Mark 6:56 “And wherever he went-into villages, towns or countryside-they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”
Hope is a powerful force! Jesus was the world’s greatest ambassador of hope. Jesus mission took Him from village to village, moving constantly throughout the regions where the Father sent Him to labor. Everywhere that He went, with Him came hope. With Him came the possibility for change.
When Jesus came into a region people would fill the marketplaces with the sick all who were hoping for a life changing encounter with Jesus. This passage is so alive with possibility because it highlights the fact that the ministry of Jesus was not reserved for the temple or the table! Jesus was in the town square. Jesus was in the marketplace working to bring the kingdom of God and its message of hope and redemption.
This passage is a reminder to the church that the real ministry of Jesus has to transcend the four walls of the local church. The kingdom of God is intended to permeate every facet of society with its life changing power! We must not confuse the meaning of Holiness! Yes, the kingdom of God is something holy. Yes, the power of God is holy. But holiness is not something reserved for a particular setting or activity. True holiness is an attitude of heart! True holiness is an outlook on life! It is a commitment to being set apart to God! This means that I bring an attitude of holiness into every aspect of life and influence the atmosphere wherever I am to become a God honoring atmosphere!
Jesus’ presence stirred the people to come out into the marketplace with a new sense of Hope and expectation that they could meet God in their everyday lives. They were given an understanding that they didn’t have to go into the temple and observe dead religious forms. They were given the message that Jesus is a personal God! Jesus introduced them to the same concept that He spoke of to the woman at the well when He told her that a time was coming when the nature of worship would be changed. It would no longer be about a certain temple or mountain. Now worship would be centered around the Spirit and truth! Every time that Jesus demonstrated the power of God in a non-conventional way, or in a non-traditional location He made God more accessible to the masses! He took them out from under the regulatory control of the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees. He brought them one step closer to freedom!
No comments:
Post a Comment