Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 3:7-19

© February 12th, 2023 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Mark

Sometimes we imagine that famous people must be some sort of superhuman individuals.

I think this is part of the reason we tend to lend credence to the opinions of celebrities on various issues—because we imagine they must be extremely smart or have superior insight.

But they are actually often not that different than us.

Many people are surprised to learn that famous people are just regular people, but well-known.

This morning we’re going to look at a passage that records another day of Jesus healing people, and also at the listing of who He chose to be His 12 apostles.

We’ll see that while these men are famous, they are also not that different from us.

As we unpack the contents of this account, I hope you will see how God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people, and that all He really asks of us is to follow Him.

At the Lake

We pick up today in Mark 3, where we see Jesus has left the city and returned to the countryside, but still finds enormous crowds coming to see Him.

7 Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him.

They came from all over Galilee, Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon.

The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.

9 Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him.

10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.

11 And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.

(Mark 3:7-12, NLT)

After Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees, He retreats with His disciples to the lake, but a large crowd followed Him.

Mark tells us they came from all around, and the places he mentions paint a picture of people literally coming to Jesus from every direction.

The reason the people were coming to Jesus was because they had heard about His miracles.

As such, you would expect that every person who wanted a miracle came to Jesus in hopes of having Him work in them as well.

We are told that these crowds had become so large and unruly that Jesus had instructed His disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush Him.

People who had traveled long distances to see Jesus and were desperate for the miracles He could perform probably weren’t interested in patiently waiting their turn.

It is not difficult to imagine that this large crowd started to become restless and impatient, worried that they might not get the miracle they desired if they didn’t get in front of Jesus right away.

It probably didn’t take long before people started trying to push their way to the front.

Jesus was genuinely concerned about being crushed by the rushing crowd.

So He told the disciples to get a boat ready and keep it nearby so He would have a safe means of escape should the crowd get out of hand.

The boat was Jesus’ getaway vehicle, kind of like how the secret service always has the presidential limousine nearby to help the president escape if needed.

As had become Jesus’ custom, He healed many people that day, which of course, caused even more to clamor for Him.

One of the surprising things this account tells us, however, is Jesus’ interaction with evil spirits.

Mark says that when the evil spirits caught sight of Jesus, they would throw the people they inhabited to the ground screaming, “You are the Son of God!” Jesus responded to these spirits by silencing them and preventing them from telling the others who He was.

Why wouldn’t Jesus let the evil spirits tell people who He was?

I think there are a couple of reasons Jesus would have done this.

First, it was not time for that.

Jesus had a timeline of what He knew needed to take place.

This is not the first time that we have seen Jesus tell people to keep quiet about Him.

One of the reasons for this was surely that Jesus was already attracting plenty of attention (both good and bad), and did not need to complicate matters further by having people openly declaring that He was the Son of God (even though He was).

There would come a time for that to happen, but this was not the right time.

Second, demons were not exactly the kind of endorsement He was looking for.

Remember that these are evil spirits, demons, who are making these declarations.

While it is fascinating to see them recognize Jesus’ power and authority, allowing them to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God probably wouldn’t help His case much.

Demons are not exactly thought of as trustworthy beings (with good reason!), so it made sense for Jesus to command them to remain silent.

But that raises another question…why did the demons recognize Jesus for who He was? Remember that demons are created by God and are subject to God.

As such, they were likely familiar with exactly who Jesus was.

They knew they could exert some measure of control over the people they inhabited, but they ultimately could not do anything unless Jesus allowed them to do so.

These demons feared Jesus.

And yet, they continued to oppose Him.

How can that be?

How can the demons recognize Jesus’ power and authority and know who He is and yet still continue to oppose Him?

Later in the New Testament, James addresses this same tendency among human beings, and says that in many ways we are even worse than the demons!

19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.

Good for you!

Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

20 How foolish!

Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

(James 2:19-20, NLT)

James says that sometimes we have knowledge about God, but don’t act on it.

James remarks that at least the demons had the good sense to tremble in terror before God.

So often, we claim to believe in God and yet act as though He doesn’t exist.

Today, sometimes we call this “practical atheism”.

One of the things that is interesting about being a pastor is that many people suddenly get uncomfortable around you when they find out that you work full-time for a church.

One of the immediate responses I get from people when they find out I am a pastor is, “I believe in God.”

I think the idea is that they are trying to tell me I don’t need to preach at them because they believe in God too.

Depending on my mood and the situation, sometimes I respond simply with, “So do demons.”

And then I see where the conversation leads.

My hope is to remind people that saying you believe in God is worthless unless that belief affects how you live.

The demons here remind us that having knowledge about Jesus is not enough.

We can know all sorts of things about Jesus, we can be experts in the Bible, we can have all the outward markings of a believer, but unless that knowledge impacts our lives and causes us to live in ways that honor Him, it is worthless.

This is the challenge I extend to you today.

My hope is that if you’ve spent much time in this church at all, then you know who Jesus is.

You know He is in very nature God, and that Jesus provides the means of forgiveness for everyone who will trust in and follow Him.

But simply having that knowledge is not enough.

You must choose to act upon it.

My hope is that today you will take stock of your life and examine your heart to see if you have just learned facts, or whether you are living your life in the light of those facts.

Does knowing about Jesus cause you to follow Him, or do you continue to live how you want?

The demons have plenty of knowledge about Jesus, but because they refuse to worship Him, they face destruction.

The same fate awaits anyone who knows who Jesus is, but refuses to follow Him.

Please ensure you are not one of those people.

The Twelve

After this event is over, Jesus retreats once more to a mountain (presumably to pray and have time alone with God), but Mark tells us that Jesus also calls twelve men to come with Him as well.

13 Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him.

And they came to him.

14 Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles.

They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, 15 giving them authority to cast out demons.

16 These are the twelve he chose: Simon (whom he named Peter), 17 James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot), 19 Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

(Mark 3:13-19, NLT)

This is the first time we see the twelve described together as Jesus’ apostles.

We know Jesus had many followers, many who had been with Him since the beginning.

In the book of Acts, after Judas killed himself, the remaining eleven apostles decided they needed to replace Judas, so they discussed how to select a replacement.

Here are the conditions they settled on,

21 “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus—22 from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us.

Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.”

23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.

(Acts 1:21-23, NLT)

This leads us to believe that there were apparently others besides just these twelve who were followers of Jesus from the very beginning and had traveled along with Him the whole time, just like the twelve had done.

We know of at least two men (Matthias and Joseph/Barsabbas/Justus), but it seems likely there were more.

We also know that there were many women who also traveled with them and were part of the group.

Nonetheless, Jesus identifies these twelve and sets them apart for a specific task.

Mark says Jesus called these men His apostles.