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Mark 6:53 – 56
Are You Moved?

How much does Jesus matter to you? Are you the kind of person who is opposed to emotional display and who kind of looks down on people who are excited about Jesus? The incident before us today reveals, among other things, many, many people who were really, really excited about what Jesus was saying and doing! They were so excited that they were actually running to where He was so they wouldn't miss seeing Him!

After the marvelous incident in which Jesus walked out to His disciples on the water, they all went to a little region called Gennesaret, south of Capernaum and a little north of Tiberias on the Sea (lake) of Galilee. It's just a small self-contained region bounded by the hills of Galilee on three sides and the lake on the other. The people of the area called the lake "The Sea of Gennesaret," just as the people of Tiberias called it "the Sea of Tiberias." The region contained a few small villages and towns and a few miles of farm country. You could walk through the entire region in a day.

Jesus purpose in being there was to bring the Gospel and His miraculous, Messiah-revealing works just as He had in the other cities and regions of Israel. He made this clear in Mark 1:38, when He said, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth." He never stayed a long time in any one area, but He always made it a point to reach as many as possible while He was there.

In doing this He was doing what He told the disciples to do when He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . ." He went to every city, every village, every farm – He talked to everyone and anyone who would listen.

There was a tremendous response in Gennesaret.  Almost before He'd gotten out of the boat, the people were coming. And they were literally running, not just walking, from all over the region, bringing the sick, the dying, the injured, beds and all - and rushing them to Jesus wherever they thought He might be going next. Understandably, Jesus was mobbed everywhere He went.

Now of course when the people came to Jesus, they came with various motives. No doubt some came only for the healing. They'd heard from their friends and relatives in Capernaum and elsewhere about His amazing miracles, and they just wanted the same for themselves and their loved ones. People who have been sick, paralyzed, perhaps close to death, confined to beds for days, weeks, or years - who hear of an opportunity to be delivered from their afflictions - to be free to live again - will naturally and understandably get to the healer as soon as possible!

Others heard that this Man spoke as no other had ever spoken. They heard that what He said made real sense, that it made clear their reason for living, that it made sense of life itself. Some, no doubt, heard that this Man might be the longed-for Messiah Himself, the long-expected Son of David. For all these reasons, they came - in great numbers. Some cared and some didn't about what He had to say. Some believed and some didn't that He was the Messiah. But in all cases they came.

It's important to see that Jesus honored whatever faith they had. We read, "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." But while they were doing that, Jesus was doing what He always did - He was preaching and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." As He was preaching, people reached out from their beds, touched His garments, and were made entirely whole! Some even paid enough attention to hear the gospel as well. Some did not.

But in all of this we need to see that Jesus welcomed the people no matter what their motives in coming. He didn't demand of them that they be full-blown disciples when they first came to Him. His only requirement was that they come. If they needed healing, He healed them. If they were only curious, He satisfied their curiosity. He was going out to the farms, to the small villages, and to the larger cities. He reached out to every seeker. He reached out to all, even though He was fully aware that only a few would truly believe.

He hasn't changed at all. If you come to Him, He'll welcome you. He makes no demands upon you in your coming. He'll meet you right where you are, regardless of how much faith you have now. You need to understand what His mission is: it's to reach you with the gospel; it's to bring you into His Kingdom; it's to make you His child and His loving servant. But none of these things need to be your purpose at the beginning. The only requirement at the beginning is that you come - for whatever reason.

I can't help giving my own testimony at this point. I had became aware of a girl that lived next door to my parent's house. She went to a new little church locally, and I became so obsessed with her that I even consented to take her to church one Sunday! At the end of the service, as I was going out, the pastor asked me if I "was saved." I didn't have the foggiest notion what that meant, but I didn't want to appear different from others around me, so I said "Sure." One thing led to another, and before you know it I was involved with their youth group, became president of it, and was even asked to preach a sermon one Sunday evening on "Youth Night." I preached on the "Grace of God," even though I knew almost nothing about it. I got the material out of the Bible, which I was reading more and more, and the result was that it was a fairly good message. I read it some years later, and it amazed me that I could say so much about something without any real understanding at all!

Little by little, I came to believe that I was a Christian. After all, I came forward in evangelistic services several times and confessed Jesus as Savior. But I still didn't really understand what it was I was saved from. That state of things went on for six more years. Then, by the unutterable grace of God, He began moving in my heart of hearts. He made me realize that I was really in rebellion against the Sovereign and holy God of the universe. In fact, I eventually got to the place that I could see how selfish even my prayers were – And I realized that I had wanted to be saved only so that I wouldn't be lost! There was no love to God Himself, but I was instead only selfishly desperate. In fact, I was in torment, feeling myself to be utterly lost and not seeing how I could possibly be saved.  After all, how could God care about me at all?  After all, I hadn't cared for Him. Meanwhile, though, everyone thought I was a Christian.

Finally, through the advice of a pastor, I got into the Word on a daily basis, really searching for some hope of salvation, and even beginning to search - a little - for God Himself. One day, studying and considering in Philippians, I really saw the Character, the glory, the wonder of God and of Jesus Christ. When I saw how God Himself was glorified in what Christ did, my whole outlook changed. Whereas previously I couldn't see how God would save me, how He would do anything but send me to Hell, suddenly I saw His love and how it glorified Him, and I couldn't believe that He wouldn't save me! I entered the Kingdom that day.

But do you see? God was accepting me just as I was all along. I didn't realize it. I didn't realize much of anything. But He just patiently waited for the day that He would finally reveal Himself to me. He always met me where I was at the time, always kept on teaching me, bit by bit, and finally brought me to Himself.  That's what He was doing in the villages and towns of Israel as well.

So you see that Jesus seeks out people right where they are, allows them to come to Him - in ignorance or in understanding - and blesses them greatly anyway. And the important thing is that we can still come to Him. He'll still receive us right where we are. Not that we can rest on ignorance - we dare not rest short of knowing, loving, and trusting our Lord Jesus Christ.

But there's another important aspect of this story about Gennesaret. We read, "When they had come out of the boat, immediately recognizing Him. . . they were running . . ." Do you recognize Him? Do you have any idea how great He is? Does it move you to action, or do you just understand some meaningless  theory? If you truly "recognize" Him, you'll come running. If you recognize Him, you'll want to hear His Word, and you'll want to be with those who do. If you recognize Him as these people did, you'll bring others to Him, because He has the answers they need and you need. His Word is the most important information available for your life and the lives of others.

Some of these people were not yet believers. Some didn't know that Jesus was the Christ. Some didn't know they were sinners. Yet even such people came to Jesus to hear Him, to be healed by Him, to just be near such a great Master. They were impressed. They "recognized Him."

That's what you have to do. You have much more knowledge than many of these people had, but do you respond with any more urgency? With the knowledge that most of us have, we ought to be coming to Him constantly, we ought to be hearing His Word at every opportunity, we ought to be bringing others. Are you?

Why did they act this way? Why did they come to Jesus with such urgency? Why did they bring other people? What moved them so much? What does "recognizing Him" mean? Most of them had probably never before seen Jesus personally. Perhaps a few had been in Capernaum when He was there. Others heard from travelers who happened through. They heard that this Rabbi was really different, that what He had to say "rang true." They heard that He healed people without gimmicks or deception, and they heard that in everything He did, He acted with care, compassion, concern, and love. People they knew were probably saying, "Is this not the Christ?" (just as the Samaritan woman at the well had said to the people of her village).

But we've become so hardened in our day. The things that mattered to these Galileans don't seem to matter very much anymore. Love? Compassion? Care? Who cares about those things? Oh may God soften our hardened hearts!

Here in this church we profess to be Christians. But are we? If we are, these things matter to us, and Jesus matters to us. If we've really come to love Him, then, considering Who He is, that love should be urgent, ongoing, excited love. Is your love like that? Is your love greater than that of these semi-ignorant Galileans?