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July 22/23, 2017
Jason Meyer | Mark 3:20-35
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”—Mark 3:20–35
Introduction
This is our first opportunity to see one of Mark’s sandwiches. With all due respect to Subway, Mark was the original sandwich artist. We will see more to come. Allow me to show why catching the sandwich structure is important for understanding the text. I will limit myself to two examples.
First, consider Mark 5. Mark begins with the story of Jesus and Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21–24), and he ends with Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:35–43), but sandwiched in between is the story of the woman with the flow of blood. I think the story is misnamed because this is the one place in the Mark where Jesus calls someone his daughter (Mark 5:34). The little girl is 12 years old and the woman with the flow of blood has been sick for 12 years. So sandwiched between the healing of Jairus’ daughter is the healing of Jesus’ daughter.
Second, Mark 11 has the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree, and he returns to the implications of cursing of the fig tree at the end of the story (11:12–14; 11:20–25), but sandwiched in between is the heading “The Cleansing of the Temple.” I would argue that the cursing of the fig tree is an acted-out parable for what Jesus does with the temple—he curses the temple (11:15–19).
Here at the end of Mark 3, we begin with a story about Jesus’ family and end with a story about Jesus’ family, while sandwiched in between is the story of Jesus and his conflict with the scribes. Let us look at it together and try to understand the reason for this sandwich.
Outline
Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
The ESV translates the phrase “those of him” (1:21) as “family.” Family is the most likely translation (physical kin) but it could mean close associates or close friends. The connection to verses 31–35 as Jesus’ mother and brothers probably means we should think of Jesus’ physical family. They set out to “seize him” (v. 21). This appears to be a clear attempt to bind Jesus or control him. The reason given is that they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” Those closest to Jesus tried to put a claim of control on Jesus because they thought he had gone crazy. This is a startling reminder that proximity to Jesus is not enough; allegiance to Jesus is what matters. That is what marks the followers of Jesus.
It is striking that they want to silence Jesus, because Jesus has just silenced the demons (Mark 3:12). Mark tells us that Jesus’ family attempts to seize him. This word “seize” is a serious word in Mark. Three times it refers to Jesus seizing the hand of someone he heals (1:31; 5:41; 9:27), but by far and away it most frequently occurs in contexts where people are adversarial towards Jesus. Eight times it refers to what people try to do who are openly against Jesus (3:21; 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 49, 51). The other four are in contexts that are adversarial to Jesus—those who hold to the tradition of the elders (7:3, 4, 8) or people who “keep the matter to themselves” (9:10). The word “seize” is important in the light of what happens in the middle of the sandwich when Jesus uses the language of “binding” (v. 27).
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
The next group has another interpretation for Jesus. Mark uses the same structure as the previous verse “were saying” (v. 21) and “were saying” (v. 22). His family tries to restrain him and his influence over the crowd in order to save the family honor. The scribes also try to restrain him and his influence over the crowd with a smear campaign. Both his family and the scribes are trying to restrain him.
The family thinks he is crazy; the scribes think he is possessed by the very prince of demons. They do not deny that these are supernatural acts; they reinterpret them as sinister acts because they have a demonic source. They are miracles. Everyone agrees. So you have one of two supernatural options: The source is either God (Jesus is extending the kingdom of God) or the devil (Jesus is extending the kingdom of Satan). They don’t deny the supernatural power; they just redefine the supernatural source of it. It is not a clean source, but an unclean source as documented in verse 30: “For they were saying, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’"
Maybe one comment about the rare word “Beelzebul” is in order here. The best suggested meaning for Beelzebul is “Baal the prince.” The chief rival to faith in Yahweh in the Old Testament was Baal religion. Often biblical writers refer to foreign “gods” as demons (e.g., Psalm 96:5, 1 Corinthians 10:20). Thus Beelzeboul would be the arch ruler of a dynasty of demons or evil spirits. Verses 22–23 equate Satan with Beelzeboul as the “prince of demons” (cf. Matthew 9:34; 10:25; 12:24; Luke 11:5). Other Jewish literature called Beelzeboul the “prince of demons” (The Testament of Solomon, 3:5–6 and 6:1–11).
Jesus begins in verses 23–26 by showing the implications of their interpretation. Then he contrasts it with the correct interpretation in verse 27. Then he will show them the severe implications of their interpretation in verses 28–30.
A. The Folly of their Interpretation (vv. 23–26)
And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
Now Jesus responds with forcefully devastating logic for the religious leaders. How could Jesus be extending Satan’s kingdom if he is casting out demons? That is the best you can come up with? A civil war in Satan’s kingdom (dynasty or house)? If he is divided against himself, his house will fall apart and his kingdom will crumble. That is your best shot at interpreting what is going on?
B. The Correct Interpretation (v. 27)
But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Jesus gives the right interpretation. There is not a civil war from within but a direct invasion from without— from heaven itself. This is a heavenly war, not a civil war. His kingdom is being built; it is being plundered. Someone stronger has come—God himself. And Satan (the strong man) has been bound and now his house is being plundered.
Why does Jesus speak of the strong man or the mighty man and plunder? You should be saying at this point, “I am not sure, but I bet Isaiah has something to say about it.” Yes – I love it when you say that! Isaiah 49:24–26 is talking about the mission of the Servant of the Lord. Isaiah 40 says that the Mighty One is coming. Now Isaiah 49:24–26 says the Mightier One will take the prey from the mighty.
Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
For thus says the LORD:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children ….
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the LORD your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Remember that the first miracle in Mark is an exorcism: Jesus the King, the Lord of all has come, and no one, certainly not the ruler of the demons can stand up to him. He cannot bind Jesus—Jesus binds him and plunders his house.
C. The Eternal Danger of Their Interpretation (vv. 28–30)
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Rejecting Jesus has now led the scribes to commit an eternal sin, that is, a sin that has eternal consequences: A sin called a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit is saying that Jesus has an unclean spirit. They are saying that Jesus is motivated by evil rather than good, by Satan rather than by God, by an unclean spirit, rather than by the Holy Spirit. In this sense, they are the people Isaiah warned about: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). This is a stunning irony. The official, recognized spiritual leaders in Israel are so blind that they cannot tell the difference between the work of God and the work of Satan. They have zero discernment. They are unfit to lead God’s people in anyway. It would be the blind leading the blind and both would fall into a pit. The irony is that the Pharisees have not only become allied with the Herodians, but they have aligned with Satan in opposing Jesus (Mark 3:22).
The reader has reached a fork in the road: One road leads to life and the other to death. The Pharisees charge Jesus with blasphemy (Mark 2:7), and now Jesus charges them with blasphemy (Mark 3:28). No neutrality is possible. Someone is blaspheming—either Jesus or the Jewish leaders. Which side will the reader take?
The reader of Mark has leap-frogged the religious leaders already if they have been awake at all in the introduction (1:1–13). Mark has told us already in 1:7–8 that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came upon Jesus in Mark 1:9–11. Jesus faced Satan in the power of the Spirit (1:12–13). All that he has done in this Gospel has been in step with the Spirit, not in league with Satan. Their stubborn refusal to accept the signs of Jesus’ supernatural work has led them to an eternally dead end.
I do not want to leave this passage without a pastoral word. There is no record in Scripture for someone genuinely repenting and seeking forgiveness who was rejected and denied. In fact, this passage has good news: All other blasphemies can and will be forgiven. In other words, there is the potential for repentance. Remember that Paul says that he used to be a blasphemer (1 Timothy 1:13), but he was shown mercy and made an example. If he the foremost sinner received mercy, then any sinner can receive mercy unto eternal life (1 Timothy 1:15–16).
Anyone who seeks repentance or anyone who is worried that they have committed this sin has not committed it—because anxiety over whether or not you have shows a sensitivity to repent and seek forgiveness. The eternal sin is perpetual unbelief that refuses to call what Jesus does “good,” but calls it “evil” instead. In that state, forgiveness can never come because forgiveness is only found by embracing Jesus as the Son of God—you must believe that God the Father sent him: He had the authority of the Father and the empowerment of the Spirit to do all that he did (including the authority to die for sin so sin could be forgiven).
And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Once again we have forceful language for what Jesus’ family is trying to do to Jesus. They came and “sent to him” and “called him” (v. 31). The crowd relays the message that his family is “seeking” him (v. 32). It is understood that one’s family has a claim on you. That is the clear sense of the word “seek” in Mark. Every time it is used it describes an attempt to gain control over Jesus. The family assumes they have rights over Jesus to which Jesus should submit.
Jesus turns that request on its head. Jesus looked at those who sat around him. They were at his feet in the posture of discipleship. They are his family. In other words, his physical family (standing outside) does not have a claim over him; his true family members are inside with him, and they are those that he has a claim over as Lord. His family is not the lord of him; he is the Lord of the true family of God. Those who do the will of God are defined by those who follow the One that God sent. These stories tell us a stunning truth: there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who sit on the inside at Jesus’ feet and those who stand on the outside reject Jesus (in some misguided attempt to restrain him or oppose him).
Here is how I would state the main point:
Jesus is the Mighty God, the Lord of all: He cannot be restrained or bound. He binds; he is not bound.
Here is the application point: True disciples sit at Jesus feet and surrender all claims upon their lives—and do not assume a claim over him—they confess that Jesus is Lord.
Application: Discipleship
How do we apply these truths today? We once again have an emphasis upon what true discipleship is based on a true understanding of Jesus. Think about how the early church would be reading Mark. By the time Mark was written, Jesus’ family was highly regarded in the church: Jesus’ brother, James, had assumed leadership of the Jerusalem church, his mother Mary was also held in honor.
One commentator hit the nail on the head: “If Mark is willing to put such people to the test, surely no one can presume to be ‘in’ with Jesus apart from faith and commitment.” Then he applied it to people today. If those originally around Jesus were placed in question like this, then Mark also places under question all who grow up amid the religious trappings of Christianity—whether baptism, confirmation, church attendance, or just being raised in a Christian home (James Edwards, Commentary on Mark). No one can lay a claim upon Jesus and force any kind of acceptance into his family through some connection to something other than Jesus himself. John 1:12–13 is a powerful statement in this regard:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
That means that anyone can be inside the family of God. Anyone who calls Jesus “Lord” and sits at his feet in obedience is in the family of God. Doesn’t matter if you are well-bred or well-read or well-traveled. Not IQ or EQ. Not rich or poor. Male or female. black or white or Hispanic or Asian or whatever. Jesus! Only Jesus!
False disciples in Mark try to restrain Jesus from his mission or redirect him from it to something else. This is dangerous—and Jesus will even call this satanic later in Mark. Peter will try to redirect Jesus from his mission by telling him that messiahs don’t die. Jesus “rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man’” (Mark 8:33).
We don’t get to call the shots. We don’t presume—ever—to tell Jesus what to do. We don’t get to chart our own course and script our own future. Disciples surrender it all to Jesus.
Jesus applied these very words he received to his disciples. Jesus promised that we would face opposition like this. See Matthew 10:24–25 …
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.”
Forewarned is forearmed, dear friends. Do you expect to be treated better than Jesus? Did you expect that you would become a follower of Christ and suddenly everyone would love you and be pleased with you and be at peace with you? Let me ask you something very pointed: Did you ever expect that the source of some of the most frequent and painful opposition or persecution might come from those in closest proximity to you, like your physical family?
This is hard. In the ancient world, your identity was deeply tied to your biological family. ______ the son of Alphaeus (for example). In this context of persecution, Jesus says to expect it to come even from your family:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”—Matthew 10:34–39
These were not hypothetical words for the first followers of Christ. They were not abstract. They were real life. One of the stories I read this week was a commentator discussing the story of Perpetua, a first-century follower of Christ. Here story is written as The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and Felicitas. Christians were required to sacrifice for “the welfare of the emperors” during the persecution that broke out. Perpetua refused. Her father pleaded with her to recant. She said that she was a Christian. Her father was so angry with her at the name of Christ that “he looked like he was moving toward me as one who would pluck out my eyes.” Then he calmed down and pleaded with her.
“Daughter, have pity on my grey head—have pity on me your father, if I deserve to be called your father, if I have favoured you above all your brothers, if I have raised you to reach this prime of your life. Do not abandon me to the reproach of men, think of your brothers, think of your mother and your aunt, think of your child, who will not be able to live while you are gone. Give up your pride! You will destroy all of us! None of us will ever be able to speak freely again if anything happens to you.”
She said that she had found a new family—and she had a new sister—her former slave, Felicitas. They died for their faith while holding each other in each other’s arms (Herbert Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, pp. 106–131).
The family of God will stand together, suffer together, and be glorified together. Peter said that Satan is like a roaring lion trying to scare us and devour us (1 Peter 5:8). We can resist him by being strong in our own faith and in the knowledge the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by our brothers and sisters around the world (1 Peter 5:9). And after we have suffered for a little while, we will be together in the glory of his eternal kingdom forever (1 Peter 5:10). There is solidarity in suffering, and there will be solidarity in glory forever. We are not called to be a crowd or a loose confederation of people who go to the same place once a week. We are called to be a family. Is that what you are when you get together in small groups and when we assemble together for our large group gatherings? Do you encourage each other as the family of God?
I remember a gathering as the family of God in which I was strengthened to suffer. Perhaps you are wondering if you would be able to suffer for your faith. I will never forget watching a video on the persecuted church on a Wednesday night. Some radical opponents of the church entered a worship service and held up a gun to the head of some of the Christians and said, “Renounce Christ or die.” One of them said, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” They were shot.
I was sitting in my seat asking myself if I could do that. Pastor John got up and said, “I bet some of you are wondering if you would be able to do that. The answer tonight is “no” because none of you are called to do that tonight. But if the time came to do that, the grace would come also to do that.” That was so freeing to me. Don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow—his mercy is new every morning. If that day ever came, that day’s grace would come with a special mercy for that hour. But don’t think about only big, final, definitive moments like that of being tempted to deny Jesus. Think of many smaller, daily, more frequent temptations to minimize or ignore or deny Jesus in some situation. What will you do when someone else bring a claim or an opinion and tries to put pressure on you to side with them? Give your allegiance to them above Jesus. We must say, “no.” We must obey God rather than humans—even if they are our physical family. God gives grace everyday for those daily temptations that disciples face.
Conclusion: Only Two Options
C.S. Lewis was right when it comes to responding to Jesus (Mere Christianity, pp. 52–53):
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Lewis summarized perfectly the situation found in John 10:14-21:
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?
Jesus’ words allow for zero neutrality. If they are false, they must be rejected in the strongest possible terms. If they are true, they must be embraced in the strongest possible terms. If they are true, there is no other alternative but to bow before him and worship him and say “My Lord and my God.” What will you choose?
Do you realize that if people strongly reject Jesus, they will most likely strongly reject you to the degree that you follow Jesus? But Jesus promises that you will not be alone. Your family may reject you for your faith in Jesus – even those closest to you like father and mother. But in Jesus, the truth of Psalm 27:10 is eternally true: “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.”
Jesus was forsaken on the cross so that you would never have to be. And Jesus said we will not be alone because he can replace our little biological family with a larger family of God. This is what he says later in Mark 10:29–30 …
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Sermon Discussion Questions
Outline
Main Point: Jesus is the Mighty God, the Lord of all—he binds and cannot be bound. True disciples sit at Jesus’ feet and surrender all claims upon their lives. They confess Jesus is Lord and thus he has a claim over them; they do not have a claim over him.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a discipleship grace to sit at Jesus’ feet, follow him as Lord, and rejoice that through him we belong to the eternal family of God.