The Go Default of Jesus

The Gospel of Mark is an action packed biography of the life of Jesus. The very first chapter begins with John the Baptist preparing the way, Jesus getting baptised and then heading into the wilderness for forty days of fasting and temptation from Satan.  

By verse fifteen Mark jumps straight into ministry as Jesus comes into the region of Galilee announcing, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus calls the twelve to follow him at the sea and then heads into the town of Capernaum where he preaches in the synagogue, heals a man with an unclean spirit and later heals Peter’s mother-in-law.  

Verse 28 tells us that “immediately his fame spread everywhere throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.”  Before the day is out, people are lined up at Peter’s door wanting to see Jesus, to be healed and to be set free from demons.  I imagine this went on late into the night.

Not a bad first day of ministry.  Exhausting let’s assume, but good.

If we were to stop the story there and pretend we didn’t know what Jesus did next, how would we finish the story?

I think I would probably sleep in the next morning.  It was a long, hard day of ministry and I’d need to be good and rested up.  Once I did get up, I’d probably start looking for a big hall to rent knowing that the crowds are back.  I’d maybe print up some flyers to let everyone know when and where we’d be meeting again and I’d encourage everyone to invite all of their friends.  

But of course this isn’t the path of Jesus. 

He rises very early in the morning to head out and spend some time in prayer with the Father (verse 35).  When his disciples find him, all excited about the crowds that are already forming (verse 37), Jesus’ response must have seemed just a bit counter-intuitive.  “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out (verse 38).” 

And that is exactly what Jesus did.  “He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons (verse 39).”

From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus defaults toward going.  We see this over and over again in the ministry and teachings of Jesus. 

​Here are a few examples from the book of Mark:

• The sower went out to sow (Mark 4:1-9)
• The demon possessed man wants to go with Jesus but Jesus sends him back to his village to proclaim what God had done for him (Mark 5:1-20)
• Jesus sends out the twelve (Mark 6:7-13)
• Jesus leaves the 5,000 (Mark 30-47) and the 4,000 (Mark 1-10)
• Jesus goes to Jerusalem (Mark 11)
• Jesus promises that the gospel will be preached to all nations (Mark 13:10)
• Jesus tells his disciples to go into all the world (Mark 16:15)

Jesus prepares the disciples to go and expects them to go (Acts 1:8).  It is his prayer that as he has been sent into the world, he will send his disciples into the world as well (John 17:18). 

And the commission given to his disciples in Matthew 28, “to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything he had commanded”, is the strategy of Jesus.  

Making disciples who make disciples is His plan A.  

Jesus promised he would build his church.  We are to go and make disciples.

We are to be church.  To do that, we must gather.  It is the example that the first church gives us (Acts 2:42-47; Acts 4:32-37) and is clearly taught in scripture (Matthew 18:20; Hebrews 10:25; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 4:11-13).

But the purpose of church is not to gather.  The purpose is to gather so that we can scatter, so that we can go and make disciples, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and make him famous all over the earth.  

Jesus’ invitation to us is to follow him.  And Jesus is on the move.

So let’s go.

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