A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Mark 1:35-45, “Proclaimed,” for Sunday, September 10, 2023.

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: When British author Charles Dickens visited America in the 1800s he was mobbed by the crowds who wanted to see him:    “When he arrived at any railway station the crowds peered in the window at him “with as much coolness as if I were a Marble image”. There were other indignities. “If I turn into the street, I am followed by a multitude. If I stay at home, the house becomes, with callers, like a fair … Go to a party in the evening, and am so inclosed and hemmed about by people, stand where I will, that I am exhausted for want of air. I dine out, and have to talk about everything, to everybody . . . I can’t get can’t get out at a station, and can’t drink a glass of water, without having a hundred people looking down my throat when I open my mouth to swallow.”   (Peter Ackroyd, Dickens, p. 354)

??? “Have you ever been near a famous person, whom everyone was trying to see???” (Maybe a presidential candidate, or a famous singer or actor, etc.) 

After you/your group have shared, then you can say: that is very much like the context for our passage from Mark 1 today:

CONTEXT: 

We saw last time that Jesus was introduced to the world by John the Baptist, and then He was baptized, then “thrown out” into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So now He is back, having called His first disciples, and He has begun ministering. Mark 1:31 says Jesus had just healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and :32 says “When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill  … :33 says “the whole city had gathered at the door.”

So it was just like some of those situations we were talking about — maybe more so!  So Jesus is off to an amazing start to His ministry. But let’s look at what our passage today tells us about His ministry:

OUTLINE:

I. The POWER behind the Ministry (:35)

II. The DIRECTION of the Ministry (:36-39)

III. The OPPORTUNITY for Ministry (:40-42)

IV. The WITNESS of Ministry (:43-45)

I The POWER behind the Ministry (:35)

:35 “ In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

??? Have your group point out: What all elements of Jesus’ time with God do we see here???

— early morning

— while it was still dark (very early!)

— Jesus GOT UP (He didn’t do it in bed!)

— LEFT the house (where other people probably were)

— WENT TO A SECLUDED PLACE (so He could be alone)

— and was PRAYING there (He had an agenda; a plan)

— and though not spelled out: WHO He was meeting: the Father!

Each of these is important: time, place, plan/procedure, Person.

You might ask your group??? “Why do you think Jesus did this”???

(Because He knew He needed time alone with the Father, to get His direction for His ministry, and power to carry it out.)

???”What excuses could He have chosen to make to NOT do it?”??

(Well, He was “so busy” with ministry; there were other people in the house; He didn’t really need it since He was God, etc., etc.

But He DID. Jesus KNEW how important His time with God was, EVERY day. WE need to realize how important it is, too. 

Back in the 1950’s, A.W. Tozer decried many of the weaknesses he saw developing in American Christianity. One thing he preached about was the desire of American Christians for “shortcuts” to spiritual growth:

“In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short, easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No such shortcut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the believing members of the holy church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.” (A.W. Tozer The Pursuit of Man, p. 5)

Tozer’s lesson is still true today. We modern Americans want everything fast: fast food, microwaved meals, instant access, split-second internet — and I think that has spilled over into our spirituality. We want “quick daily devotions,” 30-second prayers. 

But we need to hear Tozer — “no shortcut exists” — and more importantly, we need to see the example of Jesus. Where did his power for ministry come from? It was His daily time with His father — and not just a “quick prayer,” but an extended time, alone in prayer. And we want power for our lives and ministry, we need to discipline ourselves to set aside that same kind of time, too. 

So think of these elements in Jesus’ time with God: the time, place, plan, etc. and ask your group:  ??? “Which of these is hardest for YOU?”?? (I.e., what is the thing that is hardest for you in having a consistent daily time with God?)

AND: ??? What specifically do you need to do differently, THIS WEEK, to make this happen???

You might consider even stopping right here, after you’ve discussed this, and having a prayer time, just praying for everyone’s walk with the Lord – mentioning the specific needs we just discussed.

Our daily time with God is SUCH an important element of the Christian life; one of THE most important. I could do a whole lesson just on this verse! In fact, I already HAVE! If you’d like to read it, you can access it on my website at www.shawnethomas.com ** Type in Mark 1:35 or “Your Daily Time With God” into the search bar on my home page. If you feel led to spend more time on this segment of the lesson because it’s such a vital theme) that message could help you do it.

II. The DIRECTION for the ministry.  (:36-39)

:38 “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

So from His time with the Father, Jesus got direction for what to do next. In this case, His Father wanted Him to go “to the towns nearby,” instead of stay there. 

So here’s a question you could use for discussion:

??? Which is better: to stay in ONE place and have a deep, long ministry; or to go to a LOT of places and share with a lot of people???

(Well, the answer is probably “BOTH,” right?

— If you stay in one place, you can have impact a group of people deeply; really pour into their lives.

— But if you go to a number of places, you can witness to more people.

So which should a person do? There’s no “one answer” is there?!

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE TO SEEK GOD’S LEADERSHIP. There is no “cookie cutter” answer for a lot of the decisions we have to make. 

— Should you take this job or that job? Should you marry this person or that person? Should you stay in a ministry, or go, like Jesus faced here?

You aren’t going to find a Bible verse that gives you the answer to those things. This is why, like Jesus, we need to seek God’s direction. Let HIM give you the direction you need. 

Jesus does say something important here: “So that I may preach there also; FOR THIS IS WHAT I CAME FOR.”

Sometimes it’s good to reminded “what you came for”!

Jesus, specifically, did not come to just “settle” in one spot and minister. He said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” HIS mission was to go to multiple places and share the gospel. So His prayer time with the Father helped Him focus on His purpose.

We need that too. As we saw, prayer can help us remember what we’re supposed to be about. 

Also this is where mission/purpose statements can be helpful. What are we supposed to be about, as a church, as an individual? Are we doing it? Have we gotten distracted from it? 

You might share your church’s mission statement: Ours is “We are here to worship God, and serve Him by reaching, teaching, and caring for people.”  This is “what we came for” as a church. So we can periodically stop and say, “Are we doing this?” Or have we gotten distracted? 

— churches can get distracted from their real mission.

— individual ministers and classes can too. Are we doing what God has called us to do. For example, our Sunday school classes exist to “reach, teach, and care” for people. Are we doing that? Or are we only teaching. Or only fellowshipping, etc. Are we doing “what we came for”?  (You might have a good discussion with your class about this!)

— and the same thing can be true for us as individuals, too. When you know “what you came for”: how God has gifted you, and what He has called you to do, it can help lead you/correct you. 

For example, sometimes we become “victims of our own success.” Like say, for example, someone is really gifted as a college professor. They are a good teacher; they have a good personality; they relate to students, and are very effective at teaching and mentoring them. They do so well, that they get promoted to the become the head of the department, or to become a dean or something at the school — where ironically they may no longer really be using their best gifts of teaching and mentoring! 

So sometimes it can really help us to know “what I came for”! What are your gifts? What has God called you to do? Don’t get distracted and spend most of your time on something that God hasn’t really called you to. 

I plan to ask my group: ???”Has this ever happened to you/someone you know???” Because I think this happens a lot, and folks may have some instances to share. 

But I would close this time by saying, Jesus did NOT let this happen to Him. He sought God in prayer, and He led Him just where He needed to be, doing “what He came for”! 

So … after He had prayed and went away, :39 says He went into their synagogues, throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons — doing just what God called Him to do. And then came another “opportunity for ministry” beginning in :40:

III. The OPPORTUNITY for ministry (:40-42)

:40+ “And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him, and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If you are willing, You can make me clean.

We don’t hear much about leprosy today, because it can be treated, but it was much-dreaded in Bible times. There were whole Old Testament Laws about how if you had leprosy, you had to cry out “unclean” and warn people away, so that you wouldn’t get it. 

??? Is there any modern “equivalent” to this???

(What about COVID??!!  People are warned to stay away, no one touch them, get quarantined, etc. It’s not an exact parallel, but it gives us some idea of what they thought/felt about a leper then)

So what did this leper say to Jesus?
“Lord if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (In other words, heal him.)

Just a little sub-point here: there are some who teach that God will not answer a prayer if you say, “If it’s Your will;” that it shows a lack of faith. That certainly wasn’t the case here, was it?! He basically said, “If it’s Your will, You can heal me.” The Bible shows us this is NOT a bad prayer to pray. In fact it can be a very GOOD prayer to pray:

— it recognizes God’s power. Lord, You can do this. I believe that!

— but it also recognizes God’s sovereignty: God, You may have a plan other than what I am thinking. It shows humility on our part. You may know better than I do. You do YOUR will, not mine — which, by the way, is EXACTLY what JESUS HIMSELF prayed at Gethsemane, isn’t it?!

Then NOTICE how Jesus responded, basically in 3 ways here

— FIRST :41 says He was “moved with compassion.” The New Testament word for “moved with compassion” means to “feel it in our inner man.” It originally meant the “heart, lungs, kidneys” — our “inner organs.” And it came to mean a great feeling that comes from deep within us.

Amazingly, THIS is how the Bible describes Jesus’ care for this man — and for US! He is deeply moved with compassion for our needs.

Sometimes people picture Jesus like Mr. Spock on Star Trek, stoic, “unfeeling.” But that is not Jesus at ALL! He felt DEEPLY!

— +x Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” He just wept over this city that He loved.

— +x John 11:35 “Jesus wept” He felt for these people who had lost their loved one, Lazarus.

There are so many examples of this in scripture. Jesus deeply feels for our needs. DO NOT think He is sitting up there, unfeeling, stoic, as you go through your difficulties. He FEELS for you. He LOVES you!

There is a phrase we see all through the gospels, that Jesus “sees/feels compassion/does something” about someone’s need. For example, read Mark 6:34: 

When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.”
Notice the 3 elements of Jesus’ ministry there?

— He SAW a large crows

— He FELT COMPASSION for them

— and He (did something about it) He began to teach them many things.

We see this phrase throughout Matthew/Mark/Luke, that Jesus “saw … felt compassion … and (did something). It makes a great study in itself! These are 3 vital elements to any caring ministry: 

— First we have to SEE the need

— Then we have to FEEL something about it inside like Jesus did

— Then we must DO something about it.

The challenge is: we can fall short of any of these 3:

— we can not see the need. How many times do we walk right past someone and don’t notice? You can’t care if you don’t see!

— OR you can see and not feel anything. Your heart is not soft.

— OR you can see, and even “feel” — but if you don’t DO anything about it, you’ve fallen short. A person may say, “Oh I am so merciful; I just see needs and I feel so badly about it!” But if you don’t DO anything about it, you’ve missed the whole thing!

Jesus did all 3: He “saw,” He “felt compassion,” and He DID something about it. That’s what we need to do too. 

??? You could discuss with your group: where do you think that YOU PERSONALLY tend to fall short? Not seeing; not feeling; not doing???

— SECOND :41b says He “touched him” 

??? What’s so important about this? HE WAS A LEPER! No one would come near him, much less touch him! How long had it been since that man had been touched by ANYBODY?!! But Jesus TOUCHED him, when no one else would!

(It reminds me of the SONG: “He touched me …”

This is also a good reminder to US, who are to follow “in His steps.” If we’re willing to touch people that no one else will, we’ll be used by God in ways no one else will!

??? A good discussion question might be: “Who are today’s ‘lepers’ that others aren’t willing to reach out to?” 

AND: not just those we think “others” should reach out to (that’s too easy!) Who is it around ME that I’ve been unwilling to reach out to?

3)  “and said to him, ‘I am willing, be cleansed.’”

This is such a great word. Jesus is willing. Now, this does NOT mean that it is His will to heal us in every case. It was His will to heal this man. 

But we DO know that it is His will for each of us to be saved:

II Peter 3:9 says He is “not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

If you (or anyone) comes to Jesus for salvation, you don’t have to wonder if He is willing to save you. HE WILL. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord WILL be saved.” He is willing! 

IV. The WITNESS of the Ministry (:43-45)

:43 says “And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, (:44) and He said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’”

Now people wonder: WHY would Jesus tell him not to tell anyone?
Jesus told him to go straight to the priest and make an offering. This is right out of Leviticus 14, which says that when a leper is cleansed, he was to go to the priest, and offer two birds in a specific sacrifice, and then 8 days later, two lambs. So there was a specific Old Testament command to be fulfilled here.

So it appears:

— One, that Jesus was saying, Do this by the Book. Don’t just go out and “do your own thing,” do what the Bible says (“exactly as the Father has commanded! John 14:31) 

— Two, this would be “a testimony to them” — the priests and religious leaders were some of the people most opposed to Jesus, so this would be a powerful witness to them, that this man had really been healed, that it was JESUS who did it — AND that this Jesus was doing things according to God’s word, like Leviticus 14 said; He wasn’t going against the scriptures.

— But the question remains: couldn’t he have done all this and still told people along the way? Possibly. But in the New Testament we see Jesus repeatedly avoiding the “big crowds;” He knew they often came for the wrong reasons. (Like John 6:26, after He fed the 5000, He told the people coming after Him, “You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” He knew crowds often come for the wrong motivation — which is a good reminder to US today, too, about just “gathering crowds” with ungodly methods and motives. Especially at this point in His ministry. Jesus was very sensitive to the timing of God’s will for His life — as we saw earlier, He knew what He had come for!)

But you do have to feel for this healed leper; he had had this probably for some time, and now he gets healed! What do you want to do? You want to tell somebody!

??? Can you think of a time when you had some great news and just had to tell people about it???

(I specifically remember after we had one of our kids in Oklahoma City, I was just walking along the street and I was telling people: “We just had a baby!” It was ridiculous! But I was so excited!)

That’s how this man was — and so :45 says “But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city …” (Well, that gives you some idea of why Jesus said that, doesn’t it? It really limited His ability to travel/minister.)

But you can feel for the man: he wanted to tell people. It reminds me of the old Don Francisco song: “Got To Tell Somebody …”, about the man who came to Jesus asking Him to come and heal his daughter:

He took her by the hand

He told her, child arise

And the words were barely spoken

When she opened up her eyes

She rose and walked across the room

And stood there at our sides

My wife knelt down and held her close

And at last she really cried

Then Jesus told us both to see

Our daughter had some food

And as to how her life was saved

Not to speak a word, not to speak a word

I got to tell somebody …

I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody, what Jesus did for me!

And of course, that is what WE should do, too. TELL somebody the good things that Jesus has done for you. It’s been said often, that many people who don’t want to hear a “sermon” or “Bible study,” are open to you sharing a personal testimony of what God has done in your life. So be ready to share that. The greatest evangelistic outreach is NOT “some church program,” but just individual people witnessing to other individual people, and inviting them to church. (We’ve seen several instances of that in our church recently; we’ve baptized 9, and had several join our church, and begin attending — almost like a summer “revival” — but we didn’t have any “program”; it was just people inviting people. 

So you might close with a time of prayer that God would help us to do that; and share with others what He has done for us. 

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– These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

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