The Ministry of Jesus. Teaching, Healing, and Saying Who He Is

Read the passage first

Read Mark 1:14–15, just two verses. Then read Mark 2:1–12. After that, read slowly the story Jesus tells in Luke 15:11–32. Finish with four short verses in which Jesus speaks about himself: John 8:12, John 10:11, John 11:25, and John 14:6.

Between the last lesson and this one, Jesus grew up in Nazareth and worked as a carpenter until he was about thirty. Then he was baptized by John the Baptist and began his work, which lasted about three years.

What happens in this passage

Announcing and inviting (Mark 1:14 to 15). Jesus begins his work by announcing God's good news: the time has come, the kingdom of God has drawn near. That means God is beginning to reign and to put right the world that broke in Genesis 3. And what he asks of his hearers is two things: repent and believe. To repent is to turn around, to change the direction of your life from walking away from God to walking toward him. To believe is to trust that good news. Notice that Jesus does not begin with a list of things to do. He begins with good news and an invitation.

A paralyzed man and a sentence that shocked people (Mark 2:1 to 12). Jesus is teaching in a house so crowded that no one can get in. Four friends carry a paralyzed man to him. Unable to get through the door, they climb onto the roof, open it up, and lower their friend down in front of Jesus. Everyone expects Jesus to heal the man's legs. But the first thing Jesus says is that his sins are forgiven.

The religious teachers sitting there are shocked (verse 7), because they know well that only God can forgive sins. A human being can forgive only the wrong done to himself. But sin is wrong done against God. Jesus is speaking in God's place. Jesus knows what they are thinking, so he says that, to show them he truly has the right to forgive sins, he will do something they can see, and tells the paralyzed man to get up, pick up his mat, and walk home. The man gets up and walks in front of everyone. The healing is the proof of something invisible: forgiveness. And notice that Jesus saw this man's deepest problem not as his legs but as his sin.

The father who ran out to meet him (Luke 15:11 to 32). Jesus tells a short story that the whole world knows. A younger son asks his father for his share of the inheritance while the father is still alive, which in that culture was as good as saying he wished his father dead. He takes the money to a far country and squanders all of it, until he ends up feeding pigs and so hungry he wants to eat the pigs' food. He comes to his senses and decides to go home, rehearsing a speech in which he will ask only to be a hired worker, no longer a son.

But what happens is this: the father sees him from a long way off and runs out to him. In those days a dignified older man did not run. It was shameful. But the father runs, embraces his son, and kisses him before the son can even finish his apology. He does not make the son pay anything back first. He does not make him prove himself first. He orders the best robe to be put on him (think of the clothes of skin in Eden), a ring on his finger, and a feast, because the son who was as good as dead is alive again.

The story also has an older son, who has stayed home and worked hard all along, and who is angry that the father takes his brother back so easily. He thinks the father's love has to be earned by work. The father goes out to him as well, and tells him that everything the father has is already his. Jesus told this story to two groups of people: those who know they are broken and are afraid to come home, and those who think they are good enough and do not need to. Both groups need the same father.

Jesus speaks about himself (John 8:12, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6). Throughout those three years Jesus spoke about himself in a way no teacher ever had. He did not say he would point out the way. He said that he is. He is the light of the world; whoever follows him will not walk in darkness. He is the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep. He is the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in him, though he die, will live. And he is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through him.

How this points to Jesus

• A teacher who teaches the way, and one who is the way. Most of the world's great religious teachers, including the teacher you have respected since childhood, say something like: this is the way, I have found it, follow it. That is humble and valuable speech. But Jesus says something different. He does not point to a way outside himself. He says that he himself is the way: not only follow his teaching, but follow him and trust him. This is not a claim that other teachers are worthless. It is a statement that Jesus claims to be something entirely different. If he is not God, these are the most arrogant words in history. But if he is, they are the kindest invitation ever made, because they mean we do not have to find the way ourselves. The way has come to us.
• To forgive sins is to be God. The religious teachers in Mark 2 were right that only God can forgive sins. They simply did not believe the man in front of them was God. Every time Jesus forgives someone's sins, he is saying who he is.
• A father who does not wait for repayment. The father in the story of the lost son is the picture of God that Jesus wants us to see. God does not sit waiting for us to make enough merit to pay him back before he accepts us. He runs out to us first. The good the son will do afterward is the fruit of having come home, not the price of admission.
• The way that walked to us. In every lesson so far, God was the one who provided: the clothes of skin, the ark, the ram, the blood on the door, the serpent on the pole. Now the provider has come in person, and he is walking toward the cross.

Words to know

The phrase kingdom of God (แผ่นดินของพระเจ้า; some versions say อาณาจักรของพระเจ้า) is not a place on a map. It means God reigning and setting everything right. It began when Jesus came, and one day it will be complete.

The word repent (กลับใจ) does not just mean feeling guilty or sorry. It means to turn back, like someone walking the wrong way who turns around. The son in the story repented when he got up and walked home, not while he sat feeling sorry among the pigs.

The word gospel (ข่าวประเสริฐ) means "good news." It is the word the Bible uses for the whole story of Jesus. Notice that it is news: something that has happened and that someone comes to tell you. It is not advice about what you should do. That is the biggest difference between the gospel and religious teaching in general.

The word disciple (สาวก) means someone who follows Jesus and learns from him. Jesus chose twelve in particular, but the word is used for everyone who follows him.

Reflect

1. Jesus saw the paralyzed man's deepest problem as his sin, not his legs. If Jesus looked at you, what do you think he would see as your deepest problem?
2. In the story of the two sons, do you feel more like the younger one (who ran far away and is afraid to come back) or the older one (who has done good all along and thinks he deserves it)?
3. The teacher you respect says, "This is the way." Jesus says, "I am the way." How do you feel about that difference? Where is it hardest for you?

Pray

"God, I used to think I had to find my own way back to you first. But Jesus says you run out to meet me first. If that is true, I want to come home. Help me dare to trust Jesus himself, not just his teaching. Amen."