Mark 1:21-34

These verses begin the long list of miracles which Mark’s Gospel contains. They tell us how our Lord cast out devils in Capernaum, and healed Peter’s wife’s mother of a fever.

We learn, in the first place, from these verses, the uselessness of a mere intellectual knowledge of religion. Twice we are specially told that the unclean spirits knew our Lord. In one place it says, “they knew Him.” In another, the devil cries out, “I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.” They knew Christ, when Scribes were ignorant of Him, and Pharisees would not acknowledge Him. And yet their knowledge was not unto salvation.

The mere belief of the facts and doctrines of Christianity will never save our souls. Such belief is no better than the belief of devils. They all 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. It is a solemn and sorrowful thought, that on these points some professing Christians have even less faith than the devil. There are some who doubt the reality of hell and the eternity of punishment. Such doubts as these find no place except in the hearts of self-willed men and women. There is no infidelity among devils. “They believe and tremble.” (James 2:19)

Let us take heed that our faith be a faith of the heart as well as of the head. Let us see that our knowledge has a sanctifying influence on our affections and our lives. Let us not only know Christ but love Him, from a sense of actual benefit received from Him. Let us not only believe that He is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, but rejoice in Him, and cleave to Him with purpose of heart. 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 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.³

We learn, in the second place, to what remedy a Christian ought to resort first, in time of trouble. He ought to follow the example of the friends of Simon’s mother-in-law. We read that when she “lay sick of a fever,” they “told Jesus of her.”

There is no remedy like this. Means are to be used diligently, without question, in any time of need. Doctors are to be sent for, in sickness. Lawyers are to be consulted, when property or character needs defence. The help of friends is to be sought. But still, after all, the first thing to be done, is to cry to the Lord Jesus Christ for help. None can relieve us so effectually as He can. None is so compassionate, and so willing to relieve. When Jacob was in trouble he turned to his God first–;”Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of Esau.” (Genesis 32:11) When Hezekiah was in trouble, he first spread Sennacherib’s letter before the Lord;–“I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand.” (2 Kings 19:19) When Lazarus fell sick, his sisters sent immediately to Jesus;–“Lord,” they said, “he whom thou lovest is sick.” (John 11:2) Now let us do likewise. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.” “Casting all your care upon Him.” “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Psalm. 55:22; 1 Pet. 5:7; Phil. 4:6)

Let us not only remember this rule, but practise it too. We live in a world of sin and sorrow. The days of darkness in a man’s life are many. It needs no prophet’s eye to foresee that we shall all shed many a tear, and feel many a heart-wrench, before we die. Let us be armed with a receipt against despair, before our troubles come. Let us know what to do, when sickness, or bereavement, or cross, or loss, or disappointment breaks in upon us like an armed man. Let us do as they did in Simon’s house at Capernaum. Let us at once “tell Jesus.”

We learn, in the last place, from these verses, what a complete and perfect cure the Lord Jesus makes, when He heals. He takes the sick woman by the hand, and lifts her up, and “immediately the fever left her.” But this was not all. A greater miracle remained behind. At once we are told “she ministered unto them.” That weakness and prostration of strength which, as a general rule, a fever leaves behind it, in her case was entirely removed. The fevered woman was not only made well in a moment, but in the same moment made strong and able to work.⁴

We may see in this case a lively emblem of Christ’s dealing with sin-sick souls. That blessed Saviour not only gives mercy and forgiveness;–He gives renewing grace besides. To as many as receive Him as their Physician, He gives power to become the sons of God. He cleanses them by His Spirit, when He washes them in His precious blood. Those whom He justifies, He also sanctifies. When He bestows an absolution, He also bestows a new heart. When He grants free forgiveness for the past, He also grants strength to “minister” to Him for the time to come. The sin-sick soul is not merely cured, and then left to itself. It is also supplied with a new heart and a right spirit, and enabled so to live as to please God.

There is comfort in this thought for all who feel a desire to serve Christ, but at present are afraid to begin. There are many in this state of mind. They fear that if they come forward boldly, and take up the cross, they shall by and bye fall away. They fear that they shall not be able to persevere, and shall bring discredit on their profession. Let them fear no longer. Let them know that Jesus is an Almighty Saviour, who never forsakes those who once commit themselves to Him. Once raised by His mighty hand from the death of sin, and washed in His precious blood, they shall go on “ministering to Him” to their life’s end. They shall have power to overcome the world, and crucify the flesh, and resist the devil. Only let them begin, and they shall go on. Jesus knows nothing of half-cured cases and half-finished work. Let them trust in Jesus and go forward. The pardoned soul shall always be enabled to serve Christ.

There is comfort here for all who are really serving Christ, and are yet cast down by a sense of their own infirmity. There are many in such case. They are oppressed by doubts and anxieties. They sometimes think they shall never reach heaven after all, but be cast away in the wilderness. Let them fear no longer. Their strength shall be according to their day. The difficulties they now fear shall vanish out of their path. The lion in the way which they now dread, shall prove to be chained. The same gracious hand which first touched and healed, shall uphold, strengthen, and lead them to the last. The Lord Jesus will never lose one of His sheep. Those whom He loves and pardons, He loves unto the end. Though sometimes cast down, they shall never be cast away. The healed soul shall always go on “ministering to the Lord.” Grace shall always lead to glory!

³ “Rest not in an historical knowledge or faith. If thou do, it will not save thee; for if it would it would save the devils: for they have their literal knowledge and general belief of the word. Dost thou think it enough to know and believe that Christ lived and died for sinners? The devil and his angels know and believe as much. Labour then to outstrip them, and to get a better faith than is in them.”—Petter on Mark. 1661.

⁴Let us not fail to observe here, that Peter, one of our Lord’s principal apostles had a wife. Yet he was called to be a disciple, and afterwards chosen to be an apostle. More than this, we find Paul speaking of him as a married man, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, many years after this. (1 Cor. 9:5) How this fact can be reconciled with the compulsory celibacy of the clergy, which the Church of Rome enforces and requires, it is for the friend and advocates of the Roman Catholic Church to explain. To a plain reader, it seems a plain proof that it is not wrong for ministers to be married men. And when we add to this striking fact, that Paul, when writing to Timothy, says, that “a bishop should be the husband of one wife,” (1 Tim. 3:2) it is clear that the whole Romish doctrine of clerical celibacy is utterly opposed to holy Scripture.