The Galilee ministry; Part 1
Written by Rev'd John Poole | Mar 5th, 2021
Walking with Jesus through the Gospel of Mark (Read or Watch the Video above)
Week 3: The Galilee ministry, part 1: Healings and Exorcisms
Following the arrest of John the Baptizer, Jesus launched his ministry in Galilee, the territory in the northern part of the
Jewish homeland where he grew up. We find him busy on a Sabbath day in Capernaum, a fishing village on the northern
shore of the Sea of Galilee, which became the centre of his Galilee ministry.
Jesus and his four disciples are in the synagogue for Sabbath day worship which would have been normal for them. Jesus is given the opportunity to address the congregation. We are told that his teaching style caused amazement because ‘he taught them with authority, not like the scribes.’ The usual scribal style was probably in the tradition of reflecting on the Jewish Law and relaying the interpretations of previous rabbis or teachers.
Whilst in the synagogue Jesus casts a demon out of a possessed man, then on leaving, goes with his disciples to the home of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, either knowing or finding her to be suffering from a fever. Jesus heals her, and it is of some amusement to read that she got up and began to serve them. They were able to get their Sabbath day lunch! In the evening as the Sabbath ends, Jesus heals many who were brought to him who were sick or demon-possessed. It seems that the whole town turned up to witness this.
The chapter finishes with a leper, a ritually unclean person of the time, approaching Jesus in faith that he can heal him. Jesus, moved with compassion does as he asks, then orders him to go to the priests who will certify his cleanness and permit his restoration to the community. He further orders him not to say anything about it, but as his good news is clearly too good to keep to himself, he goes off and tells everyone, so that Jesus could not go anywhere in public, and people continue to search for him.
A word about ‘demon possession’ and ‘leprosy’ as the Gospel calls them. Jesus ministered in a world of primitive medical science. Mental illnesses especially were widely understood as possession by evil spirits. In the gospels, the difference between a physical healing and an exorcism (casting out of an evil spirit or demon) is bound to be somewhat blurred. And leprosy as described in the gospels has a wider meaning than the affliction known today as Hansen’s disease. It could include any number of skin diseases. But all of them had the consequence of the sufferer being regarded as unclean and forced to be isolated from the rest of the community.
Jesus’ healing activity flowed out of his intimacy with God and God’s will for human life. They were works of the heart and visible signs of the kingdom of God in the world. As Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God through word and deed, God is presenting Godself in a decisive way. The evidence that the new age is dawning is that blindness, deafness, lameness, uncleanness of any sort, and death itself, are ended. These categories of disease are not always or necessarily names of physical conditions but importantly they are metaphors for spiritual ones. To see the way of Jesus requires sight, the message of the good news needs to be heard, to follow Jesus means to be able to walk his way, the good news of the kingdom God has to be lived, even as it brings life. Whatever physical healings Jesus performs, the story always contains important elements of spiritual transformation, or a moving forward in discipleship. This is a surely a major reason for them being written about. They are telling us how Jesus’ healing works relate to us, the readers.
Chapter 2 of the Gospel begins with Jesus healing a paralysed man. It may be that this man did not have a paralysis in the modern sense, but whatever his condition, he was bed-ridden. It is interesting to note that Jesus heals him by using words of forgiveness from sin. This may reflect the understanding that many of the common peoples’ sicknesses were attributed to their apparent sin, and they were made to be outcasts, excluded from society and synagogue, and they believed themselves to be excluded from the love of God. It could be that this man could not walk because he was heavily burdened by sin and guilt and a conviction that he was forsaken by God. His faith in the authority of Jesus to forgive sins may have been all he needed to get up and walk again!
This scene introduces a series of conflicts between Jesus and the religious authorities. The conflicts include his authority to forgive, which they see as blasphemous, his practise of inclusive meals, the fact that he is seen eating with despised tax collectors, one of whom he even calls to be his disciple, and other sinners whose company they reasoned that no man of God would ever entertain. There is further conflict with them over religious practices such as fasting and Sabbath observance, and perhaps most surprisingly, Jesus is in conflict with his family. Without going into all the possible issues, this scene stresses that for Jesus the kingdom of God is his most important family, a family that is open and accessible to all, and this now has greater priority than his own human family.
To the allegation of the scribes that Jesus’ power to heal is as a result of his own alliance with evil, his response is harsh. Not to discern the work of the Spirit in Jesus, is ‘life-threatening.’ The message is that refusal to recognize the presence and love of God being demonstrated in the work of Jesus is a form of spiritual death.
In these scenes of conflict, Mark announces the major theme of his Gospel. Jesus’ passion for the kingdom of God will lead to a final and fatal conflict with the religious and political authorities who ruled the land. Here, in chapters 2 and 3 of the Gospel, the shadow of the cross is already being cast over the life and mission of Jesus.
Questions to ponder and pray about (there may be others):
- As you read about the healing works of Jesus, what message do they convey about the power of Jesus to heal in your own life or the life of someone you may be praying for?
- What are the issues that are raised against Jesus, and how do these issues relate to conflict among religious groups in our own time?
- As you reflect on these first three chapters, what is the image of Jesus and his ministry that Mark presents for us? What is the characteristic of Jesus that most challenges you or the Church of today?