Redemption!

For Wednesday, January 3, 2024:

Mark 3:8b NLT: “The news about Jesus’ miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.”

With no newspapers, no radio or television, and no internet, how did so many people so quickly know about Jesus? It’s a “God thing!” Life was much simpler then, and word of the miracles and the healings traveled from person to person, not gossipy but informationally. People had heard good things about Jesus, so they wanted to tell everyone. But if they only talked about the miracles, they didn’t know half or what Jesus was about!

Jesus left his home in Nazareth, and went out to the lake. We call it the Sea of Galilee. It’s kind of like Minnesotans going up North for the weekend! A large crowd could gather at the lake, and voices carry well around bodies of water. Jesus arranged for a boat to take him a short distance from the shore, and spoke from there.

What’s amazing is that the assembled crowd came from all over: Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. As I said, word about Jesus spread quickly and no one wanted to miss any of the action!

It was a memorable day! Sick people tried to touch Jesus, and he healed them all. Evil spirits were cast out of the possessed, saying, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus commanded the evil ones to not reveal who he was. Jesus was heaven-sent on a mission trip. It’s great that Jesus could cure both physical and mental illnesses and lecture in depth about the Torah. But his primary purpose, his mission statement, was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world, thereby rescuing mankind! Healing wasn’t his goal, but redemption was!

It’s like Jesus was passing out tickets to heaven for all who believed!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship