Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 9 Study # 3
April 9, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(064)
1901 ASV
38 And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth.
39 And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.
- I. Jesus "abandons" the "everyone" in order to pursue His divine agenda, established by the Father.
- A. There are some who might argue that the "popularity" was Jesus' reason for going to the other synagogues in Galilee -- to increase His "popularity". But, there is no "context" to suggest this in Mark's record. It, most likely, would arise in the cynicism of the "rejectors of Jesus" as an excuse for their own refusal to "abandon".
- B. The actual "context" of Mark's record is Jesus' summons to His disciples alongside the sea of Galilee.
- 1. In that "context", He summoned them to "follow Him" so that He might turn their lives into "usefulness" to His agenda.
- a. There is a "Truth-implication" in this summons that is linked to His own explanation for departure from Capernaum at the height of His "popularity": He said, "...for unto this I came out".
- 1) That there is an "unto this" indicates that there was, and is, an "agenda" driving His presence in the world.
- 2) Further, that the record declares that, as soon as He was baptized and identified by The Voice from heaven as the Beloved Son in Whom the Father was well-pleased, the "Spirit" that descended from heaven, "drove" Him into the same wilderness (where Peter found Him praying) to be "tested" by Satan.
- a) This is as clear a declaration as can be given that He was not only to be a "disciple maker", but was, Himself, a "disciple" of the Father Whose Spirit had absolute sway over His "agenda" [Note well John 8:28].
- i. This strongly suggests the reason for His early-hour prayer session: to obtain the Father's direction for the next step.
- ii. And the fact that He sought that direction "in the wilderness" also strongly suggests that He seeks that direction in the very face of the "wilderness metaphor" which "Satan" attempted to use to dissuade Him from "faith" in His Father's Spirit (You actually think You can overcome this depravity and its chaos?). The "demons" are absolutely "into" dissuasion ("You shall not surely die": Genesis 3:4).
- iii. And the fact that He made it impossible for Simon and his companions to find Him without going out into the same chaos suggests that He, like John, was compelling those who would seek Him out to deal with their own "chaos" (defined by 1 John 2:16 as arising out of a trinity of evil motivations, and focused by Mark on the last of that trinity: the appeal of the "popularity" Jesus had garnered).
- b) This, by strong implication, means that He, like those whom He called, faced the "obligation" to "abandon" whatever "agenda" there might be that would hinder the fulfillment of the "unto this" agenda.
- i. This assumes that there is an "agenda" for each of the disciples of Jesus.
- ii. In the summons of the original four, there are two major forms of "agenda"; one dealing with "fishing for men" and the other "mending the nets by which men are to be 'caught' ". There is an on-going need for men to "fish" and there is an ongoing need for men to delve more deeply into the "doctrine" which envelopes them as the "net" (Evangelism and Edification).
- iii. In the "prayer" there is the assumption that the "agenda" for each comes out through "fellowship with the Father".
- b. Thus, the "Truth-implication" is that Jesus' departure from Capernaum at the height of His "popularity" was not to seek greater "popularity", but to fulfill the Father's "agenda" for Him. Though it was not about His "popularity", there was a potent need, in the lives of those for whom the preaching was done, to have His "popularity" as a basis for their willingness to give Him a hearing.
- 2. In that "context", the disciples whom He called "abandoned" their "lifestyle" with its details (fishing, boats, nets, companions).
- a. Thus, there is a "type of meaning" in the previous context of His call upon His disciples that applies to His own "call" as "Servant to the Spirit of His Father".
- b. This "type of meaning" is "abandonment".
- 1) It is first addressed in 1:18 in the setting of Jesus' summons of the "fishers of men".
- 2) It is reinforced in 1:20 in the second setting of Jesus' summons; that of those who were to be "menders of nets" (to enhance the "fishing for men").
- II. In His "Abandonment", He Went Into the Synagogues of All Galilee.
- A. He went "preaching": this is the primary focus of all "ministry"; making the "doctrine" known to men. When all is said and done, if the people of God are not being instructed in the Word so that they are growing in grace and in the knowledge of God, all is wasted.
- B. He went "casting out demons": this is the primary focus of all "awareness" in regard to "ministry"; our wrestling is not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. It is the nature of the opposition to deny the "doctrine" and to create "doctrinal fog"; it is the nature of ministry to establish the "doctrine" and to create "doctrinal clarity".
