Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 3:7-19. He said that Jesus is for everyone everywhere.
Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 3:7-19. He said that Jesus is for everyone everywhere.
The purpose of Mark 1-3 is to show us Jesus
Mark TELLS us this at the beginning, saying Jesus is Messiah/Son of God
But he was writing to people who may not have been familiar with those words...
So he goes on to SHOW us what this mean.
Vivid stories, all centered around Jesus' own announcement that the KoG is at hand
Who is Jesus and what is this Kingdom he announces?
Story after story has been showing us the answers to these questions
3:7-19 condense all of these stories into 12 verses, and we need these answers, because what comes next will be confusing and disorienting without them
Next week, we begin our second series through the gospel of mark:
Riddles of Redemption: Seeing the Secret Mission of Jesus
Jesus will soon face his strongest opposition yet. Religious teachers will accuse him of being demon possessed. His family will say he's out of mind. Jesus will go into hiding...
Not physically...but relationally, emotionally, theologically.
He will soon speak to us in riddles and strange stories.
He will demand silence and avoid crowds.
He will begin his Secret Mission...and if we don't know who Jesus is and what his kingdom means...we will get lost in the secrecy.
So let us be crystal clear in answering those questions today, Mark 3:7-19.
Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, and Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon.
-Mark 3:7-8
This passage tells us:
Jesus is for everyone from everywhere
One of the ways we can answer "who is Jesus" and "what is his kingdom" is by answering "what kinds of people did he come for?"
Idumea was 120 miles to the south.
Tyre and Sidon were fifty miles to the North.
These were not short walks!
The geographic distance these people came from show us Jesus welcomes people no mater where they come from.
Ethnically, this group could hardly be more diverse.
Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem were primarily Jewish places.
Idumea and Transjordan were mixed Jewish-Gentile areas, and Tyre and Sidon were almost entirely Gentile regions.
Short of fighting in a war, these groups would not gather together like this...
And yet here they are. What is Mark showing us?
Jesus is for people from everywhere...but what kinds of people?
The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, huge crowds gathered, and we see the kinds of people Jesus is for in the next stunning picture:
He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
-Mark 3:10
He came for sick people, hurting people, oppressed people
Demon possessed people were there.
Physically, socially, and spiritually sick were there
Jesus came with good news, fulfilling a good news ministry to heal the broken.
Who is Jesus? He is King with authority over all we are.
Who is Jesus? He is for everyone, he welcomes everyone from everywhere. All kinds of people, no matter what ails them.
Regardless of ethnic origin, social status, health or ability or country of origin, Jesus is for everyone from everywhere.
Who is Jesus? He is the King of God's Kingdom who has come to heal and restore.
Go home and read Mark 1-3 and ask yourself: WHO IS NOT WELCOMED IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS?
Take a moment and consider what ails you, or to put it bluntly: what's wrong with you?!
Maybe you feel like you don't know enough
Maybe you feel like you're too angry, or too alone, or too isolated, or too sick, or too helpless, or too weak, or too busy, or too distracted...you will find all of those people in Mark 1-3. And you will see Jesus welcomes them and heals them.
Who is not welcomed in the presence of Jesus?
The answer is no one. Because Jesus is for everyone from everywhere.
We don't know the end goal of all of this in Mark yet. We don't know precisely who Jesus is or what his Kingdom is. Not yet. But these pictures carry us.
Jesus is the King of the Kingdom.
People from everywhere are welcomed, and all kinds of people.
In Jesus' presence, all kinds of people are healed and transformed...and then something else happens there, too.
The next imagery could not be more important, alarm bells need to start ringing
Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain...
-Mark 3:13
Throughout the Bible, and especially in Mark's gospel, mountains are sites of revelation from God.
MARK is sounding the alarm "A BIG EVENT WITH GOD IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN"
What is God like? LET'S GO TO THE MOUNTAIN.
In the Bible, God brings people up mountains to show them who he is.
He blesses and curses from Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerim in Deuteronomy and Joshua
Isaac is offered on a mountain but a substitute is provided in Genesis
Moses meets with God on a mountain in Exodus, just like Elijah did in 1 Kings
The ark of God was set on a mountain in Samuel, Chronicles says God dwells in the mountains, and above all, God gave his 10 commandments on Mt Sinai, showing his FREED PEOPLE how to live.
All of these images inform what Mark is showing us here.
But Jesus is NOT going up a mountain to receive something, but to reveal something.
Who is Jesus? He's not just King, HE'S GOD, he is more than mediator, HE IS REVELATOR. He is showing us who God is, because he is showing us who he is.
He does not go to meet with God, people go up the mountain to meet with Jesus
...and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him.
-Mark 3:13
Jesus, who is God, is for everyone, from everywhere. He invites us up the mountain of revelation...why?
Did you see what it said about the disciples here?
Was it the ones he needed? The ones who were ready or righteous or charismatic?
The ones HE WANTED!
The call of Jesus is birthed from desire, which is to say it's birthed from love.
Some of you may still be doubting you're welcomed here.
Some of you think there's no way God could want you. So let me show you Jesus' disciples:
These are the twelve he chose: Simon (whose he named Peter)
Simon the fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. Normal job in that day.
Would be like an Amazon Delivery Driver today.
James and John
Two more fishermen.
Andrew
Any guesses? FISHERMAN.
Philip, Bartholomew
We don't know. Gospel writers didn't think it mattered.
Matthew
Matthew the Tax Collector.
This would be like hiring as your pastor an abortion doctor.
Thomas, James, Thaddeus,
Not sure, but probably fishermen for reasons we'll learn later.
Simon (the zealot)
A violent revolutionary hoping to start a war with Rome.
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)
-Mark 3:16-19
We are only certain of 5 of their jobs. What does that teach us?
It didn't matter to Jesus. Jobs were not important.
One of them, Matthew, was surely hated because he had manipulated, oppressed, and taken advantage of his neighbors.
One of them, Simon, was aggressive and violent.
One of them, Judas, would betray him.
The number 12 is not a coincidence, either.
These men represent the new Israel, the fathers of 12 new tribes.
And it is not the special elite God chooses to make a new Israel, it is the ordinary, the reviled, the violent, and the betraying.
What is he showing us about his kingdom?
What you have done, what you bring to the table, is not most important. What's most important is the man who has invited you to sit with him, King Jesus.
The Kingdom of God, like Jesus, is for everyone, everywhere. Every kind of person.
Maybe you think these 12 turn out to be super heroes, but Mark makes it clear they're not!
In chapter 4, they tell Jesus how confused they are by the riddles he's telling.
Later in that chapter, he rebukes how little faith they have.
Chapter 6 they have basically have a panic attack thinking Jesus was a ghost
Chapter 7, disciples have no idea what Jesus is saying AGAIN
Chapter 8...disciples have no idea what Jesus is saying AGAIN
Chapter 8, Jesus calls Peter SATAN because he's tempts Jesus away God's plan
We could do this all day...but Mark NEVER paints the disciples as heroes
They're not heroes, they're humans. Needy, dependent, doubting humans.
Limping disciples. Confused. Inadequate. Little of faith and slow of mind.
What we can admire about the disciples is that, despite their consistent failures, they kept returning to Jesus.
The Kingdom of God is for the feeble and failing.
The Kingdom of God is for the hurting and the haunted.
The KoG is for those who desire, more than anything, to be with Jesus.
Jesus is for everyone from everywhere.
And when they come to him, he heals them, transforms them, and sends them.
Not as perfect apostles, but as GOOD NEWS PEOPLE
Their lives are no longer marked by what they've done, but by who they've met.
Their lives are marked by GOOD NEWS because that's who Jesus is.
He came with good news and spread good news.
He welcomes everyone from everywhere and sends them as good news people to do the same.
They do not announce their accomplishments or credentials, they announce THE KING HAS COME
Good News People carry Good News Ministry by the power of Jesus, not the competencies of those he calls.
Like the disciples, we bring our broken inadequacies to Jesus
Like the disciples, we then go, even with our doubts and insecurities, even with our little faith, believing God is for all people, all kinds of people, in all kinds of places.
We don't have to grow or change or behave to come to Jesus. We have to receive.
We receive what he has done for us and what he says about us as we trust his presence with us.
We are GOOD NEWS PEOPLE
We are not perfect people, but we are indeed good news people.
So...who do you know that needs good news?
How have YOU forgotten that you are welcomed at the table of God?
What is it about you that makes you believe you are not welcomed?
Turn from those thoughts, turn from those lies, believe again the gospel and come home
To those you know, isolated and alone, hurting, oppressed, sick, filled with despair: go, give them good news.
The King has come. He is inviting them home. There is room at his table.
Jesus is for everyone, everywhere. Go, good news people, and let the world know.