Preparing for Worship - February 4, 2024

In the Gospel lesson for this week, Mark 1:29-39, we see Jesus continuing His ministry. He does not bask in His spreading fame (Mark 1:28), but He goes to the home of Simon (Peter) and Andrew. He hears that Simon’s mother-in-law is ill and quickly heals her. When the Sabbath was over, at sundown, many people who were sick and demon-possessed were brought to Him. He healed many and cast out many demons, not allowing them to speak. The whole city came to see all this, and by the next morning, “everyone was looking for Him,” but Jesus went away very early the next day to pray and then went on to preach in many other towns in Galilee. He had come “to preach” the Good News of His Kingdom and to battle Satan and his demons.

In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, like Jesus, Paul knows that it was necessary for him “to preach the Gospel” to as many people as possible. He tried to be “all things to all people,” in their varying backgrounds and situations, sharing “the blessings of the Gospel” so that some might be saved through the preaching of the good news of Christ Jesus and His “imperishable” gifts. Paul therefore sought to use “self-discipline” in the “race” God set before him, and in his preaching, “to present the Gospel free of charge.” Woe to me,” he said, “if I do not preach the Gospel!”

Paul received strength and guidance from Scriptures like the Old Testament and Psalm readings for this week, too. In Psalm 147, we sing and praise the Lord (Hallelujah) because He “gathers outcasts” and “heals the broken-hearted” and “lifts up the humble” and is “abundant in power” and “takes pleasure in those who fear Him” and “hope in His steadfast love.” Paul also knew that the Lord was the Creator, with “understanding above all measure, and that he served Him, above all.

Jesus knew even better the truth of this psalm and the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 40:21-31. As God the Son, He was there at creation, and “without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). He helped “number” the stars and “call them by name.” He knew His Father’s plan “from the beginning” and graciously carried it out in becoming true man, also, for us and our salvation; but as a true man, He also needed to lean upon His Heavenly Father, as he was doing in prayer early in the morning, in the Gospel lesson. He grew tired, too, but “renewed His strength as he waited upon the Lord, and could “run” and “walk and not faint,” in His preaching ministry and all He did.