Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

One of the things I most looked forward to before our kids were born was to wrestle through what we would name our children.

It’s one of those things that can either bring a husband and wife together or clearly expose sharp differences and strong opinions.

Every parent, no matter who they are is going to have a pretty strong opinion on what their child’s name will be.

After all, this is the name the child will carry with them throughout their life.

And so, many parents will spend weeks, if not months researching, discussing and debating all kinds of names because a name means something.

It carries a sense of value, identity, and worth.

Jerry Seinfeld once joked how so many butler’s names were Jeeves.

He goes on to say, if you named your child “Jeeves,” you’ve pretty much mapped out his future.

A name means something.

It’s important.

We’re getting here to a portion in the book of Mark where Jesus’ popularity is reaching fever pitch.

Context

In verse 7, Mark says that a large crowd was following Jesus from all over.

And he lists where everyone was coming from.

A large crowd from Galilee, from Judah, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan river, and even as far north as Tyre and Sidon.

Now the cities of Tyre and Sidon were about a hundred miles north of Jerusalem and Judea.

Idumea was far to the south of where Jesus currently was so get the picture in your mind of how far people are travelling just to be near Jesus because they wanted a miracle for themselves.

That’s what verse 10 tells us.

They were pressing toward him because they wanted healing from their ailments.

They just wanted to touch him, get their miracle, and then most likely be on their way.

The picture painted here by Mark is not one where people were eager to follow Jesus, to die to themselves and proclaim Jesus as Lord of their lives.

But more of, “give me what I want and I’ll be on my way.”

And again, get a picture of this scene.

People are desperate, they’ve travelled a long way, and we can get the sense from Mark’s language here that they were trampling over others to get to Jesus.

This was a dangerous scene.

So much so that Jesus tells his disciples in verse 9 to have a boat ready for him to get onto cause he’s about to get crushed.

What we’re seeing here is similar to how human beings respond in the presence of celebrity.

When someone famous or well-known is near, the crowds come running.

Jesus no doubt is the most famous person in all the region, and yet, how does Jesus respond to this soaring popularity?

Verse 13.

Mark 3:13 “And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.”

I believe verses 7-12 are setting the scene for us but I think the main focus that Mark is drawing our attention to is found in verses 13-19.

Where most people would have been thrilled to have found fame and fortune and popularity, I mean can you imagine what some of Jesus’ disciples were thinking in this moment, “we’ve arrived!” “Everyone wants to be around you, and we get to walk with you!”

Again, remember that Jesus’ mission was greatly misunderstood.

The Jews thought he was the one who was going to overthrow Rome.

They thought he was going to establish a new kingdom on earth and then they, the disciples, as we’ll get to later on in Mark thought they thought they were going to rule with him.

I mean, they had to in this moment begin to think, this is awesome.

It’s time.

Let’s go.

And what’s Jesus do?

Jesus withdrew from these large crowds.

He went up into the mountains and called his disciples to himself and named them.

This is odd.

This doesn’t seem like a normal human response to newfound, soaring popularity.

So, what is going on?

This seemed like the worst time for Jesus to withdraw.

I means thousands of people have come from all over, some for over a hundred miles to see him and he withdraws from them and instead starts giving his disciples new names?

And so, what does this all mean?

What’s Mark leading us to in showing us this scene with Jesus and his disciples?

I think it’s something pretty important.

We’re going to learn from Jesus here how he transforms and changes people’s lives.

We’re going to see how we receive from Jesus our true mission in life which transcends mere fame, or popularity.

It’s something eternal.

You see, Jesus never focuses on temporal things.

He’s always focusing on the eternal.

Things that last and have actual meaning to them.

The Problem

Our problem is that we get too easily fixed on earthly treasures, on things that just don’t last but give us a temporary boost of adrenaline.

So, often, our metrics for success in life are off.

So, let me give you an example of this within the church world.

If you were to google, “most successful churches in the U.S.” what do you think would pop up first?

It’s a list of the biggest megachurches in America.

Now, this isn’t a knock against large churches.

Statistically, we are a large church in America.

Almost 80% of all Protestant churches in America average less than 100 members.

Our size alone puts us with only about 10% of all other churches.

And so, this isn’t a knock against large churches but our metric for success is off.

Size does not equate success.

That is a temporal, earthly metric.

All I’d have to do is teach a series on sex or how God wants you to be wealthy, market the mess out of it and we’d have this place packed out for a little while.

The formula’s pretty easy if we really wanted to just draw a crowd.

Don’t talk about sin, don’t talk about a bloody cross, don’t talk about submission to Jesus and God’s Word, allow people to live how they want to live without any pushback from God’s Word, and talk about things that interest them.

Boom, successful church.

Packed house every Sunday.

Speaking requests, book deals.

Top of google’s most successful churches in America.

You see, Jesus’ focus was never on the temporal.

It was never on the quick fixes for life.

His message didn’t really attract a lot of people.

His miracles did because people wanted the quick fix for life’s problems as they saw them, but Jesus always sought to dig deeper into the heart.

A few weeks ago, we read from Mark 2 of how Jesus healed a paralytic.

You remember the story?

His friends take him to Jesus, there’s a large crowd around him so they tear open a hole in the roof and lower the man down to Jesus to be healed.

What’s Jesus do first?

He says to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Now, let me ask you.

Did Jesus, in that moment of forgiveness heal him?

Did Jesus fix the deepest wound in that man’s life?

Absolutely he did.

But from a human perspective, don’t we read that and think at least for a second, man he got gypped if that’s all Jesus does is forgive his sins.

He’s there because he’s paralyzed and wants to walk.

We want to see the miraculous, we want to be wowed.

Jesus always focuses on the eternal.

On the things that truly matter.

You see, I think this is what Mark’s trying to draw our attention to in this part of his gospel.

What really matters.

And it’s not the crowds, it’s not fame or popularity.

It’s not being adored by others.

It’s not the earthly treasures that we seek so often.