Mark 3:7-12

Passage

Jesus took His disciples and headed for the sea – probably the Sea of Galilee.  A great crowd followed Him.  The crowd gathered from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, Sidon, and even from east of the Jordan River.  When the crowd heard what Jesus was doing, they simply came to Him.  He told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him because there were so many people that He was afraid of being crushed.  He had healed so many in the past that anyone with a disease came to try and touch Him.  When unclean spirit came near Jesus they cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  Jesus orders them not to make Him known.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Having seen the motivation of the Jewish leaders, Jesus literally gets out of Dodge.  He leaves the synagogue and once more heads back into the wilderness.  He has made His point; He has exposed the unwillingness of the Pharisees to change.  There is no reason for Jesus to risk anything more by staying among a people who do not desire to change.

Can you think of any other stories in the Bible where Jesus leaves or encourages others to leave because there is no more work to do?  Do we ever try and convince ourselves that leaving is a bad thing?  How can we learn to decide when the time is right to leave and move onto something new versus to push through a bad situation and stick around?

Second Thought:

A great crowd gathers around Jesus.  There’s only one problem.  The crowd isn’t really there to hear Him teach.  They aren’t really there to change their lives.  They are there to see the fantastical.  They are there to get some of Jesus’ healing for themselves.  In a nutshell, these are people who are present to impose their will upon Jesus rather than humble themselves before Jesus.  We can tell this because Jesus is afraid of the crowd.  He needs an escape plan.  He is literally ready to be crushed by them.

Do you see this kind of behavior in the world?  Do you ever see people react to a celebrity or someone with power?  In what ways do “common people” try to get close to people with power just so that we can get what we want?  How would the crowds have acted if they genuinely desired to be humble before Jesus?

Third Thought:

Jesus prevents the unclean spirits from revealing Jesus’ identity to the crowd.  There are two reasons behind this.  First, Jesus’ time had not yet come.  It was too early for the masses to start talking about Him as though He were the Messiah.  That would bring about the crucifixion before Jesus had gotten His disciples ready.  Second – and perhaps more importantly – it tells us about the crowd.  Jesus didn’t trust the crowd.  He knew they view Him selfishly as a pawn to accomplish their own agenda.  He didn’t want them to know His true identity because they didn’t have the right motivation.  They would have used Him as they saw fit – probably by trying to make Him a political revolutionary against the Roman government.  Jesus didn’t come for that purpose.  Because Jesus didn’t trust the crowds, the evil spirits had to be silenced from telling the people who Jesus really was.

How does this story affect your perception of Jesus and how He interacted with the crowds?  How does this story help you begin to understand the importance of not just being “around Jesus” but actually proactively being a disciple?  What is the danger of being “around Jesus” without actually being one of His disciples?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 3:13-15