Mark 3:7-12

Mark 3:7-12 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 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. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. He had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

The crowd pushed forward to see and to be touched by Jesus. They wanted to get close to him, for He was seemingly a man with supernatural powers. However, the demons, entities from the dark domain, did not want anything to do with Jesus, for they knew him to be the righteous Son of God. They saw him as who He was. The crowd basically saw Jesus as a healer, a worker of miracles, and Jesus wanted it that way. Jesus drew crowds by rescuing many of them from the the throes of disease and illness, but his ministry was confusing to the people because He taught them through parables. He wasn't yet ready to reveal himself as the SON OF GOD; therefore, He gave strict orders for the demons not to proclaim his divine birthright. If he had desired to, He could have ordered all the demons of the world to gather and announce to the people in some great manifestation who He really was, but he didn't. He did not come down just to implant in the people's minds who He was; He came down to fulfill a mission. He came to fulfill the divine mission of giving absolute grace and mercy to a wayward and sinful humanity. He came to die, He came to be resurrected, He came to ascend into heaven. He came to reveal God's love, and to break the chains of sin and death that held mankind in bondage to sin and darkness and to bring eternal life. He came to reveal that light and life would reside forever in all who would put their faith in him and HIS WORKS.

It is interesting to note that Jesus ordered the demons to do his will, for He could order them to be quiet. However, He dealt with men in a different way. He came to convince them to choose to do God's will. Men were made in the image of God. They have the ability to disobey God, to go their own way, to be subject to no one but themselves. Therefore, God presented Jesus his Son to them as the Way to the Father. He sent his Son to convince the world that they should love God. They should willingly sell themselves out to the God of mercy, love, and grace. They should want to be his servants and do HIS WILL ON EARTH. They should accept the privilege to be lights and to bring life (His Life) into every situation. Jesus was pressed by the crowd, not for who He was, but for what He could give them. They followed Jesus until his arrest, but when the people realized that He could not rescue them from their plight anymore, they abandoned him. In reality they knew him only as a man and not as the SON OF GOD. They knew him as a man who could perform healings and miracles. Now in the powerful arms of the Romans, He was nothing to them. Yes, Jesus told the demons not to tell who He was because He had a glorious mission to accomplish. He fulfilled that mission: He revealed God to mankind. Through his life and death He expressed God's love to humanity. He revealed God's love to us, and as a result of our faith in him, we can move into the glorious destiny of being the children of God, people known to be in the intimate family of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus. As his children, we not only know him as the Son of God, we can experience him in our lives every day and display his likeness to a dying world by doing good works and loving the unlovely as He did, forgiving as He did, seeking the lost as He did. Dear Lord, bless your children today, those you redeemed!