All Age Talk - All Age Theme for 2017 - Jesus Taught & Showed Grace
Today - "The Untouchables" - three encounters with Jesus (Mark 1:35-2:17) (Luke 5:12-32)
- Touched Leprosy
- Forgiven Paralytic
- Called Tax Collector
Context : Prayer
Mark 1:35-39 Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Simon and his companions went to look for him
When they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
It began with prayer and continued with prayer. Prayer is the key.
Untouchable # 1
Jesus Touched the Leper (Mark 1:40-45 & Luke 5:12-16)
Jesus was in one of the towns.
A man with leprosy ["covered with leprosy" Luke] (a skin disease) came along.
He saw Jesus,
He came to Jesus,
He fell with his face to the ground … on his knees … before Jesus
he begged Jesus :
“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
[Mark] Jesus "having been moved with compassion".
- [splanchnistheis, σπλαγχνισθεὶς] - from his guts, innards
Jesus having reached out his hand - Jesus made the effort to reach out to the marginalised - others would keep this man at arm's length.
He touched the man. SHOCK! - touching a leper!!
“I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” - the unclean did not make Jesus unclean - instead it was reversed.
Immediately (not after a while) … the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning [Luke - "he ordered him"]:
“See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” - but no sacrifice was made. (Leviticus 14)
[Mark tells us that …] Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.
[Luke "the news about him spread all the more]
So that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.
[Luke: "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Untouchable # 2 Jesus Forgave the Paralytic (Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26)
A few days later when Jesus again entered Capernaum the people heard that he had come home. (Jesus came home)
They gathered in such large numbers
They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem.
That there was no room left
Not even outside the door
And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.
And he preached and taught the word of God to them.
Some men came
bringing to him a paralyzed man
carried by four of them, on a mat.
They tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
But, they could not find a way to do this
They could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd
So, they went up on the roof
they made an opening in the roof through the tiles above Jesus by digging through it
and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
into the middle of the crowd,
right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith
he said to the paralyzed man, “[Mark : "Son"], [Luke : "Friend"] your sins are forgiven.”
Now some Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there
They began thinking to themselves,
“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming!
[Luke: “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?"]
Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts
[Luke: "Jesus knew what they were thinking"]
He said to them, “Why are you thinking these things [Luke: "in your hearts"]?
Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
So he said to the man [Luke: "the paralyzed man" - a reminder],
“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
[Luke: "Immediately"]
He got up, [Luke: "he stood up in front of them"]
took his mat [Luke: "what he had been lying on"]
and walked out in full view of them all.
[Luke: "and went home praising God"]
This amazed everyone
and they praised God,
[Luke: "They were filled with awe"]
saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” [Luke: “We have seen remarkable things today.”]
Untouchable # 3 Jesus Called the Sinner (Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32)
Once again [Luke: "After this"] Jesus went out beside the lake.
A large crowd came to him,
and he began to teach them.
As he walked along,
he saw [Luke: "a tax collector"] Levi son of Alphaeus
sitting at the tax collector’s booth.
“Follow me,” Jesus told him,
and Levi got up [Luke: "left everything"] and followed him.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house.
[Mark: "While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house"]
Many [Luke: "a large crowd of"] tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples,
for there were many who followed him.
When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees
saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors,
they asked [Luke: "complained to"] his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
[Luke: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”]
On hearing this,
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners [Luke: "… to repentance."]