Have you ever been so devoted to something that it took place over everything else.  Maybe just maybe that happens sometimes because that particular thing is actually part of us.

I’m confident that in today’s text we get an image of that kind of devotion.  As a matter of fact I’m not sure the word devotion describes what we see here well enough.  Let’s take a look.

Mark 3:20-21 CSB
[20] Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. [21] When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.”

So here we are Jesus has come down off the mountain and entered a home.  The crowd is pressing them to the point that they couldn’t tend to their physical needs, specifically eating here.  The crowd seems to be completely socially unaware.    They seem to care only for themselves.  They’d probably fit right in here in today’s society. 

Then there’s Jesus’ family.  Now it’s one thing to be misjudged by just people but it’s a completely different thing for family to do it.  I’ve got to wonder what that conversation sounded like.

Look at Him there in that bunch of people.  He can’t move.  He’s not eating or drinking.  He’s just healing and stuff.  It’s like He doesn’t even care about Himself.  He’s nuts we got to get Him outta there.

There’s a couple of possibilities for the family’s actions.  It could be genuine concern that He really will end up hurt or sick.  It could have also been more selfish motivations though.  They might have been thinking that He’s a zealot and this is going to look bad on the family.  Family honor definitely was prevalent in that time.  We really can’t say for sure, but we can see that they don’t understand Jesus at all.

In the next verses we see Jesus using parables while talking to the scribes.  Jesus even pressed, never stops ministering.

We see a similar story in Matthew.  Probably the same event.

Matthew 12:46-50 CSB
[46] While he was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. [47] Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” [48] He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” [49] Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! [50] For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

This shows that Jesus wasn’t idle while the crowd surrounded Him.  He was ministering to them. 

Ok so Jesus was doing what Jesus does all the time.  What’s your point?

I’m glad you asked!  Because that’s exactly my point.  Jesus never stops ministering.  That brings up some more questions though.  The biggest of which is why?  Why doesn’t Jesus ever stop ministering.  Even when He’s alone He’s praying for us.

Mark 1:35 CSB
[35] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.

Do you know how I know He’s praying for us?  Because everything He did was to save sinners, to save us.  But that really doesn’t answer the why does it?  Throughout the Bible we see Jesus continually ministering to His people.  Both old and new testament.

John 1:1-3, 14, 17 CSB
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

[14] The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[17] for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

God in Genesis 1 is Jesus and He ministers to His people throughout the old testament.  In the new testament we see him fulfill the old covenant in His death and resurrection. 

The reason that Jesus never stops ministering is because that’s who He is.  He is the Gospel.  He is what ministering is meant to be.   His family didn’t understand that.  They didn’t understand that man doesn’t live by bread alone.  They didn’t understand that Jesus was nourished by the very act of ministering.  The act of complete faith in and obedience to the Father.  Devotion doesn’t cover it.  But what does that look like?

It looks like standing in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3:8 and following.  It looks like parting the red sea in Exodus 14.  It looks like John 3:16 and following.  It looks like the raising of the dead, the gift of vision to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the paralysed, the healing of the sick and the removal of demons.  It looks like Romans 5:8. It looks like Ephesians 1:4. It looks like “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.  It looks like “it is finished”.  It looks like…

Revelation 21:1-2 CSB
[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

It looks like every word of the Bible.  It was written for you,  to minister to you.

Luke 6:45 CSB
[45] A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

What’s in your heart is what comes out.  Jesus’ heart is caring for you, ministering to you.

John Piper said that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

Jesus ministry was complete faith in the Father and complete unbridled, unconditional love for you for His Glory.

Matthew 28:18-20 CSB
[18] Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. [19] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are commanded to minister.  What if our ministry looked like Jesus’ ministry?

What if when I speak the words that come out are Jesus because that’s what’s in my heart?

What if the drummers’ drum beats on Sunday morning were Jesus because that’s what’s in their heart?

What if the evangelist speaks Jesus on TV because that’s what’s in their heart?

What if we all minister to everyone else with Jesus because that’s what’s in our heart?

What does your ministry look like?

Love in Christ,

Colby