Jesus Begins His Special Work for God
Jesus begins his special work for God
Jesus preaches at Nazareth
After Jesus left the desert, he returned to his home in Nazareth. On the sabbath [Saturday, which is the Jews' special day for prayer] he went into the synagogue. He taught there. He chose these words from Isaiah:
Good news of salvation
1 The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is on me,
because he has chosen me to serve him.
He has sent me to tell good news to poor people.
He has sent me to comfort people who are very upset.
He has sent me to tell prisoners that they are now free.
They can go out of their prisons!
2 He has sent me to say,
‘This is the year when the Lord will be kind to his people.’
It is the time when our God will punish our enemies.
He has sent me to comfort people who are weeping
because they are sad.
Isaiah 61:1-2 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
Jesus said that these words were about him. Jesus came to begin the kingdom of God. He would free people from sin. Then they would be in God‘s kingdom. But Jesus read only part of Isaiah 61:2.
The rest of Isaiah 61:2 is about the ’day when God punishes‘. Jesus will return to the world when that day comes. We call this event 'the Second Coming'.
- The first time that Jesus came, he announced God's good news. He spoke about God‘s grace and mercy. He showed that God loves us. Jesus came for sinners. Jesus invited the people to trust him. Isaiah wrote about the Lord‘s servant who would suffer. These words all came true.
- Jesus will come again, for the second time. Then he will be the Lord from heaven. He will be the judge of everyone: people who are alive and people who are dead.
The people at Nazareth could not have understood this at that time.
Why the people of Nazareth wanted to kill Jesus
The people of Nazareth did not like what Jesus said. Jesus explained that, soon, the Gentiles would trust him. This made the people of Nazareth very angry. They tried to kill Jesus.
Jesus' words impressed many people. His words were wonderful. He taught with authority. Also, his miracles attracted many people. But people did not want to change their attitudes and behaviour. They would have to change these things if they belonged to the kingdom of God.
Jesus' work in Galilee
Jesus went about in Galilee. He preached in the synagogues. He said the same words that John had said, ’Be sorry for the wrong things that you have done. The kingdom of heaven is near‘ (Matthew 4:17). Jesus taught many things. The first four books of the New Testament tell us a lot about these things. They tell us that his words impressed the people. His words pleased the people. He also cured every illness. He freed people from demons. He cured even people who had great pain. Some people could not move their arms or legs. He cured these people. At this time Jesus chose his first disciples: Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and John, who were sons of Zebedee (John 1:35-51, Luke 5:2-11).
A single day in the life of Jesus
Mark gives us a short but complete report of a day in Jesus‘ life in Mark 1:21-45. He shows us clearly the authority of Jesus and the power of the Kingdom of God. Jesus changed people's lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus causes a bad spirit to leave a man
21 Then Jesus and those disciples went into a town called Capernaum. On the next Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the Jews' meeting place. He began to teach the people there.
1:21The day when Jewish people rest is called the Sabbath. It is the day that we call Saturday. Their meeting place was called a synagogue. It is a building where Jewish people meet to pray. They also read the Old Testament of the Bible there.
22 The people were very surprised at the things that Jesus taught them. When he taught them, he showed his authority. That was not like the way that the teachers of God's Law taught people.
Mark 1:21-22 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
In verses 21 and 22 we see the authority of Jesus when he teaches. People knew that Jesus was not the same as their usual teachers.
23 In the meeting place, there was a man who had a bad spirit. The bad spirit caused the man to shout. 24 He said, ‘Jesus from Nazareth, leave us alone! Do not kill us! I know who you are. You are the Holy One and God has sent you.’
25 Jesus said to the bad spirit, ‘Be quiet! Come out of the man!’ 26 The bad spirit caused the man to shake and to fall down. It shouted loudly and then it came out of the man.
27 All the people were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘This is very strange. This man Jesus is teaching us something new and he speaks with authority. He can tell bad spirits what they must do. Then they do it.’ 28 Immediately, people began to hear the news about Jesus. Everywhere in Galilee, people were talking about him.
Mark 1:23-28 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
In verses 23 to 28 we see the authority of Jesus over demons. Jesus' authority impressed people. Jesus did not argue with demons. We can see this. He told them what to do. Then they had to leave a person.
Jesus makes many people well
29 Then Jesus left the meeting place. He took James and John with him to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 The mother of Simon's wife was ill in bed. Her body was very hot. Immediately, Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her. 31 So Jesus went to her and he held her hand. Then he helped her to sit up and she was well again. Immediately she prepared food for her visitors.
Mark 1:29-31 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
In verses 29 to 31 we read about the authority of Jesus over illness. Jesus cured the mother of Simon‘s wife. He cured her completely. She could cook a meal immediately. She did not need time to get well.
32-33 That evening, when the sun had gone down, people in the town came to Jesus. They brought to him everyone who was ill. And they brought people with bad spirits in them. All these people were standing together near the door of the house. 34 Jesus caused many sick people to become well. They had many different kinds of illness. He also caused many bad spirits to leave people. The spirits knew who he was. So Jesus did not let them speak.
1:32-33The Jews had many rules about the things that they should not do on their day of rest. They must not work or carry things on that day. When the sun went down, it was the end of the day of rest. So the people waited until then to bring the sick people to Jesus.
Mark 1:32-34 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
In verses 32 to 34 we read more about the authority of Jesus. He cures many people. He frees other people from demons.
Jesus prays alone in a quiet place
35 Jesus got up very early the next morning, while it was still dark. He went to a place where he could be alone. He prayed there. 36 Simon and the other disciples went to look for him. 37 When they found him, they said, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’
Mark 1:35-37 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
These verses show us where Jesus got power for his work. He spent time alone with his Father, God.
38 Jesus replied, ‘We should go to other towns near here. Then I can teach the people there too. That is the reason why I came here.’ 39 So Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He caused bad spirits to come out of people.
Mark 1:38-39 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
Verses 38 to 39 show us the most important part of the work of Jesus. This is when he preaches about the kingdom of God. The miracles were important. But they are not enough. They showed the power of the kingdom. Jesus spoke about this power.
A man with a disease in his skin
40 One day, a man who had a disease of the skin came to Jesus. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus. The man said. ‘If you want, you can make me well. Please do it.’
41 Jesus felt very sorry for the man. He put out his hand towards the man and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you,’ Jesus said, ‘Be clean again!’ 42 Immediately, the disease left the man.
43 Jesus sent the man away immediately and he spoke to the man with strong words. 44 He said, ‘Listen to me. Do not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take him a gift for God. Moses' law tells you what you should give when you are clean again after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’ 45 But instead, the man went away and he talked to everybody. He told them what had happened to him. Because he did this, it became too difficult for Jesus to go into the towns. Everybody knew him. So Jesus stayed in places in the wilderness. People came from all the places around there to see him.
Mark 1:40-45 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
Verses 40 to 45 tell us some things again. Jesus had authority to cure people‘s diseases. These miracles show the power of the kingdom again. Also, Jesus had great care for people. We see this here. He touched the man with the skin illness. Nobody else would touch that person.
