The Gospel of Mark, Pt. 16

The Sovereign Servant

In the frigid waters around Greenland are countless icebergs, some little and some gigantic. If you'd observe them carefully, you'd notice that sometimes the small ice floes move in one direction while their massive counterparts flow in another. The explanation is simple. Surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the huge masses of ice are carried along by deep ocean currents. When we face trials and tragedies, it's helpful to see our lives as being subject to two forces--surface winds and ocean currents. The winds represent everything changeable, unpredictable, and distressing. But operating simultaneously with these gusts and gales is another force that's even more powerful. You see, it is the sure movement of God's wise and sovereign purposes that serve as that more powerful force in life.

Christians for centuries have debated the nature of God’s sovereignty as it relates to human free will and responsibility, with many believing that the two are opposed and contradictory to one another. To many (these would be your Calvinists), its one or the other.....either God is absolutely sovereign and has therefore foreordained all things to come to pass, or.....human free will is the ultimate force and therefore trumps God’s absolute sovereignty in some way, thereby weakening God. But I think this is creating a false dichotomy, and therefore we can see how God’s sovereignty and man’s libertarian free will can actually co-exist. While some say that libertarian free will is an assault on the sovereignty of God, I tend to think that God’s sovereignty is on fuller and greater display when we consider how man can have libertarian free will to make his own decisions, and yet God still works in the midst of that to accomplish his purposes.

I think that’s the greater picture of sovereignty, and we get a glimpse of that as we continue on in Mark 3. The end of Mark 2 and the beginning of Mark 3 were marked by Jesus’ interaction with the pharisees who were seeing if they could trap Jesus and accuse him of breaking the Sabbath so as to destroy him and his ministry. And through the examples set by Jesus in the grain field and the synagogue, Jesus taught and proved the most provocative truth that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. And through his verbal testimony and his works of miracles on the Sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders thought they had enough to accuse him and put an end to him once and for all. And this is where we ended last week, and will pick up today as we make our way through the gospel of Mark.

So our passage for today is Mark 3:7-12, but I’d like to begin in verse 6 to remind us of the context. Mark 3:6–12 “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 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. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.”

So, again, the opponents of Jesus felt they had enough now to build a water-tight case against Jesus which would hold up in both Jewish and Roman courts. And its at this point that we begin to see a particular feature of Jesus and his approach to his ministry that will become a regular pattern from here on out. For many of us, if we were in a similar situation where our enemy is seeking to build a case against us and try to silence us and persecute us, the rebel within us might try to push back even harder. Whether its because of pride or stubbornness or simply because we feel we’re in the right, its common for many of us to want to push back. The famous words “Don’t tread on me” still ring true in the hearts of many, especially those who embrace American individualism and the western ideal of individual autonomy.

However, we don’t see this in Jesus here in this passage, and this lead us to make some particular observations of Jesus who is on mission to change the world. In other words, we’re going to see that despite the free-will decisions of others, Jesus is going to fulfill his purposes as the sovereign one, the one who came to serve and to save, thereby making him the sovereign servant. And to build this idea, let’s consider the first point in our outlines.......(SLIDE) The popularity of the servant.

No doubt Jesus’ teaching and miracles attracted the crowds, as we have seen evidence of this even throughout just the first couple chapters of Mark. The crowds filled the house of Peter where Jesus met the paralytic who had to be lowered through the roof......we’re told that people were coming to see Jesus from every quarter in Mark 1:45 because the leper who was healed by Jesus couldn’t keep his mouth shut as he was told.....we’re told earlier in Mark 1 that Jesus had to depart to more desolate places because the masses throughout the Galilee region were coming to look for Jesus to receive their healing.

And here in Mark 3:7-8, we’re told that a great crowd formed to follow Jesus and the crowd consisted of people from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. So if you were to look at how these areas are laid out on a map, Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem mark the general area where Jesus directly ministered and visited. However, Jesus’ popularity reached far beyond areas of his immediate contact. Idumea would signify the most southern reaches that separated Judea from Egypt. The areas beyond the Jordan would refer to regions east of the Jordan River, including modern-day Jordan, and Tyre and Sidon would signify the most northern reaches. Each of these areas were inhabited primarily by Gentile nations, and so Jesus’ influence spread far beyond even that of John the Baptist.

And so its the popularity of this sovereign servant that had a significant impact on how he conducted ministry. We’re told that the crowds got so bad that Jesus asked his disciples to get a boat ready just in case they needed to escape the crushing effects of crowds. I remember years ago we took our youth group on a 4-day trip down to Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, back when Spirit West Coast was a multi-day music festival. And it was very common for hundreds and hundreds of people to hang out in the massive fields of the main-stage area in between acts, and when a huge act came onto stage, like Skillet or Jeremy Camp, hundreds and hundreds of people would rush the front area in order to get the best look and experience of the concert. And if you weren’t careful, you could get crushed by the crowds. Its amazing how even Christians can become wholly inconsiderate of others when they’re excited to see their favorite musician or band. So I can imagine how bad these crowds could get as they rushed to be seen by Jesus.

But their excitement wasn’t for Jesus’ musical abilities, but for what he could do for them. Which leads us to our second point......(SLIDE) The power of the servant. Verses 10 and 11 tell us the reason for the threat of the crushing crowd.....(Mark 3:10–11) (SLIDE) “for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”” All who had diseases knew that if they could simply touch Jesus, he possessed the power to heal him. Again, I can envision in my mind how crazy fans of celebrities can get, especially those with front row seats, and how they scream in hysterics just trying to even touch the outstretched fingers of their favorite musician. So if a musician can affect a crowd like that, imagine the attention that Jesus of Nazareth drew. He wasn’t belting out beloved song lyrics.....he was healing lepers and paralytics and those sick with fevers and other diseases. Or remember the woman with the issue of blood whom we’re going to read about later when we get to Mark 5, who knew that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be healed. And so she was willing to fight through the masses of people and break all socially-accepted norms to find her healing. And when she finally accomplished her desired task and touched Jesus’ clothing, what does Mark say went through Jesus’ mind?....He perceived within himself that power had gone out from him.

This is a tangible power.....it was an effective power.....it was a healing power......it was a divine power.....and it was an authoritative power. Because look at how the demons would respond to the great power of the servant Jesus. Verse 11 says that whenever the unclean spirits saw him....not touched him....not even heard him.....simply when they saw him.....they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” And trust me...this wasn’t a salvific cry......the demons were not crying out “Please save us oh Son of God!”.....no they were crying out that Jesus might not destroy them on the spot!

And interestingly, this is the first outward, verbal declaration in Mark’s gospel referring to Jesus as the Son of God, and the last would come from the Roman centurion who would stand before the cross and while the crucified Jesus took his final breaths. So even the enemies opposed to the very mission of Jesus recognized his great power as the divine Son of God. And to this day....currently right now in the throne room of heaven, an innumerable number of angels and saints and elders who are standing before the throne are worshipping Jesus, the lamb of God, and crying out that he alone is worthy to receive all power and authority and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

And it was this same lamb who was slain that is walking and talking amongst the masses of people, but who recognized that the sheer number of people would act more as a barrier than a blessing to his overall mission. And so that’s why Jesus’ response to the craze of the crowds and the reactions of demons was so interesting. Look at verse 12 (Mark 3:12) (SLIDE) “And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.” Just like he had done earlier in Mark 1:25 after he healed the man in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit within him.....or when the direction he gave to the healed leper in Mark 1:44, Jesus seemed to prefer that others not overly publicize who he was and what he was doing. Again....this is entirely contrary to how we would react in similar circumstances. Most of us would prefer that others notice us....and how awesome we are. We feed off of the attention and recognition of others. But not Jesus.

And I think this exemplifies the next point in your outlines.....(SLIDE) The poise of the servant. Again, I think that if you or I found ourselves in a similar situation, we’d react altogether differently. Just think of it.....if you were being wrongfully accused for doing something in which you’re actually innocent, what would you do? You’d fight back to defend yourself! Or if you were being publicly or even privately persecuted by others, how would you respond? You’d fight back.....you’d push back. Its amazing how many times people who feel they’re being mistreated or not treated fairly will respond by pointing the blame at others....by painting others in a negative light just so that they can feel better about themselves. And trust me, that never works out well for either party......in fact, it only makes matters worse.

But not Jesus, he exhibits great poise and self-control even in the most trying and stressful situations. In fact, in the face of growing tension and opposition to his public ministry, what did he often do? He withdrew.....he retreated......he redirected. Not out of cowardice or fear, but out of self-control, personal poise, and a perfect understanding of who he was and what he came to do. .You see, Jesus was so clear on his purpose and calling as the Jewish Messiah and the sovereign Savior of the world that he was able to work around the decisions of others in order to de-escalate matters and ensure that his mission would not be thwarted. And that is a tremendous example of the sovereignty of this great servant.

You see, if Jesus continued to push the buttons of the religious leaders and add to the heightened tension, they could very well have pre-maturely made a move to have him arrested and killed. But it wasn’t time for that yet. We see this early on in Jesus’ ministry, like in the wedding of Cana in John 2 where Jesus is confronted by Mary who asks Jesus to perform a miracle in order to fix the problem of having run out of wine, and Jesus says to her, “My hour has not yet come.” Or in John 7 when the brothers of Jesus encouraged him to be more public and open with his teaching and miracles, Jesus reminds them that his “time had not yet fully come.”

John Macarthur puts the perspective of Jesus this way (SLIDE) “It was not yet time for Jesus’ exaltation, but for his humiliation.” Jesus had to endure all that would lead up to the cross....the shame......the despise of others......the hatred.....the mocking and cruelty......all of that, before he would achieve victory over the grave and be exalted and glorified in heaven. And so from here on out, Jesus is going to exhibit great poise in his ministry because timing was everything, and certain things had to be accomplished between his public baptism and his public crucifixion. And so, Jesus would often show great poise by strategically withdrawing to de-escalate, and then give strict order to others not to make him known.

And this begs the question......why? Why didn’t Jesus want the seemingly endless and free publicity. Well, for one, he knew the effects this would have on the growth of the surrounding crowds and how that would impact his ability to minister to individuals. Again, timing is everything. And I think this reveals a greater reason that stands behind Jesus’ desire for the crowds to keep silent, and that answer comes from Matthew’s recording of these same events and transition in the life and ministry of Jesus. So please turn with me to Matthew 12:15–21 (SLIDE) “Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.””

So Matthew is recording this same time period following Jesus’ public proclamation of being the Lord of the Sabbath, and look what he says in verse 15......Jesus was aware of the Pharisees conspiring to destroy Jesus, and so what did he do....he withdrew, not just from the crowds, but the area in general. He sought to de-escalate and deter others from talking about him. And what does Matthew pose as the reason for this....he quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4, which is a prophecy of none other than the sovereign servant who is more fully revealed in Isaiah 53 and thus universally accepted by Christians as a very clear and obvious depiction of Jesus. If you desire to see Jesus in the OT, one needs to go no further than Isaiah 53, which to this day is considered the forbidden chapter in the book of Isaiah according to orthodox Jews.

This is actually the longest portion of the OT within Matthew’s gospel, and its here we will come to observe three more characteristics of this sovereign servant. So fourthly in your outlines, we see (SLIDE) The person of the servant. And that would be an important question to answer if we were starting with this prophesy in Isaiah 42.....who is this servant? Well, Matthew identifies him in the beginning of the quotation from Isaiah there in verse 18 (SLIDE) “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.” So for starters, this servant is chosen by God. In Isaiah’s prophesy, we read that God not only chooses him, but upholds him. This servant is specifically chosen and upheld by God for a specific purpose and at an appointed time. Everything about the mission and the purpose of Jesus here on earth was a direct result of the decision of the Father to choose his Son to accomplish his purposes to save his people.

But one might say, but God chooses all kinds of different people in the Bible for a variety of purposes, and they’d be right. But we must go on in the description.....the servant is described as God’s beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. Now this is certainly a unique description of this servant. And when we harken back to Mark 1:9 and the baptism of Jesus, what do read in verse 11?.....Mark 1:11 (SLIDE) “And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”” And then when we get to the transfiguration later on in Mark 9, we read of something very similar in verse 7 (Mark 9:7) (SLIDE) “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.””

So Matthew is making the point to his Jewish audience that this whole time that they been considering this servant in Isaiah’s prophesy....they haven’t been reading about a symbolic form of the nation of Israel.....they’re been reading a prophesy of the coming Messiah who is in fact Jesus of Nazareth. He is that chosen servant in Isaiah 42, and he’s the suffering servant that is detailed in Isaiah 53. Interestingly, that word translated as servant in Isaiah 42:1 is the Hebrew word “abdi”, and it is most commonly used to refer to the highest servant of a master, or to a minister or an advisor or some other official who wields great authority in enacting the will of his master or king. However, in some instances, its used to refer to a son. This chosen servant in whom God was well pleased was surely the divine Son of God who came to perfectly obey and fulfill his Father’s will.

And in order to reflect and fulfill the will of his father, it was crucial that he exemplified this 5h characteristic in your outlines......(SLIDE) The purpose of the servant. Look again at Matthew’s quotation in the end of verse 18 (Matthew 12:18) (SLIDE) ““...I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” At Jesus’s baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon him.....Mark says that He descended on him like a dove. This was an act of an anointing to ministry. Not that Jesus in his divinity lacked the anointing of the Holy Spirit, for he is one with the Spirit. However, in his humanity, he constantly relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the will of the Father, which was for him to do what?.......to proclaim justice to who?......to the Gentiles. In Isaiah, its says “to the nations”, and this is always a reference to the gentile nations.

This is certainly one reason why this servant couldn’t be referring to the nation of Israel, because they wanted nothing to do with the gentiles. The Jews were God’s chosen people, and the gentile nations were hated by God-fearing Jews. However, Jesus came to preach justice to the Gentiles. The good news of Jesus Christ...the gospel that saves...is a message of justice. Sin will be dealt with, and God’s righteousness and holiness will be upheld. And so Jesus’ preaching to repent and believe in the gospel is a proclamation that God’s justice will be served. Remember what we read earlier in Mark 1 when Jesus’ disciples were looking for him after he had departed to a desolate place to pray, and they said that the people were looking for him and Jesus said to them (SLIDE) Mark 1:38 “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”” This was Jesus’ purpose.....to preach the gospel of God to the masses, and especially to the Gentile nations. Remember the scope of Jesus’ growing popularity that Mark describes in verses 7 and 8.....to Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem (Jewish regions)....but also to Idumea and beyond the Jordan and to Tyre and Sidon (predominantly Gentile regions)

And this is not a message of condemnation as much as it is a message of hope and salvation for the Gentiles, and this is exemplified further in the sixth characteristic of the sovereign servant...... (SLIDE) notice The patience of the servant. Look again at Matthew 12:19–20 (SLIDE) “He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;” The patient servant will not quarrel or cry aloud.......he won’t argue endlessly and needlessly with others. In other words he won’t be so concerned with proving his point all the time. In fact, he was willing to not answer questions when those who were confronting him weren’t willing to be honest and transparent. So when the scribes and pharisees were stumped by Jesus’ questions and chose to remain silent in order to avoid sounding foolish or self-contradictory, Jesus wouldn’t press the issue.....he wasn’t argumentative.

Nor would he seek to defend himself against all the false accusations. He’s often pose insightful questions to get people to think, but he wasn’t so concerned with his reputation. No one would hear his voice in the streets....He wouldn’t make a public spectacle of himself, and in fact, the prophesy of Isaiah 53 and in verse 7 says (Isaiah 53:7) (SLIDE) “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

But Jesus wasn’t only patient in the midst of accusations and persecutions, but he was also patient with those whom he came to save. The text says that “a bruised read he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench. Has life beaten you up? Have you been broken by the strains and troubles of life that many share and experience in a variety of ways? Often times, we may feel so bruised and broken that we’re either too far gone for God to save, or that we’re useless and worthless and can’t be used by God for anything good. But our sovereign servant is patient with us....he’s not harsh with us.....he won’t seek to break us, but to heal us....to mend us.....to restore us.

And have you ever felt like the fire of life has been flickering and barely holding on? Maybe that fire was big at one point, but lately it seems like the fire has been reduced to smoldering ashes that barely give off any light or emit barely any heat. But rather being quick to judge and condemn us.....Jesus is patient with us, and doesn’t seek to quench the fire, but to restore and reignite the flames of faith that once burned so brightly. So its okay if you experience valleys and times of feeling that you’re at your breaking point....or that your flame is about to go out. Rest in the fact that you have a patient Savior who has come to restore and redeem you and to give you hope.

Which leads to our last characteristic of the servant to consider for today.....(SLIDE) The promise of the servant. We’re told in Matthew’s quote of Isaiah that the servant will continue in his patient and compassionate ways “until he brings justice to victory;” and then in verse 21 (SLIDE) (Matthew 12:21) “...and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”” Matthew here is actually using the Septuagint form of this passage in Isaiah 42, because in the Hebrew OT, which we have translated in our English Bibles, Isaiah 42:4 says (SLIDE) “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.”

The promise of the servant is that he came to fulfill all righteousness.....to remain perfectly obedient to the Father.....and to seek and the save the lost. And no matter the obstacles....no matter the opposition.....all the pain and suffering, Jesus endured until the very end when he uttered those most famous last words on the cross...… “It is finished.” And so when Isaiah says that the coastlands wait for his law, Matthew is reminding his audience what this means by using the Greek Septuagint rendering, which most of his audience would have been familiar with.....in the name of the servant....in the name of Jesus, the Gentiles will find their hope.

The justice of God was accomplished through Jesus’ victory over sin and death that was achieved on the cross of Calvary, and this remains the hope of both Jew and Gentile. As we considered during our time of corporate worship a couple weeks ago....2 Corinthians 1:20 says (SLIDE) “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” God promised that he would be the Savior and the Redeemer of his people. God promised the future coming of a Messiah who would ultimately liberate the people of God. And those promises were fulfilled in Christ....this sovereign servant who’s plan could never be thwarted by the likes of feeble, frail, finite beings like and you me. And so this passage in Mark 3 and its parallel in Matthew 12 should act as reminders to all of us that God’s purposes will always prevail....that he is in sovereign control, and no matter how hard or confusing or hopeless life may seem, that we can trust him and confidently place our hope in him to bring justice to victory!