Sr John I Penn

Miracles of Healing in the Gospel of Mark Sr John I Penn

The oldest of the four gospels, Mark's Gospel, makes it crystal clear that Jesus Christ is the Healing Messiah of God, the redeemer of Israel and the world. Mark wastes no time making this fact known, pointing to the healing of a man in a synagogue with an unclean spirit as Jesus' first public ministry act. The casting out of the unclean spirit is significant in several ways. First, God makes good on the promise that the seed of woman (Jesus, the Messiah of God) would bruise the head of the serpent (Satan) for his diabolical role in deceiving Eve to disobey God's warning not to eat from the Tree of good and evil, which led to the Fall (Gen. 3). Second, Mark shows that Jesus' first public ministry action confronts Satan, exposing and overthrowing his evil work in the world by the power of his words. Third, Mark showed that the demon recognized Jesus as the Holy One of God. Fourth, the demon knew Jesus had come to destroy the works of Satan, revealing that their malicious activities and influence in the world would come to a destructive end. Fifth, this healing by exorcism looked back to the creation story of the Fall but also looked forward to the cross, witnessing the coming of God's kingdom reign and the restoration of the Fall of humanity and God's good creation.
Mark further makes the point that Jesus fully understood that God would work through his twelve disciples and the disciples that would come after them, as God had worked through him, in carrying out his kingdom mission and ministry. The original twelve disciples were the beginning of the infant Christian church, the body of Christ. The Church of Christ would become a healing community to bring healing, wholeness, and salvation to this broken and sin-driven world. Jesus conferred God's power and authority upon the church to continue his redemptive kingdom work of teaching, preaching, and healing until his return.