THE NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE STORY #4

 NEW  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORY  #4

WRITTEN  ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN

Chapter Ten:

Christ's Early Teaching and Healing

    

  John the baptist had already told his disciples that the

time was very near when he, John, must decrease in his work for

God, and the one called Jesus, the Messiah, must increase in His

work for the Lord. That time had now come.

     John was a very outspoken prophet and minister of the

Eternal God. He often called a spade a spade, laid in on the

line, put the cards on the table as they say. He was this way

with other religious leaders as we have seen. He was this way

with even some of the secular rulers of the Government of Rome.

He was not afraid to call sin what it was, sin. So disturbed did

a few Roman governors get that finally they could stand it no

longer, and John was thrown into prison.

     

     Jesus, on hearing this news withdrew from Galilee, and

leaving Nazareth He went and dwelt in Capernaum by the seaside,

with was in the territory of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali

when those tribes lived before they were deported by the

Assyrians way back in about 720 B.C.

     This was actually a fulfillment of that written about by

Isaiah, " The land of Zebulun and the land O Naphtali, towards

the east, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles - the people

who lived in darkness have come to see a wonderful light, and 

for those who sat in the place and in the shadow of death, light 

has dawned upon them " (Isaiah 9:1-3).

     This is another instance that makes prophecy interesting to

say the least. For as you read Isaiah 9, not many would gather

from it that it would have a fulfillment in this account of Jesus

going to stay there as recorded by the Gospel of Matthew

(Mat.4:12-16).

     It was from that time forth that Christ really began to

proclaim, " The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is 

at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel " (Mark 1:14,15).

     Then Jesus returned to Galilee with great power from the

Spirit. Much report went out concerning Him into all the

surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues,

being well received and praised and glorified by all (Luke 4:

14,15).

JESUS RETURNS TO NAZARETH AND IS REJECTED

     Jesus was a regular Sabbath synagogue attender, and on

returning to His home town Nazareth, where He spent much of 

His childhood, He naturally went to church on the Sabbath day. 

     Part of the service was to always have someone read from the

Scriptures. Jesus stood and all knew He was willing and wanting

to read from God's holy word. He was handed the book of Isaiah,

the ancient prophet. Jesus opened the book and deliberately

found a certain passage, and He began to read:

     " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed

     me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent me to

     proclaim freedom to the  captives and to give sight to the

     blind, to set at rest and peace those who are oppressed, to

     proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. "

     

     He then stopped reading, closed the book and sat down. How

He read those words must have caught the attention of every

single person in the building, for it is stated that all eyes

were fixed on Him. If they thought His presence and voice was

dynamic, they certainly were not expecting His next words to

them.

     " Today this very Scripture has been fulfilled right in your

sight and your hearing."

     They really did not quite "get it" - they all continued to

speak well of Him and wondered at the eloquent words coming 

from His lips. 

     Then they began to mutter among themselves, " Isn't this

young fellow the son of Joseph. " And by that they were meaning

to say that Jesus was just the son of a tradesman, a carpenter,

not the son of some prince, or king, or prestigious rich person

who could have been given some expensive and honored education 

in the top Universities within the lands of the Roman Empire.

     Jesus knew their thoughts, how they were thinking He could

amount to no great acclaim, for to them He was just a "no-body"

like themselves.

     Christ answered them, " Doubtless you will quote to me the

proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did

over in Capernaum, well do here also in your own place of

upbringing.' "

     He went on speaking, " It is a truth that no prophet is

acceptable in his own home land.  I tell you, there were many

widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens

were shut up for three years and six months, when there was a

great famine in all the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them

but only to one widow of Zarephath in the land of Sion. And there

were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and

none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. "

     Oh, they got the message now alright.  He was now telling

them that many who should have "been with it" and should have 

had God with them, were out in left field, sat on the grass eating

their lunch, when they should have been part of the big ball

game, and playing on the winning team. On the team where the only

true Holy God was captain, and Jesus as His vice-captain. If they

had been spiritually mental and ready to join that team then

miracles would have happened to them as it did to that one widow

and to that Naaman the Syrian. Jesus was telling them they just

were not alert and driving in the drivers seat, but were curled

up in the back seat, sleeping.

     Oh, yes, they got the picture this time, and were they ever

white hot with anger.

     So full of wrath they were that they pushed Him along out of

the city, to a brow of the hill that the city was built on. There

they were planning to actually throw Him down head-first, with 

a possible result being death. They were ready to kill Him.

     Jesus must have looked at them at this point in such a way,

and with the very power of the Spirit of God flowing from Him,

they were stunned. Just could not move, could not bring

themselves to throw Him down the cliff. Jesus, we are told,

simply walked through the middle of the crowd and went His way

(Luke 4: 16-30).

PETER, ANDREW, JAMES, JOHN, ARE OFFICIALLY CALLED 

TO JESUS' MINISTRY, AFTER A GREAT CATCH OF FISH

     Jesus had already been with some of the men who would now be

called by Him to follow Him on a constant basis during His

ministry. We have seen this in past chapters.

     There was a time of overlapping of the ministry of John the

baptist and the ministry of Jesus. Jesus had been out here and

there, getting His feet wet as we might say, easing into the main

full time work that was now ahead of Him. He had, on some of

those occasions taken along a number of men, all whom we could

classify as "His disciples."

     Now, it was time for picking ones whom He wanted to follow

Him on a daily basis, as a way of life with Him, until the time

for His death.

     The Gospel writer that covers this account in-depth is Luke.

He takes eleven verses to fill us in on the details of these four

men (Peter, Andrew, James and John) being called from their

normal secular work jobs to full time in Jesus' ministry.

     Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret. He was preaching to

them the word of God. The crowd grew and grew, until they were

pressing all around Him. He saw two boats, empty, for the

fishermen were washing their nets on the shore. Jesus climbs into

one, which belonged to Peter, and asked him to move it out, away

from the shore. Now He could teach the people and not have them

pressing too close to Him.

     After the teaching session, Jesus asked Peter (and it would

seem Andrew his brother was with him, if we look at the other

Gospel writers) to pull further out into the water. This they

were glad to do as they could cast their nets out to pull in some

fish. Not far away was another fishing boat with James and John,

also two brothers, and with them was their father Zebedee. They

were fishing partners with Peter and Andrew.

     Peter was not sure if he really wanted to cast out his net

for they had worked all night and had caught not one fish. Jesus

said, " Go out into the deep and put down your nets for a catch."

     " Well...okay, " said Peter, " For you we will do so, but I

do not see the point of all this, for we got nothing all night

long. "

     

     It was not long before Peter's face turned into a look of

astonishment. The catch of fish was so great the nets were

breaking. So Peter called on their friends and fellow

fishermen, James and John, in the boat nearby, to come and help

them. The help was given and both boats were filled so full with

fish that they were close to sinking.

     Simon Peter was so awe stuck at all this, he knew he was in

the presence of God in the flesh, Immanuel , and that hit him

like a plank of wood between the eyes, that he, Simon Peter, was

a sinner. He cried out for Jesus to leave Him, saying, " Depart

from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. "

     All the men that were there were just as astonished.  But

all this was done to teach those men something much more

permanent in nature. Something of far more important value than

catching mere physical fish. Jesus said to Peter and the others,

" Do not be afraid; from this time forth you will be catching

men. "

     Of course Christ was meaning that their new job was to catch

or bring people into the spiritual family of God, into the

Kingdom of God, by proclaiming the Gospel of salvation.

     Jesus now beckoned those four men to put away being

fishermen and to be with Him as part of His daily life disciples.

They immediately obeyed and went with Him. Zebedee (the father 

of James and John) and some hired hands were not called to go with

Jesus, they stayed and presumably continued the fishing partnership 

and business, but without Peter, Andrew, James and John 

(Luke 5:1-11; Mat.4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; ).

TEACHING IN CAPERNAUM

     Back to Capernaum goes Jesus, and on the Sabbath day He

immediately goes to the synagogue and teaches. They were, it is

written, astonished at His teaching and His words, for they knew

He was teaching them as one having authority, being very sure of

Himself, and that what He taught was the very truth of God. This

was indeed different to them, for the scribes taught in no such

way, for they were not at all sure many times as to what the

Scriptures taught or said, or how to understand them ( Mark

1:21,22 ).

JESUS HEALS A MAN WITH A DEMON

     As He was teaching in the synagogue there came up to Him a

man possessed with a demon.  " Ah, why are you having anything 

to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? " the demon cried out in a loud

voice through the man. " I know who you are, others may not,

but I sure know who you are. You are the Holy One, of God " the

demon cried out further.

     " Be quiet, and come out of him, " answered Jesus.  

     The demon throw the man to the ground, but did not hurt him.

Then the demon came out of him as Jesus as commanded.

     The people around were all shocked with amazement. "What is

this word He speaks? For with authority and with power He

commands the evil spirits, and they come out of people. "

     So, the report of the mighty words and powerful acts of

Jesus spread into all the surrounding regions (Luke 4:33-37).

JESUS HEALS PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW AND OTHERS

     After the synagogue meeting was over Jesus was invited over

to the house of Peter and Andrew. James and John were invited to

come also. There in the house was Peter's mother-in-law, who was

very sick with a fever.

     He came in and took her by the hand, so lifting her up, and

the fever immediately left her. She was now able to serve them

and provide them with physical food for a good Sabbath meal. Yes,

others may have been able to have done all that, but Jesus wanted

this relatively small sickness that this lady had to be gone from

her, so she could also enjoy a fine Sabbath meal with them.  It

was a small kindness miracle that Jesus did, somewhat like when

He turned water into wine at the wedding feast we read about

earlier.

     When evening had come, and the sun was setting, many brought

friends and relatives who had various sicknesses, to Him to be

healed.

     You will notice, this large work of healing was not done on

the Sabbath, but after the Sabbath was over, when the sun was

setting and the evening had come. Jesus did a few Sabbath

healing, but the large numerous healings were not on the Sabbath

day. It took much effort and work and strength out of Jesus,

after doing healing upon healing. Jesus would often have to go

away by Himself into the hills to refresh Himself after

spending hours healing people. Such hard continous work was

clearly not what He wanted to do during the Sabbath hours.

     At this healing session many demons came out of people

crying, " You are the Son of God. "  Yet, He rebuked them and

told them not to speak, because they knew He was the very Christ.

     For some reason, known perhaps only to Jesus, He did not

want this truth of Him being the Son of God shouted around.  At

this particular time Jesus had a reason, although we are not told

what it was or why He told the demons to be silent with those

words.

PREACHING IN OTHER CITIES

     The next day, very early, Jesus was up and away to a lonely

spot where He could pray and meditate. But the solitude was not

to last long, as the people discovered where He had gone. They

would have kept Him there to continue to heal every kind of

disease, sickness, pain, and the paralytics, the epileptics and

those troubled with demons. His fame was spreading like

wild-fire, even into the land of Syria as well as all over

Palestine.

     Simon Peter and many other of His disciples came to Him and

told Him that everyone in that local area was searching for Him.

At the hearing of this, Jesus said to them, " Let us go on to the

next towns, that I may preach the good news of the Kingdom

of God there also; for that is why I am here, that is my job and

commission given to me of the Father. "

     And He went throughout Galilee, teaching and preaching in

the synagogues and casting out demons (Mat.4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39;

Luke 4:42-44).

CLEANSING A LEPER

     Coming from the secluded mountain spot and moving on to the

next town, great crowds of people were following Him, and out of

the crowd a man suffering from the disease of leprosy (a terrible

skin disease that can easily be passed on to others, hence

most people kept far away from those with that sickness) fell

before Him on his knees and cried out, " If you will, you can

make me whole and clean. "

     Jesus looked upon him with great pity, stretched out His

hand and touched him (no one would ever touch a leper as they

knew they would likely come down with the same disease), and

answered him said, " I will make you whole. Be indeed clean. "

And immediately the leprosy disappeared from his skin.

     Jesus, in sending him away, charged him to tell no person

what had happened to him, and added, "....but go, show yourself

to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded,

for a proof to the people. "

     Christ was very respectful of all the word of God and

knowing that the Old Covenant had not yet in an official way been

replaced by the New Covenant, He expected people to abide by all

the laws and commandments, even the physical ceremonial ones that

had to do with offerings to be given through the priests at the

Temple in Jerusalem, concerning after being made clean from

certain diseases.

                .............................

Written in May 2001