When They Saw Him

Sermon preached on Matthew 28:16-20 concerning the significance of the resurrection to the Great Commission by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the worship service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 4/4/21 in Novato.

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They Came to the Other Side of the Sea

In our passage for today, Jesus seems to be trying to get away and get some well deserved R&R.  Remember from last chapter, that he had been preaching from a boat along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.  In chapter 4, we saw that Jesus was exhausted and had his disciples take him across to the other side of the sea — into Gentile territory.  And yet, according to verse 2, immediately upon arrival at the other side of the sea, Jesus is confronted with a demon-possessed man.  And so Jesus’ break is short lived.  He wasn’t able to get much sleep on the boat ride over because he was busy silencing storms, and now he finds himself confronted with a demon-possessed man who desperately needs help that only he can provide.  And though we sinful people might have been frustrated if we were in Jesus’ shoes, that’s not how our Lord responds.  As we might expect, he responds out of a true compassion and love and frees the man from these unclean spirits.  And so as we look at this event, we’ll see that the gospel message of freedom and reconciliation in Christ comes even to the Gentiles.

Passage: Mark 5:1-20
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/11/2008 in Novato, CA.
Other Scripture Readings: Leviticus 11:1-8; Revelation 20:7-15

Click here for the manuscript.

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