The Pilgrim Path---Mark's Gospel 3:7--12 

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

---Jesus withdrew to the sea. When you have healed, helped, and taught--- as He has---how will you be without crowds?

---Jesus drew them from miles around. And why not? There were few doctors...but really no hospitals. And they came...Who could blame them? No United Health Care. No Medicaid...No National Health Service...and they kept coming...

---Jesus told the disciples to have a boat ready for him. You know, William Hendriksen, is pretty smart to point out that there is a "big lesson" in that little boat: Such a large multitude was potentially going to "press in" upon the God-Man, they may not "wait" for Him to "touch" them---they may rush Him---to "touch" Him. So Jesus says, "Have a boat ready." Well, The Living Christ is simply reminding us that "faith" is a valuable thing---and so is common sense. Sometimes that is overlooked, even among God's people...

---Jesus strikes fear in the unclean spirits. When they acknowledge His deity---He simply orders them to be silent! It's neat to study these episodes in the Gospels. When Jesus is around a largely Gentile crowd, He allows the demons to speak on---even to acknowledge Him. But around mostly Jewish hearers, there is this gradual, by degree approach---as in, "my time has not yet come." The Lord Jesus slowly "builds" to Messianic recognition among Jewish hearers (Isaiah 42; Matthew 12: 18-21). I like what some of the old commentators say as well---the Living Christ did not need the testimony of demons to validate His labors!

A note from Dr. Ed Welch, working in Africa (Swaziland) through CCEF some 10 years ago: In Africa, spiritual warfare is the prominent interpretation for most difficult events. Typically, this means that there is an active spiritual world outside of us and we must identify it and cast it out. The emphasis is not on our heart's voluntary partnership with the Evil One. In the United States, we are less quick to identify spiritual warfare, and we are more prone to pointing the finger at the human heart. These interpretations, of course, merge into one. Spiritual warfare is most frequently expressed in the human heart. For Africans, that means that the diagnosis of demonism should lead us both into prayer and knowing individual people. We pray that God would break demonic strongholds and we humbly confront those who imitate Satan in their lies, anger and jealousy. In the United States, this means that an everyday experience such as jealousy is not merely a private snit. It is not merely something going on within me. Instead, it is a casualty of spiritual warfare. Jealousy is a relational connection. In our jealousy we are aligning with Satan's kingdom, at least temporarily, and with such alignment bondage and blindness are sure to follow...

---Jesus, The Living Christ, gets hold of people---and delivers them---from jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, lust, hopelessness...He is the only One for broken souls...

How lovely is Thy dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts, to me!

The tabernacles of Thy grace

How pleasant, Lord, they be!

My thirsty soul longs ardently,

Yea, faints Thy courts to see;

My very heart and flesh cry out,

O living God, for Thee.

Scottish Psalter, 1650

Grace & Peace in Jesus Our LORD Pastor Jason