“Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see Him.”
We are having a hard time today figuring out what is newsworthy. Once we had trusted sources, now we have multiple points of generation of what is created as news. What is considered newsworthy and what is not is not any one person or groups decision, but what is consumed as news is each of our own decisions. Sadly, today we have to ask ourselves, is it true?, before we tell someone else. We each have that responsibility and we need to consider that when we share or spread something that is not true, that we have become part of the problem. We have become the same as someone who has gossiped. Companies have a truth in advertising standard they must uphold. We as consumers of that advertising and other messages sent to us have to stand up and hold others and most importantly, ourselves accountable to the standards.
In the book of Mark we learn of Jesus’ miracles and how He attracted crowds to see and hear Him. What I read in the verse above is that there is something about being active in the searching of God and Him as the one Truth. I guess Mark could have stopped his account with “The news about his miracles had spread far and wide” and we would have gotten the same effect. It would have meant that people were believing, sharing, talking, passing the stories, etc.. We would get it, Jesus had gone viral. But, Mark didn’t stop there. He went on to state, “and vast numbers of people came to see Him”. There it is. We are to actively seek Him! And, that is how the truth, in this case, The Truth, is to be spread. We are to actively and physically do something to find truth and then spread and share it because we know it to personally be so. If we are spreaders of truth that we have ourselves legitimized, it is then that we can be credible spreaders of the one Truth we personally know!
Reference: Mark 3:8 (New Living Translation)