Rockstar !

Mark 3: 7-12                                          
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing, 
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, 
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, 
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, 
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him 
and shout, "You are the Son of God."
He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Well, it looks like Jesus had attained what we would call in our time, "Rockstar Status." People are coming from all over the place to see Him.  Word has gotten around that He is a great healer and people wanted what He was giving out.  He was getting so popular that he had to have his apostles prepare a way for Him to escape. Had He the stamina, Jesus could have worked at curing people and exorcising demons twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week!  His popularity was going viral.  

But what were the people actually coming for?  Were they coming because that they heard that this man speaks wisdom and appears to be anointed by God and has some good things to say?  No, some were coming to see the magician Jesus, you know, the one that cleans lepers and drives out demons, now that is a roadshow worth going to!  Others were the people with the diseases and the demons, coming because they heard that their issue could be cured in just a minute if they could get close to Jesus.  Others were coming because they had the day off and wanted to do something with it and a Galilean wonder-worker fit the bill, let's bring lunch and make a day of it! 

The only ones that knew absolutely who Jesus was and why He was there were the demons that he expelled.  They knew He was the Son of God and they were not afraid to say so. Jesus, on the other hand, had no desire for His true identity to be broadcast by these tools of the devil so he silenced them.  His mission was to the people of God, to bring the good news that God loved them and that He sent His only Son as their Messiah.  But who cares about a messiah when you can be made clean and get back to earning money so you could buy bread for your family.  Or why bother with something nebulous like a messiah which had been promised for thousands of years.  What was the likelihood that after all of these years that one would arrive now?  Get yours while the getting was good.

His apostles must have been struck with awe as they saw all of the people streaming to their leader.  At least one of them, a man from Iscariot named Judas, was thinking about how much money could be made if they only had a basket or hat to pass.  Even His apostles did not get what the real purpose of Christ on earth was all about yet. 

Jesus was here to assure us that we were loved way beyond what we could understand and that God the Father was keeping His promise to patch things up with His wayward children.  But first, Jesus would have to grow beyond rock star status and the people would have to start listening with the ears that were connected to their hearts  Eventually they would come to see what Jesus was and what He was about and on that day they would crucify Him and only then would they learn the greatest lesson that He had to teach, that the power of sin and death was no more.

We cannot assume that everyone that dies goes straight to heaven,  To do so so is a comfort for us but not of any value for them.  The Poor Souls await our prayers.  Please pray for them by name today.