Responses to Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Throughout the past several weeks we have been studying the book of Mark. We have been in a series that is looking at the life of Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Today we want to continue our study of the book of Mark as we look at the middle part of Mark chapter 3.
So if you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to Mark chapter 3 and we are going to begin reading with verse 7.
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
This morning we are going to see four responses to Jesus. Four different groups of people, four different responses to Jesus.
The four groups are:
Those who want to see the excitement. We’ll call them the Curious.
Those who Jesus calls to Himself and they become His disciples. We’ll call them the Committed Followers.
Those who think Jesus was out of His mind, and all of this religious stuff is crazy. We’ll call them the Crazies.
Finally, there are those who work to explain away the works of Jesus. They want to present His miracles as something other than a work of God. We’ll call them the Cantankerous.
The Curious—Look & See
The Curious—Look & See
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
Jesus took His disciples out to the area around the lake—the Sea of Galilee. Verse 8 tells us when they [the people] heard all he was doing, many people came to him. . . They came from all over:
There were people from Galilee.
Judea, Jerusalem, and Idumea—the three main areas south of Galilee.
Areas beyond the Jordan—on the east side of the Jordan river.
The areas around Tyre and Sidon—the northern coastal areas.
Jesus spent time in all these areas except Idumea.
The large crowd, gathered around Jesus for two reasons. Some came just to see what Jesus was all about—they wanted to be entertained. Others came to touch Jesus—to be healed by Him! Look at the next several verses.
Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
QUESTION: Do you come to Jesus, just to be entertained? Or do you come to Him for some kind of healing?
The Committed Followers
The Committed Followers
Some of those who came to see what Jesus was all about, Jesus called to serve Him. Look at verse 13.
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
First, Jesus got away from the crowd.
Secondly, He called those who He wanted. God chooses those He wants. That means, there are some He doesn’t call. Jesus hand picked those He wanted to be His apostles.
Thirdly, those He called He gave them a job. Now some manuscripts do not contain the phrase—designating them apostles—still, He gave them something to do.
That they would be with Him—12 men (one for each tribe of Israel) to learn from Him.
To preach His message.
To give them authority to drive out demons.
Verses 16-19 tells us who these men were. Look at verse 16.
These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These are the 12 men He appointed:
Simon—that Jesus named gave the name Peter (Cephas).
James—the son of Zebedee.
John—his brother. Together Jesus called these two the Sons of Thunder!
Andrew—Simon’s brother.
Philip.
Bartholomew—means “son of Talmai.
Matthew—called Levi.
Thomas.
James—the son of Alphaeus, also known as James the younger—and probably NOT Matthew’s brother.
Thaddaeus—also known as Judas the son of James.
Simon the Zealot—or Simon the Cananaean (Aramaic for Zealot). Zealots were a political party that was bent on overthrowing the Roman government.
Judas Iscariot—the one who betrayed Jesus. His name means Judas from Iscariot—or from Kerioth a region outside of Galilee (so he was the only non-Galilean).
Isn’t it interesting—Jesus called some fishermen. Jesus called a pro-Roman tax collector. Jesus called an anti-Roman Zealot. And Jesus called the man, He knew would betray Him. Ordinary men that the world had all but counted out!
QUESTION: Have you been called by Jesus? If so have you responded to His job for you?
Jesus returned to a house look at verse 20.
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
The Crazies—Jesus is Crazy
The Crazies—Jesus is Crazy
Most likely Jesus is back in Capernaum. Most likely He is back at the home of Simon Peter. He could have been back at the home of Matthew—or Levi. Or as far as we know, He could be at even a different house. Nevertheless, Jesus is back in a house and once again there is a huge crowd gathered. The crowd was so great that Jesus and the disciples were not even able to eat.
That’s when Jesus’ family heard all about what He was doing, and they came to stop the nonsense! After all, He is just the son of a carpenter. Somehow they have forgotten that He is the Son of God!
They think he is crazy—out of His mind.
Many people today hear the gospel message. They hear about Jesus, but they think it is craziness!
There’s one more, group of people this morning that we need to see. And they are found in verse 22.
The Cantankerous—Those Who Explain Away!
The Cantankerous—Those Who Explain Away!
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
The teachers of the law—those who came down from Jerusalem sought to explain away the miracles of Jesus. But worse than that, they did not recognize that the works of Jesus were of God—instead, they credit Beelzebub—can mean several things, however most scholars believe this is a reference to “the prince of the evil spirit’s dwelling place.” This is consistent with the reference to a strong man’s house in verse 27.
The religious leaders from Jerusalem say that the way Jesus cast out demons was because He was possessed by the prince of the evil spirit’s dwelling place—so Jesus is evil. They simply explain away the miracles Jesus preformed.
SO WHAT
SO WHAT
Four responses to Jesus! The tragedy is that we see these same responses in people today!
The Curious. Today there are people who are curious. They just want to see Jesus do something amazing! But they aren’t interested living for Jesus!
The Committed! Today there are people who are fully committed to Jesus. People some of you are fully committed followers of Jesus.
The Crazies—There are those today who believe all of this Jesus stuff is nothing more than craziness! It’s crazy because it is outdated for today’s modern society. After all, people today are to rational for all the Bible’s hocus pocus stuff! They don’t want anything to do with the Bible or Jesus!
The Cantankerous—Those Who Explain Away! Finally, there are those who are still explaining away the miracles that Jesus did then, and that Jesus does today.
As a Committed Follower, we need to be with Jesus. Spend time with Him and get to know how He lived. That’s one of the reasons we are studying the book of Mark. Next we need to We need to “preach” the good news to everyone we meet. And we need to be prepared to exercise Jesus’ authority here on this earth!
Let me put it another way. Our job, the job, as a fully committed followers of Jesus, is to help move the curious to becoming committed. To help those who think Jesus is crazy to understand the Truth of God and His Word. And we are to act as an apologist—one who defends the truths of Jesus—to those cantankerous people who seek to explain away Jesus. Are you up for the task?
