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Scripture Reading: Mark 3:7-35
We have seen that in chapter one of the Gospel of Mark there are five matters that are the contents of the Slave-Savior’s gospel service: preaching the gospel (Mark 1:14-20), teaching the truth (Mark 1:21-22), casting out demons (Mark 1:23-28), healing the sick (Mark 1:29-39), and cleansing the leper (Mark 1:40-45). We have also seen in Mark 2:1—3:6 five ways in which the Slave-Savior carried out this gospel service: forgiving the sins of the sick (Mark 2:1-12), feasting with sinners (Mark 2:13-17), causing His followers to be merry without fasting (Mark 2:18-22), caring for His followers’ hunger rather than for religion’s regulation (Mark 2:23-28), and caring for the relief of the suffering one rather than for the ritual of religion (Mark 3:1-6). In Mark 3:7-35 we have another group of five items. This group includes the auxiliary acts for the gospel service: averting the crowd’s pressing (Mark 3:7-12), appointing the apostles to preach (Mark 3:13-19), not eating because of the urgent need (Mark 3:20-21), binding Satan and plundering his house by the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:22-30), and not remaining in the relationship of the natural life but in that of the spiritual life (Mark 3:31-35). In all the items in each of these three groups we see the excellency of the Lord Jesus. In this message and in the message following we shall consider these auxiliary acts for the Slave-Savior’s gospel service.
In carrying out a ministry which God has commissioned to us, we shall face problems, opposition, and frustration. Certain problems are caused by something that is done in a natural way with the intention of helping us. The Lord faced this kind of frustration in His ministry. As He was carrying out the ministry of His gospel service, He met problems.
In 3:7-12 we have the problem of the crowd pressing upon the Lord. Verse 7 says that a great multitude followed Him and His disciples, and in verse 8 we see that “a great multitude, hearing what great things He was doing, came to Him.” The multitude gathered around Him because they heard what He was doing. This crowd was a frustration to the Lord’s ministry.
Many of today’s preachers and evangelists like to have a large crowd. However, the crowd is not a help to the real ministry of life. On the contrary, a crowd, a multitude, for the most part may help us to have a movement, but it does not help the ministry in life.
In 3:7-12 two significant words are used with respect to the crowd: press (vv. 9-10) and touch (v. 10). Verse 9 says, “And He told His disciples that a little boat should stand ready near Him because of the crowd, that they might not press upon Him.” The Lord wanted to get into a boat in order to avert the pressing of the crowd. The crowd’s pressing hindered the way for the sincere ones to come to the Lord and touch Him directly. If we are among those who merely press upon the Lord, we shall not receive anything from Him. In order to receive from Him, we need to touch Him. Therefore, in this portion of the Gospel of Mark the word “press” is used in a negative sense, whereas the word “touch” has a positive meaning.
According to the record of the Gospels, a number of times people pressed upon the Lord. But only those who touched Him received any benefit. It is through a direct touch with the Lord that life is imparted from Him to us. This impartation of life we call transmission or infusion. Another term is dispensing. When we contact the Lord directly, we receive the divine dispensing. But pressing upon the Lord does not accomplish anything as far as the divine dispensing is concerned. We experience the divine dispensing only by directly touching the Lord. Because the Lord realized this, He wanted to separate Himself from the crowd. For this reason He withdrew with His disciples to the sea.
Although the Lord left the crowd, the crowd continued to follow Him. Because of this, even when He was at the seashore the crowd was seeking to press upon Him. Hence, He told His disciples that a little boat should stand ready near Him. He did not want the crowd to press upon Him. The boat was a means for the Lord Jesus to be separated from the crowd.
In figure, the little boat that the Lord wanted to stand ready near Him signifies the church. In Matthew 13 the boat has this significance. The church is different from the nation of Israel, which is signified by the land. The church is also different from the Gentile world, which is signified by water. The church is something that is separated from the land and is on the water. Therefore, the church is neither on the land nor in the water. Although the church “boat” is on the water, it is not in the water, and the water is not in the boat. Therefore, the land signifies the nation of Israel, the sea signifies the Gentile world, and the boat, which is separated from both the land and the sea, signifies the church. By this we see that the church is separated both from the nation of Israel and from the Gentile world. This understanding is according to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:32 concerning the Jews, the Greeks (the Gentiles), and the church of God.
Today the Lord is ministering His life to those in the church; He is also ministering from within the church to others. This is the significance of the boat. If we see the significance of the figure of the boat, we shall realize that if we are out of the church and try to minister to people, we may suffer the pressing of the crowd. Today many ministries are being rendered to a crowd without a boat. However, the proper ministry is a ministry in the boat, a ministry that imparts the life supply not to those who press the Lord, but to those who sincerely desire to touch Him.
What the Lord did concerning the crowd should be an example to us, and we should follow in His steps. However, most preachers and evangelists today appreciate a crowd. The greater the crowd, the happier they are. But the facts of history indicate that a great crowd causes a loss, not a benefit, to the genuine ministry of life.
Here we see that the Lord’s way is different from man’s way. Instead of treasuring the crowd, He sought to avoid the crowd. When the crowd followed Him, He asked that a little boat be made ready in order that He might go away from the crowd that pressed upon Him.
Although the Lord sought to avoid the crowd, He wanted the sincere ones to be able to touch Him. If we are simply part of the crowd, we shall not receive anything from the Lord. We need to single ourselves out from among the crowd and touch Him directly and honestly. If we do this, we shall receive the ministry of life.
The first of the auxiliary acts for the Slave-Savior’s gospel service was averting the pressing of the crowd. Concerning this, we need to learn of the Lord. Often preachers are deceived by a crowd. When a crowd surrounds us, this may be deceiving; it also may be frustrating. Hence, we need to avoid the crowd. But this does not mean that we should give up the people. No, as we avoid the crowd, we need to allow others to contact us, to touch us, directly in order to receive the genuine ministry of life.
Mark 3:11 and 12 say, “And the unclean spirits, when they beheld Him, fell before Him and cried out, saying, You are the Son of God! And He warned them many times that they should not make Him manifest.” The crying out of the demons concerning the Slave-Savior was also a frustration to His gospel service. Therefore, He warned them and forbade them.
We have seen that the Slave-Savior first needed the sea and then a little boat to avert the pressing of the crowd. This indicates that the crowd pressing upon Him was a frustration to His gospel service. In order to get away from the crowd, the Lord went to the sea. Later, He went from the sea to a mountain.
The Lord’s actions here are very interesting. In order to avoid the pressing of the crowd, He went to the sea, where He ministered to the sincere ones who touched Him directly. Eventually, after these received His ministry of life, He went up to the mountain.
Mark 3:13-15 tells why the Lord went up to the mountain: “And He goes up into the mountain, and calls to Himself whom He wanted, and they went to Him. And He appointed twelve, whom He also named apostles, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons.” Here we see that the Lord’s purpose in going up into the mountain was to call certain ones and to make them His apostles. His appointing them to be apostles was for the spreading of His gospel service.
According to verses 14 and 15, the twelve appointed by Him were to preach and cast out demons. To preach the gospel is to minister God to people; to cast out demons is to keep Satan away from people. These comprise the main purpose of the Slave-Savior’s gospel service.
The Gospel of Luke indicates that the Lord Jesus prayed before He appointed the twelve to be apostles: “And it came about in these days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when it became day, He called His disciples to Him; and He chose from them twelve, whom He also named apostles” (Luke 6:12-13). Many had received the ministry of life from the Lord. This means that He had rendered much life to the sincere ones who touched Him directly. They received the life supply from Him. Then He was burdened to select certain ones of them and appoint them to help Him in His ministry of the gospel. For this reason, He went to the mountain and prayed. The Gospel of Luke indicates that He prayed the whole night. The Lord must have prayed concerning the choosing of the twelve apostles. He prayed concerning the choosing of the twelve from among the many who had received His ministry of life.
We know that one of the twelve selected by the Lord was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him (Mark 3:19). To be sure, the Lord Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him. I believe that before making His selection, the Lord consulted with the Father in prayer. His appointing of the twelve was actually not the carrying out of His own will. Rather, it was the carrying out of the will of God the Father. I believe that the Father charged Him to select certain ones, including Judas. The Lord made His selection according to the Father’s will.
We need to learn of the Lord not to carry out our ministry by ourselves. Not even the Lord Jesus always carried out His ministry by Himself. First He selected the twelve and later, the seventy. From this we see that both in the ministry and in the church life we need to learn to be diligent and faithful ourselves and also learn how to raise up certain ones to help us.
It is not very difficult to carry out our ministry by ourselves. In fact, there is the tendency for teachers and preachers to do everything by themselves. Among Christians today there is not the common practice of sharing the ministry with others, the practice of teaching, appointing, and perfecting others to fulfill the same ministry. But according to Paul’s word in Ephesians 4, the ministry of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers is to perfect the saints so that the saints may carry on the work of the ministry. The Lord’s ministry was to perfect the apostles, and the apostles’ ministry was to perfect the saints. By this we see that God’s move on earth is not with an individual; His move is with groups of people.
In the Gospels we first have a group of twelve and later a group of seventy. The Lord’s appointing the apostles to preach certainly is a significant auxiliary act for His gospel service. We all need to follow the Lord in this matter. The elders in a local church need to learn how to raise up others. After a period of time, the elders should no longer be alone caring for the church; they should raise up others to join them in this responsibility.
The Lord made the selection of the twelve in the early part of His ministry. The ones He chose certainly were not very mature. Two of them, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, were given the name Boanerges, which means sons of thunder. The Greek word “Boanerges” comes from Aramaic. This name was added to James and John by the Lord because of their impetuosity (see Luke 9:54-55; Mark 9:38). In chapter nine of Mark we have an example of John’s “thundering.” But by the time he wrote his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation this thunder had lost its roar.
Another one of the twelve selected by the Lord Jesus was Simon the Cananaean (Mark 3:18). The word “Cananaean” comes from the Hebrew kanná, zealous. This refers to a Galilean sect known as the Zealots; it does not refer to the land of Canaan (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). The Zealots were extremely patriotic and loved the Jewish traditions and practices. The Lord chose one of these Zealots to be an apostle.
One of the twelve, Matthew, was formerly a tax collector. In his list of the twelve apostles Matthew specifically designates himself as the tax collector (Matt. 10:3). This may indicate that he remembered his salvation with gratitude. Even a despised and sinful tax collector could become an apostle of the Slave-Savior.
The last of the twelve mentioned by Mark is Judas Iscariot. The word “Iscariot,” a Greek word, probably comes from Hebrew and means a man of Kerioth. Kerioth was in Judah (Josh. 15:25). Thus, Judas was the only apostle from Judea; all the rest were Galileans.
As we consider what brothers may bear the eldership in a local church, it may seem to us that no one is qualified. For example, we may say, “This brother seems quite good, and he loves the Lord very much. But what about his background?” If the Lord Jesus had considered the twelve in this way, who could have been chosen? Matthew would certainly have been excluded. How could the Lord have chosen a tax collector to be one of the twelve apostles? We may think that the Lord should have chosen a scribe. But one of those He selected was in fact a tax collector.
We need to learn from the Lord that the natural view is different from the view that is according to spiritual insight. The Lord made His choice according to His spiritual insight, not according to man’s natural view. James and John had a terrible temper, a temper that could thunder. We would never have chosen them to be apostles, but the Lord did. From the natural point of view, no one would be qualified to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus. James and John, Simon the Zealot, Matthew the tax collector — none would be qualified. Praise the Lord that He did not make His choice according to the natural point of view!
If we have a natural view of the saints in the church life, we may feel that we are the only ones qualified to do certain things. For example, there may be just one elder in a particular locality. This elder may say that there is a need for at least two more elders. However, this brother may go on to say, “Yes, this one is good in certain ways. Yet he is not that good.” Eventually, according to the natural view, only this one brother himself is qualified. Years may go by, and he remains the only one who seems suitable to bear the responsibility of the eldership. There are not the “twelve,” much less the “seventy,” to help him. He is the only one in his local church qualified to be an elder.
The Lord Jesus, on the contrary, chose the unqualified ones to be His apostles. The twelve were not qualified, and we are not qualified either. Nevertheless, in the Lord’s move there is the need for helpers. Hence, one of the Lord’s auxiliary acts in carrying out His ministry was to select certain unqualified ones to be His apostles.
Eventually, Peter was confirmed by what happened on the day of Pentecost. I do not believe that Peter had a high degree of education. Nevertheless, not long after the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected, Peter could stand up on the day of Pentecost as a leading apostle. The Roman Church regards Peter as the first pope. But this “pope” was a fisherman who was selected by the Lord and then confirmed on the day of Pentecost.
It is very important for us to learn not to view the Lord’s ministry or the church according to the natural concept. The Lord did not choose Nicodemus to be one of the twelve. The Lord did not choose any learned ones. Instead, the ones He chose seem rather peculiar. We have seen that to James and John He even gave the name “sons of thunder.” Often when they spoke they were thundering. If we had been there, our attitude might have been, “Put these two aside until they stop thundering. Once they have changed and their thunder has lost its roar, then we can use them in the ministry.” This is our concept, the natural concept. But it is not the view of the Lord Jesus. In your locality are you able to use the sons of thunder in the service of the church? We must learn of the Lord to use even such ones in the gospel service.
We have seen that the Lord Jesus turned from the crowd and then asked for a little boat to be made ready for Him. His action was not natural. Everything He did was in the spirit. Likewise, His appointing of the twelve was not natural, but was altogether in the spirit. Although He knew that Judas would betray Him, He still appointed him to be one of the twelve. Naturally speaking, no one would appoint such a one as Judas. But, acting according to the spirit, the Lord Jesus chose even him.
Mark 3:20 and 21 say, “And He comes into a house; and a crowd comes together again, so that they could not even eat bread. And hearing it, His relatives went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, He is beside Himself.” This indicates the busyness, diligence, and faithfulness of the Slave-Savior as the Slave of God in His evangelical service.
It is not easy to analyze or systematize the Lord’s actions. There seems to be a contradiction between the Lord’s behavior in averting the crowd in 3:7-12 and His behavior in 3:20-21. First He avoided the crowd. But when He was in the house and the crowd came together, He did not try to get away from the crowd. According to what He did in 3:7-12, we would expect Him to stay away from the crowd in order to finish eating. We would expect Him to say, “I am eating now, and I don’t have time to be with you.” However, He acted in a different way. He stopped eating and took care of the urgent need of those in the crowd.
When the Lord’s relatives heard of the situation, they went out to lay hold of Him, saying that He was beside Himself. This exclamation expressed natural concern on the part of the Slave-Savior’s relatives regarding Him. As we shall see in the next message, this opened the way for the scribes to blaspheme Him (v. 22).
The Lord’s relatives, perhaps His brothers in the flesh, thought that He was beside Himself. They were concerned because He cared only for the crowd and not for His eating.
We should not try to analyze in a natural way what seemed to be the contradictory behavior of the Lord. When the crowd pressed upon Him, the Lord sought to avoid the crowd. But when the crowd afforded Him opportunities to minister life to people, He would not care for His eating. We need to differentiate these two matters — the pressing of the crowd and the opportunity to minister life.
