The Compassion of Jesus (Mark 3:7-19)

Mark chapter 3, starting in verse 7.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

Says Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea, Jerusalem, Idomia, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon.

The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing.

Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn't crush him.

Since he had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch him.

Whenever the unclean spirit saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God, and he would strongly warn them not to make him known.

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him.

He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority to drive out demons.

He appointed the twelve to Simon, he gave the name Peter, and to James, the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave them or he gave the name Bonergis, that is sons of thunder.

Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Let's pray.

Lord, we say this every week, but we truly thank you for your word, Lord, for this compass that you've given us to direct our lives.

Lord, everything that we need for life and godliness is found in your word.

So, Lord, I pray as we look at this today, that it wouldn't just be a box that we check, but we would truly see your heart behind this scripture, this text here today.

Lord, that you would change us and that you would mold us to be more and more like you.

Lord, I pray today that you'd help us to rightly divide your word and that your Holy Spirit would be the one speaking, not me here today.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Okay, so as we go through this passage, I want to make sure that we're looking out for a couple of things, and that also we're asking ourselves a couple questions.

First, I want to make sure that we're looking specifically at the compassion of Jesus Christ through this passage.

At first look, you might not catch it, but there's multiple times where we're going to see the compassion of Jesus Christ come through.

And we're going to see that compassion even come through towards those that hate him.

And then I want us to be asking these questions and be able to have an answer by the end.

The first question is what is the right reason for following Christ?

So, what is the right reason for following Christ?

And the second question is this Are you a faithful disciple or follower of Jesus Christ?

So that's the second question.

Are you a faithful disciple or follower of Jesus Christ?

So just keep those in mind as we go through.

We're going to jump right in here at verse 7.

So take a look at it with me.

It says, Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea, Jerusalem, Idemea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon.

So first we're going to do a little geography lesson.

So we talked about this, I think, the first time that we met.

But Israel is made up of three different sections at this time.

So at the very northern region and where this is taking place here today in our story, you have Galilee at the very top, and that's where Jesus was from.

That's where he lived, that was his home, and where he spent a lot of his time.

In the middle we have Samaria, and that was kind of the hated region by all the other Jews at the time.

And at the bottom, we have Judea, and that's where Jerusalem is.

It's kind of the center for religious worship, and that's the southern region.

Now over here, this is the Mediterranean Sea, and the border on this side is the Jordan River.

So it kind of gives you an idea of what Israel looks like at this time.

And so we see people coming from that whole country to him, but now we're seeing them coming from either even further places.

We're seeing from Idomea.

So that's not a part of Israel.

It's southern from Israel.

It's on this past the southern border.

And then we see beyond the Jordan, so people coming from the east.

And then we see Tyre and Sidon, and those are north of Galilee.

So we're seeing people coming from all over Israel, and now from the surrounding countries as well.

And basically, people are coming from all over.

I mean, all over.

Some of them are traveling hundreds of miles.

And to give you an idea of the size of Israel, if we were to draw a border in Santa Maria from the coast all the way to Highway 5, and then if we were to go up to San Francisco and do the same thing from the coast all the way to Highway 5, it would basically be everything that's from Highway 5 to the coast in there.

That's roughly the size of Israel.

It's 290 miles at its at its uh length and it's 85 miles at its greatest width.

So it's not really a big country at all.

And remember, most of these people are they're traveling by foot.

Some of them might be coming on animals, but think about it.

Some of these people are traveling up to 300 miles to come see Jesus.

And some experts say that at this time, this crowd that's pressing into Jesus may be upwards of 40 to 50,000 people at this time that have come because they've heard and the news has spread.

So that's the scene.

That's what we're looking at today as we look at this passage.

And then it says, the large crowd, this is the second half of verse 8, says, the large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing.

Now I have to mention this, or I have mentioned this, I should say, many times over the weeks.

But this crowd is full of people that are there for a lot of different reasons.

They were there, it says at the end of verse 8, for everything he was doing, not because of who he is.

We've mentioned some people are coming just for entertainment, just to see what the next miracle might be.

And then we've talked about the naysayers, those that are coming trying to find something wrong, trying to accuse him, trying to prove that he's doing something wrong.

And then we see those that are just in need of healing.

They have some sort of an ailment or a disease, and all they want is to get healed.

But then finally, we see those that are coming because they are in need of a savior.

They're sick and tired of this world and they're clinging to Jesus' every word.

And you may be wondering why I keep bringing this up, why this was a mixed bag of people.

And here's why.

Just because there's a large crowd and just because there's a move of the Spirit, it doesn't mean that people are there for the right reasons.

Jesus had these huge crowds, but how many of them were there when things got hard?

How many stuck around when he was arrested?

It's a big fat zero, isn't it?

And how many of these people that we see in verses 7 and 8 here were later yelling, crucify him.

Crucify him.

And the reason I keep bringing this up is that large religious gatherings, when things are good, don't equal a healthy church.

A true church family is a group of Jesus followers that live life together.

And it doesn't disperse when things get hard.

Kind of just like the value that Pete was talking about today.

This group here in our text this morning is a group of really needy people.

And a lot of them are there for the wrong reasons.

To see what Jesus could do for them.

Or to just be entertained by the miracles that they're witnessing.

So, followers of Christ who are only interested in what Jesus can do for them, they're not gonna stick around when things get hard.

And what does Jesus do?

He continues to pour out compassion on all of them, regardless of why they're there.

And as Ben mentioned last week, even the Pharisees, they got to hear the gospel probably more than anyone else while they were plotting to kill him.

That's mercy, that's the mercy of God right there.

And Jesus just keeps ministering and offering chance after chance after chance for the people that are there for the wrong reasons to start being there for the right reasons.

Look at verse 9 with me.

Says, then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn't crush him.

Since he had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch him.

So, like I said, this is a needy group of people.

You get a sense of their anguish and their hurt and their desperation for something other than what they've experienced in the world.

But regardless of their motives, Jesus loves them.

Jesus realized that they want a physical healing, but Jesus knew what they really need.

They needed a spiritual healing.

Remember, we talked about this a couple weeks ago, but physical healings have a lifespan.

They die when you do.

But a spiritual healing, that's an eternity.

And it's interesting that in Luke's gospel, that this story that we're looking at with this really needy crowd, it leads right into Jesus teaching them Beatitudes.

Where Jesus started off with, Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

Take note, your reward is great in heaven.

So Jesus is telling this crowd, things are hard now, but what you really need more than anything else is me right now.

The compassion of Jesus for those that are hurting now is so evident as we read throughout the Gospels.

And Jesus is telling them, hang on.

It's hard now, but I have a future for you.

I have a hope for you.

I have an inheritance that I want to share with you.

Hang on.

And I think we need that encouragement just as much today as that crowd did back then.

As this crowd was pressing in so hard to Jesus that he actually needs a boat just to gain a little distance and for his own physical safety.

And it makes me ask the question how many times have I pressed in to Jesus for the wrong reasons?

And I want to ask you to consider that same question here this morning.

And how many times did Jesus patiently and compassionately just look at us and keep ministering to us?

Knowing that we would eventually come to him for the right reasons.

Think about that for a second.

So often we can press into Jesus looking for a Lord and Mastercard instead of a Lord and a Savior.

That's the right reason to be coming to Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 11 with me.

It says, Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God.

And he would strongly warn them not to make him known.

So I find it funny that Jesus' enemies and naysayers were the ones that had the most faith in him.

You know, last week Ben mentioned that the Pharisees had no doubt that Jesus could heal the guy with the withered hand.

They were so sure that he would that they tried to use that to set a trap for him.

And here, these unclean spirits, these demons, they're recognizing Jesus as the Son of God.

And they have no doubt of who he is.

And these demons are absolutely terrified of him.

In the Gospels, we see Jesus as the Lamb.

We don't see anything terrifying about Jesus in the Gospels.

But in Revelation, we get to see Jesus as the lion.

We see a warrior, we see a husband that's coming back to rescue his bride.

And I get the sense that these demons have seen Jesus as a lion in the past due to their terrified countenance and all that they're doing whenever they come in contact with Jesus.

They want nothing to do with him.

They're like, I know what this guy is capable of.

I've seen it before.

Get me out of here.

I want none of what Jesus is doing.

The Bible tells us that we need to have a healthy fear of God.

Not scared of him, but a healthy respect might be a better way of putting it.

And I've heard the fear of God be compared to the Grand Canyon.

Unfortunately, at the Grand Canyon, every year, two to three people die because they get too close to the rim.

They're trying to see more of the beauty, and they get dangerously close, and unsuspectingly they fall to their deaths.

Because the Grand Canyon is vast and it's huge and it's steep, and you have to have a healthy amount of respect of the Grand Canyon when you're approaching it.

And if you're not having that healthy respect, the consequences and dangers of acting careless or flippant will take your life.

And in the same way, we need to have a healthy respect of God, his vastness, his beauty, and all of those things, but at the same time not getting too chummy with God.

But still having that healthy amount of respect.

We need to live in that balance of not being scared of him, but having the healthy respect.

We need to live in that healthy balance of being called a friend of Jesus, but still respecting his power and his might and his authority.

And if you're abiding in Christ, you are safe in his presence.

Praise the Lord.

And he invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace.

But just because we're safe, doesn't mean that he is safe.

Which these demons know.

They are not safe.

They know that Jesus has the power to end them and to throw them into eternal torment.

So they're terror stricken.

And Jesus tells them, Quiet, don't tell anyone.

This crowd is big enough as it is.

He doesn't need more people coming.

And the demons know that Jesus has that authority and they're terrified.

So let's move on to verse 13.

It says, Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted.

And they came to him.

He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority to drive out demons.

So we learn in Luke chapter 6, verse 12, that Jesus did this, this appointing of the twelve apostles, after spending all night in prayer.

Luke 6:12

After a long day of ministry, after facing lots of opposition from the Jewish leaders, after facing off with demons, after all of this opposition towards his whole ministry, Jesus spends all night in prayer.

And then he appoints some leaders.

So no doubt Jesus needed time with the Father.

He needed encouragement and strength from the Holy Spirit.

He needed guidance on who these twelve would be and a plan for how to start discipling them.

And this was a big moment in his ministry.

So what does Jesus do?

He completely bathes it in prayer.

Now I'd imagine that Jesus probably had thousands of people that he could have chosen from.

That would have said, at least in the beginning, yeah, I'll follow you.

But he needs to pick twelve to become the building blocks of the church in which he's going to be the chief cornerstone.

And it says in verse 16, he appointed the twelve.

Like I said, this was a defining moment in Jesus' ministry.

He appoints those who will carry on his name and his ministry after his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

And 11 of the 12 actually will.

I say that because Judas is going to betray him.

But I wanted to stop on that just for a second.

Because as a pastor, I find great comfort in the fact that Jesus appointed somebody that completely went off the deep end.

Because as a pastor, or maybe you can relate to this as a discipler or as a friend or as a parent, even.

But as a pastor, it's hard to see someone go headlong in the wrong direction.

And to not wonder if maybe we've done something wrong in that process.

And have doubt that maybe we could have done something different.

Here's Jesus, the perfect teacher, the perfect friend, the perfect discipler, the perfect good shepherd.

And one of his main students goes completely off the rails.

And nobody can look back and say, well, it was the pastor's fault.

Or it was the church's fault.

It was the parents' fault.

It was the teacher's fault, whatever it might be.

Nobody can do that because Jesus was absolutely perfect in every one of those ways.

And even under perfect circumstances where eleven completely excelled, there is one that is too hard-hearted, that's too prideful, that's too rebellious to surrender completely to Christ.

And the important thing that we need to remember in all of that, regardless of how we're relating to that at this moment, is that Jesus was on Judas' side, and he showed great compassion and patience, even when Judas was not on Jesus' side.

That's a lot of compassion from Jesus Christ, isn't it?

Alright, let's look at the names of the other disciples in verse 16.

It says, To Simon, he gave the name Peter.

And to James, the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave the names Bonergis.

That is sons of thunder.

So naming something in this culture showed authority over it.

It showed ownership of it.

So Jesus is changing their names, and these guys are okay with it.

They've completely surrendered to Christ under his authority.

And he changes Simon's name to Peter.

He changes it from Simon, which means listening or hearing, to Peter, which means rock.

And if you know anything about Peter, listening and hearing is not the best name for Peter.

He's the one that is talking when he shouldn't.

Let's build three shelters for you, Elijah, and Moses.

He's the one that's doing things when he shouldn't, like cutting people's ears off.

He's the ready fire aim disciple.

Jesus literally has to tell him at one point, get behind me, Satan.

But I find it so encouraging that Jesus gave Peter the name Rock before Peter did anything to deserve it.

It wasn't until the Holy Spirit came upon Peter that his name actually made sense.

A rock would not deny Jesus three times and then run away, would it?

And the reason I find this so encouraging is because God sees the beginning from the end.

You might think that you're an absolute failure.

Like Peter did after Jesus was arrested and crucified.

But God sees what you will become.

He's willing to deal with our current failure because he knows what he can do with us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was through the power of the Holy Spirit that he went on and lived up to the name that Jesus gave him.

And it's so easy for us to look at the disciples and think that they're so inept and they're so incompetent and to make jokes, you know, just about how dense they could be.

But if you're a follower of Christ, you've never had to try and follow Jesus without the Holy Spirit.

Like these guys were doing at this time.

We would have been making the same bonehead mistakes that they were.

There's no doubt.

Because the Holy Spirit Spirit is our helper, he's our counselor, our comforter, he's our wisdom, he's our power, and he's our strength.

And through the person of the Holy Spirit, we have what we need to live out the calling that Jesus has placed in each one of our lives.

Just like Peter.

And then he goes on.

And for James and John, the brothers, he names them sons of thunder.

And this makes me smile every time that I read it.

Because these guys were lightning rods.

They were those crazy brothers.

Maybe you've known them before.

And I know I'm probably not supposed to do this, but who here has seen Oceans 11?

A lot of you?

I mean, before you were Christians, right?

Yeah, just totally, yeah.

No, I'm joking.

But do you remember the two brothers from Utah in Oceans 11?

They're always ribbing each other and poking each other and making fun of each other and everybody else.

They're always up for a good time.

They're always, you know, just doing knuckle-headed stuff.

Every time I see this nickname, I think of those two brothers in Oceans 11.

And I think of this name really as being like a campfire name.

You know, where they're all sitting around the campfire next to the Sea of Galilee, roasting some fish or something like that, razzing each other, having a good time, laughing together.

And then James and John start making fun of somebody.

Maybe they're making fun of Peter, oh, you know, after the transfiguration.

Remember that one time?

Let's make three shelters, you know, and having fun.

And Jesus is like, oh no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on.

He's like, at least they didn't ask if they can call down fire from heaven to take out all of those Samaritans that one time, you sons of thunder, you know, or something like that.

Same guys, James and John.

They were the one asking Jesus for the fire to come down.

But that's that name stuck.

However, it happened, you just gotta peek into my twisted imagination.

But however it happened, that's the nickname.

And the point here is that Jesus is giving special names.

He knows these disciples, and he's giving them these special names.

And then it goes on to list the disciples in verse 18.

It says Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew, Matthew, who's Levi, the tax collector that we just saw, and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

So these are his twelve.

And I think that as we picture the scene oftentimes, we probably might picture it a little different.

We might see Jesus surrounded by a bunch of guys that are his own age.

Maybe have a little bit of gray, you know, coming into the beard.

But these guys are young.

They're all probably in their late teens or their early twenties.

And John, the apostle John, may have been as young as 16 at this time when he was being called to become an apostle.

This is a young group, and it's a very diverse group as well.

We have fishermen, we have brothers, business associates, tax collectors, relatives of Jesus, a political extremist, some that were from Galilee, some that were from Judea, and one that would ultimately completely betray him.

And they, as we learned when Jesus called the fishermen, were a group that had been passed over by every other school and by every other rabbi.

This was not the cream of the crop.

This literally was the leftovers that had already been picked over.

Which actually makes a lot of sense.

Because in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 through 31, and I'll read it to you, it kind of makes sense of why Jesus chose this ragtag group of 12 guys.

1 Corinthians 1:26–31

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26, it says, Brothers and sisters, consider your calling.

1 Corinthians 1:26

Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.

Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

And God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world, what is viewed as nothing.

Leftovers, right?

To bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence.

It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

So Jesus chose twelve apostles that could take absolutely no credit for what God was about to do through them, that couldn't boast in their education, they couldn't boast in their upbringing, their gifts, their talents, or their abilities.

There were a bunch of ragtag guys that the world and the religious system had already passed over.

And Jesus says, perfect.

These guys won't be able to boast in anything other than what the Lord has done through them.

And this should be, as well, a huge encouragement to us.

If you've ever had the thought of how on earth could God ever use me, just take a look at the disciples.

No one is too young and nobody is underqualified to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and to change the world.

To turn it upside down, like the song that we just sang that Amy wrote.

Now, have you ever heard this phrase before?

That Jesus desires fat disciples.

Has anybody heard that before?

Faithful, available, and teachable.

It's an easy way to remember.

Jesus desires fat disciples.

Beyond that, there's really no prerequisites.

I mean, faith in Jesus Christ, obviously, but to follow him and to become a disciple and to become more like him and to be used by him.

There's no other prerequisites than to be faithful, to be available, and to be teachable.

So Jesus chooses the twelve.

And the twelve disciples or apostles, as Jesus names them, were the ones that were with him on a daily basis.

The ones that Jesus was explaining the parables to.

These twelve became the ones that knew him best.

And all but two would eventually lay down their life for the sake of the gospel.

Judas was a traitor and ended up killing himself.

And church history tells us that John outlived all the other disciples and died of natural causes.

But the other ten that knew Jesus best, they had no problem laying down their whole life for Jesus.

Because they knew that it would be worth it to be with him forever.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

And they lived it out beautifully.

And I say that as well for as an encouragement to us today.

Because Jesus has called each one of us to be his disciples.

That was his last command that he gave to his disciples was to make disciples of every nation.

And the goal of a disciple, anybody remember, is to become just like the rabbi.

The better we know him, the more we're like him.

And the easier it is to say no to the things of this world, to the things that might distract us or pull us away.

To lay down our lives not just in death, but in how we live in a moment-by-moment basis.

For the sake of the good news of Jesus Christ.

For the sake of that good news of Jesus going out to the world around us and us becoming disciples and making more disciples.

If we abide in Christ, if we stay close, if we're the ones that could be known as the ones that know him best, the things of this earth, as the old hymn says, will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

And as we close, I think that is our biggest takeaway from this chunk of scripture that we're covering here this morning.

That first we come to Jesus for the right reasons.

Not to be entertained, not to be part of a crowd, not to get something from him, but to come to him and to follow him because of who he is.

Recognizing our desperate need for him.

Recognizing that we're filthy wretches without him.

And the second thing is when we come, don't try and present your resume or your accomplishments to the Lord or to anybody else.

Rather, we need to come and admit that we can do nothing without him.

We need to come to him being faithful, available, and teachable and ask him to use us in a way that we could never boast, where we could never take credit.

You know, I've heard it said that you can teach a faithful person to be talented, but you can't teach a talented person to be faithful.

God's not looking for a bunch of talented people, He's looking for a bunch of faithful servants.

So let's be found as faithful servants, as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, and just let God do the rest.

We just stay close to Jesus.

We abide in Him, we become more like our rabbi.

And maybe you're sitting here today thinking, well, I'm not a follower of Christ, or I'm not a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Well, if that's you, I want to invite you in.

You don't have to do anything as we just learned in preparation.

There's no class, there's no getting things in order in different areas of your life first.

Jesus is looking at you right now and saying, I can work with that.

So would you surrender to him today if you haven't before?

Or maybe you need to recommit your life to the Lord because you haven't been living as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus.

And maybe you need to ask for forgiveness for the first time or the 1500th time.

But we need to ask for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Ask for his authority over our life.

So with all heads bowed and eyes closed, before we pray, if that is you and you want to recommit your life, or you want to commit it for the first time, with all heads bowed and eyes closed, would you just raise your hand?

Because if that is you, we want to get to know you, we want to pray with you, we want to encourage you in your walk with Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

Jesus, we thank you so much for your compassion that you poured out on all of these people, but that you're continuing to pour out on each one of us.

For none of us is a finished product, but you see the beginning from the end.

Lord, you've taken a chance on every one of us that consider ourselves as a follower of you.

And Lord, we know we're a work in progress, and we know there's a long way to go in this process of sanctification and becoming more like you, becoming holy.

But we thank you that you gave us the blood of Jesus Christ so that we can now take on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

And that you have become wisdom for us.

Lord, that you have sent the helper in the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us and to counsel us, to strengthen us, to give us direction.

Lord, we don't deserve any of this.

You are so good in so many ways.

And we are here to thank you and to glorify you and to honor you.

So, Lord, would you continue to mold us and to shape us to be more and more like you?

That we wouldn't try to build a resume, but we would just try to stay in an abiding relationship with you.

God, you are so good.

Be blessed, Lord, as we continue to worship you and to praise you.

Now we pray in Jesus' name.