Be Good & Do Good!

Mark 3:7-12

7 Jesus went off with his disciples to the sea to get away. But a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after them-- 8 also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon-- swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves. 9 He told his disciples to get a boat ready so he wouldn't be trampled by the crowd. 10 He had healed many people, and now everyone who had something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him. 11 Evil spirits, when they recognized him, fell down and cried out, "You are the Son of God!" 12 But Jesus would have none of it. He shut them up, forbidding them to identify him in public.

Food for thought!

Yesterday, we ended the Gospel with these words: “The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod's followers and ruin him.” Today’s Gospel is a follow up. Unless Jesus wished to be involved in a head-on collision with those religious authorities wanting to ruin him, he had to leave their synagogues. Now, for the first time, Jesus is preaching not from inside a synagogue but from outside, from the open, in a boat. Jesus has left the synagogues and has gone out to the lakeside and the open sky; He who once preached on a pulpit is now preaching from a boat! And he who was preaching to a few hundreds of people in the synagogue, is now preaching to thousands. Irony of things.

A lesson for us. When you hate someone, you turn that person into a hero. This is what has happened with Jesus; the more the religious authorities hate and hunt Jesus, the more Jesus is turning a hero, a superstar, a celebrity. The gospel says that people came from all over the neighbouring districts to touch him and listen to him: “a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after them,  also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon  swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves.”

They can take synagogues away from Jesus, but they cannot take goodness away from him; Jesus goes with his goodness and his people skills wherever he goes. As a result people are seeking him from all over. So large were the crowds that it became dangerous and a boat had to be kept ready, just off the shore, in case he might be overwhelmed with the crushing of the mob. His cures brought him into even greater danger; for the sick people did not even wait for him to touch them; they rushed to touch him.

Another lesson. Good is always good; and doing good is always good. Jesus did good in the synagogue (healed a man with a crippled hand), he did good all the time, even on a Sabbath, on a beach, at the wedding, on the sea, on the cross. As a dedicated follower of Jesus, seek to do good to all people, all day and all days and all the time, and in all places where you happen to be. This is what Jesus expects from you and me. Be good and do good.

Act 10:38

Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country doing good, helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.