Leviticus 1:1-3:17 Mark 1:29-2:12 Psalm 35:17-28 Proverbs 9:13-18
A Walk with Jesus
Have you ever taken a walk with someone and never forgotten that time with them? Some 15 years ago, I took such a stroll with my uncle, John Alexander. Uncle John is in heaven now, and perhaps because of that, I remember that walk rather clearly. It was a chilly summer morning and we set out from the house on Potrero Avenue in San Francisco and walked a hilly route to a Seattle-style coffee shop serving coffee as good as any Starbucks (and years before such brew had become so popular in Dallas). Along our walk, many people greeted us and said hi to John and his sad-eyed basset hound. John said it was just the dog that made him so popular. I knew better as he told how he had moved there years before as a missionary to the Mission District to start a home church and reach out to the neighbors. It had worked! His church had grown to a vibrant community with church members sharing their resources, living in multiple homes with multiple families, outreach programs to the children (many of them refugees from Central America), and sponsoring their own and other missionaries around the world. Every street on that walk came with a story of Uncle John’s “ministry” there in the barrio right across from San Francisco General Hospital. That walk made a powerful impression on me, on my faith in Jesus, on my resolve to live a Christian life in some way like my uncle John’s.
Today’s walk with Jesus in Mark chapters one and two is one with a powerful impression to make. See if you notice the pattern here as we follow Jesus. In verse 1:31, Jesus went to Simon’s mother-in-law who was sick and He “took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.” Just after that in verse 34 we read that “Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons.” As the journey in the reading continues, Jesus heals a man with leprosy by saying “Be healed!” Then in verse 2:11-12 our walk with Jesus through Galilee today concludes with this command from Jesus and response from a paralyzed man: “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus heals. He does not just pray for people, or express sympathy for them. He is moved by them and He actually heals them. By the end of the journey with Jesus today, we see over and over again just how he does it. It’s somewhat like that walk with my uncle where I saw and heard how he had built a mission to a neighborhood touching the lives of individuals and large numbers of people. I challenge us today to be so impressed by this walk that we do as Jesus commanded in Matthew 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
How do we reach out to those around us and heal them? How do we see God’s power flow through us as it did through Jesus? Keeping it simple, I believe the gospel writer, Mark, is trying to say 1) look at what Jesus did, 2) have faith to believe what He did, and 3) follow His example. Let’s avoid making it too complex. If Jesus has not yet worked a miracle in your life—setting you free from your sins, transforming you from sickness to health, healing you of that which oppresses you, then I challenge you to receive His healing. He wants to heal you. Receive it, and with your healing, receive eternal life by placing faith in Him as your Savior and your Lord. If Jesus has already given you a new life, if you have been born again, set free from the death-dealing sickness of sin, then follow His example of healing others. Find those around you who need healing and extend God’s healing by taking them by the hand, helping them sit up, telling them to stand up, telling them that they are healed, telling them that they are forgiven, and telling the demons of sickness that afflict them to leave. Lest this seem way too simple, there is mention of Jesus preaching God’s word to the people, so do take your Bible with you as you go tell people to stand up! The lesson I see from this walk with Jesus today is mostly about following His example, having faith, and healing people very directly by speaking to them with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Keep walking with Jesus, be healed and be healers!
Blessings,
Pastor Paul
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