Mark 3:7 - 3:35

philologos

I want to try and continue these studies on. We've looked at three sections before in Mark. Those discussions are still open, and I think maybe if people want we can post on those also so we can get some of the background. (study 1, study 2, study 3). These threads are separate for a reason, so feel free to pull up one of the earlier ones and have a chat about them. I hope to be able to spend a bit more time bringing more of these threads to you.

I reckon that sometimes instead of filling this forum with our own chatter, it might be good to fill it with Jesus speaking instead. I'd really recommend praying beforehand, thanking God for His word to us, and praying that He would open it up to us as we read it together, and that all discussion will be edifying and uplifting, and that all may be to the glory of His name. I also welcome atheists / agnostics, and those of other religions. However, please bear in mind that this thread is not intended for debating God's existence, there are plenty of places on boards.ie and in the Christianity forum where that is welcome, so please respect this thread.

Mark 3:7-35 wrote:

[A Great Crowd Follows Jesus]
[7] Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea [8] and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. [9] And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, [10] for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. [11] And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” [12] And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

[The Twelve Apostles]
[13] And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. [14] And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach [15] and have authority to cast out demons. [16] He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); [17] James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); [18] Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, [19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
[20] Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. [21] And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

[Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit]
[22] 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.” [23] And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. [26] And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. [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.
[28] “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, [29] but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—[30] for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

[Jesus' Mother and Brothers]
[31] And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. [32] And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” [33] And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” [34] And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! [35] For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Questions to think about:

Verses 7 - 12:
1. Why does Mark feel the need to tell us where the people who sought Jesus were from? (verses 7 - 8)
2. What does verse 11 tell us about unclean spirits?
3. In the first section why do you think Jesus command the unclean spirits not to make Him known? (verse 12).

Verses 13 - 21:
4. Why is it significant that Jesus "called to Him those whom He desired"? (verse 13).
5. What does the authority that Jesus gives the apostles mean?
6. Why did Jesus send the apostles out to preach? (How does Mark 1:35-39 help us for example?).
7. What do you think is interesting about the response of Jesus' family to his early ministry? (verse 21).

Verses 22 - 30:
8. Why do the scribes want to accuse Jesus of having an unclean spirit? (verses 22, and 30).
9. Why does Jesus present the analogy of a kingdom divided, or a burgular who plunders the goods of a strong man?
10. What does this section tell us about Jesus' deeds?
11. Why can't the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit be forgiven? (verse 29).
12. Why is verse 29 important to remember given what we read in the surrounding sections?

Verses 30 - 35:
13. What is interesting about the response of Jesus to the crowd? (verse 32).
14. How should Jesus' understanding of family change our view of church and community? (verses 33 to 35)
15. How practically as Christians can we remember this in our churches?

In general:
16. What do you think Jesus is saying about the nature of the Kingdom of God, and how we can be a part of it?
17. Why do you think Mark has structured this passage in the way that He has?
18. What do you think Mark is trying to communicate us about Jesus?

I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this passage with you all.

lmaopml

philologos wrote: »

I'm going to bump this up, because I think this would be a great passage to get into.

Phil, perhaps it may be a good idea to throw out some of your own perspective too on the study first? - Like people are studying together, and not being asked a series of questions only to explore. In the spirit of this forum, I think having this Scripture study is probably one of the best ideas since, well.....2003

I think it would be cool to have a 'discussion' as opposed to a 'study' - If anybody is capable of that than I think you were possibly made to give your opinion rather than only pose the questions in a given format. If you elaborate, rather than just pose questions perhaps this study will take off. I think it will lead down many paths but we're a brave lot!

philologos

lmaopml wrote: »

Phil, perhaps it may be a good idea to throw out some of your own perspective too on the study first? - Like people are studying together, and not being asked a series of questions only to explore. In the spirit of this forum, I think having this Scripture study is probably one of the best ideas since, well.....2003

I think it would be cool to have a 'discussion' as opposed to a 'study' - If anybody is capable of that than I think you were possibly made to give your opinion rather than only pose the questions in a given format. If you elaborate, rather than just pose questions perhaps this study will take off. I think it will lead down many paths but we're a brave lot!

The reason I've hesitated from giving my own opinion is that this is best done as a collaborative effort. I'm more than happy to contribute more heavily as it goes along. I'm just a little reluctant to push the discussion in one way or another from the get go though

In short, I think the passage has a lot to do with challenging previously held attitudes on entering God's kingdom, on family, and what can prevent us from entering His Kingdom. I think verses 32 - 35 are shocking for any reader, past or present. Jesus' view of family, challenges us to think differently about our Christian communities, as brothers and sisters, not just as brothers and sisters, but those united in their commitment to the will of God. That's unbelievably radical, and it is something that I so often forget about. It's one of those things that makes me incredibly excited about the Gospel

lmaopml

philologos wrote: »

The reason I've hesitated from giving my own opinion is that this is best done as a collaborative effort. I'm more than happy to contribute more heavily as it goes along. I'm just a little reluctant to push the discussion in one way or another from the get go though

I know Phil, but I don't think there is a better person to do so, to give a bit of life to the discussion - I think it's a difficult endeavor to bring Scriptural debate to this particular forum, but I think it's one worth doing too, wholeheartedly. I love the idea - I think it needs a little personality too - and that doesn't mean putting ones ideas on the line, but simply giving an example - a discussion starter..

In the Spirit of this forum, I think it's the best approach, to not only ask the questions but also to give an opening example answer, wave a carrot - be not only teacher, but teacher and student too...then discussion, really cool discussion that we all love will take off. I hope.

I think this is a really cool endeavor. I was going to post a thread on Scripture readings of the 'week', but I knew it wouldn't encompass all members on this forum, so I thought better of it - I think this format is best, I think you are the one to do it, in fact I think you are the only one who has the guts and the will.

philologos

As a start I'll touch on some of what I think on this passage:

Firstly, Mark makes clear that Gentiles are as much a part of His great Kingdom as Jews are. This is no longer a privileged Kingdom for Jews. God is for everyone. He's making this clear through His Son. Mark already tells us that He is writing good news (1:1 - see previous thread here). I think we are still working out very much what that good news is, Mark's going to tell us later in his gospel. What we can tell is that the Kingdom is not privileged to Jews any longer.

Secondly, even Jesus' family have difficulty accepting Jesus as the Messiah, the promised one of God. Jesus appointed the twelve, sent them out to preach and his family found that He has so big a crowd that they couldn't handle it (1:20-21), what does this tell us about his family I wonder? Did they really recognise that Jesus was the living Messiah, and as we've looked at earlier in Mark, that He was God Himself? That's an interesting question to say the least.

Thirdly, the unforgivable sin? What is it? - Look at the tense. Jesus is not saying that anyone who has ever blasphemed against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. Rather He's saying that "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”. Blasphemes, in the continual present. For as long as I blaspheme the Holy Spirit and His work in the world, for as long as I reject the living God, I cannot have fellowship with Him. For as long as I run away from Jesus, I cannot belong to Him. This is key. The scribes are attributing the works of Jesus, to Satan. Jesus in pointing out the fallacy in their logic also makes clear to them that if they deny the works of the Holy Spirit, they are also rejecting true knowledge of God. If I deny the truth of God in this world, and if I continue to reject God, I can't come near Him.

Fourthly, family what is it? How are we a part of Jesus' family. What is His family? - Jesus says that His true followers are those who do the will of God are His brother, His sister, and His mother. Biology isn't enough to secure a place in the Kingdom of God as many Jews would have thought. It's not enough to be a child of Abraham, God can raise up another child of Abraham. Believing and trusting in Him is of first importance. There are questions as to what our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ are. Jesus is giving us the framework of understanding who we are in Jesus.

That's just a brief skim through.

philologos

Bumping the thread up, as I think it could be a good passage to get into.

solsqeez

philologos wrote: »

Mark makes clear that Gentiles are as much a part of His great Kingdom as Jews are.

I agree. Mark is trying to convince us that Jesus is the long awaited Jewish Messiah promised in the scriptures, however this Messiah is not here just to save the Jews but the Gentiles also. The great crowd that follows Jesus comes from both the Jewish and the Gentile regions.

The "unclean spirits" recognise Jesus as the "Son of God", though Jesus "strictly ordered them not to make him known". Jesus seems to be hiding his true identity from the scribes. Maybe it is because they will confuse him with preconceived notions of what they think the Messiah should be. Maybe Jesus doesn't want to interrupt his true mission to the poor and sick, his battle against Satan and the bringing of the spiritual Kingdom of God.

This spiritual Kingdom of God is very different from the kingdoms of "the children of man". Blood relationships are not important, instead spiritual relationships is what matters. "For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother"

philologos wrote: »

If I deny the truth of God in this world, and if I continue to reject God, I can't come near Him.

Yes I think this is what Jesus means when he says "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”.

Fanny Cradock

V 31 onwards is very interesting. I wonder does it point to tensions within the family. Given that the Jews were expecting a very particular type of messiah, I don't doubt that members of Jesus' family looked upon him with mixed feelings. On the one hand you have Mary who knew that Jesus was special (but not that special) and on the other hand you have James (and other siblings) who understandably did not believe in him. It is notable that James would later become a pivotal member of early Christianity and later be martyred.

philologos

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

V 31 onwards is very interesting. I wonder does it point to tensions within the family. Given that the Jews were expecting a very particular type of messiah, I don't doubt that members of Jesus' family looked upon him with mixed feelings. On the one hand you have Mary who knew that Jesus was special (but not that special) and on the other hand you have James (and other siblings) who understandably did not believe in him. It is notable that James would later become a pivotal member of early Christianity and later be martyred.

Jesus and His family have a key role in this passage I think. I wonder at how Mark has structured his passage. It seems we have a sandwich.

Mark in verses 7 to 21 show us of Jesus' ministry, Jesus authority over unclean spirits, and also Jesus calling His disciples to preach, and the authority to cast out demons. We've seen that Jesus both has the authority to heal, and the authority to forgive sins (both seem to go hand in hand for Jesus thus far). Yet, we see that His family think that He has gone mad.

Towards the end of the passage we meet Jesus' family again from verses 31 to 35. The crowd tell Jesus that His family are waiting for Him, He tells them that the people who do the will of God are His brothers, and sisters and mother. Asides from the actual application points on this which are many and powerful, I can't help but asking, what does that mean for the section from 22 - 30.

How does the section from 22 - 30 give us any insight into what is happening with Jesus' family, or indeed Jesus' point towards the end of the passage?

That's what I find quite interesting about this section of Mark.

solsqeez

"And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand"

It's strange that Jesus says this when his own family is divided against himself thinking that he is "out of his mind". Also Jesus is not accepted by the Jewish scribes, so the Jewish house is divided against itself.

Is it the intention of Jesus that the earthly house of the Jews falls?

Jesus also says "But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man". Jesus has been shown to cast out demons and perform miracles and the scribes themselves do not deny this. Jesus is considered a strong man. It's interesting that Jesus himself was binded to the cross. Maybe what Jesus meant is that he had to be binded and killed so that the Kingdom of God could be opened for everyone?

philologos

solsqeez wrote: »

"And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand"

It's strange that Jesus says this when his own family is divided against himself thinking that he is "out of his mind". Also Jesus is not accepted by the Jewish scribes, so the Jewish house is divided against itself.

Is it the intention of Jesus that the earthly house of the Jews falls?

Jesus also says "But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man". Jesus has been shown to cast out demons and perform miracles and the scribes themselves do not deny this. Jesus is considered a strong man. It's interesting that Jesus himself was binded to the cross. Maybe what Jesus meant is that he had to be binded and killed so that the Kingdom of God could be opened for everyone?

I think a lot of stuff that you've mentioned there is certainly interesting area of speculation, but I think we need to first understand what is manifest in the passage before we bring this or that into the passage.

One of the best tips a friend of mine gave me quite recently when coming to read the Bible is if Mark hasn't told us something yet, let it wait until he does. We know for sure that Mark does tell us explicitly about the death and resurrection of Jesus and why they had to happen, but we need to sit back and think about how he does it.

I guess what might be worth pointing out is that the scribes in verse 22 are speaking about "Beelzebul" a common synonym for Satan, the prince of demons. Jesus in verse 23 talks about Satan and his dominion. Jesus later in this section says that they are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

What's the interesting part is given what we know in verses 28 - 30, how do we explain from verse 23 - 27?

Just an idea.

solsqeez

From 13-21, Jesus is recruiting his followers and his family says "He is out of his mind".

From 31-35, Jesus redefines family in spiritual terms "for whoever does the will of God."

In between we have the Scribes accusing Jesus to be in league with Satan. Jesus responds in parable exlaining that he is here to bring the rule of Satan "to an end". The Messiah was expected to go on an earthly war to restore the nation of Israel. Jesus explains that his battle is with Satan and that it is a spiritual war.

Maybe what Mark was doing with this sandwich was to console new and potential members of Christianity against the common accusations of the day. The new members of Christianity would likely have to go against their family's wishes in following Jesus or be accused of being mad, or worse, being a follower of Satan.

philologos

solsqeez wrote: »

From 13-21, Jesus is recruiting his followers and his family says "He is out of his mind".

From 31-35, Jesus redefines family in spiritual terms "for whoever does the will of God."

In between we have the Scribes accusing Jesus to be in league with Satan. Jesus responds in parable exlaining that he is here to bring the rule of Satan "to an end". The Messiah was expected to go on an earthly war to restore the nation of Israel. Jesus explains that his battle is with Satan and that it is a spiritual war.

Maybe what Mark was doing with this sandwich was to console new and potential members of Christianity against the common accusations of the day. The new members of Christianity would likely have to go against their family's wishes in following Jesus or be accused of being mad, or worse, being a follower of Satan.

That's interesting. Here's my ruminatings on it. I'm going to try use what's told to us by Mark.

Pharisee's accuse Jesus of being possessed by the Beelzebul.
X (the meat of this section)
Jesus telling that for as long as one blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.

Off the bat, I think that Jesus is accusing the Pharisees of attributing what has come from the Holy Spirit to Satan.

Let's look at X:
(v.23) Jesus asks them "How can Satan cast out Satan"
- N.B Look back earlier in Mark and we see Jesus casting out unclean spirits (Mark 1:21-28 for example). We also see in 3:15 that Jesus gave the disciples authority to cast out demons.

First question: So, if Jesus was possessed by Satan, why would He be casting out demons?

If a kingdom is divided against itself. Whose kingdom? - We've been talking about Satan in verse 23, there's been no break of topic yet, so we can presume he's talking about Satan's kingdom.

Verses 25 and 26 continue on the topic of Satan. Verse 26 mentions the word "divided" in respect to Satan, and verse 23 mentions divided in respect to the kingdom. There's a continuation of Satan as being the topic on either side.

27. "But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man." - The strong man = Satan, who we've been discussing all this time. Jesus seems to be saying that one would have to oppose Satan to be able to cast out demons.

v.28 - 29 - Section on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

v.30 - The claim that the Pharisee's were making against Jesus - Jesus in part exposes the logical fallacy of their position. How can someone possessed by the devil or unclean spirits drive out unclean spirits? (House divided if that is the case).

So, either side. We have Jesus' family reject His teaching as madness (v.7-21). We have a section at the end about who Jesus' true family are (those who do God's will - (v.31-35). In the middle we have a section about misattributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan (v.23-30).

So, I guess the next question is to ask, how does the middle bit apply both to:
the first section of the sandwich (v.7-21)
the second section of the sandwich (v.31-35)?

Let me know what you think, I could be entirely wrong, but it is always good to look to what the passage says on the most obvious level first before we think of drawing other things in.

solsqeez

OK, I think I see your point. I'll give this a shot.

Verses 12 - 15 from earlier in Chapter 1 has Jesus battling with Satan in the desert and we assume He is successful because He then says "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

When Jesus tells the parable of the strong man, 24 - 27, we know that He speaks of Satan and the house being plundered will result in the coming Kingdom of God. The Sadduces are intentional led to not understand this as Jesus is at this point avoiding any potentially dangerous charges of blasphemy.

Verses 13 - 21 has Jesus recruiting his followers to "send them out to preach and have authority to cast our demons" and to aid him in his quest to bring about the Kingdom of God. Also Jesus has resistance from his own family.

Verses 31 - 35 has Jesus redefine family to what what it means in the coming Kingdom of God.

So in summary:

The "the time is fulfilled" the promised Messiah is here. However the Messiah is for all humanity and not just the Jews. He is here to restore all of humanity from the grips of Satan and not just the Jews from the grips of the Romans.

The Kingdom of God is in the process of realisation and this is a spiritual Kingdom where the old earthly laws have been exceeded by something greater.

The followers of God will meet resistance in their quest to bring about this new Kingdom.

philologos

I think that's a really good summary of where we are in Mark. Looking through some of the previous threads, we've clearly seen that Jesus is presented as the promised one of the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly in the first chapter. We've seen clearly that Jesus has authority over sin, over evil, and over sickness. We see that He is the very Lord of the Sabbath.

In the previous study we saw how grieved Jesus was at the Pharisees, and their closed mindedness towards what He was doing. It's always important to ask when we see people like the Pharisees and people like the Sadducees, where do people like us stand in respect to them. A good technique is to ask whether or not their questions are justified, a lot of them are, but the problem is that their hearts are hardened towards hearing what Jesus has to say.

We've seen bits about Jesus and His Kingdom, particularly its open nature in the second study. More is to come in chapter 4 which I'll try and post up with some probing questions soon.

I'd really say, feel free to bring up some of the older threads in this series and post on them if you want because if there are questions on previous sections it will affect our understanding of the following sections. Mark's telling a story, and going back and seeing what he has already told us helps.

It's really great to be able to do this on this forum