“Wonders or Word?” – MARK 3:7-19a

Much time, money and brain-power has been expended in trying to determine why people respond to Jesus. Even early in His ministry “crowd control” was a problem for Him everywhere He appeared in public (3:9). Most of the time (for most of the folks) the motivation seems to be physical (3:10) and not spiritual. The people may not have understood yet, but the forces in the spiritual realm surely did (3:11) and spoke the ultimate truth about Jesus – “You are the Son of God”.

Stop right there.

If this is true and Jesus is the Son of God, then why is there a question about why people come to Him? Better still, why do ALL people not come to Him?

Jesus desired above all for everyone to hear and come to Him. Determined to get the Word about the kingdom of God and salvation for people to the masses, Jesus called a few hand-picked men for a special purpose (3:13). They would work wonders so that people would listen to the Word (3:14-15).

The miracles served a distinct purpose and Jesus had the attention of the multitudes. The blessing of miracles also became the curse of His ministry. Some wanted the physical benefit without any spiritual commitment. Lest we think to highly of ourselves, notice that the same dynamic prevails today. We want to “feel” religious and seek out “worship centers” that fill that need. Worship is not a physical or emotional blessing received by the worshipper. Instead it is the culmination of a lifestyle of love, respect, joy, humility and service overflowing from the heart of a forgiven soul and offered to our Master and Savior. The “benefit” to the worshipper comes from the spiritual commitment that produces the offering. When you worship, is it for wonders or the Word?

So, why do people come to Jesus? He still calls disciples. Discipleship requires spiritual commitment. As a “learning follower” a disciple comes to Jesus for who He is – the Son of God. All else is secondary to this central truth. His wonders were performed because of this truth, for no mortal man could do this. Yet, it was and is the teaching of Christ that draws us. We learn of His deity and we learn how to live by faith from His Words.

We learn of His love, and we learn how to love.

We learn of His grace and we learn how to be forgiven and how to forgive.

We learn of His reward, and we learn how to follow Him into eternity.

Make no mistake, following Jesus does not stifle our emotions. How so? Embedded in the life of a disciple are all of the emotions that a commitment to Christ can trigger and foster. Peter followed Jesus to the mount and saw Him transfigured into His glory. Imagine the emotions he felt. But then, Peter heard the Father say “This is My beloved Son … HEAR Him”. It was all about the Word, not the wonders.

Peter was a passionate follower of His Lord and Master. As Peter followed and heard, we can walk the same pathway. Following in the footsteps of Peter and the other disciples in scripture, we find that in discipleship the blessings flow because the Word of God is truly a wondrous gift to the learning follower of Jesus.