The Glory of Jesus and his love
The new Messiah has been inaugurated to great acclaim. A new reign has begun. He has taken his seat of power with a message of change and hope. Millions around the world are putting their faith in him that he can change their lives, the lives of people in this world and bring a better future. Are you one of them?
I refer of course to Jesus Christ, whom I shall speak of now.
The world’s greatest communicator is also here today, the Holy Spirit – and he has promised to help us as we turn our gaze towards the one he came to glorify .
The deeds of Jesus recounted in Mark 1-8 are intended to provoke the same question in you as he asked the 12 disciples – having see all these who do you say that I am? And to bring forth from our hearts with full conviction the confession of Peter ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. We will place our trust in you.’ May God open our eyes this very day that we catch a glimpse of his glory, greatness and grace.
1. THE CHANGE JESUS BRINGS
All 3 people were in a desperate plight; their hopelessness and despair is stressed. There was no human remedy; it was beyond the power of man to help.
Vs3-4 – society unable to restrain him, never mind help him. An outcast, a monster, rejected. Nor could he control or help himself. He was a helpless slave, dominated, destroyed, dehumanised, disintegrating as a person, doomed and utterly desperate.
Vs 25-26 – another hopeless case.
V35 – the comment ‘why bother the teacher any more’ sums up . While there was life there was hope – but what can anyone do in the face of death Here is the enemy before which all other powers must stand defeated.
All this until Jesus comes. Things start to change because he is Lord. His power, authority are greater than all these powers. He comes with the power of God as great Liberator, the Healer, the Lifegiver, the Saviour. He brings the dawn of a new era – the kingdom of God, creation restored. With him all things are possible.
Thousands of demons are dismissed; a chronic condition is instantly cleared up; , death is overcome; and the despair, bondage and fear produced by all these forces is blown away.
- THE CONCERN JESUS SHOWS
A concern for wholeness. Look closer and observe the individual concern he shows for each person.
Vs15-19 – he clothes the naked; he restores family ties broken by insanity; he gave the man a new role in his own society – as a testimony to God’s power. He doesn’t let the man run away. He helped him begin to reintegrate after his social dislocation. The incident with the pigs may have been to give a visible assurance to the man that the demons were gone.
Vs30-34 – Jesus knew someone had touched him with living faith. Why was that not enough? She was physically healed but Jesus wanted healing at all levels. So he brings her forward. He wants to deal with the person, not just the body. By creating a safe place for her, protecting her, he enables her to pour out the hurt of the past, to tell her story; he pronounces her to be healed and thus grants her both personal assurance and also public acceptance so she can go to church again. Doubt and fear are also dealt with.
Vs40-43 - after the delay to allay Jairus’s panic, he says don’t be afraid. In the home he again shows his concern for relationships by allowing the parents to be present and helps restore normality by suggesting that the girl be given something to eat.
What should you see here? The love of Jesus for you as an individual in your personal circumstances and his desire to make you whole – to address your needs of mind, spirit, body and relationships and deal with all the damage, all the brokenness. He came to make us whole.
- THE
We have been looking at God’s love – was all of this just a breeze to Jesus? No – in it he was laying down his life in the self-sacrifice that you might believe God really loves you.
He was under immense strain here
Demonic – the battle with evil; the hostility of the crowd, rejection by the local people; the emotions of resisting the man’s begging to go with him.
Woman – he was tired from the journey, surrounded by a jostling, noisy crowd, their unrelenting demands, plus the emotional stress of Jairus’s appeal – he felt strength leave him in the healing. How he had to concentrate to focus on one person in that sweltering situation.
Jairus – the tension is there – the ridicule of the mourners, the useless disciples, the loneliness of his role, the burden of his calling.
This is what he left heaven to come to! Why did he do it? For you and me and all these people in their need, their woes, their lostness, their despair – he poured out himself, his very soul and body day after day, moment after moment and then on the cross itself.
Where is your place of despair – invite Jesus into it; where is your brokenness – ask Jesus to begin to make you whole; do you feel he doesn’t care for you – all this we have seen today he did not only for these people but for you that you might see his love for you.
God has now made him the one and only Messiah and Deliverer for the whole world; he is the one in whose hands lies the destiny of the world and its people. And on this day, incomparably beyond any other person you could think of, he is supremely worthy of the devotion of your heart, the trust of your soul and the commitment of your life
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