Ministering to the Needy and Making Disciples Who Imitate King Jesus

This section of Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus' withdrawal to the lake, which was necessitated by the plotting of the Pharisees with the Herodians on how to kill him (Mark 3:6). It also signals an important change in his evangelistic strategy. After the experience of Jesus in the synagogue as recorded in Mark 3:1-6, he washed his hands of any future preaching in the synagogues. On only one other occasion did he enter a synagogue (Mark 6:1-6). With this single exception Jesus turned his back on the synagogues. He has withdrawn from the institution that had been the center of Jewish religious and cultural life for hundreds of years.

The references to familiar themes like the popularity of Jesus as a healer and exorcist indicate that his appeal had not suffered. The size of the crowd (Mark 3:9) is much larger than anything Mark has described before, and for the first time Mark portrays a vast following of people from outside of Galilee. These crowds came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon (Mark 3:8), besides the villages of Galilee.

From this point forward, Jesus employs a two-part plan for kingdom extension: (1) Helping the Masses to Experience the Compassionate Presence and Power of God; (2) Helpers the Master Chooses to Equip to Replicate His Ministry for World Impact.

Helping the Masses to Experience the Compassionate Presence and Power of God – 3:7-10

Healing the Sick

Frequently, when the New Testament writers condense his ministry into a sentence or two they show Jesus in opposition to the reign of the devil which appeared as demonic possession, sickness, the disruption of nature, or sin: it was "for this purpose that Jesus appeared, to destroy the works of the Devil" (1 Jn 3:8). Peter spelled out the result of Jesus' baptism and gave a summary of Jesus' mission on earth: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, . . . he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Both of these verses confirm the outline that Jesus gave concerning his mission in Lk 4:18-19 (“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” ).

Healing must have been important to Jesus because he did a lot of it. He taught his disciples to heal, and they taught their disciples to heal. God loves to make wrong things right in our bodies, souls, and spirits, regardless of where we are in our spiritual journeys.

Summary statements about Jesus' mission abound throughout the text of the Gospels with references to healing and exorcisms:

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. . .. Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons . . . (Mk. 1:34; Mt. 8:16; Lk. 4:40-41).

“… he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him” (Mk. 3:10; Mt. 4:15; Lk. 6:19).

The news about him spread...so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses (Lk. 4:15).

At that time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sickness and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind (Lk. 7:21).

I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal (Lk. 13:33).

He welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing (Lk. 9:11; Mt. 14:14).

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel” (Mt. 15:30-31).

Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there (Mt. 19:2).

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them (Mt. 21:14).

The preceding passages illustrate the sizable emphasis the Gospel writers place upon the role of healing in Jesus' ministry. Of course, Jesus did many other things besides healing and exorcisms. But the point is, if New Testament discipleship depends upon replicating the life of the model, then miracles represent a significant part of "imitating Christ." Indeed, if the amount of space a writer devotes to a subject is any index to its importance, then the healings, exorcisms and other supernatural acts of the Holy Spirit must be extremely important. As a percentage of the text describing the public ministry of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels, the space devoted to the accounts of miracles amounts to: 44% of Matthew, 65% of Mark, 29% of Luke and 30% of John.   This percentage is continued in the ministry of the early Church, as recorded in the Book of Acts, if not actually expanded: of the total text of Acts, over 27% of the space is devoted to "extra-ordinary" charismata.

To conclude, Jesus’ public ministry in inaugurating the Kingdom of God consisted to a sizeable degree in healings, exorcisms and miracles, not as a way of "proving" the Kingdom, but of “expressing” it.

Many believers today assert that the primary purpose of Jesus working miracles and casting our demons was to prove that he was God, and to show that the apostles were trustworthy teachers of doctrine so we could have confidence in the Bible and make the transition to a new way of worshiping God. Not true, the reason for healing did not lay in a historical transition that moved us away from the supernatural into the primary way we do church today, but in the eternal character of God.

Jesus heals because he has compassion on the sick and hurting. A typical incident is recorded in Matthew 14:13-14: “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Compassion motivated Jesus to heal a man who had leprosy (Mark 1:41-42), a boy possessed by an impure spirit (Mark 9:22), and two men who were blind (Matthew 20:34), and even to raise a widow's son from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). In Matthew, the feeding of the four thousand is motivated not by a desire on Jesus part to demonstrate that he is the bread of life, but by his compassion for the multitude (Matthew 15:32) Likewise, Jesus healed those who were blind (Matthew 9:27-31; 20:29-34), possessed by demons (Matthew 5:22-28; 17:14-21), and had leprosy (Luke 17:13-14) in response to their cries for mercy. Even the healing of the most severely demon-possessed person in the New Testament is attributed ultimately to God’s mercy (Mark 5:19).

It is my opinion that the lack of the manifestations of the supernatural in our lives and churches has been a major deterrent to the advancement of the kingdom of God. Charles Carrin was right when he observed: “According to his declaration in the Great Commission as given in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus clearly expected believers "to the end of the age" to be taught "all things," maintain the same disciplines, and do the same works as His original followers. There is no way to avoid the clarity and directness with which He spoke: "Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Language cannot be more explicit. Yes, Jesus intended that the modern church do the same works as the ancient church. This includes exercising authority over demons and driving them out. To refuse obedience to Christ on this point is as inexcusable as disobeying Him on any other. In fact, thirty percent of Jesus’ recorded ministry was spent in direct conflict with unclean spirits. The modern Church, in contrast, has a near "zero" percent involvement. Jesus never said there would be an "Apostolic Church and a "Post-Apostolic Church" with different practices, teachings, expectations, and achievement. He established one Church; not two, which was to continue unchanged to the "end of the age." Whether ancient or modern, Christianity must retain the same love, truth, and power.”

Former seminary professor, Jack Deere, lists several reasons why God healed people in the 1^st century and continues to do so in the 21^st century:

• because he is asked
• because he has compassion and mercy on the sick
• to bring glory to himself
• in response to his promise to the elders (James 5:13)
• in response to faith!
• He heals to lead people to repentance and open doors for the gospel.
• He heals to remove hindrances to ministry and service.
• He heals to teach us about himself and his kingdom.
• He heals to demonstrate the presence of his kingdom.
• And he heals for sovereign purposes known only to himself.

None of these reasons are based on the changing historical circumstances of the first-century church. They are rooted in the character and eternal purposes of God.

1. Casting out Demons - Mark 3:11-12, “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.”

At the very beginning of his ministry Jesus entered a synagogue and encountered a man who was possessed (Mark1:23), and certain things have become clear since then. First, the encounter with the demonic is part of a larger pattern of conflict that happened whenever Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God.

When the demons identified him as the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24) or the Son of God (Mark 3:11), they were not trying to do him any favors. Their declarations were a form of opposition - a variation of a prominent feature found in extrabiblical exorcism accounts in which a struggle occurs between the exorcist and demon. Typically when the exorcist discovers the name of the demon, the exorcism proceeds. In this case the demons used a similar tactic to resist Jesus: they exposed his identity in an attempt to assert their own power and frustrate the exorcism. It is an indication of the nearness of the kingdom of God that their tactic was useless. Jesus first disarmed them by commanding silence, and then  he cast them out. The power of evil was broken, and this is a compelling sign of the imminent triumph because the kingdom of God was at hand. (We will go into more detail about demons and deliverance when we come to Mark 5.)

Helpers the Master Chooses to Equip to Replicate His Ministry for World Impact – 3:13-19

The only person who never needed any help chose twelve helpers. Why did he do that? He chose them first for the pleasure it gave him to love them and to teach them to love what he loved. This then is the main thing: loving God, loving others, and teaching others to love what Jesus loves. Then he chose them because without disciples who make disciples with total world impact in view, his redemptive work on the cross would end with the first generation of disciples.

Unfortunately, believers today have made discipleship about passing on some skills such as learning to have a quiet time, how to pray, study the Bible or share the gospel, with little emphasis on the imperativeness of loving relationships. Although learning truth is a vital part of the equipping of the helpers, it’s not the heart of disciple making. Discipleship is not an accountability relationship, it’s about imitating Jesus in an impartation of his love, life and learning.

Discipleship is loving and enjoying God, loving and enjoying people with whom we have a special chemistry, and teaching them to love the things that Jesus loves, and that’s the Father and people – a world of people. Discipling someone is not a just a job to do but a joy to experience and the method of spiritual reproduction whereby the Father’s Family is enlarged, the Son’s Bride is enlarged, and the Holy Spirit’s Temple to indwell is being built!

Selection for Vocation - Mark 3:14a

“… he chose twelve…” Jesus’ selection of the twelve was for the vocation of becoming like Him and multiplying what He did.

Jesus was not interested in developing strategies that would reach the multitudes, but in developing individuals that would impact the multitudes.

The men He selected would not impress us as being "key people". (Nor did they impress the religious leaders of Jesus' day.) They were rowdy, insensitive, quarrelling, envious and bigoted. They came from common backgrounds, and a few were social outcasts. Within these individuals He was to initiate the Kingdom of God on earth and lay the foundation for the New Testament church.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus reached 1000’s, and touched 1000’s more, but He trained 12 men. He gave His life on the cross for millions, but He gave His 3½ years of public life to 12 men. Miracles, multitudes, and mass ministry benefited from Jesus’ work, but they didn’t constitute His work. Men were His work. Jesus saw the masses through the man, and He built the man to impact the masses. Jesus recruited hundreds, developed seventy, choose twelve, graduated eleven, and focused on three!

This selection of these 12 men was so important that Jesus spent a whole night in prayer about it. Luke 6:12-13, "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:"

Association for Infection - Mark 3:14b

“… chose twelve that they might be with Him…”. The key word is “with him.” Life was experienced in loving personal relationship before learning was taught in practical discipleship. Knowledge was gained by association before it was understood by explanation. The process is better caught than taught. What you’ve got is what the person closely and regularly associated with you is going to be infected with.

Withness, Togetherness, Community, Fellowship – these words express the very reason for God saving us. God’s desire is for a Huge Family of hot-hearted, passionate sons who delight in Him and in each other, not a Labor Force of Field Hands who work for Him. What is this Withness, Togetherness, Community? Community: A unified people who possess a common way, embrace a common truth and celebrate a common life. 

How did Jesus produce a mind-set in twelve men that eventuated in massive world impact to the farthest reaches of the known world of His day within 60 years after His death? He didn't have television, telethons, telephones, telecommunication, or texting - just tell-a-person! Negatively, nothing of His strategy depended on a crowd.  Nothing of His strategy depended on preaching (though He used mass communication to minister, to teach, and to emerge potential disciples).  Nothing of His strategy was institutionalized (go to seminary).  Nothing of His strategy centered in going to church (although He went to church regularly).

Then what was his strategy?  His technique?  His method? We can get a hint from the start as we read in Mark 3:14, “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles)…” The word “apostles” means to “send off on a designated mission.” So he named them in order to aim them to their destiny.

Note carefully that He trained them to send them away from Him, not to centralize increasing masses where He was. This strategy is conspicuously unlike today’s church, which tends to evaluate its success (and the success of its leaders) almost totally by the measurement of size; by how many come to hear one man give a message rather than by how many men go and tell the message. The four lists of the Apostles are found in Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6, and Acts 1. There are valuable lessons to be learned from studying these lists. 

We see a primary technique employed by Jesus in building world-visionary, world-impacting, reproducing multipliers of others in kind. We know without any doubt that Jesus' strategy was totally centered in a small group of twelve men.  We know, too, that Jesus put all His "eggs" in that one small "basket." His total plan for world impact was placed in the hands (and the productivity) of twelve men! And the lists of the Apostles also strongly suggest his method in building these men.  He apparently divided His twelve men into three equal groups of four each, with an assigned leader for each group.

You will notice that all the men in the first group were followers of John the Baptist who came to follow Jesus upon the selfless encouragement of their leader. All the men in the first group are dynamic and impulsive men, just like their leader, Simon Peter. James and John were nicknamed "Sons of Thunder" by Jesus Himself! Their dispositions were like developing thunderstorms. These were dynamic men.

The second group is headed by the Apostle Philip, who has throughout the Gospel the profile of a highly philosophical man.  And every person in his group is also highly philosophical, men like "doubting" Thomas and Levi Matthew, who wrote the Gospel of the philosophical teachings of Jesus. But out-front leadership was not given to philosophical men. However, we are not to under-estimate the importance and necessity of these men in evaluating this statement. It just reflects another important factor in the strategy of Jesus.

The third group is made up totally of political revolutionaries!  The leader, James, the son of Alphaeus, was probably the mildest one in the group! Judas' surname, "Iscariot," may well derive from the "sicarii," the little dagger carried by certain revolutionaries, with which they had pledged themselves to kill any Roman official whom they could reach in a crowd (or anywhere, for that matter). The man who is called "the Zealot" is named by his identification with the furiously patriotic, rebellious, and violent political party bearing that name.  Did you know that, if Simon the Zealot had met Matthew the publican under "normal" circumstances, he would have killed him as quickly as possible.  Do you see why I believe that Jesus' Greatest Miracle was not feeding the hungry by multiplying food, or healing sick people, or even raising the dead.  To me, His Greatest Miracle was the construction - out of "impossible" material - of a band of Twelve Men who would send the shock waves of Spiritual Reproduction to the ends of the earth of that day! And had not the church replaced the strategy of Jesus (building individuals . . .) with a suitable substitute that surely originated from another source (building imploding institutions), those shock waves would be impacting the ends of the earth today and would continue to do so unabated until the end of time.

There is no clear command which necessitates us following the exact group form. The size of Jesus' group appears very wise, as well as the divisions, affording accountability, assignments, fellowship, etc. The outcome proves that Jesus was the Master of internetworking group dynamics. 

You will never do anything more Christ-like in all your life than the training of individuals by the strategy of Jesus ("turn people into disciples") for total world impact.

Isn't it time we checked all our activity to be sure we are fulfilling solidly, fully, and consistently, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus?