Mark 3:7–12
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 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. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
Here again in this brief summary we see a great crowd following Jesus. Remember, this is immediately following three events that demonstrate the increasing tension between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. So we see Jesus as an incredibly polarizing figure. He was loved by the common folks but hated by the religious leaders.
What's fascinating about this summary is the large area from which Jesus drew a crowd. Basically Jesus drew people from every location on the map below. Idumea is about 120 miles due south of Capernaum. That's quite the journey in that day.
Yet, again we see the crowd painted in more of a negative connotation. The disciples had to ready a boat for him so that the crowd wouldn't crush him, which is typical of crowd behavior. (I almost got crushed at the Cubs world series parade and people weren't even there to see me! Just wanted to remind you the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 😜)
Also, in this text we see yet again Jesus' authority over the demonic demonstrated. Whenever an unclean spirit saw him they fell before him and declared his identity. Jesus has absolute authority over the demonic in every circumstance.
The last thing we see in this text is that Jesus withdrew. This is a regular practice of Jesus, which Matthew notes more than Mark. Jesus would regularly withdraw then return. If Jesus needed to withdraw from his work sometimes, maybe we should too.
Practice
