My Walk Through the Book of Mark by Annette Godtland

A Great Multitude Follows Jesus (Mark 3:7-12)

7But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God." 12But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

The crowds mentioned before that were so overwhelming were from Capernaum. Now the crowds were from many different cities. So I can understand this would be an even greater multitude. They all wanted to touch Him so they would possibly be pressing in on Him so much that Jesus rightly needed to worry about being crushed.

This reminds me of scenes I have seen in movies where after their performance, famous people would have to have an army of body guards help them escape from the crowds by taking back door exits and scurrying to dark limousines. Jesus didn't do this. He preached but still met with the crowds as much as possible, healing many. But for His own safety, He still had a boat available if He needed it to keep from getting trampled. Yes, even in doing God's work, we should still observe personal safety.

Once again, the demons immediately recognize who Jesus is, but Jesus does not let them let anyone else know. Why? Is it that He doesn't want people to know yet? Or is it because He wants the people to know, but not from an evil spirit? Or is it just that He doesn't want to ever hear it from a demon? Or is there some other reason I haven't thought of yet?

I'm still not really sure what I think of this. I will have to see how this continues as I read more of the scriptures. But I'm starting to feel it is just that He doesn't want people to listen to or respect any information from an evil spirit. Mankind's downfall all started because Eve listened to the serpent. I don't think it is a matter of not wanting people to figure out who He really is, as He was hinting at it when He talked about not fasting when with the bridegroom, or when He said that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. I think God wants us to listen to the messages He gives us in our hearts, come to the understanding ourselves, not by listening to what is told us by evil spirits. He will guide us in what we need to know. We just need to open our hearts and listen to Him.