Tag Archives: nearby villages

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE MISSION – 7

Bible Study, ,

Mark 1:35-39 NIV
[35] “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [36] Simon and his companions went to look for him, [37] and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” [38] Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” [39] So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.”

What an opportunity to make a name for Himself, to win the popularity poll for the most compassionate, most caring, and…yes… most effective miracle worker Israel had ever known! Jesus didn’t need a campaign manager or a marketing expert. His fame spread before Him like a prairie wildfire.

When the disciples awoke, Jesus was missing. They hunted high and low, but He was nowhere to be found. Didn’t He know how popular He was? People came from everywhere, ignoring their need for sleep and food, clamouring to get near Him. The streets of the village resembled a hospital waiting room, every kind of sickness and disease represented in the milling crowd.

Just imagine! Here was a man who, unlike any person they had ever met, could cure disease with a touch and drive out demons with a word…but He was missing!

The disciples were frantic. They searched everywhere and finally…they found Him. Indignantly, they rebuked Him.. “Everyone is looking for you!”

Don’t you understand, Jesus? “This is an opportunity of a lifetime. You are so popular that people are flocking to you from all over the country. Here’s your chance to make a name for yourself.” Who wouldn’t jump at an opportunity like that, especially because He was God’s Messiah, after all! Didn’t He want to reach as many people as possible?

Jesus’ response left them bewildered, flabbergasted.

Mark 1:38 NIV
[38]… “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Instead of capitalising on the situation, Jesus walked away. He left the bewildered crowd with all their desperate needs, clamouring and crying for help. He simply walked away!

Why, Jesus? Why?

Jesus, the Servant of Yahweh, was under orders from a higher authority. It was not for nothing that He spent long hours in prayer. In the quietness and darkness of the night, while His disciples slept, He was in touch with headquarters, fellowshipping with the Father, receiving instructions for His next assignment. He may have been separated from the Father by geography by not in heart.

Without His daily instructions, without the Holy Spirit’s intimate presence, Jesus would be rudderless, left to His own devices to steer His own course. He had a divine and eternal mission to fulfill. Despite His divine nature, He had laid aside His divine power and privileges, making Himself utterly dependent on His union with the Father and His partnership with the Holy Spirit to plot His daily course and to fulfill His divine calling.

What took precidence in His life above all other needs and demands? Not food..not sleep…not creature comforts…not even rest or recreation. When people interrupted His rest time with the disciples, He was quick to respond to their needs, but… above all else, His response to His mandate was…

Psalms 40:7-8 NIV
[7] “Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. [8] I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”

The Father’s Word and the Father’s will stood out above every other demand…and Jesus pursued His purpose with diligence and dedication. To neglect daily prayer and intimate fellowship with the Father would make shipwreck of His mission.

So, Jesus moved on, not because He was unaware or unfeeling towards human need…not because He was oblivious to opportunity… but because He was the Servant, always under orders from heaven. He was never need driven…always Spirit led. When the Father said “Go!”, He went. When the Father said, “Speak!”, He spoke…and what He said, so He assured even His fiercest opponents, was only what He heard the Father say.

John 12:49 NIV
[49] “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. [50] I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

These few verses in Mark’s gospel speak volumes about the Servant of Yahweh. Without engaging in extended and detailed explanations, Mark tells us, in graphic stories, that Jesus was under orders. He was dedicated to fulfil His mission. He was careful to stay in touch with His authority and to obey every instruction.

Despite His disciples’ blundering efforts to assist Him, Jesus steered a straight course through human demands and needs to do the Father’s will and to fulfill the Father’s commission… Even to death!

So, how do we respond, as servant/sons of the Most High God, to this magnificent example of the Servant/Son? We can do no less than He did, through diligent and faithful prayer…not by issuing orders but by reporting for duty.

Boundaries

Bible Study, , , , ,

BOUNDARIES

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where He prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed, ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ So He travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons (Mark 1: 35-39).

‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ What a remarkable man! A lesser person may have been so excited about his popularity and the success of his ministry that he would have found an office and set up his headquarters right there in Capernaum.

Not Jesus! He wasn’t out to build a ministry and set up a data base of supporters so He could send out His newsletter every month and garner “partners” for His ministry. He had a twofold mission to accomplish – to reveal the Father to His people and to train disciples who would be replicas of Himself so that they would carry on His ministry when He was no longer there. It was a hands-on, on-the-job training programme.

His power came, not from the support He could build based on His popularity and His “seeker friendly” methods. His source of power was simple – prayer, much prayer, early-morning prayer when there was no one around to clamour for His attention. He was in partnership with His heavenly Father, energised by the Holy Spirit.

He had to touch base every day to ensure that He maintained His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit and did exactly what He was instructed to do. This was, after all, the Father’s business and He was the Son. Only through submission and obedience to the Father would Jesus succeed. The success of His enterprise would come, not from His methods but from the Holy Spirit who came upon Him at His baptism and who put Him through His paces in the wilderness. The principles were hammered out there and He would stick to them, no matter what.

This meant that He had to set boundaries. He was not driven by people’s need. He was led by the Holy Spirit. The fact that people were up and out at the crack of dawn looking for Him was not His motivation. He had a much wider mission to accomplish than healing all the sick people in one town. He had a message to deliver to the whole nation. He was not deterred or held up by people in need in one locality.

Jesus had not come from heaven on a healing campaign, as urgent and necessary as that was in Israel. Healing and casting out demons was not an end in itself but a demonstration of what God’s reign would be like when He came in His fullness. Satan’s rule had brought misery and suffering to the human race because people allowed him to deceive them into thinking he was in charge. It was time for the people to know the truth.

When God is in charge, everything that is contrary to God will be defeated and destroyed. Love and all the ramifications of love, will be the ruling principle. There will be no place in His kingdom for any imperfection. Attitudes and behaviour that represent the dominion of darkness will be gone forever. That’s what Jesus came to show His people. He would conquer disease, death and demons and with them all the ugly emotions and attitudes that mess people up and destroy relationships.

He would not allow anyone or anything to deter or distract Him from His purpose. He walked away from Capernaum because He had a message to deliver everywhere. Not His disciples, not the clamouring crowd, not the promise of success or popularity, nothing would stop Him from following the Father’s directions. He knew His boundaries. He drew His boundaries. His disciples would just have to get used to Him if they were to learn His ways.

What if those of us who think we are His disciples were to take a leaf out of His book? What if we were to get our directions daily from the Holy Spirit and not from our plans and strategies? What If we were to draw boundaries around our times of interaction with the Father and His directives and allow nothing to distract us and pull us off course?

What if we were to spend more time seeking the kingdom of God than we do building our own kingdoms?

What if we were to understand the heart of Jesus and do what He did – bring heaven to earth where we are by being like Him? How effective would that be?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com