Mark 3:7-19

Just to ease everybody’s nerves I want let everyone know that in the message time today there will be no secret message encoded in the notes. There is no immature, ciphered vendetta that needs to be decoded. Just to put you at ease. Thanks for tolerating my juvenility!

So, although there will be no counterstrike, this message still does pack quite a bit of a punch.

The more I read through this narrative, I am stunned by Mark’s story telling ability.

We saw it last week how Mark strung together a compilation of 5 stories to lead us to an ironic ending.

We could be one of two people. Either we will see our need for Him or we will dismiss Him and think we are doing fine on our own.

This first section of Mark has taken place in the area of Galilee, but now Mark is going to broaden the horizon and show that Jesus isn’t just a local celebrity pastor/preacher. His ministry is more widespread and gaining steam and that means He will ruffle more and more “keep the status quo” feathers.

Let’s read the text.

Mark 3:7–8 ESV

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

Mark 3:9–10 ESV

9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

Mark 3:11–12 ESV

11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Mark 3:13–15 ESV

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.

Mark 3:16–19 ESV

16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Pray

I was sitting in a seminar class about 19 years ago when I heard a sentence that just arrested my attention and derailed me from learning anything else in class that day. I can’t even remember what class it was in. I think it was in a narrative preaching class, but I am not for sure. My mind slips, and I am not even that old yet! The interesting thing is that, the sentence that seized my attention wasn’t spoken by the professor. It was spoken by a fellow student.

Now seminary is interesting. You have all sorts of people from all walks of life responding to the call of ministry and following up that call with a desire for training. So, seminary, at least my experience wasn’t just a bunch of 23-27 year olds learning together. My classes had a wide range of ages in them. And with age can come wisdom and life experience. It isn’t guaranteed. You can be a foolish 50 year old, but most of these seminarians had good heads on their shoulders and wanted to really seek after God.

One of those “older” seminaries said this in a class…

“There was a time when Jesus didn’t mean as much to me as He does now.” And that was it. He didn’t say anything after that. He didn’t need too. The short, condensed sentence didn’t need more explanatory comments. There was a time that Jesus didn’t mean that much to him, and now He meant a lot more.

It just arrested me.

The progression of how his appreciate for Jesus grew could be palpably observed in the way he said it. He meant what he said, and what he said meant everything to him. Jesus never changed, but his perspective on who Jesus was did.

This is the point that I think we can extrapolate as Mark opens up this new section of His Gospel account of Jesus.

Jesus is a way bigger deal than you currently think. (7-10)

Look at what he says.

Mark 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

Mark 3:9–10 ESV

9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

Up to this point, Jesus has been presented as someone who is pretty popular in and around Capernaum. He called some initial followers there by the sea. He healed a man on a Sabbath in that town. He even got Levi to leave his tax collecting booth to come recline and dine with Him to the dismay of the local religious authorities, but all of this has been localized and not wide spread yet. He was a local celebrity pastor preacher guy. He was somewhat contained, but the influence and impact of Who people thought Jesus was and what He was capable of doing was like shaking up a carbonated beverage and then suddenly cracking open the top. His reputation and influence was going to come shooting out like a geyser and impact not just the region, but the region surrounding the region and all of Israel itself.

Let’s look back at verses 7-8

Mark 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.

Jesus withdrawing is something that we have already seen in Mark Gospel. We really see it three times in chapter 1, where He was either driven into the wilderness (1:12) or He willfully went there to spend time with His Father even though the crowds were clamoring for him (1:35). His own disciples said to Him, “Everyone is looking for you!” (1:36). It also happened again after He healed a leper. The leper told everyone and everyone wanted a piece of Him and He went out to the desolate places.

So here Jesus is withdrawing again to spend intentional time with His disciples and this is something we can’t miss. We need to radically guard our time so that we can spend it in worthwhile ways.

Somewhere, someone once said, “Lord save me from the tyranny of now.”

We are swimming in the current of the culture that is increasingly demanding that we respond immediately to almost everything. We are never “off the grid.” We have our attention constantly divide and our thoughts continually stimulated.

But Jesus withdraw, “with His disciples.” He had disciples to invest in. He had a circle of 12 that needed to be tended to, but a great crowd followed Him even there.

That is just the way it goes sometimes, you look to get away, but a whole bunch of life come demanding your attention. Don’t fret, but do be prepared. Jesus say, “Okay. Get a boat. Get a boat so that I don’t get crushed.”

He doesn’t push the people away, but He does makes it so that He can be available for people and not be personally, physically crushed by them.

We can learn something from that. We need to learn how to retreat and withdraw, but still be prepared to care for others that need something from the Christ who is dwelling in our hearts through our faith.

Jesus got a boat ready. So if you ever secretly wanted a boat, now is your time to do it. Jesus did it! He didn’t use the boat as a way of recreation or escape, He used to so that he could minister to people. There may be something to apply from that, but back to the story at hand.)

Look at where these crowds are coming from. From every part of the Land of Israel.

Look at this map.

They are coming from Galilee, from the North and Judea from the South.

From the center hub of Israel itself, the mother city, Jerusalem to even further south and east, Idumea (Edomites - Pastor Danny preached on this a few weeks back).

Even further east, beyond the Jordan and then from around Tyre and Sidon which is way up in the North West.

All of Israel was coming to Him. This is a big deal and they were coming to Him because they heard of what He was doing.

Well what was He doing?

Upsetting the status quo for sure. Calling unlikely people to follow. Healing lepers. Reclining and dining with sinners. Forgiving sins.

Jesus was a big deal and people wanted a piece of it. So they heard what He was doing and they were willing to relocate to see Him. Starting to make a pop up shanty town. This was a big deal.

They left where they were at to get closer in proximity to Him. They didn't want to just hear about Him from a distance they wanted to experience Him.

So many of us hear about Jesus from a distance. Testimonies of others. We hear sermons preached. We watch youtube worship videos from other churches, but then we never experience Jesus ourselves. We may never leave where we are at to meet Jesus in a desolate, isolated place like a dedicated prayer closet or a favorite chair in the morning that has our bibles next to them or even in this corporate gathering of His saints.

If you want to experience Jesus and get up close and personal with Him, you will have to be willing to relocate. That is what these great crowds did. You can do it too.

So Jesus is a bigger deal than you currently think and He is worth pursuing.

Maybe you are thinking. Maybe he is. Maybe he is a bigger deal than I am currently thinking. Maybe I should consider what is being said. But at the same time, maybe you think, maybe not. Maybe Jesus isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe I am okay with just my current appreciate level of Who Jesus is.

Let me share three sets of verses to change your perspective.

Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV)

9 …God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:15–18 (ESV)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Revelation 1:7 (ESV)

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Some day, maybe a day very soon, there will be no room for “maybe” and “uncertainty” surrounding the validity of this first point. IT will be indisputable and unmistakable that Jesus is a really big deal. One day it will be very clear, very evident, and plain as day as we look upon the One we have pierced.

The crowds came to Him because was a big deal worth coming to and you and I should too.

And if you and I decided not to, then we will prove that we are dumber than the demons. There’s the punchiness I was alluding to earlier.

Don’t be dumber than the demons. (11-12)

Mark 3:11–12 (ESV)

11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The demons knew who He was. They knew. They knew that Jesus was the “Son of God.” So the admonishment is, don’t be dumber than the demons. You need to come to Him like the masses were doing in verses (7-10) and then come to the conclusion that the demons declared in verse 11. They cried out, “You are the Son of God.” We need to do the same.

What is the significance of Jesus being the “Son of God?” Well let’s ask the Apostle John.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is the Son that was given on our behalf, as an expression of the “so great love” of God, so that we could become children of God. So that is pretty significant I would say.

These demons knew Who He was, but Jesus strictly orders them to “be silent?” That seems to be a little puzzling. What about the phrase, “Any publicity is good publicity?” Why not just say to the demons and everyone present, “You guys are right! I am the Son of God?”

What’s with the covert attempt at keeping a secret identity? This happens in Mark again and again and again and again in the Gospel of Mark. There are a number of reasons why Jesus might be doing this, but the most compelling argument to me is that He wants to keep the role of the Messiah in its true and proper place and there was work to accomplish in training His disciples, which would prove to be hard enough even without becoming a celebrity pastor.

Jesus is determined to define his Messiahship on his own terms in light of the cross instead of the cultural expectations of an earthy political liberator. He was coming to be a suffering servant, not a political liberator. Their perceptions of the Messiah and who He would be and what He would do were different. His Kingdom was not of this world. It would turn this world upside down, but not the way they were thinking, so He told people that He healed and even the demons to not say who He really was.

And let’s say someone did end up “believing in or following Jesus” because of a demonic testimony of Jesus? Think about how that person would have to answer this question. “Hey, how did you come to believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God?” The response…”Oh a demon told me.” Just seems a little off.

Just doesn’t seem right. So Jesus strictly orders the demons to not “make Him known.”

Don’t be dumber than the demons, they knew that He was the Son of God, and they were willing to “cry it out” and then “remain silent when strictly ordered to not speak.” You and I can’t let demons be smarter than us, and we shouldn’t allow them to be more obedient than us. Sadly, we so often live and function in disbelief and disobedience. We need to stop doing that.

Jesus is a bigger deal than you and I currently think and we don’t want to be dumber than the demons, so we must actually respond to His call and then follow Him.

Respond to His call and then follow Him. (13-19)

Mark 3:13–15 (ESV)

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.

Mark 3:16–17 ESV

16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);

Mark 3:18–19 ESV

18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

What we see in these verses is a recapitulation of the story of Moses as it plays out in the book of Exodus and Deuteronomy. What Jesus does here is not accidental. It is very calculated and very intentional. He is creating His Kingdom right before all of Israel eyes. All of Israel is there pressing in on Him and then He ascends a mountain, kind of like Moses did and then He, Jesus calls 12 people “whom He desired.” How many tribes in Israel? All of this echos back to the calling of Moses, and the Exodus and the giving of the law.

Deuteronomy 7:6–8 (ESV)

6 “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you…

They were desired by God, not because of how great they were in themselves. They were lovely, because there were loved, by Him.

And this love, that they were loved with, was a loyal, commited stedfast love that would endure even though they faltered in so many ways. In the time of Isaiah, God doubled down on His commitment to His people when He says through Isaiah,

Isaiah 43:1–7 (ESV)

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.

5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

And the fullest extent of this demonstration of God’s love to His people is played out right in front of this gathering of people from every corner of Israel’s. In front of all of Israel, Jesus ascends a mountain and the calls those whom He desired and appointed them as “apostles,” to be official spokes people for His Kingdom. And that kingdom wouldn’t be bound by the boarders of Israel. It would extend beyond the boundaries and even come to us as well who have been engrafted in like Paul says to the Romans or as Peter says to his readers when he writes,

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Jesus walked up that mountain and announced a New Exodus that He was personally bringing into existence that would be available for all the world. And this call is coming to you as well. Do you hear it? He is calling you now.

Don’t be dumber than the demons. He is a much bigger deal than you currently think. You must personally respond to His call.

And one final things we need to set before our eyes today and must allow into our heart of hearts.

This call that Jesus issued, “to those Whom He desired,” also went out to a guy who would eventually betray Him! Mark make sure we see that in the final verse.

Mark 3:19 ESV

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Let that sink in. You can’t disconnect Judas from the others apostles that were listed. Jesus called the other apostles because He desired them. He called Judas because He desired him as well. Jesus desired a man who would eventually betray Him.

If you don’t think the love of Jesus is a big deal memorize Mark 3:13 and Mark 3:19 together and be ready to pick your jaw up off the ground.

Mark 3:13 (ESV)

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him…and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

He desires for you to come as well.

Benediction

Next time we are together we are going to talk about apostles…

My classmates sentence had an impact on me. Can you think of a sentence that has deeply impacted you?

How has your appreciation for Jesus grown over time? If it hasn’t, why do you think that is?

Jesus feared being “crushed” by the clamoring crowd, but still wanted to care for them, so He got a boat. What self-protective measures can we put in place in order to care for people, but not be crushed by them?

What can be learned about the heart of God when we combine Mark 3:13 with Mark 3:19?