Daily Bible Reading (Thursday, Feb. 9th)

10

Mark 1 (ESV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare[c] the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many

29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 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.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

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. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 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.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 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.” 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.

10 Comments

I'm so thankful that God has given me a hunger for His Word. I have to confess that this is the first time that I've read Mark. So many treasures that I'm learning and being blessed by in this book. May His Holy Spirit continue to open my eyes. I love Him so much!

In verse 35 Jesus is an example to us: got up in the early morning, while it was still dark, secluded himself, and prayed...I'm grateful for access to the Bible, and that we are reading this together. Grateful to be a part of...

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go...."
Psalm 32:8

John Gardner - What is interesting to me is that several times in the gospels we read of Jesus commanding people not to tell anyone what He had done and yet they went and told. Today, Jesus is commanding us to tell everyone and we do not. Jesus said (v.17) "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." I want to obey and I want to be a better fisher of men.

I don't mean to be crass or sound crude, but I wonder how many of those who were under the auspices of the Lord (those being healed, cleansed, "exorcised") were being saved or were saved? Verse 38 stands out to me.

Christ has made us clean, yet we disobey, like the healed leper. What a gracious savior. He knew the leper would disobey, yet he had compassion and took away his disease. He graciously died on the cross for our salvation knowing that we too would disobey. Hallelujah, what a savior.

Such a poignant reminder, Art, of what our Savior accomplished at the cross. If He had only covered my sin as my substitute at Calvary, and had not supplied His perfect righteousness to me "in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:21), I would never see the Kingdom of heaven as without that perfect righteousness, even with my sin propitiated, I would stand before Him "in neutral", lacking the righteousness I need to be with Him in the Kingdom of heaven. But thanks be to God that His Son did impute His perfect righteousness to me/us by living the "perfect life"!

I love the account of Simon's mother being healed and her immediate response of serving everyone else. It shows the completeness of His work (no recovery time needed!) and a heart response to God's healing work in her, a desire to serve others.

In verse 9 we see the Baptism of Jesus by John. We know from the other gospels, it was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law so His perfect, obedient life could be imputed to us. God is SO amazing. Not only are our sins covered by His death, but we are made righteous because he lived a perfectly righteous life.

I am puzzled by v43-45. I understand that Jesus wanted to remain free to travel, and this man's report put an end to that, but surely Jesus knew he would report it. You would think that there would be no way not to report it since the leper was told to report to the priest. It would be reasonable to assume that the priest would ask "how did you become clean?"

What an amazing, powerful,compassionate Savior we have! He graciously offers cleansing to all who kneel before Him. "All praise to Him Who reigns on high"

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