Jesus’ Ministry of Love

Mark 1:32-45

GOLDEN TEXT: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”—John 9:4

IN LAST week’s lesson we found Jesus spending forty days in the wilderness, in communion with His Father and a study of the truth in order that His earthly ministry might be conducted in harmony with the divine will. We found Him also selecting His disciples, and in other ways preparing for the work which had been given Him to do. Today’s lesson presents the Master busily engaged in His ministry of love, laying down His life for the blessing of others.

There were what we might speak of as two phases to the ministry of Christ; namely, His training of the apostles to carry forward the work of the Gospel age following the close of His own earthly ministry, and a witness work on behalf of the general pubic, which in Jesus’ day, of course, was the Jewish public. Today’s lesson is concerned principally with His general witness work, a work made doubly effective by the outstanding miracles which He performed.

The prophecies concerning the Messiah called for a worldwide program of miracles on behalf of mankind, and while the work of Jesus at His first advent was very limited in scope, yet His miracles did convince the sincere among Israel that He truly was the Messiah of promise. His miracles also certainly helped to call attention to the Master, which gave Him an opportunity to present His message with a greater weight of authority than otherwise would have been possible. In the account for today’s lesson Jesus charges the healed leper not to publish the information, but despite this, the news of His miracles got around, and to avoid the crowds the Master withdrew to temporary seclusion for prayer. When the disciples found Jesus they reported that “all men” were seeking Him.

The fact that Jesus sought all opportunity for prayer while on the crest of a wave of popularity exemplifies well His remarkable spiritual balance. Fallen man is quite liable to forget his need of God when everything is going well with him. Too often God is consulted, and benefits asked from Him, only when we are in trouble. But it was not this way with the Master. In His perfection, He knew that if He were to work the works of His Father in an acceptable manner, He needed to commune with Him under all conditions, that popularity and ignominy were alike opportunities for prayer. Whether all men were seeking Him for His blessings, or seeking Him to put Him to death, as in Gethsemane, He needed His Father’s help.

In John 2:11 we read concerning the turning of water into wine, that this “beginning of miracles” by Jesus “manifested forth His glory.” The thought here evidently is that the miracles were in illustration of the coming Kingdom glory of Christ, when all the world would be blessed by power divine. The providing of wine at the marriage might illustrate His power to fulfill the promise of Isaiah 25:6, which declares that in the Lord’s Kingdom a feast of fat things will be provided for the people, a “feast of wines on the lees well refined.”

In promises of this nature, wine is probably used as symbolic of the joy that will be given to the people during the Kingdom period.

So with respect to all the miracles performed by Jesus—each in its own way illustrated the fulfillment of God’s promises recorded centuries previously by the holy prophets. Isaiah 35:5 for example, promises the opening of blind eyes, so Jesus opened a few blind eyes. Job had declared (chapter 14:15) that he expected to hear the voice of the Lord calling him forth from death, and Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb and thus proved that all such hopes, based on the promises of God, were certain of ultimate fulfillment. Furthermore, He said we shouldn’t marvel at this, because the time is coining when all will hear His voice and come forth from the tomb.—John 5:28

Our Golden Text carries a practical lesson for all Christians. The nighttime of life comes for all of us, when there are no further opportunities to serve the Lord this side the veil of death. When Jesus was arrested and about to be put to death, He explained that the hour of darkness had come, and it had, for Him. The Bible also speaks of a general nighttime of trouble upon the whole earth at the close of this age, when the work of the church will be stopped. We are probably nearing that time now, so it behooves us all to be zealous in bearing witness to the truth while the door for such service is still open.

QUESTIONS:

Do Christians need God’s help in times of popularity as well as in ignominy?

In what manner did Jesus’ miracles show forth His coming glory?

What did Jesus mean by the “night” when no man could work?

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