Image: "Colors of the Kingdom", 2020, Overlook near Renovo, Pa
Mark 3:5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
Mark 4:26–27 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
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Mark continues his "pile-on" tactics, heaping historical anecdotes on top of each other, accumulating irrefutable documentation supporting His main point: Mark 3:11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.”
Indeed, if we just open our understanding to these stories, we ought to be floored by the accumulated effect. Consider briefly the following: Mark 3:14–15 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have the power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons... Jesus not only had the authority and power in Himself to heal and cast out demons, but He also had the authority to invest His disciples with this same, though subordinate, capacity. Note carefully that it was not because these men had any intrinsic qualities or purity that such privilege was given. One of them was Judas Iscariot! The others were no paragons of faith at this time and their understanding was still very limited. But it was not their righteousness or faith that is at the center of this story. It is Jesus' absolute royal prerogative that is being highlighted. Mark does not even bother to say anything about how they used this power though Luke does.
Again, when questioned about the source of His power over demons, Jesus proclaims His sovereignty with regard to Satan himself: Mark 3:27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house. Can there be any doubt about what He is asserting? Jesus has authority over the demons because He has tied Satan's hands in the matter. Satan is helpless against Him. Satan embodies both the power and scope of evil in the world. He is the Prince of Darkness, the great deceiver and the father of lies, and yet, at a mere word, he is rendered powerless by the King of Kings, the Royal Son of God. This is powerful stuff!
And then there is the famous "stilling of the storm!" Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” The disciples had seen a lot. They had seen their master silence His enemies, cast out demons, heal the sick, restore a withered hand, cleanse a leper, and give a paralytic new legs. At this point, they should have been so used to Jesus' ability to handle anything that came up that a mere, terrifying storm, should have done nothing more than raising a mild concern.
Jesus, upon being awakened was a bit irritated. "How is it that you have no faith?" (4:40) He asks. Then he stands up and commands the winds and the waves to "be still!" This is where the full humanity and full divinity of our Lord really shine through. As fellow human beings, we are very familiar with His emotions at this point. "All I want is a little peace and quiet... I need to sleep... shut up!" There's our finite humanity showing through. However, none of us would have issued forth that command. Only the Lord of Heaven and Earth could do that. It's no wonder that the mortal fear which had driven the disciples to awaken Jesus is now transformed into near terror. "they feared exceedingly!" (4:41) It's one thing to face death, up close and personal. It is another to be brought into the Presence of One who can command the earth and the stars to do His will.
Mark had done a remarkable job and he is not done yet. We, his readers, can only shut our mouths and submit. "What then shall we do?" At this point, we should take to heart the parables that Mark intersperses in these stories. We should hear the Word of Kingdom. We should expect it to grow like a mustard seed and that should fill us with zeal. We should take to heart the parable of the seeds and understand how it applies to us, both in our mission to spread the seeds, but also in constantly guarding our own souls to ensure that we are like the good soil producing a harvest for the King. We are to be a lampstand, confidently shining light into the darkness. We must embrace our Lord's teaching that "whoever does the will of God" is His brother, sister, and mother. (3:35)
How can we just pass over these stories? Their accumulated weight should bring us to our knees. Jesus of Nazareth was a Man who lived long ago, but He was more than a Man: He was the Son of God. Everything about us should bear witness to this historical truth... every day.
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