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.
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
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.
Here's the scene. People are coming to see and hear Jesus from all over. The distance from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee, is over 60 kilometers. And that is just one of the places mentioned where people are coming from. They are coming from the North, South, and West.
Mark mentions here that these people had diseases. They are coming for healing. And, I am sure that Jesus was speaking, teaching as he was healing, but Mark reminds us that these people desperately needed saving.
When people go through the everydayness of life without too many issues, it is easy to not think much about Jesus. Some people will think of him as a nice guy. Maybe they have heard about Him, but they don’t really need Him. They may even think that, OK, he is God - whatever that means. And, then, in our day, there are so many people who say they are Christians, but who don't really follow Jesus, who are weird, who hold to some very unloving, ungodly views.
But our attitude is different when we are desperate. When we are desperate for hope, we do all sorts of things to get help, like travel hundreds of kilometers. When we are desperate is when we cry out. The question is do we cry out to Jesus?
It is interesting that Mark connects diseases with unclean spirits.
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.”
In Mark’s Gospel, it is the demoniacs and the desperate that recognize Jesus.
It is not the intellectuals. It is not the religious. It is not the ones who have studied the scriptures.
People can intellectually understand the argument for Christianity. They can agree that as a philosophy and theology, it is logically consistent. They just don’t recognise Jesus the way his followers recognise him.
What does it take to recognize Jesus? It would seem you either have to dwell in the spiritual realm (such as a demoniac), or desperately believe you need Him for your life.
How is it you recognize Jesus? Do you desperately need him for your life?
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