Indifference

I’m reading the book of Mark. Here’s what Jesus was up to from Mark 1:21 – Mark 3:6:

• He cast out an unclean spirit from a man. This miracle made Jesus famous…people all over Galilee were talking about Him.

• Jesus healed a woman from a fever. He took her hand and healed her. Instantly. How do we know it was instant? Because this was Peter’s (one of Jesus’ disciples) mother-in-law and she started to serve them—it was her house and they were her guests.

• Later than same day, the whole village of Capernaum came to Jesus for healing. And He healed them.

• Jesus went out to the surrounding towns. Everywhere He went, He healed people including a man who had leprosy, a terrible, fatal disease. No drugs, no bed rest to fully recover. Jesus healed, leprosy gone. 

• When Jesus returned to Capernaum, news traveled fast He was back in town. People jammed into the house where he was teaching. One group was so determined to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing that they went up on the roof, removed the roofing tiles, and lowered the mat that their paralyzed friend laid on down into the house, right in front of Jesus! Jesus healed him.

• There’s more! On another day, Jesus went to the synagogue. Another guy needed healing. (Frankly, I would think Capernaum would be running out of sick people by now.) This guy had some kind of hand deformity. Jesus told him to stretch out his hand, and He healed that man’s hand. Right there, fully and immediately, in front of everyone.

That’s a whole bunch of miracles, all packed into the first 3 chapters of Mark. Plus, they are all happening in one little area – Jesus performed all of them in and around Capernaum. One small village…miracle after miracle, again and again and again. You’d think the whole place would’ve believed in Jesus. I mean, think about it. You had either been healed yourself, or you had a relative or friend who was healed, or you had seen someone healed with your own eyes, and at the very least, you had heard about all these healings and knew someone who knew someone who had been healed.

As it turns out, this tiny village was one of the towns where Jesus did most of His miracles (Matthew 11:20). And they still rejected Jesus. They didn’t believe He was God in the flesh. No matter how remarkable they thought Jesus’s teaching and miracles were, they just kept on living life as usual and ignored His call to repent. The hardness of their hearts grieved Jesus (Mark 3:5). It was their complete indifference that grieved Him. His message of repentance and salvation just didn’t matter to them.

This used to be my response to Jesus. Hope and salvation and eternal life wasn’t important to me. Work, family, having a busy life—that was important. All that Bible and Jesus stuff was for Sunday morning and that was enough. I was indifferent. I was just like the people of Capernaum. Praise Jesus, He didn’t give up on me. But you know what? He did give up on Capernaum. Read Matthew 11:20-24. I hope that you won’t continue in your indifference to Jesus. He’s still offering you hope and salvation. But He won’t offer that forever. Lord Jesus, may all who read this respond to You today, and receive Your forgiveness by Your mercy and grace. Amen. Let me know if you need prayers or a Bible.