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Gospel: Mark 3: 7-12
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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We’re at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, yet he already gives the impression of Jesus’ public ministry going global.
People are coming from the north, south, east, and west, at least from 100 miles away. His fame and popularity only grow from here.
In fact, the crowds are so large that Jesus has his disciples prepare a boat for him in the event that he must escape a stampede.
His power to cure stands in stark contrast to the frailty of his human nature, which threatens being crushed by a mob of people desperate to touch him.
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One of the greatest miracles of Jesus’ public ministry is the fact that he stays alive as long as he did.
There was not only the threat of being swallowed up in a stampede, but also the sinister plans of the religious authorities, who are already plotting his death.
Worst of all, there’s the threat of being misunderstood by the crowds.
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Notice it’s the demons who first recognize Jesus as, “the Son of God.”
This was a term used often enough in the ancient world. For example, Roman Emperors considered themselves to be “sons of God,” as did Egyptian kings.
There were enough Jewish nationalists at that time that, if rumors spread about Christ being an earthly king like the Romans or Egyptians, then riots could erupt throughout Galilee as people would fight for Jewish freedom.
Such a stunning misunderstanding of Christ’s ministry would evaporate his momentum, ruining the entire purpose of his incarnation.
This is why Jesus quiets the demons, forcing them into silence. What he needs more than anything is privacy with his disciples to teach them about who he really is.
They, too, are harboring hopes of him being a political savior – a hope that lingers all the way to his crucifixion.
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Misunderstandings of God, Jesus, even the Church he founded upon the rock of Peter, continue to this day.
God is neither a distant figure uninterested in the world he created, nor a divine vending machine, willing to give us anything we want.
God is a loving Father who sent his Son to wash away our sins so that we might live with him – not here – but forever in his kingdom.
May we follow him, each in our own way, today.
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Image credits: (1) Strengthened by Grace (2) Bible Gateway (3) Centered on Christ – Substack