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Who Is Jesus to You?
Mark 3:1-35
Pastor Tom Fuller
It’s said that “no good deed goes unpunished.” Do you ever find that to be true? I do. I remember one time long ago now, that I was trying to be a peacemaker in the midst of a tense ministry situation and ended up being fingered as the bad guy – when I was the only one who was caring! I’m sure that was probably what Jesus thought as he received no end of grief and even a plot against His life – just for doing a supernatural healing of a guy with a shriveled hand. And it shows how we can misunderstand the role of Jesus and end up questioning things He is doing that seem bad or uncomfortable to us, but are designed to bring His healing in our lives.
Law breaker or Life giver?
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
Can you believe the attitude of these guys – they wanted Jesus to perform a miracle – not to praise God or see someone’s life made whole again – but so they could accuse Jesus of breaking some tradition!
As usual, Jesus does what they expect – but not in the way they expected.
3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
This is so great. Jesus traps these guys so thoroughly. Who is going to say it’s better to do evil – and who is going to argue against the good of healing a man’s hand? The Pharisees won’t even engage Jesus because they will lose.
That is actually what a lot of people still do with Jesus. The Lord is very very good at putting His finger on precisely our point of decision. To the rich young ruler it was his possessions that kept him from coming to God – and for the Pharisees it was legalism. What was it for you? What is it for you?
Jesus said in Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
He’s knocking – but will you answer the door – will you engage Jesus. God says “come let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). God will reason with you – He will point out that which is standing in the way of you answering His knock – but so many times we simply avoid thinking about it so we avoid dealing with it.
Well, Jesus has already had it with these men, who keep control over men by making up rules. There aren’t many things that make Jesus more angry than when people stand in the way to God. And Jesus purposefully provokes a confrontation here.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
The verbs used in this verse suggest that Jesus was experiencing a mixture of anger or wrath – combined with grieving. The verb “deeply distressed” can mean “to grieve with someone.” Jesus was mad – and the wrath of God is a real thing. Without the sacrifice that Jesus will make for sins like this – the wrath of God will be felt – total separation and total punishment – forever. God doesn’t play around with sin.
But the grieving part also suggests that Jesus was saddened, deeply, by the unbelief. Later on Jesus will weep when He comes to Jerusalem – weeping because He was coming to save, and was being rejected.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Jesus loved these Pharisees in a way that we cannot fathom.
The Apostle John records in his gospel:
John 1:11-12 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
We see that plainly in the next verse:
6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Under normal circumstances the Pharisees and the Herodians were enemies. The Herodians hoped to restore Herod the Great to the throne – and they hoped the Romans would do it. This, of course, put them at odds with the Jewish leadership who hated Rome.
Amazing how opposition to Jesus brought together mortal enemies. It still does. Odd here – while the Pharisees claimed healing on the Sabbath was illegal – they go out and plot murder – clearly against God’s Law. It’s amazing how we will stretch logic beyond the breaking point in order to avoid God.
So Jesus and His guys leave and actually go away for a while. I think Jesus wanted His disciples to see what they were up against, perhaps, before He calls them to serve with Him.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
You can see the depth of need here – while the Pharisees quibbled about one healing, these people practically crush Jesus to get that same healing power. When you find the source that supplies the real need in your life – its worth anything – even the wrath of those over you – to get it. The disciples had to put Jesus in a boat and push off from shore a little to keep the people from just climbing all over Jesus. What a scene! And again, as before, Jesus gives strict orders for the demons not to identify Him.
We don’t know if they were mocking Him or seeking mercy from Him (not likely) or were seeking to embarrass Him or as we said before, let the “cat out of the bag” too soon – but Jesus puts a stop to it.
Now after this Jesus takes His men and formally calls them into service:
Appointing the Disciples (a timeout)
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve-designating them apostles-that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
So now we come to another questioning – Jesus’ sanity!
Crazy or Christ?
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
Jesus is so busy with healing people that he can’t even eat! Verse 21 says “when his family” and this is probably correct – closer than friends, really – but could be family and very close associates.
They went to “take charge” or really rescue Jesus from Himself. The phrase “He is out of His mind” is pretty strong – and could indicate that his family thought he was acting crazy doing these things.
A different way to translate this is: when his family heard it being said “He is beside Himself.” So the word on the street was that Jesus must be crazy to give Himself so completely to the work that He doesn’t even eat.
Hmm – later on Jesus would say:
John 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work
But they had to have some way to explain what was happening. What do your family members say about you as you really begin to serve the Lord with everything you’ve got? Do they think you are mad? My sister thought I was going through a “fad.” I guess that’s better than having me committed.
Others had different ways to explain Jesus – and its amazing, people will come up with anything other than – He is the Son of God.
Satan or Savior?
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
These guys couldn’t deny that the supernatural was taking place – but they could deny that it was coming from God. Jesus pokes a giant hole in their argument right off the top.
Now, were these guys “blaspheming” against the Holy Spirit? No – but they were close.
John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
The rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord is the unpardonable sin. It is the continually and unrepentant calling the Spirit doing the work in Jesus as from the enemy – rather than from God.
What happens is that men go to irrational ends to explain something they will not explain by the one way that makes sense – from God. For that would mean they would have to repent and believe – something they were not willing to do.
Notice how Jesus says that all sins will be forgiven. Jesus died for all sins, but if you don’t take that death as your own payment, then there is no forgiveness left – no other way, no exception clause.
So next we see another attempt at explaining Jesus – not as demon, but as mere human.
Boy of Mary or King of the Universe?
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother."
This incident could have been connected to the one earlier where family members came to get Jesus. But the point the Lord makes is that relationship in the Christian family is more important than relationship in your earthly family.
If you belong to Jesus your earthly family can no longer command you to stop ministering for God because they are your family. Now, that doesn’t mean as a child you don’t have to obey your parents – you should. But when it comes to believing and serving the Lord, He takes precedence over family.
That doesn’t mean that if your mom calls and wants to have a cup of coffee with you but you wanted to go to a church fun night that you say “sorry Mom, but the Lord takes precedence over you.” But if your family says – you shouldn’t go to church or talk about this Jesus person – you tell them that God is more important.
Another thing here is the ties that you have with your brothers and sisters in the Lord – they are actually stronger than biological family ties – that ought to change the way we treat each other. Some of you might say – well I argue all the time with my family and fight with my brothers and sisters so that’s what I should do in the body of Christ. No.
Conclusion
• Who is Jesus to you? The people tried to label Jesus – as rebellious Jew, Crazy Man, Evil, or just a human. They missed out on who He really was – the Son of God and the Savior of the World. You must decide for yourself – each person must. Don’t avoid it until it is too late.
• Are you ruled by rules or by God?
This is a tricky one – because freedom in Christ doesn’t mean freedom to sin but freedom from sin. But when it comes to traditions – we Christians have come up with some really silly ones – rules that take the focus off Christ and can actually keep people from the kingdom.
• You can only be baptized in our church
• Prohibitions against dancing, movies, make-up
• Required head coverings
In fact, let me give you a list of Christian assumptions – plausible but false assumptions from “12 Christian Beliefs that’ll drive you crazy” by Barry Cloud and John Townsend:
1. It’s selfish to have my needs met
2. If I’m spiritual enough I will have no pain or sinfulness
3. If I change my behavior I will grow spiritually and emotionally
4. I just need to give it to the Lord
5. One day I’ll be finished with recovery
6. Leave the past behind
7. If I have God I don’t need people
8. “Shoulds” are good
9. Guilt and Shame are good for me
10. If I make right choices I’ll grow spiritually
11. Just doing the right thing is more important than why I do it
12. If I know the truth I will grow
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0310494915/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-1103378-6460607#reader-link
• Are you ready to “give it all” for Jesus?
I was present a couple of weeks ago when a man slumped over on this desk – and died of a heart attack. It happened so suddenly – one minute he was there, the other he was gone. He died at his desk. You just never know when your time comes – wouldn’t it be better to live every day as if this was your last, and live it as Jesus would want you to, no matter what others say?
• When it comes to trying to “figure out” the Lord – do you try every explanation before simple faith the trust?
• Are you a disciple?
Jesus appointed 12 disciples with three objectives:
1. To be with Him
2. To preach the gospel
3. To take authority over the kingdom of darkness
That in a nutshell is life in Jesus – be with Him, spend time with Him, learning who He is and letting Him change you. Then let that life spread out from you to others – rescuing them from the clutches of the enemy who holds their minds in darkness.
