Mark 3:7-12 NRSVue

⁷Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; ⁸hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. ⁹He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him, ¹⁰for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. ¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” ¹²But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
Jesus recognized that there is a time for silence. I ask God to guide me to know when I might speak and when silence is my better witness.

Reflection
People came to Jesus for healing; in his presence the attraction of light and wholeness was evident. As I spend this time with Jesus, I let him quell any spirits in me that are not for my good.

Reflection
He ordered them not to make him known./ Since the prevailing idea of the Messiah was nationalistic and warlike, Jesus avoided giving a false and dangerous impression of his mission. Hence what has been called /the Messianic secret./

Reflection
Lord, the unclean spirits recognised you as the Son of God, and so do I. The secret is out.

Reflection
Jesus seems to want to remain as a bit of a ‘mystery man’.  He is afraid that his works will show him just as a miracle worker. He wants us to see behind the miracles to the mystery of God and his life with his Father. Evil was challenged by him and saw him for the son of God that he was. The faith of the disciples would grow slowly and the mystery of his message would take hold gradually.  Bring to prayer the ways faith has grown gradually and sometimes with difficulty in life and be grateful that even in bad times our faith in the mystery of God’s love has grown.

Reflection
Jesus needed a boat for his journey. He needs you and me, all of us today, for his journey in our times. The boat in the gospel is a sign of the self. Make a boat ready today means ‘make yourself ready'. In prayer we are ready to meet with and hear God's call to do God's will. We are all part of the divine plan to love and save the universe.