A Day in the Life of Jesus (Part 1 of 3)

Bob Lepine: Why would the gospel, the good news of salvation, offend anyone? It provides relief from the burden of sin. It holds out hope for a restored relationship with God. So why is it so difficult to share with others? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg explores the answer as he guides us through the daily life of Jesus.
Alistair Begg: Mark chapter one, and we're going to begin reading at the 21st verse of the chapter. Mark chapter one, verse 21: They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then, a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, 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. 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. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, "Everyone is looking for you!" Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Father, we ask now that you will help us in studying the Bible, for clarity of thought, for brevity of expression, for a sense that we are under the tutelage of you, the living God, that you're the one who teaches through your word by the Holy Spirit, so that we might be prepared to sit up, to pay attention, and to say, "Speak, Lord. Speak to me." And we ask it humbly in Christ's name. Amen. Easter has reminded us of the fact that what we are dealing with is historical material, that Easter itself is a historical event, that it actually happened, that it involved real people in real places at a real moment in time. So much so that when we ask why it is that the small band of followers, men and women who had already begun to follow Jesus, why it was that although they had been in hiding for fear of their lives, they had come out of hiding to face the challenge that was not only presented by the religious authorities but also by the persecuting Roman Empire. Why it would be that they were prepared at the risk of their very lives to face all the persecution that would come their way. The answer is absolutely clear, and that is that these individuals were completely convinced that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. They were in absolutely no doubt. Their cowardice had been replaced with courage. Although they had been hiding away, now they were out, heralds of this gospel. As we observed last time, it’s highly unlikely that we would even know who Jesus was were it not for the fact of the resurrection. It's hard to imagine why Matthew and Mark and John would take the time and trouble to write these detailed accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus if the whole Jesus story had actually come to a brutal and sorry end in the scene of the crucifixion. Indeed, that is the real challenge that confronts anyone who wants to think for a moment about the significance of Christianity itself. Why would Mark write this gospel? Why would he begin the gospel in the way that he does: "The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God begins here"? Well, the answer is because he was convinced that Jesus was alive. And it is this conviction which pervades the entire Bible. Now Mark has moved very quickly in keeping with his own design. He's introduced us, as his readers, to Jesus. John the Baptist has come and he is the forerunner and now he points us to Jesus. We have very quickly seen Jesus baptized, tempted in the wilderness, and then calling his disciples to become his followers. He has invited them to join him on his mission. These men were in no doubt as to the message that Jesus was proclaiming, and we need be in no doubt concerning it either. It's a very important thing for us just to keep it in the forefront of our thinking. Verse 15 of the first chapter: Jesus is proclaiming the good news of God. Here is the good news that comes from God; here is the good news about God. And he essentially has two things that he tells people and one that he asks them then to do. First of all, he says, "The time has come" or "The time is fulfilled." In other words, all the expectations of the Old Testament and the things that the prophets have said has now reached its fulfillment in me. That in itself ought to give us cause for thought. It's quite a statement for somebody to say that the entire Bible as we know it so far has all been pointing to me, and you will find in me the fulfillment of all that is contained there. Secondly, he says, "And furthermore, the kingdom of God is near." What he's saying there is this: that God's rule over people's hearts and lives is now being established. And the unfolding story of the rule of the King will finally reach its fruition and fulfillment described for us in that great cataclysmic moment in Revelation 19, where all that is opposed to the power and might of Jesus as King is finally cast down into the abyss. But in the meantime, the evidences of the kingly reign of Christ will be seen in lives that are touched and changed and in the indications of his kingly rule in circumstances as they unfold. And then he says, "And let me tell you what I want you to do. Since I've told you that the time has been fulfilled, that the kingdom of God is near, I want you to repent and believe this good news." Now, it becomes immediately clear that Jesus confronts us always with a crossroads. There may be others who teach and we really don't know what they're on about, we don't know what they're saying, and we don't know if they want us to do anything at all. But we will never run afoul of that with Jesus. And you see it right here at the outset. Here's what I want you to know: that all of this has been pointing to me, I, the King, have arrived, and what I want you to do is turn away from your sinful rebellion and believe this good news that I'm telling you. A person would know then and a person would know now whether they had made this decision called for by Jesus concerning his right to rule and reign in their lives. And it falls to me to ask you the same question this morning. Have you yourself made this decision? You say, "Well, I actually haven't made a decision." Oh, you voted to abstain, did you? I want you to know that that was a decision. All of us have decided either for or against the rule of Jesus in our lives. Either he rules and reigns in our lives or he doesn't. If he doesn't, we do, or something else does. It's as clear and as unequivocal as that. Read the gospels yourself, you're sensible people, and see if what I'm telling you is so. Now with that by way of background, we pick up the account in verse 21, where Jesus and his disciples are arriving in the lakeside community or settlement of Capernaum. If you have a Bible that has maps in it, you will be able to find Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. And if you have that which gives you any kind of notes concerning it, you will know that it was a large enough place to have a detachment of Roman soldiers. If you remember the story of the centurion whose son was sick and he sent for Jesus to come and heal his son, that centurion was from Capernaum. And the only reason a centurion would be there was because of the detachment of a battalion. It was also large enough to have a customs post, as we're going to see later on in chapter two here of Mark. According to verse 29, Capernaum was the home of Simon and Andrew, two of these early followers of Jesus. And it may also have been the hometown of James and John. Now what Mark gives to us between verse 21 and verse 39, as best as I can understand it, is his own version of 24 hours. You know, I've told you before that this television program "24" is completely lost on me. My attention deficit disorder is insufficient to cope with it. I cannot jump around as quickly as the program demands. So consequently, I just sit like an old man staring at the thing saying, "I'm sure this means something to somebody, but it means absolutely nothing to me." Well, the 24 hours that are described here in the life of Jesus are far easier to follow even for a soul like myself. Mark gives to us, first of all, in 21 and following, Jesus in the synagogue, and then verse 29 and following, Jesus in a private home, and then verse 35, Jesus in a solitary place, and then in verse 38, Jesus once again on the move. So I say what we have here is a day in the life of Jesus, a Sabbath day in the life of Jesus on a Saturday. Now, I have been helped in studying this material by thinking around three words. I'll tell you what they are. The first word is "confrontation," the second word is "demonstration," and the third word is "explanation." There is in this a significant confrontation, there is in this material a wonderful demonstration of the power of the kingly rule of Christ. And there is within the structure of this the need for and the provision of an explanation as to the overarching purpose and ministry of Jesus. First of all, and we won't get beyond this, what is this notion of confrontation? Verse 21: "They went to Capernaum and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach." Jesus went to the synagogue because Jesus always went to the synagogue. In other words, it was his custom to go to the synagogue. He was a Jewish male, and it was expected of Jewish males that they would attend the temple and they would attend the synagogue. And indeed, Luke tells us that Jesus went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as was his custom. In other words, it was his constant practice. If someone had looked for Jesus on the Sabbath, they’d have said, "I was looking for Jesus of Nazareth, do you know where I might find him?" the answer would have come back immediately and without any doubt: "Yes, you'll find him if you just wait for him, he'll be coming out of the synagogue with the rest." Why? Well, because he woke up in the morning and he had a feeling that he would like to go to the synagogue. No. He went to the synagogue because he decided he would go to the synagogue. And it was on the strength of that decision volitionally, not emotionally. Let me just say to you in passing that if you decide to attend worship on the strength of your emotion rather than on the strength of your volition, your attendance will always be patchy. It will always be up for grabs. It will always be "Well, I don't know if I feel... whatever, I don't know." But if you determine, "This is what we do," then your emotions will be subservient to your volition. And in Jesus' case, that was so, and that is why we find him where we find him. Now within the framework of synagogue worship, it was routine for the leaders of the synagogue not only to teach themselves but to give occasion to others to engage in teaching. We see this elsewhere in the gospels concerning Jesus. And on this occasion, perhaps because of a prior awareness of Jesus, the invitation is extended to him to teach. Immediately as he teaches, there is a buzz within the room. And his teaching stands out in contrast to what the people were used to. They were used to the teachers of the law, verse 22, the "grammateis" is the word in Greek. They were the ones who interpreted the law, who gave explanation and so on, who quoted from the various rabbis. They would stand up and say what they were saying, and this is what this says, and that's what the other person said. But now Jesus stands up and his teaching seems almost self-possessed. Well, of course it is, because the very scriptures to which he turns are the scriptures which point to himself. You get that dramatically when he's not in Capernaum but in the synagogue in Nazareth, and you remember after he has read from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning all that will happen when the Messiah comes who will open the eyes of the blind and so on, and Jesus says, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Well, they’d never heard anything like that before. They had no notion of that at all. And he was marked by authority. Now it is clear that it is this very authority which gives rise to the dramatic outburst that is described in verse 23. And I don't know if you've ever experienced anything like this. But if you have, then you will remember it. Here he is, he has begun to teach, and all of a sudden a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit started to shout out right in the middle of the event. Now, I wonder are we to assume that up until now this man had been able to attend these services, listen to the teachers, participate in the congregational singing, and find nothing at all in it to disturb him? Now we don't know, but it is at least one possibility, isn't it? If this was not a unique occurrence, if this was routine, then was the fellow just able to come to this synagogue, sit there and go through it all and just let it wash over him? Possible, isn't it? I hope nobody can come here as an unbeliever and let it wash over them. I hope you find nothing offensive in me in the way I say things, but I do hope you find something horribly offensive in the gospel. I do hope you find something that challenges you, that is like a dagger in underneath somewhere, that gets right into the thing. Because if it appears as though what you're hearing is coming from somewhere other than simply the lips of a man, that this book seems to possess an authority that you'd never encountered before, and that it almost feels as though your insides are being peeled back and exposed, and it's an uncomfortable experience. But if you can just come and listen and sing and walk away again, then something's probably really wrong. There again, it's possible that he did this all the time, and that the authorities in the synagogue didn't know what to do with him. You know, that he was "Bellowing Bill," and the kids loved it because there was nothing better than a Sabbath when old Bill started to bellow in the thing because it really shook things up. After all, the scribes, their preaching was brutal in any case, and it would make a sane person go to sleep. But when old Bellowing Bill let go, man, the young people, they said, "Oh, this is terrific." It's possible that that was the case, and that the authorities used to come down the aisle and say, "Excuse me, if you could just be quiet please, it would be a tremendous help to all of us. If you just maybe go outside for a little while" or so on. I don't know, but if we assume that this interruption, that this confrontation was a unique event, you've got to imagine that the effect was quite unbelievable. In other words, they routinely come along, routinely somebody preaches, eventually they stop, and they all go away. But not on this occasion. On this occasion, all of a sudden this fellow stands up. I've had this happen to me on more than one occasion. I remember it vividly in the congregation I previously served in Scotland. It was a Sunday morning much like this, and I was speaking much as I'm doing right now, when all of a sudden near the back of the room a man stood up and began to shout out at the top of his voice, telling me to be quiet and sit down and so on. It just sent electricity around the room. I think on that occasion the problem was probably mental illness. On this occasion described for us here, the problem is clearly demon possession, demonic possession. You see, it is impossible for the absolute clarity and authority of God not to confront the hidden dimensions of evil, because there is a radical, dramatic, phenomenal, significant, huge contrast between light and darkness, between that which is of God and that which is of the devil. They are not in the same department at all. The lines of demarcation are clearly drawn. And the demon in this man recognizes that immediately. Notice that this individual is described as being possessed, verse 23, of an evil spirit or an unclean spirit, "akatharto." Verse 26, the evil spirit shook the man violently. Verse 27, "He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." So the confrontation here is between the dramatic kingly rule of the absolute purity of God manifest in Jesus and the powers of darkness whom Jesus has already confronted in the temptation in the wilderness. He has come out of that victorious. Now this shouldn't surprise us as readers of Mark's gospel, because Jesus has come, as Mark has told us, and the inauguration of his kingdom brings with it the invasion of the kingdom of darkness and ultimately the destruction of the kingdom of darkness. You have to go all the way to the last book in the Bible to see the story given there in dramatic pictorial form, defining for us the end that is in view, an end that is not in doubt, but an end that is coming. And in the meantime, the activity of Christ's kingly rule is confronted and confronts again and again the powers of darkness.
Bob Lepine: You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. We'll learn more about the ongoing battle between darkness and light tomorrow. Here at Truth For Life, we love to study the Bible with you because we know there is power in God's word, not in the words of a mere man. Once you have this realization, it completely changes the way you think about church or Bible study or life in general. That's the subject of a book we are currently recommending. It's a new release by singer-songwriter Laura Story, and it's called "Stand in Awe: How Reverence Transforms Our Worship and Our Lives." Do you struggle to focus on God, even when you're at church? Does your mind drift to other things, like what's coming up the next day? Maybe you get distracted by your cell phone while you're trying to listen to the sermon. Laura Story has written her book to highlight many of the obstacles to authentic God-centered worship, including distractions, preoccupations, and self-focus. She provides guidance for how you can be fully present during worship and enjoy all the benefits of participating wholeheartedly. Ask for your copy of the book "Stand in Awe" when you donate today. You can give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org/donate or arrange to set up an automatic monthly donation when you visit truthforlife.org/truthpartner. Or call us at 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to us at Truth For Life, PO Box 39-8000, Cleveland, Ohio, 44139. I'm Bob Lepine. We're glad you studied the Bible with us today. Did you know that demons have a pretty good grasp of the Bible? They actually believe in Jesus. Tomorrow we'll find out why their belief is different from ours. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.