In a sermon preached on 20th October , 1889 C H Spurgeon commented on the parable of the mustard seed:

It was one single seed, and that seed a very small one; so very, very small that the Jews were accustomed to say, “As small as mustard seed.”

The Scribes rightly believed that there in an organised kingdom of evil. They clearly held that Satan (Beelzebub) could control the activity of demons so as to order them to move out.

This is a belief that Jesus was quick to set His seal to by comparing the host of wicked angels under Satan to an organised house. The devil and his forces are real, exercise a real power, and are united in evil against good! We need to resist the comic figure of mythology (red, horns and tail). And we should never minimise his power. Jesus reminds of this by describing Satan under the image of a “strong man”.

In entering Mark’s Gospel we need to remember that we are entering into 1st Century Galilee. We need to see Jesus’ deeds and hear His words first of all within that context. This is especially true in the passage we turn to today in Mark 2:13-17. Here Jesus comes into purposeful controversy and dispute with the religious leaders to establish the point of His mission. But what was it about His actions that caused such a stir?

Why was it so important?

Mark 2:1-3:6 forms a unit showing the expanding opposition to Jesus from the religious leaders – and it all begins with the deepest human need: forgiveness.

In 2:2 we read that Jesus was preaching “the word” to a crowd gathered in a house – -that is the good news of the gospel (1:14-15), that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, for the forgiveness of sin.

“If You are willing, You can make me clean” (Mark 1:40)

In our passage from Mark this morning we see Jesus continuing to be involved in people’s lives and see yet again His compassion for those in great need.

But in this case it is with a man whose condition we have little connection with – leprosy (though sadly it is apparently on the rise in some aboriginal communities). Leprosy involved being both a medical and social outcast.

A special mother’s day creed for your consideration.

J A Alexander writes concerning the practice of Jesus in Mark 1:35 that it is ‘the most compelling proof of the necessity of prayer to our spiritual life.’

Did we, do we need such proof? Isn’t very reality of our spiritual life enough to encourage us to seek the face of the Lord in prayer, to know how much we need to spend time communing with our God?

Been to the Doctors lately? What was going through your mind – apart from the having to wait (perhaps at what seems far too long to get in, that is), or what it is going to cost you?

Literally he says ‘we are super conquerors!’ Not just victors but super
victors! “More than conquerors” – that is what we are now and how we will
regard ourselves through all eternity.
When the early church father Chrysostom was brought before the Roman
Emperor, the Emperor threatened him with banishment of he remained a
Christian.

If Job, who lived at the dawn of recorded history, centuries before the time of the Lord Jesus Christ – if Job knew these things, how much more should we know them, we who are aware of Christ’s resurrection and have witnessed His power in our lives. Job lived in a dark and misty time, before the dawning of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sun of righteousness. Job lived in an age before Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. If he has failed to understand about the resurrection and had failed to believe in it, who could blame him? Nobody. Yet he believed. How much more then should we?