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Jesus and Beelzebul
Mark 3.20-35
Good News Translation (GNT)
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20 Then Jesus went home. Again such a large
crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples
had no time to eat.
21 When his family heard about it, they set out to
take charge of him, because people were
saying, "He's gone mad!"
22 Some teachers of the Law who had come
from Jerusalem were saying, "He has
Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons
who gives him the power to drive them out."
23 So Jesus called them to him and spoke to
them in parables: "How can Satan drive out
Satan?
24 If a country divides itself into groups which
fight each other, that country will fall
apart.
25 If a family divides itself into groups which fight
each other, that family will fall apart.
26 So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups,
it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to
an end.
27 "No one can break into a strong man's house
and take away his belongings unless he first
ties up the strong man; then he can plunder
his house.
28 "I assure you that people can be forgiven
all their sins and all the evil things they
may say. (a)
29 But whoever says evil things against the Holy
Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has
committed an eternal sin."
30 Jesus said this because some people were
saying, "He has an evil spirit in him."
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived.
They stood outside the house and sent in a
message, asking for him.
32 A crowd was sitting around Jesus, and they
said to him, "Look, your mother and your
brothers and sisters are outside, and they
want you."
33 Jesus answered,
"Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
34 He looked at the people sitting around him
and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my
brothers!
35 Whoever does what God wants is my brother,
my sister, my mother."
Footnotes
Mark 3:28 evil things they may say;
or
evil things they may say against God.
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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
Mark 3:20-35
When Jesus' family heard of His activities,
they thought He was out of his mind,
because He never allowed proper time
to eat and sleep. Therefore,
they came to take charge of him.
According to Matthew 12:22-23,
Jesus at that same time cured a demon-possessed man,
whom the demon had rendered blind and dumb.
The people were amazed and said,
"Could this be the Son of David?" -
that is, the Messiah.
But the Pharisees denied that Jesus was
the "Son of David" whom the Jews
had been waiting for.
They said that His power came not from God
but from Satan. They accused Jesus Himself
of being demon-possessed.
They said that He cast out the demon
by Satan's power.
Why would the prince of demons
cast out his own demons?
If he did that, his kingdom, or his house,
would be divided against itself and,
as a result, would quickly be destroyed.
To free the demon-possessed,
Jesus had to enter the strong man's house
(Satan's house) and bind Satan.
Yet He did not completely defeat Satan
while He was here on earth.
Only at the end of the world will Satan
finally be completely destroyed
In the warfare with Satan and his evil spirits,
one cannot remain neutral.
Men are either on Satan's side or
on the side of Jesus; there is no middle ground.
Jesus was working by the power of God's Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees were calling
the Holy Spirit "Satan"!
This is why Jesus gave this warning about
blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says here that all the sins and
blasphemies of men, even words spoken against
the Son of Man will be forgiven, if one repents.
Only one sin cannot be forgiven,
that is, blasphemy against the Spirit.
What is blasphemy against the Spirit?
It is persistent rejection of God's Spirit.
God calls us through His Spirit.
When we reject and abuse His Spirit,
God has no other way of calling us further.
We cut ourselves off from the mercy
and forgiveness of God.
The Holy Spirit is like a bridge
between us and God.
If we destroy the bridge, our hope of salvation,
our hope of entering the kingdom of God,
will be lost.
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
Then Jesus' family arrived where He was teaching.
Mark mentions here Jesus' brothers.
Some Christians think that these were not
true brothers of Jesus.
They believe that Mary had no other children
besides Jesus. But according to an ordinary
understanding of these verses, Mark is talking here
about Jesus' younger brothers, sons of Mary and Joseph.
However, only Jesus was born by the Holy Spirit
Jesus did not mean to dishonour His own family.
He was simply teaching that while our
fleshly family is very important,
our spiritual family is even more important.
Those who believe in Jesus and obey God's will
are of one spiritual family, children of God,
brothers and sisters of each other.
This spiritual family will last for all eternity.
We must be closer to our believing brothers and sisters
than to our own unbelieving fleshly family.
We must always be closer to Jesus
and His church above our own father and mother,
brothers and sisters
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