Seeing the Real Jesus

Son of God and Healer of the World

(Mark 3:7-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 9, 2018)

[7] Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea [8] 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. [9] And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, [10] for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. [11] And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” [12] And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

A Great Crowd from Where?

Why did Jesus “withdraw” with his disciples? The previous passage ended with a dire threat involving hostile spiritual and political authorities. “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him.” Jesus and His disciples were in danger.

Many other people would have been aware of the risks. Why then did a “great crowd” follow Him? The answer is obvious. They “heard all that He was doing” and so “they came to Him.” In other words, they knew their needs, and they heard a credible report that Jesus would be able to give them a new chapter in their impossibly difficult lives. We need to be able to relate to that impulse.

What was the significance of the geography revealed here? Desperate people were coming from everywhere where the news was spreading about the works of Jesus. North, south, east, and west. Here was a healer for the whole world.

A Boat

This mass of needy humanity was quite dangerous. Not only would the crowds have attracted the attention and envy of the enemies mentioned in the previous passage, our text emphasizes the obvious physical danger faced by the Man Jesus. Why did He ask His disciples to “have a boat ready for Him?” We are told very plainly that it was “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.”

Why does God want us to know about the danger that Jesus was facing? It would be easy for us to imagine that no one could have crushed the Son of God, but we would be wrong. He was not only fully God but also fully man. Mark has recorded a true testimony, a revelation of Jesus' actual humanity and therefore His weakness. We need to see this incident as a step toward where this entire book is headed—a real death.

The people “pressed around Him,” literally “fell on Him.” (See Luke 1:12, 15:20, Acts 10:44.) Wherever Jesus went, people were falling all over Him. Look at Romans 15:3, quoting the Old Testament prophecy from Psalm 69:9. Paul writes that “Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, 'The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on me.'” The idea in the psalm is that someone will come who will face the criticism, shame, and scorn that people directed at God. Their animus against the Almighty will fall on a man. People were falling on Jesus, but soon our sins would fall on Him.

For now, He needed a boat at the ready, just so His human body would not be crushed. Soon He would fulfill the words of Isaiah 53:5

… He was pierced for our transgressions;

He was crushed for our iniquities;

upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with His wounds we are healed.

Diseases and Unclean Spirits

Why is there disease in this world? Why are there unclean spirits harassing human beings? This is a very deep question that is answered very plainly in the first three chapters of the Bible. Mankind has rebelled against God and are under His wrath and curse. That has led to much misery. That's why Jesus needed a boat.

But we must not start or stop with the question of misery. God did not start the Bible with Genesis 3, but with Genesis 1. Every damaged human being has been created in God's image. Though that image has been marred, we need to be drawn to the most important question at the very center of the Bible. Why the Man in the boat? Why Jesus? He came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Do the unclean spirits understand? They know Him, but they do not love Him. Therefore they must be silenced, since they would seek to undo the order of God's good plan of salvation. They would draw attention to the crown of “the Son of God,” but they have no real appreciation for the cross on which a real Man will die for our sins.

More important than the question of what unclean spirits know and love is this all important inquiry. Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Will you trust the Man who would soon be crushed for you and for me, the Man who not only died on the cross, but also conquered death and rose to life that you might live forever.

What is God teaching us with this plain episode about a vulnerable human Messiah who came to save a lost and sin-sick humanity? 1. He knows our weakness and sympathizes with us (Hebrews 4:15), and 2. He takes our hit.

The leader of a new resurrection world was assaulted by the troubles of the present order. This is what happened when the Son of God came into Adam's lost world. No one but the Messiah understood what it would take to fulfill God's larger plan. What was almost unknown in Jesus' day has now been plainly revealed to us. The Jesus I proclaim to you today must be truly appreciated, honored, and worshiped for who He really is.

To more fully enjoy Jesus and the life to come, we must 1. see the present crushing burden of decay and evil as it really is, but we must do more than this. We must 2. go back and see humanity in a better light – a Genesis 1 image of God light. Then we must 3. see Jesus as the One and Only who could ever bring about this perfect plan of Almighty God. We must know Him, trust Him, and love Him. People from all over were falling on Jesus when He was there in person at the Sea of Galilee. Now He is the Resurrection Man in heaven. Are you desperate enough to throw yourself at Him?

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 74 – Make haste to help me!

New Testament Reading—Hebrews 3 – What Moses could never have done...