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But the People Loved Him

In our study of Mark 2:1-3:6, we observed a growing hostility on the part of the religious authorities towards Jesus.  Mark 3:6 concludes the section with the religious elite and the secular elite joining together to scheme about how they might remove Jesus.  If this was all of the Gospel one had read, one might be tempted to believe that everyone was against Jesus.  In the next paragraph Mark dispels this myth.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 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. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." (Mar 3:7-11 ESV)

While the elites were plotting Jesus' demise, multitudes were drawn to him.  Mark records for us the geographic extent of Christ's popularity with ordinary people by telling us that they even came from territories outside of Galilee to see Jesus.  The reason is obvious: he was performing miracles and casting out demons.  Those without hope in society flocked to the one who could give them hope.

Nothing has changed in 2000 years.  Those who sit at the top of society ridicule and disparage the person of Jesus.  They eliminate him from their politically correct conversations.  However, the ordinary people who recognize that they are broken and sick still flock to the one who gives hope.

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