The Book Of Mark # 14

Illus: An actor went to see a new agent one day and said, “You must have a look at my act; it really is innovative.”

The agent gave him the nod, so he flew up to the ceiling, circled the room a few times and landed smoothly on the agent's desk.

The agent said, “So you do bird impressions, what else can you do?”

The Lord did not have a difficult time at all making a good impression. This passage deals with the tremendous impact the Lord Jesus made while He was here on earth.

Illus: You heard it before but it bears repeating.

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born.

He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is central figure of the human race and leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the kings that ever reigned, have not affected the life of man as much as that One Solitary Life.”

The Lord Jesus’ impact upon people is incompre¬hensible. In only a short time after He started His ministry, people from everywhere began to seek after the One called Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah.

Notice, the Word of God says "A great multitude...came unto Him." This is not an over exaggeration when the Word of God says this was a GREAT MULTITUDE … IT WAS A GREAT MULTITUDE!!!

Illus: Speaking of exaggeration reminds me of a lawyer that had died and arrived at the pearly gates. He was known to throw numbers around loosely.

To his dismay, there were literally thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter.

However, to his surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where the lawyer was, and greeted him warmly.

Then St. Peter and one of his assistants took the lawyer by the hands and guided him up to the front of the line, and into a comfortable chair by his desk.

The lawyer said, "I don't mind all this special attention, but what makes me so special?"

St. Peter replied, "Well, I've added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 193 years old!"

We are all guilty of throwing numbers around loosely to impress people. But the Word of God does not do that. When God’s Word says it was a GREAT MULTITUDE, it was just that!

But when this GREAT MULTITUDE began to gather around Him, the Lord did something that some might consider unusual.

Look at verse 7, we read, “But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a GREAT MULTITUDE from Galilee followed him...”

This GREAT MULTITUDE came from everywhere.

Look at verse 8, we read, “And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a GREAT MULTITUDE, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.”

The Lord Jesus already had done some very amazing things, and everyone was spreading the Word of His greatness.

The crowds were enormous (remember the feeding of five thousand men, not counting the women and children). Everyone wanted to see this great MIRACLE WORKER!

People always get excited about seeing something they never have seen before.

Illus: Andy wanted a job as a signalman on the railroad. He is told to meet the inspector at the signal box. The inspector puts this question to him: "What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading for each other on the same track?"

• Andy says, "I would switch the tracks for one of the trains."

• "What if the lever broke?" asked the inspector.

• "Then I'd dash down out of the signal box," said Andy, "and I'd use the manual lever over there."

• "What if that had been struck by lightning?"

• "Then," Andy continues, "I'd run back into the signal box and phone the next signal box."

• "What if the phone line was busy?"

• "Well, in that case," persevered Andy, "I'd rush down out of the box and use the public emergency phone at the level crossing up there."