEN TEXT: “ I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4). DEVOTIONAL READING: Isa. 42:1-7, Outline and Exposition I. R elieving the D istressed (32-34) A T THE END of the Sabbath, the Christ’s power over demons (vs. 23- 28) stirred the people with the hope that He would do for them what they believed He could do. They were not disappointed. He healed them and cast out the demons. Christ would not allow testimony to come from demons, though they knew, if the people did not, who and what He was (cf. Lk. 4:41; Acts 15:16-18). Demons know of Christ’s divine au thority, hut mere knowledge is not enough. Without obedience, knowl edge of the truth is highly dangerous (cf. 2 Cor. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:20-22). II. ‘ ’ R elying U pon G od (35-39) Jesus, as the Son of Man, showed His reliance upon God by resorting to prayer at all times and under all cir cumstances. Especially was this true after a hard day’s work, or before important decisions were to be made. In this instance, there was a good time for prayer, early in the morning; a good place, a solitary place; and a good manner, alone for personal deal ing with a personal God. One of the old Puritans said, “I’m so very busy today that I must spend an extra hour in prayer.’' Too often we allow pressing duties to shorten rather than lengthen the time for prayer. But power in the Lord’s service, and en joyment of that service, depend great ly upon our habits of prayer. Christ’s prayer was perhaps against the danger of popularity (vs. 36-39). The disciples evidently thought the regard of the people was sufficient reason for His staying there where
B LACKBOARD LESSON
(DUST UIORK THE UDORKS OF HimTHRTSEnT lE, UJHILEIT 154ET DfW THE (TIGHT COmETH, iuheo n o m o o ca n w o r k : uortn “all seek thee. His followers inter rupted His prayer, implying that it was more important to meet people who sought Him than to meet God whom He sought. But He had come to preach in all their towns. Capernaum had heard His voice and seen His work. He would therefore go to those other places to which He was sent, “for therefore came I forth. And he preached . . .” How simple this is, and how sug gestive for our own manner of serv ice! Why are we here? Are we‘ ful filling the divine purpose for our be ing here? III. R emoving the L eprosy ( 40 - 45 ) The leper appealed to the Lord Jesus Christ with earnestness: he besought Him; with reverence: he kneeled; and with belief in the power of Jesus: “if thou wilt, thou canst.” But there is no indication thaf this leper had any re ligious belief in Jesus. His i n t e r e s t was similar to that of a savage who will come to a missionary who has a medicine chest, »because the native knows that the contents of that chest has p r o v e d successful in relieving physical disease. > The compassion of Jesus ’ was aroused, as it always is at the sight of human misery (vs. 41, 42). His heart was moved with pity, and in grace He “ t o u c h e d him” ; His will, was moved to action as He said, “ I will,” and as He uttered the word, the work was done. The healing was immediate and complete—no w a i t i n g , and no period of convalescence. While the leper was cleansed of the ' disease, he was not yet ceremonially clean. For that cleansing, he must show himself to the priest before he could enter the synagogue (cf. Lev. 14). In this instance, the Lord Jesus would give a testimony to the priest hood that God, who alone could heal leprosy, was in their midst. •But alas, zeal led to the hindering of the work; “Jesus could no more openly enter into the city” (v. 45). Zeal never can take the place of obedi ence, however grateful the person may feel. Obedience manifests gratitude. For the lack of obedience, Jesus was hindered in His ministry. Let us be careful lest, in mistaken zeal for His work, we fail to hearken to the Word:
people “brought unto him all” that were in physical distress. The p r e c e d i n g manifestation of
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