JESUS HEALS MANY
29 And immediately Jesus left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him” (Mark 1:29-33 ESV).
Before Christ came, there was no way to help anyone in this situation. No one had power and authority over demons. No one had the power to recognize when a sickness had anything to do with the demonic.
But Jesus is God. When He walked the earth, He had all power available in Him.
A mob of people now appeared outside, bringing all those who were in need of help, who were sick and oppressed. And this was only the beginning.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all” (Luke 4:14-15 ESV).
THUS, JESUS’ MINISTRY BEGAN. IT WAS WRITTEN.
18 For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I the Lord speak the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
The Lord calls upon the offspring of Jacob to assemble themselves to draw near to Him, for He speaks the truth and declares what is right.
He also calls upon the survivors of the nations of the earth (non-Jews), who in futility carry about our wooden idols, which can do nothing for us, and who keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.
And so, the Lord takes an oath, the highest oath of all time. He swears upon Himself.
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
The Lord God is the only One who can swear upon Himself and His truthfulness be trusted.
“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
all who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
“Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.” The Bible, in Luke 3:23, provides that life-marker. The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) then go on to describe his three-year ministry. So we know Jesus died, rose, and ascended into heaven at about age 33.
Aside from the account of Jesus’ birth and infancy, there is only one account in the Bible about His boyhood, when 12-year-old Jesus was in the temple courts of Jerusalem amazing His teachers with His knowledge of the Scriptures. All the people were amazed by His insights and His statements. His parents had lost him in the Passover crowd. Luke 2:41-52.
The Bible tells us that the boy Jesus did not remain in Jerusalem in the temple, though He wanted to stay. Instead, He was obedient to His earthly parents and returned with them to Nazareth, His hometown. There in Nazareth, from age 12 to 30: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
“That’s it. That’s all we’ve got in the Bible about what Jesus was doing for all those years before His ministry. We might wish we had more. That’s when it’s good to remember that the Bible wasn’t given to us so that we could know every detail of Jesus’ life on this earth. It was given to us that we might be, as Paul once wrote to Timothy, ‘wise unto salvation.’ That’s a shorthand way of saying the Bible tells us exactly what we need to know about Jesus in order to believe in him and be saved” (Source) © 2023 copyright Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. All Rights Reserved.
