Scripture Reference: Mark 3:7-35
The Crowd – Continued
Down by the lakeshore they find Jesus healing; the picture is that of a dense multitude, as people struggle to get close enough to touch Him so that they will be healed. They find Him also driving out demons. Sceptics think that all this talk of demons is just some primitive description of mental illness: these simple first-century types didn’t understand about schizophrenia or epilepsy, they say, and so they put it all down to demons. But we read here that the demons speak articulate words as Jesus drives them out. Also, these are not just any words, no, it is only the demons at this point who have an accurate view of Jesus’ identity (see Mark 1:34). Jesus refuses to accept their testimony, not because it is inaccurate, but because the only confession He wants is from the mouth of someone who understands and who submits to His authority with delight, not terror. So Jesus is healing and driving out demons, but above all He wants to speak, to teach. We know from the first chapters that this is His top priority, and we know it here because of verse 9. Why does Jesus need to have a boat on standby? Clearly, not so that He can heal; He usually heals through touch. Not so that He can drive out demons, either; He accomplishes that also, from close up. The only reason He could need a boat is to speak without constant interruption. From a boat a few yards out on the lake He can probably get better acoustics, and He can certainly pull back from the encompassing crowd. Jesus’ priority is to teach people about the Kingdom of God. He drives out demons to prove that the Kingdom is here, but nothing will make sense to people unless they can hear and understand what it is all about.
So much for the crowd. They have come from far and near, converging on the figure standing at the lakeside. The crowd is drawn by the headline-grabbing healings and exorcisms and, sadly, their testimony about Jesus is not much more helpful than that of the demons. The crowds in Galilee always like Jesus, but for most of them it never goes much beyond that. They remain outsiders.
The Call
Now for the call. Look at verse 13. Mark tells us that Jesus calls the ones He wants to come into His presence and be near Him. In the Greek there is a very strong emphasis on the word “He.” The crowd may want Jesus for all sorts of reasons, but overwhelmingly it is for what they can get. But Jesus calls for the people he wants.
Mark points out that He then appoints “twelve.” Why twelve? He has just broken with the leaders of the old religion, which is based on the nation of Israel. Israel had twelve founding fathers, and now Jesus begins to create His new people, “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), also with twelve founding fathers. This is the beginning of the church. On that Galilean mountainside the church of Christ appears in embryo, and this is its very first meeting.
Verses 14-15 explain why they are called. First, they are to “be with him,” for they are to spend time with Jesus, getting to know Him intimately, for Himself, learning all that He has to teach them, seeing how He lives right up close. They will know Him as those crowds never will. Secondly, they will be sent “out to preach” about Him and to announce that the Kingdom of God has come. Their job will be to cover the ground in a way in which no single individual, no matter how powerful and persuasive, could ever do. They will multiply the presence of Jesus twelvefold and in their turn bring others to know Him too. Thirdly, they will walk in His “authority” and “power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.”
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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