Having seen the repeated questions and confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders in Mark’s gospel, we came to a decisive moment last Sunday. In Mark 3:6, the Pharisees and Herodians resolved that Jesus had to be "destroyed." He had disregarded their traditions regarding ritual fasting, separation from sinners, and the Sabbath, and His message of God’s kingdom was not the same message they taught. He had become a threat. Though the Pharisees’ opposition was now at a fever pitch, Jesus’ ministry had never been more popular. As Mark 3:7 begins, Jesus withdraws to the seashore, and a massive crowd of people from a hundred-mile radius come to Him. As the leaders refuse to acknowledge Jesus’ identity, masses of people are coming. However, Mark doesn’t present this as a cause for celebration. Mark 3:7- 19 contrasts how the crowd (and unclean spirits) respond to Jesus and how his called disciples respond. The crowd comes to Jesus as nothing more than consumers. They desire relief from their physical ailments and spiritual maladies rather than Jesus Himself. Mark presents their press upon Jesus to touch him and be healed as a danger to Jesus, whose priority is proclaiming the kingdom of God (hence his need for a boat. 3:9; 4:1). Yet there is another group present who acknowledge Jesus’ identity and authority in all its reality. The unclean spirits fall before Jesus and declare Him the Son of God, something the religious leaders would not do. However orthodox their profession may be, they are not citizens of His kingdom or those whose hearts desire and love Him. They profess the truth about Him, but they hate it. Finally, Jesus chooses the twelve, committed and commissioned, as His ambassadors: three groups - three responses to Jesus. Sunday, we will apply this passage to our own lives and ask which group describes us.
I. The Consumers: The Crowd (v. 7-10)
II. The Cognizant: The Unclean Spirits (v. 11-12)
III. The Committed & Commissioned (v. 13-19)