Jesus Proclaims His Purpose

Although we may long for and relish Jesus’ miracles, we must always long for Jesus and his real purpose more.

As a child, did you ever have your intentions questioned by your parents? Did you spontaneously proclaim your love and appreciation for them only to have them look at you suspiciously and respond, “What do you want?” Despite your genuine intentions (that time), they misunderstood your purpose.

Jesus knew the purpose of his ministry, but the people around him often misunderstood it. Both the people of Capernaum and Jesus’ own disciples got caught up in Jesus’ rising fame and miraculous healings and were unable to see Jesus’ purpose behind it all (Mark 1:21-34).

But before we judge the disciples for missing the point, let us pause to consider our own lives. How often does our purpose of sharing Christ’s love through the gospel get lost in our longings and distractions?

Jesus’ miracles were not to be an end in and of themselves. Jesus performed miracles partially because of his genuine love for the individual who received the healing, but his miracles also served as a sign of God’s kingdom coming and driving back the power of Satan and death. Thus, miracles assisted Jesus in his purpose to preach good news to the nations that he is the Son of God and he came to bring salvation to humankind (Mark 1:35-38).

Jesus’ healings point to the fact that he is the One to heal our broken relationship with God—he is our Messiah, come to free us from our sin and heal us of our broken condition.

Jesus’ purpose was clear

If we stop on the road and stare at a road sign that says, “One mile to Chicago this way,” but never continue the journey, we will miss the greater beauty and joy of experiencing Chicago itself.

It is not bad to get excited about a road sign and what it ...