a good summary of Mark 1... as we head into Mark 2....Israel’s long awaited Messiah has appeared in the most unexpected of places and in the most unexpected of ways. The Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist, had completed his work of preparation and was now in jail at the hands of Herod. Jesus had followed John out into the desert, was baptized by him, and received the Father’s benediction– “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus then spent forty days in the wilderness, resisting the temptation of the devil, as he began
to fulfill all righteousness. Having triumphed over Satan, Jesus then appeared in Capernaum, a small backwater fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. It was here, of all places, that Jesus began preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, casting out demons, calling disciples and healing the sick, including a man with leprosy, the most feared and horrible disease of that age. While Jesus instructed this man to be quiet about his healing and to report to the priest so that he could be declared ceremonially clean and regain his life, instead this very excited man went out and began to spread the news everywhere about what Jesus had done. The buzz about Jesus was spreading throughout the whole area and as we learn at the end of Mark 1, “Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.”