Corona Chronicles - Crown of Thorns

Welcome to corona chronicles. We've seen that already the religious leaders want to kill Jesus, and he's moved away from them, but the crowds are still around him. Jesus is still extremely popular. We're reading chapter 3 from verse 7. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galile Lee followed.

When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idamia, and the regions across the Jordan and around tire and sidon. Because of the crowds, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the impure spirit saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the son of God. But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.

1 of the things that people who use YouTube regularly will know is that you can you can like your favorite people. But alongside liking them, you can subscribe to their channels. So that whenever they produce some new content or a new video, you get an alert, and it enables you to follow all that they're doing online. You could subscribe to them, and and, you know, they get these viral videos, crowds following them. And that Jesus has gone viral.

In in that sense. There are people now subscribing to his channel, if you could put it that way. They're wanting to know what he's doing, where he is so that they can follow and keep up with him. And as you can see here, Jesus' popularity has extended beyond the the borders of just his local ministry area. And there's people coming now from all these different regions.

And we get a clue as to why they're coming a bit later on versus 10, you know, 4 he had healed many so that those diseases were pushing forward to touch him. So, obviously, word has got round about this incredible man who is teaching with authority, also able to deal with the diseases that people have. And so if you were suffering from 1 of those, seeks. It's it's no wonder people are coming to to crowderm and Jesus. And this is the this is the picture, actually.

Isn't it? Of of what Jesus has for the church really. I mean, that is just a little picture, right, at the beginning of his ministry of people coming from all nations. I mean, it is normal nations here, but there's representations of Jew and Gentars here with these towns mentioned here. And they're coming to the 1 person, the real Jerusalem, you know, where God is worshipped as it were, and and he's bringing his people together.

And he's already doing that. And he's doing that really by who he is and his word, isn't he? Because because he's he's pushing away the curse of this world, disease, and death, and demonic powers, and so forth. And so there's even in this little thing, there's some beautiful pictures -- Yeah. -- isn't there?

And and the other thing I think is that, you know, I know people sort of think, oh, a virtual bad geyser, I don't want to know. I mean, around the world, in various parts of the world, you know, in China and even in Iran, hundreds of people are becoming Christians. But in all part of the world, in Britain, you know, people seem to be bored with him. Yes. And I wonder whether they're bored with him because, actually, we're not presenting perhaps Yeah.

Or people have got at least in their minds a false Jesus -- Yes. -- and he's unworthy of any attention at all. Yes. Yeah. I think that's right.

And then sometimes you read these gospels and you think, where are the crowds today? You know, flocking around Jesus and rushing to be at his feet and to touch human hearing. And I think that's right. Maybe the Jesus that we've been hearing about in our nation for many voices, you know, it's it's so irrelevant, so weak, so dismissed, that who would who would go to him for anything, really? And and it's funny because that that that was happening here too.

So although people were crowding around him, Often, it wasn't for the right reasons necessarily. Yeah. So he'd come to yes to heal because he's a compassionate loving lord, but also to teach and to preach about the kingdom of God. And yet often, it seems people were only flocking to him for the material benefits that he can provide. And not because they had an awareness of their sin and a sort of struck conscience that need to get right with God.

They were they were treating him, you know, like like the vending machine administration really, I suppose just to get what they could from him. So those kind of false ideas about who Jesus is and walked, always been around, haven't they? So part of corona chronicles is is us wanting to declare to people and to show people of this magnificent Jesus and and hope that people will take him seriously for who he is. And we've got, you know, very phrase of who he is. Because we've got the the this impure spirit shouting out.

Yes. You are the son of God. Which actually is true. Yes. He is the son of god.

Yeah. Yeah. But this strange thing, it gives him strict orders not to tell anyone about Yeah. It is strange because on on the 1 hand, you would think, well, if that's a true statement, then why not publish it abroad? You know, let it be hurt.

And And I mean, it's interesting that they just sort of noticed it this time that whenever the impure spirit saw him. So there is something so authoritative about the son of god on the move. He doesn't even have to speak. They just see him and they fall at his feet because there's this recognition of who he is in Jesus that casts out evil in that way. But, you know, why would he give them orders not to tell others about him, which we have seen already in Mark's gospel?

I think it's because Jesus is Jesus in Mark's gospel is is wanting to to show us who he is, both in his identity, but also in his mission. So, he is the son of god. That's true. He is god's messiah. That's true.

But he's not the messiah that many people might have been expecting. He he is going to show his glory in his sacrificial death and his service. And there's a danger, I suppose, if just 1 half of the message gets out, the more and more people are gonna be confused, the more and more people are gonna crowd it. And he's gonna be even less free to move between the villages preaching. And so Jesus doesn't want only half a gospel to go out if you like.

He wants the son of God, yes, true, but the suffering son -- Mhmm. -- to to go together. So that's probably And and that is in fact the 2 halves of Mark that we'll see when we get again, you get chapters 1 to 8 and then 8 to 9, you get you get a very dramatic healing there that shows us. That we need both parts. He's the son of God, but he's the son of god that came to die.

Because son of god here could just be a rebellious king against or or a king that's gonna rebel against the -- Yeah. You take it. -- and Ronny Lady and Brandyak sort of Jerusalem to its power. But I think I think another sort of aspect is that if we present a weak Jesus and bland Jesus, that isn't the son of God, that it hasn't isn't churning the cursed world, bringing blessing into the cursed world and getting rid of the curse. And we just have a jesus serve politics or a g you know, which is what they would probably wanted or a Jesus of save the planet, you know, or Jesus the vegan or Jesus, the hippie or something.

Be so bland that no 1 wants to hear him. At least here, the enemies wanna kill him. Yeah. Why do they wanna kill him? Because he stirs them up because he says, I am in the son of god.

Yeah. Yeah. And and why are people coming out from everywhere? Because he's the 1 that can turn the curse on him. Yeah.

Yeah. So we got a bold strong Jesus -- Yeah. -- and not some man we pamby wept sort of religious leader that no 1 cares about. Yeah. And we've got to get on with teaching that.

And so Jesus is is going to gather his disciples to teach them who he is so that they can preacher proper Jesus. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, we must finish there.

And so we'll carry on this next time.