City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

¹⁷ After coming down with them, He stood on a level place with a large crowd of His disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. ¹⁹ The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.

Luke 6:17-19 (HCSB)

⁷ Jesus departed with His disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, Judea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him because they heard about everything He was doing. ⁹ Then He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him. ¹⁰ Since He had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward Him to touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, those possessed fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² And He would strongly warn them not to make Him known.

Mark 3:7-12 (HCSB)

¹⁵ When Jesus became aware of this, He withdrew from there. Huge crowds followed Him, and He healed them all. ¹⁶ He warned them not to make Him known, ¹⁷ so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁸ Here is My Servant whom I have chosen,
My beloved in whom My soul delights;
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
¹⁹ He will not argue or shout,
and no one will hear His voice in the streets.
²⁰ He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick,
until He has led justice to victory.
²¹ The nations will put their hope in His name.

Matthew 12:15-21

Reflection

The story as told by Luke doesn’t quite give the full picture. It is when you put it into context with both Mark and Matthew that you see the full picture of what happened. Mark puts the appointing of the twelve apostles after these verses, but the correct order of events is not important to the authors compared to the narrative as a whole.

The people, having heard of Jesus’ healing power, began to flock to where He was at from all over the cities in the region. They were desperate to even touch His cloak for healing, believing that the power that He had would make them whole; which it did. According to Mark, it got to the point where Jesus was forced to get out on a boat in the Sea of Galilee in order to fully be able to minister and speak to the crowds without being crushed.

Though, the interesting note that Mark and Matthew provides in which Luke doesn’t, is how Jesus would not allow the demons to speak about who He was as He cast them out. They knew Jesus’ true identity, but it was not the time and place for Jesus to share it with the world. So He healed those who needed healing and cast out the demons, but kept His true identity hidden from the Jews.

Matthew goes deeper into this by quoting Isaiah 42:1-4. It is the purpose of Jesus to make an impact far different and far greater than what the Jews understood. In verse 20 of Isaiah, Jesus was not there to create an uproar amongst the people until this purpose was fulfilled, which was to lead justice to victory – the sacrifice of His body to atone for our sins. And this needed to be done so that the nations could put their hope in Him.

Jesus spent His time in the outskirts of the cities and in the desert areas proclaiming the coming of His kingdom, and He did so without leading a revolt against the Romans. It was a small pebble during His 3 year ministry in which the ripples were barely noticed until Pentecost when the power of the Holy Spirit came with power from on high.

Application

The power of Jesus does not lie in the mighty and charismatic people. It is with those who walk by faith and live day-by-day in constant communion with God. It is these people who walk humbly with God who end up making the biggest ripples and impact in God’s kingdom on this earth. They aren’t the popular role models, but they are the ones we need.

Remember, Jesus did not seek heavenly glory, but only to glorify the Father. In the same way, we do not need personal glory and nor should we seek it, but only to glorify God in all we do. This is how we are to live our lives.

Prayer

Father in heaven, it is You that should be glorified for all that I am and who I have become. My sanctification is because of the spiritual discipline that You have given me. Let my life be an impact for those around me and that my light will shine brightly through kindness, humility, and gentleness. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.