The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly
Pastor Larry Kroon
Wasilla Bible Church
October 14, 2007
Our study project in the gospel of Mark, which is gonna take us throughout most of the school year, is just
beginning. And today we‟re gonna be in a text, Mark 1:21-45; and we‟re gonna be doin‟ what we set out to do in
this entire project, which is to read through—together, as a congregation—the gospel of Mark. And today‟s
particular passage has a whole series of quick looks at Jesus in action. They‟re very fast, they‟re very quick; you
move from one to another. It starts as He just begins His ministry, and it carries through to the point where things
are really beginning to explode in terms of a people response. When I looked at it and spent time in it I said, you
know, the best thing to do is just walk you through this text without a whole lot of explanation, without a whole lot of
analysis, so that you—just simply by reading it together with some guidance and some input—you can get a sense
and a feel for that amazing ministry that Jesus had. And so that‟s what we‟re gonna do today. We‟re gonna start at
the start of this passage and just work our way through it carefully, reading it together.
Picture at the very start…you need to picture a young man about 30 years old—in fact, 30 years old to be exact—
walking into a Jewish worship service. It‟s a quiet city, a prosperous city; and He has arrived there. And He enters
into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath for worship. With Him are four other individuals that are following
Him. This is their home town, this is their home synagogue. And they welcome Him and they make Him feel at
home. And an invitation is extended to Him to speak, to greet the audience. He does. As He does so, He shares
His basic message. A simple message: 1) He tells them the time is fulfilled, the moment has arrived; 2) the
kingdom of God has drawn near. And with that comes a call to repent and to believe that good news. Now there‟s
other things to his message, there‟s other things He teaches, but that‟s the very core and the base element of
everything He said that day and other places He went.
As He preached, we‟re told that the audience was stunned! They were stunned! They had teachers, gifted, studied
teachers, scribes whose lives were devoted to the studious examination of scripture and who were devoted and
dedicated to preserving not only the scriptures from generation to generation, but preserving the interpretations and
the applications of the scriptures from generation to generation to generation. These were individuals you could
come to and you could not only say „What does the Bible say about this?‟ They could tell you what the Bible said,
and they could tell you what every authority throughout the centuries said about what the Bible said. They had
teachers, scribes, gifted. They called „em rabbis—„great ones.‟ But these people had never heard a teacher like
this one in their midst that day. You see, He did not cite authorities. He spoke as the authority. It was so powerful,
they were stunned.
And then suddenly there was a shriek! The voice was human, but the source was not. There was, in the midst of
that quiet conversation that day, a demon within one of their congregants, within one of their men. And that demon
controlled the body, controlled the voice; and that demon—in the stunned silence of that moment when the
authoritative teacher had spoken—it shrieked! In the following moments there was a confrontation that not only left
that audience stunned; it left them shaken. In Mark‟s typical style, he‟s very sparse in his description. Let‟s read it,
beginning at verse 21. It says
They…
speaking of Jesus and His four new followers,
…went into Capernaum;
this prosperous commercial town,
…and immediately on the Sabbath…
the day of worship for the Jews
…He entered the synagogue…
the worship center…
The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly: Pastor Larry Kroon Wasilla Bible Church www.wasillabible.org
…and He began to teach. And they were amazed…
they were stunned is the literal idea…
…at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
And just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What
business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You
are—the Holy One of God!”
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud cry, and came out of him.
And they were all amazed,
a mixture of awe and fear is the literal idea here,
…so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He
commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
This is what you‟d expect. Worship service like that, people are gonna talk about it. This is dramatic stuff. And the
word begins to spread. But Mark‟s immediate concern in this passage is to focus on a very private incident in the
quiet of the Sabbath afternoon that followed, as people left the synagogue and went to their own homes. In this
incident there‟s no loud shrieks; there‟s no strong rebukes; there‟s not even an authoritarian pronouncement.
Verse 29—it says
Immediately after they…
Speaking of Jesus and his followers…
…after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew…
…two of those men that were with them; along with them was James and John.
Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately the spoke to Jesus about her.
And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on
them.
We‟re not told what else takes place in that quiet Sabbath afternoon as they enjoy the Sabbath meal together. We
just know that the quiet doesn‟t last. Because as soon as the day of rest, the Sabbath, ends, as the sun sets and
now they can get about activity again, and people are permitted to move about and do things, we‟re told that
something happens. Verse 32—
When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and all those who
were demon-possessed. And the whole city…
The whole city…
…gathered at the door. He healed many that night who were ill with various diseases, and He cast out
many demons; and He was not permitting the demons, however, to speak, because they knew who He
was.
See, it could have gone on like that for days and days in that disease-ridden, demon-infested region that looked so
pleasant and so prosperous. For that matter, a permanent clinic could have been established right then and there,
a healing center with Jesus at the center of it, unlike any other. The desperate would have come from all over the
world. But the healer won‟t stay.
The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly: Pastor Larry Kroon Wasilla Bible Church www.wasillabible.org
What happens here is what I call one of the defining moments in Christ‟s ministry. What‟ll happen in the verses that
follow set the tone, the direction, more importantly it sets the priority for His ministry as others were trying to set it
for Him. We‟re told that early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up. Late into the night He had been
healing; He‟d been casting out demons. But now…
…early in the morning, while it was still dark,
…and the crowds had gone home, we‟re told Jesus got up and left the house…
…and went away to a secluded place, and He was praying there. And Simon and his companions
searched for Him;
They hunted him down is literally the term.
…and they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
And He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for
that is what I came for.”
And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.
Lepers were the most desperate. Almost any sort of skin disease was given that label. The scribes counted at
least 72 different skin conditions as leprous, from scaly dandruff to scratchy foot fungus. Boils and burns, itches
and worms, a persistent rash, a chronic infection, and ugly wart—they could all be considered leprosy. At the first
sign of any such skin condition you would be checked by the priest. You would be pulled aside. You would show
him the exposed skin there where the problem was, and he would examine it. And then for seven days you were
put in isolation; you were quarantined. And after seven days you would be brought back to the priest and he would
examine the condition. He would determine if it had worsened or not. He would determine if it was healing or not.
He would determine things like what was the color of hair around it; was the skin becoming more discolored or less;
was there stuff oozing out of it, or was it sealing. And he would examine it; and as he examined it he would make a
decision. And when he was done with his examination he would say one word; and it would either be „clean‟ or
„unclean.‟
If he said „unclean,‟ it was like a death sentence. It meant you were no longer fit to be in the presence of God‟s
community or in the presence of God‟s congregation. You were a pollutant. There was an uncleanliness about you
that was contaminating; and you would be told that you had to leave the community and you had to leave God‟s
congregation. You were no longer allowed to be among His people and in His community. You had to leave your
family, you had to leave your friends, you had to leave your business, you had to leave your home, you had to
leave everything that mattered to you, and you had to leave and go „outside‟; where, they didn‟t care—just not here.
You‟re required to rip your clothes and wear rags, never wear anything on your head, and let your hair just spray
out so that when people saw you they recognized from a distance what you were. And they would avoid you. You
were not to come within 50 paces of another person.
Dave, if you would, would you go over and stand against that wall? [Points to one side of the sanctuary, then Larry
walks to the opposite side and stands against the wall.] I walked this off…this is about 46 paces for me. If you
were unclean and you saw a person approaching that was that close to you, you‟re required to do this…put your
hand over your mouth…and now without the aid of the sound system for him to hear… “Unclean!”…and you had to
keep yelling it to ensure that he came no closer. You may sit down, Dave; excellent assistance. That‟s called
positive reinforcement.
The rabbis and the teachers were absolutely sure that there was no way to heal a leper. They had no cure; they
had no hope. They said it was like raising the dead, only harder to cure a leper; and that the only hope, the only
hope for a leper, is that out there, all alone or with a community of like-diseased people, and untreated, God would
for some reason intervene and heal you. And if that should happen, if you thought perchance God had granted
mercy, you‟re required to quickly find a priest and show him the condition and make sure that you had an official
examination of the condition that could look at it and say the one glorious word that would redeem your life and
bring it back to normalcy—the word „clean.‟ Lepers were by far the most desperate.
The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly: Pastor Larry Kroon Wasilla Bible Church www.wasillabible.org
Verse 40—
And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him and saying, “If You are
willing,
… if You are willing,
You can make me clean.”
Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be
cleansed.”
And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And Jesus sternly warned him and immediately
sent him away, and said to him, “See to it 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.”
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, but stayed out in the unpopulated areas; and they were coming
to Him from everywhere.
So we could understand that man‟s enthusiasm. Jesus had just done what no other man would do—He had
reached out and He had touched a leper. And in the process Jesus had done what no other man could do—He
had healed that leper. Listen…when you have come back from the living dead you‟re gonna talk about it. And
protocol and procedure takes a back seat to celebration and proclamation. And that‟s what happened. Overjoyed,
this man began to speak about Jesus.
It made things more difficult for Jesus. For one thing, it created a huge practical and logistical problem. Instead of
now being able to systematically cover the region with a clear proclamation of His message, Jesus now had to deal
with excited crowds that were flooding Him in search of miracles. In addition, by not getting official verification the
man had undermined his own credibility. Christ‟s message would prove controversial enough. He didn‟t need to
add a debate about whether this man was really healed or not, and officially inspected.
So we need to remember that, at this time, there were many confused and wrong-headed notions about the coming
of God‟s kingdom. As He announced it, Jesus wanted to both explain it and show it His way. It was if He wanted to
empty the whole idea of all the traditions and all the expectations that had grown up around it, and then refill the
great hope of the coming kingdom with the reality of His message proclaimed and lived in front of these people. He
did not want the demons to make this announcement. And He did not want to ride a wave of confused excitement.
The cleansed leper made things more difficult for Jesus.
But in an odd way it makes it easier for us to understand a little bit more about Jesus‟ ministry. Interesting note…it
says the man went out and began to proclaim it freely. He began to announce to everyone, everywhere, what had
happened—the great event of his life.
Interesting thing…when Jesus earlier had to make a decision about what was the priority of His mission, what He
was to be about, and He says this. He says, “Let us go to other cities so that I may preach, for that is what I came
for”; the word there, „preached‟, is the same word used later for what this leper that was cleaned was doing. You
need to understand this. Jesus was proclaiming something. He was announcing something.
Jesus didn‟t come to give a series of theological lectures to expand your understanding of all things God-ward.
Jesus‟ message was not a system of ethics, a structure of right and wrong laid out for you to adopt as guidelines for
your behavior as you make your way through life. That was not His message. And neither was His message a set
of spiritual exercises explained to people, demonstrated to people, given to people so that they could add those
things to their life and enrich their experience as a human being. And you‟ll find deep theology; you will find moral
guidelines; and you will find spiritual exercises. But none of those are the heart of His message. His message
was, first and foremost, and still is today an announcement, a proclamation about something that has happened,
something grand and glorious.
The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly: Pastor Larry Kroon Wasilla Bible Church www.wasillabible.org
It‟s summarized in Mark 1:15, the theme verse of Christ‟s message, the message that „The time is fulfilled, the time
is now, the moment has arrived,‟ He said. And it did. His time on earth was the moment…the moment that the
kingdom of God came near arrived, had drawn close. With Jesus coming to earth, the kingdom of God arrived, to
be entered and enjoyed forever by anyone who would enter it. The press is simply to repent, to review and rethink
everything about your life; to sort through it and get rid of the things that need to be gotten rid of, the things that
don‟t belong, the things that don‟t fit, the things that cannot go with the rule of God. Repent and believe in this
great, unseen reality that came in the person of Jesus—the rule of God, here and now, to be entered into and
enjoyed by anyone who would enter with repentance and faith. That‟s the ministry of Jesus.
It‟s true of those two terms—„repent‟ and „believe‟—we‟re not sure exactly what to do with them. They‟re so simple,
they‟re so strong, they‟re so directive. But we‟re not sure where they will take us, are we? We‟re not sure where
they will take us. And so we hesitate at „em, and we‟re vague about „em. We don‟t take the next step.
I‟m gonna give you two very specific, gripable ways, to follow up on Jesus‟ call to repent and believe. One‟s a
prayer, and the other‟s a pledge. The prayer is found in Psalm 139, and it‟s a simple prayer. At the very end of it is
the verses I‟ll highlight. The psalm writer says
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
„Get inside me, God; you know me better than I know myself. I don‟t even know what‟s wrong with me. Try me and
know my thoughts
And see if there’s anything hurtful in me,
And then, Father,
…lead me in the everlasting way.
That‟s where repentance begins, just saying “God, show me…show me what I need to let go of, and lead me.”
The pledge is an expression of faith; that what‟s faith does. It will express itself. A faith that‟s nothing but
intellectual contemplation is not faith. Faith will acknowledge something. And the Apostle Paul, after Christ had
been crucified, and buried, and rose again, and the gospel was being preached on an even wider scale…the
Apostle Paul explains the first step of faith this way. He says if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, if you
will acknowledge Him as king, if you will pledge allegiance to Him is the idea, as the king God sent, believing that
God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved. You will enter that kingdom. You will, to enjoy it forever and
ever and ever and ever.
We‟ll close right now with a simple word of prayer. Before we do, I want you to look at what‟s up there [points to
Powerpoint screen] and I want you to pause for just a moment and say „Boy, do I need to pray that prayer? Do I
need to make that pledge?‟ Maybe you‟ve been a Christian all your life, and you know what? This is an important
time in your life to just remember all the other things that distract you about what people say Jesus did and does
and will do and all of that; and you need to get back to the basics. Maybe you need to pray that prayer once again.
You need to affirm that pledge again in your life. I press you on this, „cause if you‟re not relating to God on this
level you‟re completely missing what Jesus was all about.
Let‟s pray.
Our Father in heaven,
Our commitment as a congregation has been to simply look at Jesus, wherever that look takes us,
whatever has to be corrected in that view, changed in our behavior, adjusted in our faith. Father, we
continue to pray as we go along from here that You would grant us ears to hear this truth, minds now to
understand it, and Father, especially as we leave today, hearts to hold the reality of Jesus.
In His name we pray, amen.
The News of Jesus Spreads Quickly: Pastor Larry Kroon Wasilla Bible Church www.wasillabible.org