Privacy Series

Jean Paul Sartre in No Exit has three characters in the play who are one by one ushered into hell.

To their surprise it is not a place of punishment. There are no demons torturing and inflicting pain.

They are left in a moderate size room with a few articles. There are no widows or mirrors, but only

each other to look at. They are, at first, quite pleased with their good fortune. But then it dawned

on them, none of them had eyelids. They were condemned to live forever with their eyes open, and

under the gaze of one another. "It is a life without a break." This endless lack of privacy was their

hell.

The lack of privacy was part of the cost that Jesus paid to be the Messiah. He descended into hell

in His death, but He also did so in great measure when He left heaven and descended to live the life

of a man in a fallen world. Aristotle said, "The ideal man is his own best friend, and takes delight in

privacy." Jesus was the ideal man and He loved privacy. But He had to fight for it, and live an

unusual life style to get it. The only two ways that Jesus succeeded in getting some privacy was by

getting up early and going off by Himself to pray, or by getting in a boat and going out into the sea

of Galilee. But then He was still with His disciples, and so Jesus had a hard time being alone.

In Mark 6:32 Jesus departed into a desert place privately. He thought by going to a remote

place He could be alone, but the people ran around the lake on foot, and when Jesus landed the

crowd was there already waiting for Him. That is when He had compassion and fed the 5000.

Imagine trying to get away from it all and ending up hosting 5000 for supper, and all of them

unexpected guests!

In our study of Mark 3 we discover we are in Mark's crowd chapter. He uses two words to refer

to the vast crowds around Jesus 5 times in this chapter. He no where again refers to the crowds so

often, even though Jesus is in the midst of crowds all through this Gospel. The crowd here, however,

is very specifically described as no where else. It is unique and impressive. The popularity of Jesus

had spread across the land. Jesus was no local preacher, but had national and even international

fame. The crowd from Galilee in the North was joined by many from Judea in the South. They

were coming from Maine to Florida is what we would say using our geography. From one end of

the country to the other people were flocking to Jesus. Mark adds, from Jerusalem, to show that

though the leaders of Israel were out to kill Jesus, the people saw Jesus as a friend. Sometimes

people know more than their leaders.

Mark adds that people came from Idumea and the region across the Jordan. It is surprising to

note that this is the only place in the New Testament where Idumea is used. It is the land of the sons

of Esau; the land of the Edomites, the traditional enemies of Israel. Yet the fame of Jesus had spread

across the Jordan to those people, and they came over the Jordan to expand the massive crowd that

followed Jesus. Finally, Mark records that the people also came from Tyre and Sidon, the two great

cities of the Phonecians. The crowds were a mixed multitude of both Jews and Gentiles.

There was no discrimination in the ministry of Jesus. He healed people of all races and nations.

He was a friend to all, and He died for all. Jesus is getting a taste of what He will experience in

eternity. In Rev. 7:9 we read, "..there was before me a great multitude that no one could count, from

every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne." John goes on to say they were

shouting, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Jesus will be

popular forever among people's of all the world. We see it already in His life on earth in this crowd

chapter of Mark. Jesus was the most popular person of His day, and He will be the most popular

person for all eternity. There was a price to pay for this popularity, however, and that price was loss

of privacy.

This is one of the costs involved in the motto, we will follow the Lord to win the lost at any cost.

We tend to think in terms of time and money, but these are even easier to give up than to give up