The Bible says that Jesus healed people. But often these healings came with unexpected outcomes and controversies. Here Thomas Terry breakdown some of Jesus' healings in Mark.
Transcript
Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. Following the scripture reading by Pastor Ryan Lister, Pastor Thomas Terry will deliver the message entitled, The Heart of the Healer in a Culture of Controversy. It’s part of our series called Follow the Son, which goes through the book of Mark. Thanks for joining us. Here’s Ryan. Join me as we read our passage this morning. Mark 1, verses 29 through 45.
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.
— Mark 1
(ESV)
And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place. And there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him. And they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons. And a leper came to him, imploring him and kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will. Be
clean. And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. But he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places. And people were coming to him from every quarter. This Trinity Church is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good morning, Saints. So for all the dads who were holding it down with the kids this weekend, while our moms were away at the women’s retreat, we made it barely. My two boys were crazy this weekend, but it was really good to be with them this week.
The Mid-Morning Miracle
So I think most of our women are coming back this afternoon, so you might go catch a nap after service. Before we get started, let’s begin by asking for God’s help. Holy Spirit, we ask for your help this morning. You illuminate our text. You point us to Jesus, and so we are wholly dependent upon you. We recognize that everything we do this morning, anything that we say this morning will be of no spiritual benefit unless it is met with your power and your authority. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would convict us and challenge us and conform us into the image of Jesus this morning as we hear from your word. We pray these things in Christ’s name, amen. Well last week, we looked at the authority of Jesus, and if you remember, the emphasis of this authority was through preaching and the casting out of demons.
This authority was made visible to us by way of contrast, so we saw Jesus contrasted with the scribes. When Jesus preached, the scribes had nothing on his preaching, because Jesus preached with such power and authority. The people noticed it. Jesus was contrasted with Satan and his work in the demonic realm. Jesus speaks, the demon is cast out. Jesus exercises his powerful authority over Satan and his kingdom. This morning, I want to continue to look at this theme of authority, but I want to look at it from a different angle. In our passage this morning, this theme of authority is actually quite beautiful, because it shows us this picture of Jesus’s power and authority as it collides with his compassion and his pity, even in the midst of controversy. This morning, our text is somewhat of a day in the life of Jesus and his ministry work.
It’s sort of a 24-hour snapshot of Jesus’s work, and it just so happened that this work was on the Sabbath, which immediately sounds like a contradiction if you’re familiar with what the Sabbath is all about. See, the Sabbath was a reoccurring day that was instituted by God for not working. It was actually made by God for us to rest. The Sabbath, at least in the time of Jesus, started on Friday evening and made its way all the way into Saturday evening, so it was a full 24 hours of rest. The scripture tells us that God gave his people the Sabbath not only as an opportunity to rest, but most importantly, for us to serve him, to worship him. So God, who is the creator of the Sabbath, gave us the Sabbath to take time away from our busy life to focus on the Lord in our rest and to serve him.
But the people of God, confusing and distorting the Sabbath, made this day of rest into a day of work by creating a long list of laws and regulations that needed to be meticulously upheld in order to be made right with God. And so the understanding of the Sabbath, particularly among God’s people in the first century, had become somewhat controversial. There were certain things that you could do and certain things you couldn’t do. What was religiously and socially acceptable to do or what not to do on the Sabbath was constantly under scrutiny. But nonetheless, in our text this morning, we do see Jesus in many ways at work on the Sabbath. In fact, in this 24 hour snapshot of ministry on the Sabbath, it actually began on our passage last week. If you remember, when Jesus was invited to preach in the synagogue, that was on the Sabbath.
Jesus on the Sabbath preached with such authority that it provoked fear in the hearts of the people who were all present hearing his preaching. The authority and the substance behind what Jesus preached in the synagogue caught the attention of a demon and Jesus, using his authoritative words, casts out this demon. Now it’s socially acceptable to teach on the Sabbath if you are a rabbi, but to cast out a demon, well that was a bit more questionable and controversial because that required work. And this morning in our text, this controversy continues as Jesus systematically confronts these very cultural and controversial structures, things like the Sabbath and the cultural stigma. But not only does Jesus do this to demonstrate his compassion, but he does this most importantly to meet the unique needs of his people. Jesus, as is his pattern, continually bucks against what is culturally acceptable and
Sunset on the Sabbath
even controversial for the sake of compassion. So this morning I’ve broken up our passage into four scenes in this story that I call the heart of the healer in a culture of controversy. So we’ll begin in verse 29 by looking at the first scene, the mid-morning miracle. Verse 29, and immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever and immediately they told him about her. And he came and he took her by the hand and lifted her up. And the fever left her and she began to serve them. So immediately following Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, these men make their way to Simon and Andrew’s house, most likely for a Sabbath meal. That was typically their style. And when they finally arrive at the house, they find Simon’s mother-in-law who’s sick
with a fever. Now just a bit of context, in this culture fever was a lot different from today. First, fever was actually considered a sickness and not a symptom. Today you get a fever and it’s an indicator of some type of sickness. So you take some Tylenol or some ibuprofen and for the most part you’re good. But back in the day, you get a fever, you could die. So this illness was significant enough to cause alarm among the brothers. So these brothers informed Jesus about their mother-in-law. And it’s here where Jesus not only demonstrates compassion for this mother-in-law, but where he double downs on dignity, despite the cultural climate. So there’s two things to notice that are important about this particular culture of controversy. One is that it was considered socially and religiously taboo for a man to touch a woman who was not part of his immediate family.
Touching a woman outside your immediate family would be so incredibly unacceptable and controversial that it would rock the various people in the city. It would shock them. You just didn’t do that. Never. You never did that. And the reason why is because this culture oftentimes tried to avoid as much as possible the appearance of evil. This culture was based on perception, where they wanted to preserve and protect the way that people perceive them. But Jesus, despite how it might appear, he touches this woman. Now why does Jesus touch her? If you remember last week, when this man was possessed by a demon, Jesus simply spoke. He told the demon, shut up and get out. And it was done. He just used words. He could have said to this woman, you’re healed, and she would be healed just like that. But instead, he takes her by the hand and he lifts her up.
Why does Jesus do that? To show her dignity, to demonstrate compassion. See he’s not the least bit concerned with how it looks in the culture’s eyes. He cares about her. He doesn’t care about how it appears. He sees this mother who is ill. This is not unlike our culture, where a mother would typically be the one who cares for children when they’re sick. I know at least when it comes to my wife and our kids, when our kids are sick, Heather’s like compassion and care turns up. All of her maternal instincts kick in and she begins to comfort our kids with words. And by gently touching them, saying things like, you okay, baby? You gonna be okay? I know. It’s interesting here that Jesus treats her exactly how a mother would treat a child. He gets down to her level. He grabs her by the hand and he gently lifts her up.
And when he does this, she’s instantly healed. The second thing to notice is that not only does he touch her, but he heals her on the Sabbath. This would have rocked a first century Jew who was concerned not only about appearance, but about strict adherence to the Sabbath. Jesus could have simply waited a few hours. He only had to wait a few hours, the Sabbath would be done. And then he could have healed her, but he disregards the way people will perceive him and he heals her right away, demonstrating even more dignity to this mother-in-law. Not only does Jesus exercise his authority by touching this woman to heal her, he also exercises his authority over the Sabbath, demonstrating that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. Remember, Jesus is the author of the Sabbath, so he has all the authority to interpret it. We’ll later hear in this gospel directly from Jesus about this in a greater and more matter
of fact way when he says, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Another thing to notice is that right after this mother-in-law is healed, she begins to serve Jesus and the disciples. Now depending on how you frame this, you could possibly get the wrong idea behind Jesus and his motives for healing this woman. Maybe you could think that Jesus simply healed this woman because they were hungry and they needed somebody to serve these men who were tired all day long. You could look at this through some kind of superficial, misogynistic lens, like maybe this woman’s value is only determined by how much she serves men. But don’t forget Jesus’ dignity towards her. His motivation for healing her was compassion and dignity. He has no other agenda. And really what you see here is that as a direct result of this mother-in-law being
healed, she desires to serve people. This is a great picture for us when we are made right with God, when we are touched by Jesus, when we’re healed by Jesus, our first response should be service. This is a classic picture of what discipleship looks like. When you begin to follow Jesus, your first response should always be service to God’s people. We follow the pattern of Jesus and Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. So Jesus heals this mother-in-law on the Sabbath. And he heals her and immediately she begins to serve these men, which is providential because when the evening comes, things get crazy, which brings us to the second scene, the sunset on the Sabbath. Let’s look at verse 32. That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.
And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. See in this little town of Capernaum, the news had begun to spread quickly that Jesus is healing people, that Jesus is casting out demons. And right now he’s over at Simon and Andrew’s house. So the people all throughout the town, they’ve been thinking and talking and planning to bring their sick and demon possessed people over to the house where Jesus was at. Now notice what the text says, that evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. Why did they wait till sundown? Remember, the Sabbath was over at the sunset on Saturday. So these people waited until after the Sabbath to come to Jesus. Why? Well, these people understood the Jewish law of the Sabbath.
So they were either strongly being obedient to the Sabbath or what, which I think is more the case. They had a strong desire to dodge the social stigma from the community that comes from working on the Sabbath. You remember this culture is a culture of appearance and perception. I mean, think about it. In some of these cases with some of these sick people, they would need to be carried to Jesus. In some cases, people would need to be dragged over in their mattresses to Jesus because of their condition. So in any case, it was going to be work getting these very sick people or demon possessed people over to Jesus. So instead of working on the Sabbath, they simply waited out a few hours until after the Sabbath and then seized the opportunity for healing. And right here, you get this contrast between Jesus and the people.
Jesus heals immediately. He sees them in their need. He sees that they’re sick. This mother was sick with fever. He heals her immediately. He could have waited and dodged the social stigma, but he heals her right away. These people, however, they’re very concerned about the social stigma. So they wait till after the Sabbath. See, these people were opportunistic and resourceful. They wanted healing either for themselves or for their family, but they weren’t willing to get the healing at the expense of being ostracized by their religious community for violating the Sabbath. See, healing was not common in this culture. So you could only imagine people from all over Capernaum who needed physical healing from sickness or disease or even demon possession. They would have done anything to be made well, almost anything. So these people make a calculated decision and avoid the social scrutiny and wait till
sunset to bring all their sick and demon-possessed people to Jesus. Now listen, Jesus knew what these people wanted. Jesus knew why these people were coming to him. He knew their motives. He knew they were not coming to Jesus to receive Jesus’s message. They merely wanted the benefits of the healer, but not the healer himself. But even though Jesus knew their motives, listen to this, he is still moved with compassion. He still continues to heal these very broken and sick people. He continues to cast out demons to liberate people because of his compassion. And this really captures the heart of the healer. The willingness to extend mercy even in the midst of being exploited and used. I can’t help but wonder how many professing Christians do this very same thing today. Who approach Jesus merely for the benefits that come with Jesus, but not actually of
Jesus himself. Those who want to be saved to escape hell, but don’t want a savior. Those who want community that comes from church, but they don’t want the Lord of the church. Those who want to be blessed, but don’t want the blessed one. This was the case back in the day, and this is the case for many people today. They were willing to receive all that comes with Jesus, except Jesus himself. His whole city was at Simon and Andrew’s door. Not because they wanted Jesus, but because they wanted something from Jesus. But nonetheless, Jesus compassionately heals and he casts out demons. And again in this text, we see Jesus silencing demons. He silences the demons. These demons know that he is Jesus, the son of God, but Jesus doesn’t want his messianic secret revealed yet. So again, he shuts up the demons. Jesus shows compassion to these people.
Dawn of Discouragement
You get a sense of Jesus’s pity and mercy towards these people. He has compassion, but at the same time, he’s discouraged by these same people. And we see this in the next scene, the dawn of discouragement in verse 35. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. After a long night of giving himself to people, healing after healing, exorcism after exorcism, feeling all the discouragement that comes from the people who he knew they didn’t want him. They just wanted from him. Jesus is exhausted, spiritually, physically, emotionally exhausted, but look what he does. He wakes up early. He’s exhausted, but he wakes up early to find the one place of encouragement. The one place where he can pour out his heart and be heard. The place where he can find rest, not just for his body, but for his soul.
Jesus goes to the fountain of all encouragement, the presence of the father. Jesus slips away from the busyness of the crowds to get alone with God because he knows this is the only place to find rest and refuge. He’s exhausted, but he makes his spiritual time with the father more important than physical rest. Mark gives us three accounts of Jesus slipping away to pray. Three accounts in his gospel we see Jesus slip away to pray. This account right here in the beginning of his earthly ministry, the middle of his earthly ministry when he’s feeding the crowds, and at the end of his earthly ministry in the garden of Gethsemane. All three accounts represent or depict Jesus as discouraged. He’s discouraged here because these people only wanted healing from him. He’s discouraged after feeding the crowd because the people only wanted food from him. He’s discouraged in the garden because of the weight of all this need from him.
All that Jesus would have to endure for these people, he feels it, and it causes him to be discouraged. Every time we get this picture of Jesus discouraged, every time we see him slip away to find rest and refuge. Brothers and sisters, do you see the humanness of Jesus in this? Yes, he is fully God, but he’s fully man. He feels the complete weight of this discouragement in a way that we will never understand, but because he knows discouragement, he knows what it feels like to be exploited. He knows all the feelings of being used and discarded. He can empathize with us in our greatest discouragement. And brothers and sisters, do you see here the model for us in this? When you feel discouraged and alone, rejected and exploited, depressed, anxious, hurt, or violated, you need to do what Jesus did. Slip away in prayer.
Find rest and refuge in prayer. Go to the fountain of all encouragement. The presence of the Father, and he will meet you there. He will hear you there. He will heal you there. That’s how it works. Some of my greatest moments of discouragement in my life have been met with God’s matchless grace when I’ve approached him in prayer. In those moments, in those days when they were so dark, when I literally questioned everything I know to be true and good about God, God, how could you let this happen? Why would you let this happen? It’s in those moments while alone with God, in prayer, in fear, asking questions, venting to God, he meets me. He meets us. Not only does he correct us in those moments. He instructs us. He aligns us, but most importantly, he comforts us. This is a truth that you need to understand.
One of the greatest privileges the Christian has is uninterrupted, unhindered, and unlimited access to God in your happiest days and in your darkest days. I’m convinced that people don’t take the time to prioritize slipping away to find refuge with Jesus because they really don’t believe that it works. They do everything else other than get alone with God in prayer. They meet up with friends, they go to counselors, they hit up social media, they do everything that can do really nothing for you supernaturally. God is the one who can supernaturally change your heart and bring you comfort when you so desperately need it, and that happens by getting alone with God. Because of Jesus, we can, just like Jesus, approach the Father in our most desperate of times, and he will meet us there every single time. But just as Jesus finds this place of isolation to find encouragement in prayer, Simon and
his crew come into Jesus’ quiet space to find him. When I read this, this just reminds me of my wife with the kids. Every time she gets alone to read or pray, the kids come and they find her and they disrupt her private time with Jesus. So she has to designate and prioritize time to get alone because people are always vying for your attention. But this is what happens here. Simon and his crew of disciples, they go seek Jesus out, and in verse 36, we get this picture. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Jesus gets only a little bit of time to himself before his disciples pull him back into the chaos. Of course, everybody wants something from Jesus. Of course, everybody’s looking for Jesus. Everybody has needs that need to be met. So these disciples remind Jesus of his ministry demands. And look what Jesus does. Jesus reminds his disciples of his ministry priority. This is why he says, let’s go to the next towns that I may preach there also. See, Jesus’s priority in his ministry is not healing people. It’s not even casting out demons. His priority is preaching. Now that doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t care about those other things or those things are not important to Jesus. It does. It just means that Jesus makes a priority of importance when it comes to preaching. Jesus makes preaching the kingdom of God, his priority, because preaching is what brings
dead people to life. Sure, he could continue to go all throughout the cities, healing people, but these people would eventually get sick and die of something else. What benefit would it be to cure the physical ailments of the things that hurt the body and not cure the sin that kills the soul? Now don’t hear me say that Jesus doesn’t care about meeting physical needs. He does. He does. You see that all throughout the gospel of Mark. That’s not what I’m saying. Jesus meets the physical needs of people. Jesus has compassion on people who are suffering, but Jesus expresses a greater degree of compassion for people who will suffer eternally because of sin. So he makes preaching his priority in ministry. So it’s both and, but preaching is over everything else in Jesus’s ministry paradigm. Now again, hear what I’m saying. Jesus prioritizes preaching, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t meet the physical needs
Social Stigma of Suffering
of people. He does. And we see this here in our next scene with the social stigma of suffering people. Verses 40 through 42. And a leper came to him, imploring him and kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will. Be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. So it’s now a couple of days after the Sabbath. And just as Jesus had instructed his disciples to head into other towns and preach, that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s preaching in other towns and in other places. And as he’s doing that, almost out of nowhere, this man with leprosy approaches Jesus. Now just the sheer fact that this person even approached Jesus was already a violation of the social code of conduct for people with leprosy.
See in this culture, lepers could not approach people. They were deemed unclean and treated as if there was no cure. According to the Levitical law, a person with leprosy would have to publicly and continually announce himself. He would literally have to walk around towns and out loud say, unclean, unclean. So that people could see and hear and not approach him lest they become contaminated. See lepers lived a very isolated life, never being approached by people, not being approachable. But this leper, in an act of complete desperation, sees Jesus as his only hope for cleansing. So against the Levitical law, this leper approaches Jesus and kneels down and says, if you will, you can make me clean. See this leper knows that Jesus has the power and the authority to make him clean. It’s simply a matter of the will. Notice the leper approaches Jesus and asked not to be healed, but to be clean.
Why does the leper use the word clean and not healed? Because this lepers greatest need was not one of healing, but of restoration. See this leper was completely removed and isolated from his family and his religious community. The reason why there was separation because he was unclean. He couldn’t go to his family anymore. He was cast out of his religious community. So this man needed to be clean to be brought back into his community with the people that he loved very much. So in desperation, he appeals to Jesus. He has no doubt as to whether Jesus is capable of cleaning him. So in humble politeness, with no concern of the social stigma, he begs Jesus, please, Jesus, make me clean. And it’s here where you see one of Jesus’s greatest demonstration of compassion, both in what he does, but also in how he does it.
Jesus is able. He possesses the power and the authority to do it. Jesus has moved with compassion. Jesus is willing and he says to this leper, I will be clean. Jesus makes this leper clean. Jesus heals this man of leprosy instantaneously. And the way Jesus does this is by doing the unthinkable. By stretching out his hands and touching him. Jesus touches the leper. Jesus does what is culturally and religiously inconceivable. See the culture’s paradigm was to not touch anything clean, lest you become contaminated and become unclean. But Jesus touches what is unclean to make those who are unclean clean. In this one act, Jesus defies both the legal and social framework of the culture. Jesus places love above the Levitical law and compassion above the social code of conduct. Now listen, Jesus does place love above the Levitical law, but he doesn’t completely dismiss the Levitical law either.
Because immediately after this man is cured, what does Jesus do? Look at verse 43. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for the proof to them. Jesus sends this man to the priest. See Leviticus 14 gives us this complete breakdown of everything a leper would have to do if he established some sort of cure. If he believed he was cured, he would have to go to a priest according to Levitical law and the priest would verify if he was clean. This priest through the span of eight days would determine if it was an actual verifiable cure. See the priest was the one who gave proof of the cure, but the priest was also the one
who gave the pass to be reinstated back into the Jewish community. So Jesus makes this man clean, but it was the priest according to the Levitical law that declares this man clean so that he could be brought back into his community. What a beautiful picture here of Jesus’s compassion for unclean people. Jesus touches them, heals them and makes them clean to restore them back into community, back into fellowship with God. I wonder when you hear this story, if you see yourself in the sentences of these scenes, do you imagine the image of the leper and the Lord? Do you imagine yourself in that story? Do you think about your personal encounter with Jesus when you hear this story? I can’t help but see myself in this story—I can’t help but see the people of God in this picture. This picture gives us a beautiful glimpse of the gospel, this whole encounter here.
This sickness that separates us from God is our sin. We were cut off from God and his community because we were unclean. Our sin was so ugly and incurable. It was such a sickness that it ended in eternal death, no cure, no hope and no life. But Jesus was compassionate towards us. He took everything unclean about us and took it upon himself to make us clean so that we might be cured from the sin that was killing us and be brought back into this relationship with God and his people. Jesus touches the ugliest of sinners, the social outcasts, the sick and diseased of heart, those who are the most unapproachable and unredeemable, all of us in this room. If you would only ask him to save you, to heal you and to clean you. Jesus full of compassion and pity, love and forgiveness says to you this morning, I will.
I will make you clean if that’s what you want. Jesus not only makes us clean, he also declares us. He also declares us clean. In this, you see the kingly authority of Jesus who speaks and touches and we’re healed. But you also see the priestly authority of Jesus who declares us clean and forgiven. And immediately after this man is cured and given this most significant gift of reconciliation to his community, he disobeys God. He disobeys God. Verse 45, but he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter. This man does exactly what Jesus commanded him not to do. Jesus said, don’t say anything to anyone. Go to the priest. And this man just totally disregards it.
And we can look at this passage and we could say, what a fool, why would he do that? How could you just disobey God after he healed you and brought you back into this covenant community? How could you do that? Of course, this is so characteristic of us. This is so much like us. Jesus saves us. He restores us. He heals us. He brings us back into this community. We love him. We desire to serve him, but we do the exact same thing. We do what he commands us not to do. But even in those moments when we sin, when we disobey, when we’re unclean, God is still approachable. We can approach him just like the leper, and he is ready and willing to forgive us. First John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Brothers and sisters, we were lepers in every possible way. We were sick. Our sin was eating us alive, killing us, destroying us. The very thing that we chased after was the thing that separated us from God. But the grace of the gospel broke in. Jesus and his compassion and pity and mercy touched us and healed us and brought us back into relationship with God. We were just like the leper, isolated, separated, unclean, men and women walking around, waiting to die, but Jesus was willing to make us clean. This innocent Jesus died on a dirty cross for our sins to forgive us, to reconcile us, to give us life. And Jesus resurrected from the grave as verifiable proof that we also will be raised. That the sickness that kills us in this life does not keep us. We will raise with glorified bodies, just like Christ.
Brothers and sisters, this is the God that we worship. The God who touches unclean people to make them clean. This God full of power and authority. This God full of compassion and pity. I wonder if you’re here this morning and you do not know this compassionate and merciful God. If you’re not acquainted with the almighty and all powerful hand of God, if you are here this morning and you don’t know him, but you want to be cleansed of your sins and find reconciliation with God, he is willing. That’s not a question. He is willing. Are you willing to embrace Jesus, to be made right with God? He is willing to cleanse you of all of your unrighteousness. If you would simply ask him, he will meet you. This is the God we worship. Full of power, full of authority, full of compassion and full of pity.
Let’s pray. Father, thank you for this beautiful picture this morning. Of the way that you show dignity, that you show compassion, despite the cultural and controversial climate, you are a merciful God, a compassionate God, willing to heal, willing to restore, willing to bring us back into fellowship with you. I pray oh Lord and God that we would see this power and this compassion and that you would move on our hearts in such a way where we are drawn to worship you because of it. I pray oh Lord and God that this text would so wreck our hearts that we would be bold about proclaiming this God who is powerful and compassionate, who gives dignity and life to sinners like us. I pray oh Lord and God that you would help us to see the pattern of Jesus who, when he is discouraged because of all of the things going on in the world around him, he finds
rest and refuge and privacy with you, Father. I pray God that we would follow that same pattern when we are broken and confused and struggling and hurting and anxious and betrayed, that we would find refuge by spending time with you. Father, we pray that you would make us a congregation who takes seriously and prioritizes time to be with you so that we can orient our life around you, find rest and comfort for our weary and broken souls. We pray all these things in Christ’s name, amen. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com.