Jesus heals many people
(Mat. 8:14-17; Luke 4:38-41)
29 When Jesus and his four disciples left the synagogue, they immediately entered Peter and Andrew’s house. (So James and John were there too.) 30 Right away someone told Jesus that Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed because she was sick with a fever. 31 Jesus went to her, took her hand, and helped her to sit up. At that very moment, her fever disappeared. Then she got up and served them a meal.1 32 That evening after sunset,2 the people of the town brought to Jesus everyone who was sick and those oppressed by demons. 33 And it seemed like all the people of Capernaum had gathered in front of Peter and Andrew’s house. 34 Jesus healed so many people, no matter what sort of sickness they had! He also drove out demons who were oppressing people. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew who He really was.3
Jesus tells the Good News in the province of Galilee
(Luke 4:42-44)
35 The next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the town, and went out to a lonely place to pray. 36 When Peter and his friends saw that Jesus wasn’t in the house, they went out to search for Him. 37 When they found Him they said, “Let’s go back to town. Everyone’s looking for you.”
38 But He answered, “No. Instead let's go to the other villages in this region, so that I can teach the Good News there too, because that’s the reason I’m here.” 39 So He went everywhere in the province of Galilee and taught in their meeting houses. He also expelled many demons from people.
Jesus heals a man with a contagious skin disease
(Mat. 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-16)
40 At that time a man suffering from a contagious skin disease4 came, knelt down in front of Jesus and said, “Sir, I know you have the power to heal me if you want to.”
41 Moved with compassion for him, Jesus reached out and touched him5 while saying, “I do want to. Be healed!” 42 At that very moment, the man's skin disease disappeared and he was healed!
43 Right away Jesus sent him away with this stern warning, 44 “Don’t tell anyone about what just happened to you! Go first to one of the priests and have him examine you. Then give the offering for the cleansing ceremony that Moses commanded for anyone healed from a skin disease.6 In that way, everyone will know that you are truly healed.”
45 But as soon as the man left him, he began openly telling everyone about his healing. Consequently, after that it became impractical for Jesus to be recognized in any town. He and his disciples stayed in lonely wilderness places. But people still came to him from everywhere.
*1:32 served them a meal This meal would have consisted of food prepared before the Sabbath began. On the Sabbath Day the Law forbid her from lighting a fire or cooking.
*1:32 1:32 it was almost dark The Sabbath Day for the Jews started when the sun set on Friday, and ended when the sun set on Saturday. So the residents of that city waited until the Sabbath Day had ended to bring sick people to Jesus.
*1:34 knew who He really was This doesn’t mean that they knew His name was Jesus, but just like what happened in Mark 5:7, the demons shouted, “You’re God’s Son.” So it’s obvious that the demons already knew Jesus’ relationship to God. But Jesus did not want the testimony of demons.
*1:40 a contagious skin disease The skin disease that was meant here wasn’t the same as what’s called “leprosy” now. According to the Law, people suffering with such a skin disease were considered unclean. They couldn’t come near healthy people, they couldn’t enter the Jewish meeting houses, and they had to live outside the village or city. (See Lev. 13.)
*1:41 touched Because of the rules in the Law about people suffering with contagious skin diseases, healthy people seldom touched them or were touched by them. But in this verse Jesus touches this sick man, because He knew, of course, that the man would be healed.
*1:44 Moses commanded … skin disease The ceremony that Moses wrote for cleansing from skin diseases is found in Lev. 14:1-32. If a priest agreed that the person was healed, that person had to bring two living birds to God’s House so that the priests could perform the ceremony of purification from the skin disease. One bird was cut above a dish that was filled with water, so that its blood mixed with the water. Then the person was sprinkled with that blood mixture. (And the bird’s carcass may have been burned on the Lord’s altar.) The second bird was dipped in the water mixed with blood and set free. In this story, Jesus meant that the man who was healed had to go to God’s House in Jerusalem, because offerings like this weren’t done in the local synagogues.
No comments:
Post a Comment