He healed many

Scripture speaks of ‘the days of his flesh’, Heb. 5. 7, and Mark details one of those days, a busy Sabbath day. Firstly, there was preaching in the synagogue; even the untutored Galileans distinguished between His authoritative message and the lifeless lectures of the scribes. Authority was the keynote that day, for even the demons were subject to His power, Mark 1. 27. Both His words and His works created astonishment, vv. 22, 27.

The next port of call was Peter’s home where there was an emergency; his mother-in-law was in the grip of a fever. ‘Anon (immediately) they tell him’, v. 30. In the difficulties of life speaking to Him should be the first resort and not the last. In the first of numerous occasions in his Gospel, Mark mentions the hand of the Servant. When He took her hand, the fever was dismissed. With immediate effect she served them, a delightful illustration of the familiar maxim ‘saved to serve’.

In this first chapter of the Gospel there is a sunset scene, v. 32. In the last chapter there is a sunrise scene, an appropriate accompaniment to the triumph of resurrection, 16. 2. Here, at the close of day ‘he healed many’. Matthew says He ‘healed all’, Matt. 8. 16. Doctor Luke stresses that they each received individual attention, ‘he laid his hands on every one of them’, Luke 4. 40. No case was too hard for the Great Physician!

He rose early after the busy day, Mark 1. 35, and the lesson for our own lives is that public activity and private devotion must be kept in balance. Synagogue preaching and solitary place praying should never be divorced. He started the new day with God, communing with the Father, and, indeed, taking instructions for the day, Isa. 50. 4. Further, the adulation of the men of Capernaum did not deflect Him from His purpose to cover new ground with the gospel, Mark 1. 38.

A leper was next to experience His touch, v. 41. A word would have cleansed him, but compassion moved the Saviour to touch the untouchable! When a high-ranking leper arrived at Elisha’s door, he sent him instructions via a messenger, 2 Kgs. 5. 10; the Lord made physical contact with this outcast. His authority, ability, humility, and pity are all in evidence here.