A Great Multitude Follows Jesus
The Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea,
8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing.
9 Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn’t crush him.
10 Since he had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch him.
11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”
12 And he would strongly warn them not to make him known.
The plot against Jesus that climaxed in the first controversy with the religious leaders (3:6) together with the summary of Jesus’ ministry in 3:7-12 indicates that a new phase of his ministry is beginning, sometimes identified as the “later Galilean Ministry” (3:7-6:13).
Demonstrations of Jesus’ messianic authority and growing opposition to him.
We see an intensification of the conflict:
Jesus not only heals the sick, but
Even calms an angry sea (3:35-41),
Defeats a “legion” of demons (5:1-20),
raises the dead (5:21-43)
We see an increased polarization of the forces for and against Jesus.
This section is framed on either side with appointment of the Twelve (3:19-19) and their mission to preach and to heal (6:6b-13).
These twelve, the restored remnant of Israel, stand over against the religious leaders, who represent obstinate and apostate Israel.
We see an important intercalation (“sandwich” structure)
The key questions of this section are “Who is this Jesus?” and “Are you for him or against him?”
A summary of Jesus’ ministry.
A summary of Jesus’ ministry.
Main Idea:
Mark begins this second phase of Jesus’ Galilean ministry by summarizing Jesus’ activity, including his withdrawal to the Sea of Galilee, his ever-growing popularity, his healing and exorcisms, and his command to exorcised demons to keep silent about his identity.
Structure:
The passage summarizes Jesus’ activity, with an emphasis on his broad and growing popularity resulting from his authoritative exorcisms and healings.
The summary parallels the introduction in 1:14-15, where Jesus first comes into Galilee proclaiming the message of the kingdom of God.
Both are similarly followed by accounts related to the disciples: the call of the four to be fishers of people in 1:14-20 and the appointment of the twelve in 3:17-19.
3:7-8:
Jesus withdraws to the Sea of Galilee in wake of growing opposition.
He is on His home turf, the place of his greatest success and his most loyal following.
The reference to “disciples” may mean the four Jesus called in 1:16-20 but more likely refers to a larger group of followers.
It is from this larger group that Jesus will choose the Twelve in the episode that follows (3:13-19).
Jesus’ growing reputation results in large crowds streaming to him from throughout Israel and surrounding regions.
Mark starts with Galilee, the place of Jesus’ home ministry, and then expands to the south, east, and northwest.
Judea is the province to the south, named for, but somewhat larger than, the inheritance of the tribe Judah. Jerusalem is its chief city and the ultimate destination of Jesus’ ministry.
Idumea (mentioned only here in the NT) is the Latinization of the name Edom, another name for Esau (Gen. 25:30; 36:1)
30 He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.
1 These are the family records of Esau (that is, Edom).
Jacob’s twin brother.
It refers to the region south of Judea (the Negev), settled by Edomites. Judas Maccabeus reportedly defeated the Idumeans in battle, and they were forcibly converted to Judaism during the reign of Hasmonean John Hyrcanus. Herod the Great, who ruled Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth, was an Idumean.
“Beyond the Jordan” refers to the eastern side of the Jordan river, including Decapolis in the north and Perea in the south. Both of these, like Galilee, were under the rule of Herod the Antipas (Luke 3:1), son of Herod the Great.
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
Tyre and Sidon were major Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel (modern Lebanon). They are frequently identified together as a way of designating the region northwest of Israel. Jesus will visit this region later in the gospel (7:24).
The reason for naming these particular places is unclear, but the general sense is to show that people are coming from far and wide. The reference to Tyre and Sidon confirms that even Gentile regions are hearing of Jesus’ ministry, foreshadowing the Gentile mission.
3:9
The boat may have been for escape in case the crowd crushed froward, but more likely is meant for crowd control, a kind of platform or podium to keep from being jostled.
Jesus will use a boat for this purpose in 4:1, sitting to teach while the people stand a few feet back on the shore.
The point here seems to be a small dinghy suitable for a platform, instead of a larger fishing or transport vessel.
3:10
crowd control was needed and in this verse is made clear as people are pressing forward to experience Jesus’ healing touch.
“push/crush” here can carry a negative sense. but in this context they are used positively. It is excitement and enthusiasm for Jesus’ healing power that is motivating the crowds.
Jesus often heals with touch in Mark’s gospel (1:41; 7:33; 8:22).
The belief that touching a gifted healer’s clothing could tap into that healer’s power was common in the ancient world. (2 Kings 13:21; Acts 5:15-16; 19:11-12).
21 Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a raiding party, so they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. When he touched Elisha’s bones, the man revived and stood up!
15 As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
16 In addition, a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands,
12 so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
The Gospels bear witness to such superstitions, Jesus’ healings are not based on an impersonal force residing within him, but rather on his active authority as Messiah and Son of God.
In Mark 5, where a woman is healed by secretly touching him, Jesus makes it clear that it was her faith that resulted in the healing (5:34), not some impersonal force that she was able to tap into.
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
3:11
Mark turns from healings to the exorcisms, summarizing again Jesus’ authority over demonic forces.
3:12
Jesus silences the demons, just like he has done elsewhere.
His purpose for this command is likely twofold:
First, to demonstrate his supreme authority over Satan’s forces
Second, because the demons are inappropriate heralds of his person and mission (1:25).
Jesus will reveal his identity in his own time and through his own words and deeds.
Acknowledging the Authority of the Messiah
Acknowledging the Authority of the Messiah
Mark’s summary in these verses continues to emphasize the central theme of Jesus’ Galilean ministry:
The Authority of Jesus.
This authority is seen in his acts of power over disease and demons, and in the popular acclaim of the crowds, who recognize him as a great teacher and healer.
For the time the crowds are protagonists, praising God for the miracles and extolling Jesus’ mighty deeds (2:12). Their vast numbers demonstrate his remarkable appeal. The sections that follow will reveal even more astounding miracles and a growing division between Jesus’ true followers and those who doubt or oppose him.
The lines will be drawn, as Jesus chooses and trains a select group of disciples and the religious leaders decisively reject him - committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Two implicit questions run throughout this section, and indeed through the whole first half of Mark’s gospel:
“Who is this Jesus?”
“Whose side are you on?”
The reader knows Jesus’ identity, since Marl has introduced his work as “the good news about Jesus the Messiah.”
The demons know and repeatedly shout it out, but Jesus is not interested in such acclaim from his enemies and authoritatively silences them.
Obedience to God’s Kingdom Purpose
Obedience to God’s Kingdom Purpose
This passage reminds us that recognition of Jesus’ identity and authority is not enough.
The crowds who clamor to him for healing will eventually become indifferent and then hostile to his ministry.
The demons who acknowledge his divine status as Son of God still oppose and reject him.
Throughout Scripture it is not enough to recognize God’s greatness.
One must also submit to his authority.
Pharaoh was forced to concede defeat to the God of Israel after ten plagues (Ex. 12:31), yet he still defiantly sent his troops to destroy the Israelites at the Red Sea (Ex 14).
The Israelites, who marveled at God’s miracles in parting the Red Sea and feeding them in the wilderness, subsequently worshiped false gods and refused to trust God to enter the Promised Land.
Sometimes we worship and praise God in church on Sunday but live our lives by a different standard the rest of the week.
Jesus repeatedly confronts this, pointing out that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 7:21-22)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’
and chastising those who claim him as Lord but do not do what he says (Luke 6:46).
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?
Simply acknowledging God’s greatness or paying lip service to him is not the same as truly loving and serving him.
An authentic relationship with God requires both faith and obedience.
Faith
Faith
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.
16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.
16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
Obedience
Obedience
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
6 The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.
5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands.
10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.
3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.
4 The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
10 I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands.
22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died.
15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
The Holy Spirit will convict you to respond and EMPOWER you to change. Follow the Holy Spirit to a Spirit filled life, a life of abundance.
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
18 “So listen to the parable of the sower:
19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.
20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
21 But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.
22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”