Message preached Sunday, August 23, 2015 from Mark 6:53-56
Theme: The greatest ministry that we can offer to friends, family and neighbors in their times of need is to simply bring them to Jesus.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Turn with me please to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark—and to the last few verses of that chapter. It’s a passage that tells us what happened after the Lord Jesus had fed the crowd of over 5,000 people with a five loaves of bread and just two small fish; and after He then walked across the Sea of Galilee to His disciples in the boat.
We’re told;
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well (Mark 6:53-56).
It’s a wonderful little passage. And it seems like an easy one to read and then just pass on. In preparing for this morning’s message, I have found that most Bible commentaries didn’t really give very much attention to it at all.
But I need to tell you that this passage has had an impact on me far out of proportion to my initial impression of it. It has brought a great deal of conviction to my heart over the past several days; and has made me ashamed of my misplaced priorities in life. It’s making me want to change some things in terms of how I view my ministry to other people.
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To help explain why I have found it to be so important, let me begin by pointing out to you the three main ‘players’ in this story. The first one is obvious. It’s the Lord Jesus Himself. There are great lessons to be learned from this passage just about Him alone.
Think of how compassionate He is shown to be in it. No sooner did He step out of the boat (and after a very busy previous day and a very busy evening, by the way), than the people of the town of Gennesaret recognized Him and ran off to bring people to Him. This whole journey in this part of the story of Mark’s Gospel was because of Jesus’ invitation to His disciples to get some rest. Clearly, with all the people excited to see Him, there would be no rest coming their way anytime soon. And yet, we don’t see Him complaining. We don’t see Him hiding, or becoming irritated, or sending people away. Instead, we see Him graciously ministering to people’s needs. We’re not told that He taught anything to the people on this occasion—although we can probably speculate that He did. Instead, the focus is on meeting people’s needs. The Gospel of Mark is the Gospel that focuses uniquely on Jesus as the Servant of people; and that is certainly what He is shown to be in this passage.
And not only that, but think also of how powerful He is in His ministry to people. We’re told that they brought people who were sick—folks who were very needy. In fact, many of them were so sick, they had to be carried to Him. But whatever their need was, He made them well. We’ve been shown something of this already from this Gospel. Think back to Mark 1:32-34 where we’re told;
At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him (1:32-34).
That was in Capernaum—just a short walk up the road from Gennesaret. And it seems that no matter what the need was—“various diseases”, we’re told; and even those who were plagued by unclean spirits—Jesus was able to meet the need and heal them completely. Or think of Mark 3:10-11—again at Capernaum;
For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God” (3:10-11).
Look at what it tells us at the end of our passage this morning. It says, “And as many as touched Him were made well.” Do you know what that word “made well” is in the original language of the text? It’s the word for “saved”. It may be that many of these diseases and ailments that were brought to Him were life-threatening; and that the people who suffered them were at the edge of dying. But no matter what it was, Jesus made them well. He “saved” them.
So; that’s the first ‘player’ to notice in this story—the Lord Jesus, the Savior. And the second would be the people that He saved—the people He made well. Do you notice that all they had to do was, somehow, make contact with Him? We’re simply told that “ as many as touched Him were made well.” Once they were near Him, it wouldn’t have taken a great deal of effort to touch Him, would it? And I don’t believe that there was any magic power in His garments. The healing certainly wasn’t in the “touch”. The healing was from Jesus Himself; and the “touch” was simply a vivid expression of faith In Him.
You might remember that there was someone else who was healed by simply touching the hem of Jesus’ garment. We read about her not long ago. Here story is found in Mark 5:25-34;
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:25-34).
Well; these dear, needy people in the region of Gennesaret had faith enough in Jesus to simply touch the hem of His garment when He went by. And it was their faith in Him that Jesus responded to. Everyone who had a sincere faith in Him, and who reached out to Him for mercy, were made well by Him.
So; those are two of the ‘players’ in this story—Jesus, and the people He made well. But there is a third ‘player’ in this story—a party that stood in the middle between Jesus and the people that He healed. And that was all the people who went out into the highways and byways, and actively brought the needy people to the Savior to have their needs met by Hi,.
I believe that it’s that third party, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that represents the role that you and I are to play in this world. And it’s the vital role that this third party played in the story that has been bringing so much conviction to my heart lately.
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Dear brothers and sisters; all around us are people who are sick of soul, needy, broken because of sin, and dying in alienation from the God who made them. Many of them are our friends, many are our neighbors, and many are our family members. Some of them are aware of their need, and are hoping that someone will bring them to the place where their needs are met. Others are hardened in their hearts and won’t come, because they don’t realize how needy they really are. But all around us are people who are represented by those needy people in this story.
And you and I have a personal relationship with the other ‘player’ in this story—the Lord Jesus. He is the only one who can meet their needs perfectly. We’ve already had some experience with Him; and we know—personally—how He is able to save anyone who touches Him from their alienation from God their Maker, to give them eternal life, to heal all the ravages of sin in their life, and to make them completely whole. We know that there is not one person in the world that Jesus Christ cannot utterly transform if they will reach out to Him in faith. We know that there is not one problem they could ever have that He could not solve if they will only let Him.
And between Jesus and those needy people stands you and me. We are the link that joins broken people to the great Healer of the soul. There can be no greater task that we could have on this earth than to bring people to Jesus. There can be no greater good we can do for them than to get them to Him. We could give the whole rest of our lives to that task, and our time will have been spent in the very best and most profitable way possible. And yet, I feel that I occupy my time and my energies with far too much that is unworthy, and pursue far too much that is simply a waste of time by comparison.
I want to be more like the people of Gennesaret in this story. I want to be consumed with the kind of passion that moved them to run out and get needy people and bring them to the one who can meet their needs. I’m convicted that I’m nowhere near as much like them as I should be. And I guess I don’t want to be alone in my conviction. I want you to become convicted along with me.
As this seemingly unimportant little passage actually shows us, the greatest ministry that we can ever offer to our friends, our family members, and our neighbors who are in need, is to simply bring them to Jesus Christ; and to let Him meet those needs in love.
Let’s look together at this passage and see how they did this out along the shores of Gennesaret.
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First, we see it in the way that they . . .
1. ACKNOWLEDGED JESUS’ SUFFICIENCY.
We can see it in the first couple of verses; where we’re told, “When they [that is, Jesus and His twelve disciples] had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him” (vv. 53-54). The reason that it’s important to notice the word “immediately” is because their recognition of Him involved a knowledge that motivated them to action. It wasn’t simply that they waved at Him and greeted Him. In fact, there’s not even an indication that they greeted Him at all. Instead, having “immediately” recognized him, they “immediately” ran out to bring people to Him.
And why would they do this? It’s because they already knew what He could do. They had already seen Him cast a demon out of people, and had already seen Him make a leper clean, and had already seen Him heal a paralyzed man, and had already seen Him restore a man’s withered and crippled hand, and had already seen Him heal a woman with a twelve-year-long illness with just a touch, had already seen Him raise a girl from the dead., and had even heard how—in the neighboring town—He feed a multitude of people with five loaves of bread and a few small fish. Their act of running out to get people was a manifest demonstration of the fact that they knew about His sufficiency to meet any and every need. They recognized Him as He got off the boat, and knew that standing on the shores of their town was someone who could heal anyone who was brought to Him.
May I stop and ask you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; have you come to the place in your life where you acknowledge that about Jesus too? Think about your own life. Has He saved you? Has He redeemed you from your sins and washed you clean? Has He transformed your life? Have you found that He has solved your problems and met your needs? Has He given you the peace you longed for, and filled the empty spaces in your life? Have you found that He has stood with you and strengthened you in all your trials? I feel very sure that, to the degree we have found Him to be our own Savior, to that degree we will be confident in His ability to save others in need.
Once we really get to know Jesus and become convinced of what He can do, we can’t help but want to share Him with others. May God help us to truly know Him as Savior and truly realize His impact in our own live. May we know and appreciate His saving power—so much, in fact, that as soon as He comes to our attention, we immediately think of other people around us and of how wonderfully He can meet their needs too!
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Well; as soon as He set foot on their shore, they immediately recognized Him. All that they had already learned about Him came to mind. And that leads us to the next thing that they “immediately” did; and that is that they . . .
2. WENT OUT FOR THOSE WHO WERE IN NEED.
Mark tells us that they “ran through that whole surrounding region” (v. 55a.). I found out that the word that is used here—translated “they ran through”—is a word that is used only here in the New Testament. It’s a word that comes from putting two Greek words together—the preposition for “around”, and the word that speaks of “running” or “rushing”. And it particularly caught my attention, because I was studying this passage last week over a cup of coffee at McDonalds; and just as I came to that word in the Greek text, there were a couple of small kids that were running very fast up and down the isles, in and around and in the midst of all the chairs and tables, and then back and forth to wherever their mom and dad was. I couldn’t very well be annoyed with them for doing that, because they were actually helping me to understand what this word looked like in action. (That’s why I get such good studying done at McDonalds; by the way.)
And that’s what the people of Gennesaret were doing as soon as they recognized that Jesus had come to their town. They dropped everything, and immediately began to run up and down the roads and pathways—not just through their own neighborhood, but throughout that whole surrounding region—to make their way to needy people.
You know; in order to do that, they had to have an awareness of where the needy people were. And that’s another lesson for you and me, isn’t it? We’re the ones who—in this story—stand as the middle-man between the Savior and those who need His saving grace. And I wonder—do we know where those needy people are? If we saw Jesus walking down our street, and we wanted to rush right out and bring needy people to Him, would we know exactly where to rush to?
This convicts me. I know Jesus; and I hope I know Him very well. But I don’t believe I know as well as I should the people around me that need Him. Maybe you’re the same way. Let’s commit together to get to know the people around us better. Let’s know what their needs are. Let’s get to know the areas of life where they hurt. They may not be in places we’re even comfortable going to; but let’s go to them anyway.
Let’s get to know where we need to go when we run out to bring needy people to Jesus.
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And that brings us to a third thing we see from the people of Gennesaret. They not only knew where the needy people were—the people who Jesus could make well—but they also . . .
3. LABORED TO BRING THEM NEAR TO HIM.
Personally, I think that the thing they did was amazing. People ran out to find those who were in need. And it may even be that they passed the word out to others—knowing that Jesus was somewhere in the area; “and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was” (v. 55b).
They didn’t simply go around from house to house; and knock on doors and say, “Just to let you know—Jesus is in town. If you’re sick, you may want to get out of bed, get dressed, and make your way out and find Him.” In fact, that might actually have been a very cruel thing to tell people who’s condition made it impossible for them to go to Him. Instead, they took the initiative and brought those needy people to Jesus. Notice the details. We’re told that they carried people about on beds or pallets. In the original language, that phrase is stated in what’s called the ’emphatic position’ in the sentence; meaning that Mark was led by the Holy Spirit to lay particular emphasis on the fact that they carried people on beds—that they even went so far as to carry people there on their beds if they had to. And we’re told that they didn’t just take them to the spot where Jesus once was and hope that He might show up there again. They didn’t wait in the hopes that He might show up. They took those needy people—even carrying them on beds—to ‘here’ or ‘there’; “wherever they heard He was”. And notice that, in the original language, we’re told that they “began” to do this. That means that it wasn’t a quick, one-time-only thing; but was an effort that was carried on for a little while. They didn’t give up until they got these needy people to where Jesus was.
I read this and think to myself what an enormous effort this must have been! But what an example this sets for us! It’s not enough for us to simply tell people in their time of need that Jesus is available to help them if they could only find Him and trust in Him. I believe we need to go with them to where Jesus is. We need to pray with them in the midst of their troubles—right then and there—and say, “Let’s you and me take this problem and go to Jesus together—right now!” And perhaps in a very practical way, we need to actually, physically pick people up who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to go to church, and take them there.
May God help us to be more like the people of Gennesaret—Jesus’ ‘delivery’ workers!
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Notice too that they . . .
4. PLACED THEM WHERE THEY COULD TOUCH HIM.
Mark, it seems to me, expands the story beyond just Gennesaret. He tells us, “Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces” (v. 56a). The “marketplaces” would be the places of public concourse. It would be where there was lots of people and lots of space for them to mill about. It would have made it as easy as possible for ta lot of needy people to reach out and touch Him as He passed by.
I wonder if this doesn’t illustrate to us the need to make the way to Jesus as plain as we can to people. Sometimes people think that they have to go through a lot of ceremony and religious ritual to reach out to Jesus. Sometimes people think that they have to work hard to do enough good deeds to out-do all their bad deeds in order to be able to come to Jesus. But what a wonderful thing it is to make the way to the Savior as plain as we can—with no flowery language or complex explanations. We can just tell them, as the apostle Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). We can tell them to simply call out to Jesus like the thief on the cross did—“Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42); and how, in response to that simple prayer, Jesus told that man that he would be with Him in Paradise that very day. We can simply tell them the promise from God’s word in Romans 10:9—“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
God the Father has already done everything that is necessary to be made right in His sight through His Son’s death on the cross. And all that people need to do is simply place their trust in what He did. Dear brothers and sisters; let’s bring those needy people to the place where all they need to do is simply reach out and touch the hem of His garment by faith.
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And finally, having done all that they could to do—having acknowledge Jesus’ saving power, having gone out in search of those in need, having brought them to where He was, and having placed them where they could simply touch Him—notice that there was one more thing they did. They . . .
5. PLEADED FOR HIM TO SHOW THEM MERCY.
We’re told that they did all these things, “and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment” (v. 56b). They pleaded with Jesus to heal them by faith—just as the woman was healed who had touched the hem of His garment some time before. And we’re told, “And as many as touched Him were made well.”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s never forget the power of our prayers for those in need. Jesus hears our prayers for them; and those prayers do more good than we can imagine.
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Now; all of this has convicted me greatly. I have seen where I should be because of what this passage teaches me about the people of Gennesaret; and I know I am not yet where I should be. But I want to grow. I hope you do to.
I believe, however, it would be a big mistake to try to form a specific “how-to” list. After all, the situations that God brings each of us into will be different; and the needs of people we encounter will be varied. A “one-size-fits-all” approach would not be wise.
But I do believe that something that the Lord Jesus once said on another occasion will help us—and would be a very good thing for us all to do. Matthew 9:35-38 tells us;
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38).
I have a strong feeling that, if we start there, we will soon find ourselves in a truly Gennesaret-like ministry!