Read for This Week’s Study
Mark 1:16–45, John 1:29–45, Mark 5:41, Luke 6:12, Leviticus 13.
Memory Text:
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men’ ” (Mark 1:17, NKJV).
Each Gospel introduces the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in a particular way.
Matthew presents Jesus as calling disciples and then preaching the Sermon on the Mount.
Luke tells the story of Jesus’ inaugural sermon on a Sabbath in the synagogue in Nazareth.
John recounts the calling of some of the early disciples and the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs His first sign.
The Gospel of Mark recounts the calling of four disciples and describes a Sabbath in Capernaum and what followed.
This “Sabbath with Jesus” at the beginning of Mark gives the reader a sense of who Jesus is. In the entire section for this week’s lesson, there are very few of His words recorded: a brief call to discipleship, a command to a demon, a plan to visit other locations, and the healing of a leper with instructions to show himself before a priest to be clean. The emphasis is on action, particularly healing people. The Gospel writer likes to use the word immediately to illustrate the fast-action movement of Jesus’ ministry.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 13.
Supplemental EGW Notes
After He had entered on His ministry, [Jesus] said, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4. Jesus did not shirk care and responsibility, as do many who profess to be His followers. . . . The positiveness and energy, the solidity and strength of character, manifested in Christ are to be developed in us, through the same discipline that He endured. And the grace that He received is for us.
So long as He lived among men, our Saviour shared the lot of the poor. He knew by experience their cares and hardships, and He could comfort and encourage all humble workers. Those who have a true conception of the teaching of His life will never feel that a distinction must be made between classes, that the rich are to be honored above the worthy poor.—The Desire of Ages, p. 73.
Christ chose the foolish things of the world—those whom the world pronounced unlearned and ignorant—to confound the wise men of the world. The disciples were unlearned in the traditions of the rabbis, but with Christ as their example and teacher, they were gaining an education of the highest order; for they had before them a divine Example. Christ was presenting to them truths of the highest character.
Those whom God employs to do service for Him, He would have fitted in His way for that service. Those who preach Christ must learn of Christ daily, in order to understand the mystery of saving and serving the souls for whom He had died. . . . They must pattern after Him in all things, sharing His tender compassion and His sternness against all evil working.—Letter 53, February 2, 1905, to two leading workers at the newly established Paradise Valley Sanitarium.
The Saviour’s life on earth was a life of communion with nature and with God. In this communion He revealed for us the secret of a life of power.
Jesus was an earnest, constant worker. Never lived there among men another so weighted with responsibilities. Never another carried so heavy a burden of the world’s sorrow and sin. Never another toiled with such self-consuming zeal for the good of men. Yet His was a life of health. Physically as well as spiritually He was represented by the sacrificial lamb, “without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:19. In body as in soul He was an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws.
As the people looked upon Jesus, they saw a face in which divine compassion was blended with conscious power. He seemed to be surrounded with an atmosphere of spiritual life. While His manners were gentle and unassuming, He impressed men with a sense of power that was hidden, yet could not be wholly concealed.—The Ministry of Healing, p. 51.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.