38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. v39 - What does it mean that Jesus rebuked the fever?
2. (Questions about demons and Jesus not allowing them to speak are handled in the previous post).
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2017/03/mark-121-34-21-they-went-to-capernaum.html says:
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents on why the demon was telling who Jesus was:
You can see two similar tactics used by the enemy of God: 1. Make the word of God silly and/or bigoted to others. 2. Infiltrate a group of believers and make them look bad.
It may be the reason this demon spoke up and even went so far as to say the exact truth about Jesus was to attempt to make Jesus validate the man as a source of truth. People would then link this possessed man to Jesus.
You see this today: Really evil people linking themselves with Jesus, Christianity and bodies of believers. Then everyone can make the association between the evil the evil person does and people who follow Jesus (and Jesus Himself).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary says:
ReplyDeletePeter was originally from nearby Bethsaida (John 1:44) and now operated a fishing business in Capernaum with his brother Andrew (Matt. 4:18) and their partners, James and John (Luke 5:10), also recently called to follow Jesus (Mark 1:16–20). Having been present in the synagogue to hear Jesus’ unparalleled exposition of the Word of God and witness the amazing display of His power over the demonic realm, Peter invited Him to his house for the Sabbath meal, along with Peter’s brother Andrew, James, and John (Mark 1:29).
NET Note on rebuked the fever - “rebuke” implies strong disapproval, while the usage here involves more of a command with perhaps the implication of a threat.
n Luke 4:35-note Jesus had rebuked a demon. His rebuke in Lk 4:39 should not be taken to suggest her fever was caused by a demon, just as His rebuke of the wind in Lk 8:24 does not suggest the wind was demonically empowered.
Rebuked (2008)(epitimao from epi = upon + timao = to honor) means literally to put honor upon and then to mete out due measure and so then to find fault with, to censure severely, to rebuke, to express strong disapproval of, or to denounce (cp the incredible example in Mt 16:22). This verb is used primarily for rebuking people or demons but is used in Mk 4:39 and Lk 8:24 of rebuking the winds and waves. These uses (including that in our present passage) demonstrate that Jesus had power over nature and power of sickness.
The Sabbath ended at sunset and so the people were now at liberty to bring their sick to Jesus.
the legalistic Jewish leaders and oppressive laws restricted the length one could travel on Sabbath and did not allow bearing burdens on that day because that was considered work -- healing was also considered work - cf Mk 3:1-5+). So we see here the simple principle that LEGALISM (oppressive Sabbath regulations added by the rabbis) blunts/restricts the work of GRACE!
All those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him - "All" means everybody. There is nothing here that says He healed only those who had faith in Him. We know in fact from other Scriptures (e.g., Jn 1:9+; John 12:37 = "though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him") that most of the Jews did not have faith in Him.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteJohn MacArthur gives us six characteristics of Jesus' healing ministry which provides us a standard by which we can honestly examine anyone who claims to have a healing ministry.
(1) Jesus healed with a word or a touch.
(2) He healed instantly. It never says, "Jesus healed him and he kept on getting better." There never was any progression.
(3) Jesus healed totally. No relapse, no recovery time.
(4) Jesus healed everybody. People going back home trying to figure out why it is that they didn't have enough faith, or somewhere along the line they said a negative word and the negative word obviated the positive confession that could have produced their healing.
(5) He healed organic disease. He didn't go up and down alleviating low back pain or heart palpitation, or headache, or any kind of invisible ailment that could have been caused by emotional stress or some momentary problem. What Jesus did was not anything short of creative. He replaced crippled legs with legs that functioned fully. He replaced blind eyes with seeing eyes. He replaced deaf ears with hearing ears. He replaced paralysis with full function. His healings were creative, they literally recreated on an organic level.
(6) Jesus raised the dead. His miracles did not necessarily require faith. Furthermore, His miracles happened predominantly to unbelievers, almost always unbelievers who had no faith in Him, no salvation.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteJohn MacArthur sums up Jesus' "healing ministry"...
as you get into the three-year ministry of Jesus there are nearly ninety New Testament texts in the four gospels about His healings. He did this everywhere through His ministry. It was literally a healing explosion that essentially banished disease from Palestine!...Never in human history was there anything close. And those today who say, "Well, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and we ought to expect Him to heal today just as the way He healed then," they don't get it. Listen, the first healing recorded in the Bible was during the time of Abraham. There are no healings recorded in the first 1,600 years of biblical history up to the Flood! So for the first 2200-year history of the world there are no healings recorded. from Abraham to Isaiah would be from 2200 B.C. to 750 B.C., OK, so 1,450 years, or 1,500. During that period from Abraham to Isaiah, 1,500 years let's say, there are recorded twenty healings, . . From Isaiah to Christ 750 years: Zero.
During all that time from Isaiah to Christ there was sickness, there was disease, and there was death and everybody died. But there were no healings. That is why when Jesus began to heal in Matthew 9:33, the people said, "Nothing like this was ever done in Israel." They knew there had never been anything like this. Even the people of Israel had absolutely no expectation of this....They had never seen anything like it.
But Jesus comes and how is God going to vindicate His claims? By granting Him the privilege to do what His power commanded that He could do and that is to create, and to manifest that creative power in healings. Jesus gave to the seventy that He sent out and to the twelve Apostles the power to do healing as well because they were preaching Him. They were preaching His Gospel and establishing the Scripture. And at the explosive time in human history when the Messiah came and the Scriptures were penned...the New Testament, healing came to attest to the divinity of Jesus and the divine character of the Gospel and the Scripture. But as you go past that time, what happens? Paul is ill and he doesn't get well. Trophimus is ill later in the New Testament. Timothy is ill. And Epaphroditus is ill. And you come into 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, the epistles for the church, no mention of healing ministry, no promise of healing. The healing explosion had a purpose and John tells us the purpose. John 20:31,"These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing you might have life in His name."
If anybody can do healing, then what was intended to point to Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the apostles as the ministers of the gospel and the writers of Scripture is confused. That was a special power for a very special period in redemptive history. You can see in the New Testament it begins to fade away and certainly we can't expect that today. God may choose to answer your prayers in a wonderful and providential way and heal someone, but that's not the pattern, and you can't expect that.
I don't frankly need to be fully healed in this life. I just want to know that in the life to come I'm not going to have to deal with this body. He will take away all our illness, won't He? He will take away all our disease ultimately. Frankly, that's all I need to know. I don't really care about here. I don't particularly want to live forever here, do you?
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteNote how Luke distinguishes healing (in Lk 4:40) from casting out demons, emphasizing that the two are not related. Some illness was demonic, but most was not. Imagine the scene for a moment. Not just one demon but many demons coming out and screaming and howling continually! Put yourself in the crowd of witnesses! This was a terrifying scene to the people. It was one they would never forget. And what they clearly witnessed was Jesus' power and authority over the demonic world, a world they feared, but a world that clearly feared Him! This should have been convincing proof that this One in authority was none other than the Messiah in the flesh!
John MacArthur - As Jesus went and preached He literally shattered the demonic world. They like to be clandestine. They like to stay hidden. They like to do their work covertly. They like to be behind the scenes. They like to where a gray flannel suit and appear very, very normal. They don't want to reveal themselves. But under the preaching of Jesus when He stepped into the scene, they knew exactly who He was. He traumatized them. He terrorized them. Remember they were living inside people.
John MacArthur applies this truth about Jesus' authority over the demons - Sinners don't just wander around independently having their own thoughts. They are literally the victims of demons. They may not all be possessed by demons. They may not all be dominated and tormented by demons who dwell in them, but they all have bought into demonic lies, one way or another.
But more than that, He rebukes them to show us that He has total power over them. That's critical.Darkened minds, blinded minds devoid of truth, corrupt minds, reprobate minds, those are the playgrounds of demons. We're talking from sophisticated religious cults all the way to immorality, all the way to insanity, all of that is the playground of demons. It's all ideas, thought patterns raised up against the knowledge of God. And men need their minds delivered from those supernatural influences and Jesus proves that He can do it.
Jesus' prohibition to the demons is often referred to in Mark's Gospel as the Messianic Secret - On several occasions in the Gospel of Mark Jesus tells someone not to tell, either who He is, or what they have seen that would demonstrate who He is.
Why did Jesus hide and conceal His Messiahship during His ministry?
1) To avoid the impression of being a mere miracle worker (a divine man) or magician since so many commands to silence accompany a miraculous work.
2) To avoid unnecessary and unhelpful publicity in order to have more moments of private teaching and peace with His disciples.
3) To avoid the mistaken idea of the type of Messiah he would be. His Messiahship was to be manifested through service and suffering, not sensational displays of miraculous activity which would excite political messianic fever.
4) To express His humility as the Suffering Servant of the Lord. 6 5) To inform us that only through the medium of faith (ultimately in a crucified and humiliated Jesus of Nazareth) is His Messiahship personally apprehended. (cf. I Corinthians 1-2).
6) To avoid recognition from an undesirable source such as the demonic.
7) To point to the hostility of the religious and political leadership and to mark clearly Jesus’ own choice of the destined hour of His passion.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSo He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
The synagogues were the "hub" of the Jewish religion in each city and so they were always His prime target. Obviously He also preached in the open outdoors as in the Sermon on the Mount. "Judea, which here is a generic term for the entire nation of Israel including Galilee (see parallel passage above - Mark 1:39), not merely the southern part."
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/precious-and-powerful-rebukes says:
ReplyDeleteThere is a rebuke from Jesus that cannot be resisted. It carries in it not just the will to stop a thing, but the force to stop it. A fever is a chemical reaction in the cells of the body, producing excessive heat in response to infection. It has to do with molecules and electrons and the laws of physics and chemistry. In his divinity Jesus designed those laws ages ago (Colossians 1:16), and in his divinity he sustains them so that they work for us daily (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). In his humanity he entered into those laws and became subject to them so that he could die by their ineluctable constancy. But from inside he revealed that his word is also above the laws of physics and chemistry. He spoke, and the force of his word reversed the fever-flaming effect of infection.
Waves are caused by wind. And wind is owing to the expanding and contracting effects of heat and cold. That cold should contract things and heat should expand things was Christ’s idea. These laws are not unlike those which cause a fever. And these too Jesus rules with a word. His rebuke carries not only the will but the force that reverses the effect of physical laws.
There are other minds in the universe besides Christ’s. There are, for example, besides human minds, unclean spirits. They are not matter. They are only immaterial mind. They have intentionality too. But the story Christ’s dealing with them in the Gospels is meant to show us one thing very clearly: the mind of Christ rules other minds. Created minds—whether rebellious or submissive—are subject to the creating mind of Christ.
Nothing you will touch or feel or see or think today is apart from Christ. What can this mean but humility, humility, humility before such an all-encompassing, all-sustaining, all-governing person! And, if he loves us, indomitable confidence.
Question and findings:
ReplyDelete1. v39 - What does it mean that Jesus rebuked the fever?
The fever is working within the natural laws (which were corrupted by Adam's sin), and, possibly, was affected somehow by spiritual beings (we know very little about this). They have a "will", so to say. Jesus / God has power over even these. Jesus rebuked the power of this world (natural laws and/or spiritual beings) and imposed His own Law. Jesus is above all and has the power to do that.
Jesus still has the power today. When it is His will, He will use us as His hands and feet to rebuke the "powers of the air", which includes anything that has a "will", including spiritual beings and worldly laws.