In this passage in Mark, Jesus is beginning to become increasingly popular and needs to find ways of dealing with His success. His miraculous works have drawn great crowds to Him and there is so much desperate need around Him that He needs to plan howthe needs are met nd the teaching can happen. In this passage He deals with this "success" in three ways.
Firstly, he takes precautions for Himself, His disciples and those who come to find healing that the ministry can continue in an orderly way. He does not allow the situation to get out of control or degenerate into a scrum. He organises for a boat to be made available. This, of course, also ensures that the message He has to deliver will be heard.
Secondly, He tries to ensure that the expectations of the people, who seek political freedom through conflict, are managed down. As the evils spirits leave those who are being healed, they acclaim Jesus as the Son of God and although this is of course true, I wonder whether or not they are stirring things up to try and distract Jesus and off rail his Kingdom Ministry through earthly expectations. He recognises their game and does not fall for it.
Thirdly, He shares the ministry and the work as soon as He can. He withdraws to a mountain and appoints the twelve with whom He shares His authority for the work He is doing. He multiplies the blessings that God is pouring out by multiplying those who can administer them.
This is wisdom in practice. An understanding of the work that God has called Jesus to do, a wise discernment of the pitfalls and a vision for seeing it grow. Mark captures the simple clarity of the thinking. Wisdom in hindsight always looks so simple; but of course, the trick is to see it in the midst of the potential mayhem!
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