Anybody who reads the Gospels knows that Jesus lived a very difficult life. He was born into a poor family. These humble beginnings resulted in His being a common laborer in an insignificant town.
At the beginning of His ministry, however, the suffering amped up. Most Bible scholars agree that the first act of His earthly ministry—His baptism—foreshadowed His ultimate baptism of suffering on the cross. Immediately after being baptized, He withdrew to the Judean wilderness. There He fasted for forty days. I cannot imagine what it must be like to fast for forty days, especially in a desert.
In that desert, Satan came to Him. He tested the Lord in His weakened physical state, adding to His suffering. This confrontation was another foreshadowing of the opposition Jesus would have from Satan during His ministry.
The wilderness was a picture of His earthly ministry. It reminded Him of why He came and where His ministry would end. It was a place of suffering and death. His time on earth would not be one in which there would be many creature comforts. On one occasion He warned one who wanted to follow Him that He did not have a permanent place to lay His head (Luke 9:58). That is appropriate for a Man who started His ministry by fasting in the wilderness.
In Mark, Jesus often sees the need to withdraw from the comforts of civilization. These withdrawals involved both the wilderness and the sea (1:12-13, 35, 45; 2:13). He would withdraw when He encountered opposition or when the crowds wanted Him to do what He had not come to do. He would go to these isolated places by Himself, indicating that His life would be one of suffering. He did not come to hear the applause of men.
An interesting thing happens in Mark 3. Jesus withdraws once again to the sea. But this time, He is not alone. For the first time in the Gospel, Mark adds that He withdrew “with His disciples” (3:7). This happens immediately after some men in power decide to kill Him (3:6).
I am certain that the disciples didn’t understand what all of this meant. They did not yet believe Jesus would die. They probably wondered why He didn’t stay in the cities where the people came to watch Him perform miracles. They did not grasp the idea that following Him would involve suffering.
But even in their ignorance, they were a blessed group. They were sharing in His suffering. They were “with” Him as He taught them what it would mean to be a disciple. They already understood that they had eternal life in Him by believing in Him for it. Now they began to learn what following in His footsteps would involve. They too would experience opposition from the world.
It is the same with believers today. When we believe, we have eternal life that we can never lose. But then the King commands us to follow Him. In keeping with His experience, such a life is not easy. Believers who do follow Him will be rewarded in the world to come. But they will also be rewarded in this world. They will have the privilege of being like Him. As the world rejected Him, it will reject the disciple of Christ.
How significant is the little phrase that Mark adds in 3:7? The Lord withdrew to the sea. But He did so “with His disciples.” Wouldn’t it be great to be included in that group?
