Mark 3:7-12 - Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 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 impure 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 others about him.
The passage for today is not that exciting. Most of the vignette is about Jesus trying to
deal with the fact that He is attracting crowds that are becoming hard to
handle. Jesus intention was to withdraw
from the crowds, but they followed him and even pushed in on him in order that they
might touch him. In addition, Jesus’s ministry
is riling up impure spirits and they are calling him the Son of God. He instructs them to be silent and tells the
crowd no to repeat their confession of Jesus’s identity.
In our reflections so far on the book of Mark, we’ve
mentioned the scholarly reflections on the reasons for Jesus instructing people
not to tell others about His identity.
My take on this, which I do confess is not the consensus of scholarly
opinion, is that Jesus does not want to fuel fervor in His ministry. Although
His ministry is attracting a lot of positive attention, it is also angering the religious authorities
enough that they want to kill him (Mark 3:6).
Jesus knows that his ministry will end in death, but he wants to make
sure He has accomplished all that He needs to before that happens. Too much fervor and anger will hasten that
day of reckoning. He needs more time
before the conflict ends with His crucifixion.
So, ironically, Jesus is interested in his ministry growing, but not too
quickly. He had to deal with overenthusiastic
crowds pushing their way up to him when He is just trying to get a
breather. It’s getting chaotic for Jesus
and we’re only in chapter 3!
It may seem a bit weird, but I find in this passage a
strange sort of comfort. I have been in
ministry over 30 years now and it is almost always chaotic. There are over-eager people that cause
problems. Occasionally, things work so
well that it actually causes problems. Sometimes,
you just have to keep going even though you need a break. The fact that Jesus had to deal with these
sorts of problems too gives me a strange sense of connection to Him. Ministry rarely goes forward without problems.
This past week, because of a family emergency, I had to make
arrangements for me not to be church preaching.
I am thankful to have gifted people that stepped in and made it all
happen without me. Even though I was not
able to be physically present, I was able to watch the livestream. While watching, I noticed some minor hiccups
in the service which are the kinds of things that tend to happen whether I’m
there or not. But the service was good,
the message was powerful, and the Spirit was present to me as I
worshipped. I had a very positive
experience.
When I returned to the office yesterday, I heard the reports
from the people who had led the service.
They felt like everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. They told me about a half a dozen problems
they had that I wasn’t aware of watching the livestream. The same service that was positive for me
felt extremely chaotic to them!
This is the ministry we have – the ministry that Christ had
as well. It often feels imperfect, insufficient,
and chaotic. While we should always be
striving to improve the quality of our ministry, it will never be without chaos. The call is to be faithful in spite of the
chaos.
Question: When have
you been discouraged by something you were trying to accomplish, but it didn’t
go as planned? Have there been times
like that where you later found out that God was at work even in the midst of
the chaos?
Prayer: Lord, you called
us to be faithful, not perfect. Help us
sense you in the midst of the chaos we experience while trying to do good work.
Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people who are looking for employment right now.
Song: Grace in the
Wilderness – Stars Go Dim
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