Mark 1
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
16 As
Jesus walked be side the Sea of Gal
i lee, he saw Si mon and his broth er An drew
cast ing a net into the lake, for they were
fish er men. 17 “Come, fol low me,” Jesus said,
“and I will send you out to fish for peo ple.”
18 At once they left their nets and fol lowed
him.
19 When he had gone a lit tle far ther, he
saw James son of Zeb e dee and his broth er
John in a boat, pre par ing their nets. 20 With
out de lay he called them, and they left their
fa ther Zeb e dee in the boat with the hired
men and fol lowed him.
Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
21 They
went to Ca per na um, and when
the Sab bath came, Jesus went into the syn
a gogue and be gan to teach. 22 The peo ple
were amazed at his teach ing, be cause he
taught them as one who had au thor i ty, not
as the teach ers of the law. 23 Just then a man
in their syn a gogue who was pos sessed by
an im pure spir it cried out, 24 “What do you
want with us, Jesus of Naz a reth? Have you
come to de stroy us? I know who you are —
the Holy One of God!”
25 “Be qui et!” said Jesus stern ly. “Come
out of him!” 26 The im pure spir it shook the
1095
man vi o lent ly and came out of him with a
shriek.
27 The peo ple were all so amazed that
they asked each oth er, “What is this? A
new teach ing — and with au thor i ty! He
even gives or ders to im pure spir its and
they obey him.” 28 News about him spread
quick ly over the whole re gion of Gal i lee.
Jesus Heals Many
29 As
soon as they left the syn a gogue,
they went with James and John to the home
of Si mon and An drew. 30 Si mon’s moth erin
law was in bed with a fe ver, and they im me
di ate ly told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to
her, took her hand and helped her up. The
fe ver left her and she be gan to wait on them.
32 That eve ning af ter sun set the peo ple
brought to Jesus all the sick and de mon
pos sessed. 33 The whole town gath ered at
the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had
var i ous dis eas es. He also drove out many
de mons, but he would not let the de mons
speak be cause they knew who he was.
Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
35 Very
ear ly in the morn ing, while it was
still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and
went off to a sol i tary place, where he prayed.
Reach Out to Others
Leprosy is a terrible disease. a leper’s skin has open sores.
In bible times a person with leprosy was considered
“unclean” and could not worship God with other people
or even live in town. because of the disease, no one
would come near a leper.
Read Mark 1:40–42. Jesus showed that he cared for
this leper by touching him and healing him.
Write down the names of a couple of children you
know who might feel as lonely as the leper. Then answer
these three questions:
Mark 1:40–42
1. Why is he or she left alone? (because he or she is not nice, is dirty, doesn’t wear
nice clothes, hits people, looks or acts different?)
2. How do you think he or she feels? (Happy, lonely, afraid, proud, sad, angry,
stuck-up, or maybe some other feeling?)
3. How could you show that Jesus cares? (Smile, talk to him, ask her to sit with
you at lunch, pick him for your team, tell others to stop being mean?)
What will you do to show that Jesus still cares about the lonely today?