Mark 3:7-12

Text

Mark 3:7-12

Recall

As we read law-related things in the gospel, we ought to have a view which is thinking in terms of godliness and God’s intent for our lives. This means that, while we hold Christ to be our means of righteousness and understand that our power comes from God, that if God gives us as believers a clear vision of what is right, we ought to strive towards that goal. (1 Tim. 4:7-8) (2 Pet. 1:5—7) Grow in godliness

About two months ago, we were studying Jesus’ engagement with Pharisees in Mark 2:23-28. Here, we saw that (a) Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses perfectly and that his disciples were in the right in this situation, but that the Pharisees were so bound by their tradition and their suspicion of Jesus that they were willing to transgress the law (both God’s and their own) in order to find fault in Jesus. This transgression is evident in the fact that: 1) They desired to withhold from Jesus’s disciples what was their lawful right and 2) Implicit within the text is that the Pharisees are following Jesus and exerting effort to “catch him in the act.”

Connected to this, we studied the following text where Jesus goes to the heart of Jewish society, the synagogue, and begins to heal it from the inside out. We made the argument that the man with the withered hand was a symbol of the withered or dried-out hearts of the Pharisees. Here, we see that Jesus’s work made real enemies with the Pharisees and Herodians.

The text for this morning

V. 7 - Jesus withdraws with his disciples and a great crowd follows him

V.7-8 - This crowd in total represents the combined peoples of Israel (North and South) as well as groups which were neighboring nations (Edom, Tyre, and Sidon).

V.9 - Jesus calls for a boat

V.10 - Reason why they are coming to him

V.11-12 - Unclean spirits call Jesus as Son of God, but Jesus silences them.

Central Point of This Morning: Christ’s heart is seen in His willingness and joy to heal those who come to Him. No person is too far gone that they can’t be healed by Jesus. You are not too far gone that Christ cannot heal and mend your life.

Images

Recall that Jesus announced in the beginning of the book (Mark 1:14-15) that all should know that the Kingdom of God is at hand and that they should turn (or repent) and believe in the gospel.

Smell the Kingdom - This scene represents a healed, Kingdom moment where God’s people are united and the nations are coming in to the see the king (recall Solomon 1 Kings 10:23-25)

Each of these nations was judged and set apart for a form of destruction in the prophets, yet it was clear in the prophets that the nations which God judged would eventually flood to Zion for salvation.

Idumea - Edom - Amos 1:11-12, 9:11-12

Isa. 2:2-3, 60:3

Significance: Each of these nations and peoples were coming to Jesus with specific baggage and background. These people had ancestors who were stained with every kind of guilt. Take the people of Tyre for instance: Between Ezekiel 27-28, what we are presented with a series of laments over Tyre because this was a people who lived close enough to God’s people that they were able to enjoy the fruits of Israel’s empire; they built immense trading networks, ships, and the like. By wealth, they flourished. However, these people rejected God and were set apart for total destruction. In Ezekiel 28, the prince of Tyre is described in language that has pushed many people to think that this prophecy is about Satan himself and not the prince! The language of the Old Testament is so dramatic when it comes to Tyre that the natural question one ought to ask is: “Is there any hope for Tyre?” For this reason, this scene in Mark 3:7-12 rings with a special tone. This scene where Edomites, residents of Tyre and Sidon, and all of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem coming to follow Jesus is much like seeing the wandering child who finally came home.

Practically speaking, the way this distills into our lives is that it helps answer a critical question: “Am I too far gone?” Realistically, no person comes to Christ with unstained hands. Just as these people and their forefathers stood guilty before God, so did we. What is remarkable though was that these people saw something in Jesus that drew them out to follow him in masse. Specifically, these people saw the healing savior who was willing to look at them and say: “My child, by my power, I have made you well.”

How does the conscience set free impact your life?

For one, you can kill the lies that surround your life.

For some of you, it is time to walk on from lies.

“I am worthless” is a lie that needs to go. Christ purchased you with his blood — the most precious substance in the cosmos was spent on you by God Himself so that you would kill that lie.

“I am poison to all that are around me” is a lie that needs to go. If your heart is to follow Christ with your life, he will make you a life-giver.

“I am a bad man” is a lie that needs to go. When you give your life to Christ he changes you and heals you. 2 Co. 5:17 - If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

For all of us, this scene of the crowds of people ought to call to mind realities such as Ephesians 2:1-6 | Rom. 5:10

God took dead people, condemned, destroyed, and hopeless and resurrected them. For any who are in Christ — believers — there is this new life.

Don’t be deceived: God still works miracles in lives right now. What you need to know though is that the greatest miracle is a heart made alive to God. Understand that for every person who was healed of leprosy still died. What is it for you to hear right now, respond, and say: Christ receive me! It is the salvation of your soul! It is the taking of a dead man and bringing him back to life.

So many of us come to Christ with all sorts of stuff. What Christ entreats us to do is seek first his Kingdom and the needs of our lives will be in His hands.

For the Disciples

In my opinion, I think that there is an important arc to this section that is completed in the next set of verses which we’ll cover next week: 13-21.

Some of you might be in a situation where you are saying to yourselves, “Amen, Jamie. But I’ve been a disciple of Jesus for years now. How should I be drinking this passage in?”

To this, I think that there are two basic responses:

Ground the first part of the message into your heart as a tool for ministering to others.

Keep an eye on Jesus’s disciples and ask yourself: “What role are they playing in this scene?” In this scene, they are retrieving a boat. They are laboring for Christ, or they are watching Him work.

To give you a possible sneak peak into the next message, I think there is something significant here to seeing how the lives of the disciples change as they walk with Christ.

In this moment, they are retrieving a boat. In the next scene he is appointing his disciples to do what He himself has been doing. There will come a time in the lives of these disciples where their ministry is the active work of what Christ is doing, but this doesn’t happen overnight.

Some of you might praise God for this because when you become a follower of Jesus, you don’t need to know how to do everything. God will work in your life if you’ve got a willing and obedient heart.

I remember a moment where I was so impressed by this idea that I could glorify God by being a guy who shovels snow in a parking lot for the glory of God.

Perhaps you might not yet be in the spot where you think: “I can teach” or “I can do x,” but you have this sense that you would be willing to work for the Kingdom of God. Sometimes this Kingdom work can be as simple as meeting a friend at the park while the kids play and encouraging them.

What I would encourage you to ask is: What is Christ calling me to do for the Kingdom?