Text: Mark 1: 21-45
These verses begin the long list of miracles which Mark’s gospel contains. The casting out of demons in Capernaum and the healing stories are intended to teach us more about Jesus than about the miracles. We learn, in the first place,
from these verses, that it is useless to have a mere intellectual knowledge of religion. We are specially told in Verse 24 that the unclean spirits know our Lord.
They believe and know that Jesus is the Christ. They believe that He will one day judge the world and cast them down to endless torment in hell. And yet their knowledge is not unto salvation. There are some who doubt the reality of hell and
the eternity of punishment. Let us, therefore, take heed that our faith be a faith of the heart as well as of the head. Let us not only be acquainted with Him by the hearing of the ear, but by daily personal application to Him for mercy and grace.
“The life of Christianity,” says Martin Luther, “consists in possessive pronouns.”
It is one thing to say, “Christ is a Saviour.” It is quite another to say, “He is my Saviour and my Lord.” The devil can say the first. The true Christian alone can say the second. Also note the basic lesson of discipleship in verses 40-45: The Lord’s
work should be done in the Lord’s way. There is no better principle by which to serve Him than the one which Mary learned and taught; ‘…Do whatever He tells you’ (John 2:5,ESV).
Meditate on verse 44. What is God teaching you in this verse?
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, make me a fisher of men, to the glory of Your Great Name. Amen.