The authority and priority of King Jesus

“This is our King”

That is the title of our journey through the gospel of Mark.

We are calling it that because we want to boast about the King that Mark’s gospel is all about. King Jesus, the Son of God.

And when you understand who He is and what He came to do, you understand the good, greatest, most awesome news that a world of bad news and temporary good news could ever hope for!

We met King Jesus last time around and began to see why it is that He is such good news. He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah who came to deal with the only bad news that impacts our lives beyond this life on this earth – our sin.

King Jesus had come to free us from sin and its consequences forever.

This morning we are going to carry on looking at our awesome King Jesus to see His authority and priority as King and why that is good news for us.

Read Mark 1: 16 – 39

In verses 16 – 34 Mark records 4 incidents that show us…

The authority of King Jesus

In the first incident, we see that Jesus has authority over people in 16 – 20.

Jesus could have done His mission on His own. And yet He chose to have people on mission with Him.

As we go through Mark’s gospel you sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t have been easier to do it on His own.

And yet because He loves people and wants them to be with Him and on mission with Him, King Jesus calls people to join Him.

How He does that displays His authority over people.

Simon and Andrew are fishermen. It is hard work. If they are not fishing, they are maintaining their nets or selling their fish. They are very busy. There is no time to mess around.

And yet Jesus walks by them as they are hard at work fishing and says (commands them), “stop fishing for fish, follow me and fish for men”.

And immediately, without asking any clarifying questions, they drop their net and followed Jesus. That is not normal.

Jesus walks on with His two new followers in tow. And a little further along the coast, they see Zebedee, his two sons James and John and some hired men on a boat, hard at work preparing their nets to sail out and fish.

When Jesus sees them, He calls (commands) James and John to follow Him.

 

 

Immediately the two sons leave their father with the hired men, walk away from the business their father had been training them for and would hand over to them, and they follow Jesus to be trained for mission with Jesus. That is not normal.

None of that is normal … but nor is Jesus. He is King Jesus, the Son of God, with divine authority over people. And so, these people do what He commands.

What about you?

King Jesus loves you. He wants you with Him. He wants you on mission with Him.

Will you respond to Him as the King He is? Will you submit to His authority?

If you repent and believe, He will forgive you your sins, secure your eternal future and bring you onto the mission with Him.

But you must repent and believe. You must leave behind anything that will keep you from following and being with Him.

Those who are already followers of Jesus. He still loves you. He still wants you with Him, on mission with Him.

Did you see that His mission is a discipleship mission? He wants us to be fishers of men. To help someone. Do you still follow Him radically? Are you still willing to go with Him to fish for people, whoever and wherever He commands? Or do you tend to do your own thing now, like you used to do before you repented and believed?

Do you need to repent, believe and go again? Nothing in this world is worth holding on to if it draws us away from following Him and being on mission with Him (not even work and family as was the case with these fishermen).

When Jesus speaks there is divine power that causes those He wants to obey to obey.

And whenever King Jesus spoke, He spoke with divine, personal authority.

And we see this in the second incident when we see His authority when teaching 21 – 22.

The normal teachers in the synagogue would tell people what other prominent teachers (other authorities) were saying. “Rabbi so and so said this, and Rabbi so and so said that”.

But Jesus would teach like this, “you have heard that it is said… but I tell you…”. Jesus taught as the authority (which of course He is) and people were amazed by that.

That was also not normal … but nor is Jesus. He is King Jesus, the Son of God, who is the truth with divine authority to teach the truth that is to be treasured, believed and obeyed.

In the third incident, we see Jesus’ authority over demons 23 – 28.

The impure spirit or demon knows exactly who Jesus is, “Holy One of God”. The demon also knows what Jesus has come to do, destroy the demonic powers. It recognises Jesus’ authority.

But Jesus will reveal Himself and His mission in His way, and in His time, not in this demon’s way and time.

And so, Jesus takes control of the demon that had controlled this poor man.

He tells it to shut up and it shuts up (be quiet = be muzzled). He tells the demon to get out of the man and the demon does. Again, Jesus’ words have authority and power.

And all those watching this, having also heard Him teach, are amazed! This is not normal … but nor is Jesus. He is King Jesus, the Son of God, who has divine authority over demons and all evil forces. He would defeat them on the cross and set free those who are held captive by this evil kingdom and want to be free!

And one day, on judgement day, Jesus will destroy them.

Casting out demons authenticated Jesus’ teaching that His kingdom had arrived, to conquer this evil kingdom and set people free.

And then in the fourth incident, we see Jesus’ authority over sickness 29 – 31.

This is a bit different to the other three incidents. In all the other incidents Jesus’ authority was displayed in relationship to His words (explain). And Jesus’ authority in Mark’s gospel is always linked to His words. We will see that as we go along.

But here it is different. No words. No miracle linked to teaching which is almost always the case.

Here, just actions. Why? His authority over illness is simply displayed here in this incident out of love for Simon and his mother-in-law! Jesus heals here because He cares.

You might think that is obvious but wait a bit and you will see why it is so significant.

So, King Jesus displays His divine authority over people, to teach the truth, over evil and sickness.

How will people respond to this? We see what their priority with Jesus is in 1: 28 / 1: 32 – 34

How does Jesus respond to this?

1: 35 – 39

We have seen the authority of Jesus. Here we see…

The priority of King Jesus

What is Jesus doing here?

I could imagine some church growth consultant taking Jesus aside and saying to Him, “Jesus you are making a mistake. Your healing and exorcism ministry is what will make you popular and relevant, not your preaching ministry. No one can heal and cast out demons like you but there are plenty of other Rabbis who can teach. We have done a survey and can to tell you that the need for healing and deliverance is much greater than for a monologue. Why would you walk away from needy people and what they want and focus on something that is important but way down the scale of what is wanted? Jesus, I know you know everything but maybe you should reconsider here?”

Jesus was tempted to just heal and cast out demons. He was compassionate. He understood the desperate need. It was a real temptation to do just that, and it might end up being just that the need was so great.

1: 35 eremon = solitary place is the same word used in 1: 12 + 13 for wilderness where Jesus was tempted. The eremon It is the place of temptation. That is why Jesus is praying (we will see this happen twice more in Mark’s gospel).

He knows that now he has this reputation to heal and deliver, that is all people are going to want…

But that is not why He has come. We know that already.

• 1: 14 – 15. Proclaiming the good news with words.
• Powerful words – calling His disciples / teaching in the synagogue / commanding demons
• The exception is the healing of Peter’s mom-in-law
• We will see that His miracles going forward are all linked to His teaching either to illustrate something or to show that He had authority to say what He was saying

And so, 1: 38 – 39 (casting out demons was showing that what He was saying was true).

As we will see the most important thing that Jesus can do is explain who He is and what He has come to do and then call people to repent and believe so they can be saved.

What is the point if people are healed and have demons cast out of them, but they don’t repent of their sin and believe in King Jesus and are not saved and face an eternity of judgement!

• Jesus the Word is all about words.
• His words as God the Son created everything.
• His words show His authority
• His words explain the gospel
• His words save
• His words explain what He did, without them we would be lost as to what we should do with His actions
• And we now have all we need in His Word
• It is the one point of His displayed authority that is His priority

And that is why in REACH SA and here at St Matthews, we say, “God’s Word above all things”.

And why we don’t just say the Bible is important … but like Jesus we focus on preaching the Bible as a priority.

Does your life show that the Word (the Bible) and its preaching is a priority? How? Do you make every effort to be where it is preached as a major priority in your life?

He loves you. He wants you with Him. On mission with Him…

And on this earth that mission (helping others) is a Word Mission it happens by His Word, through His Word, with His Word. That is where our ministry authority for Jesus is. Nowhere else. God’s Word above all things!

Questions:

Re-read Mark 1: 16 – 39

1. How does Jesus display His authority as King and why is that good news?
2. Which area of His authority does Jesus see as His priority and why is that good news?
3. How does Jesus’ priority apply to you individually or to a church or ministry today?