Mark 3

Mark 3

3:1-6 this is a continuation of 2:23-28 showing that JESUS is The LORD of Sabbath and that He will do the Works of GOD’s Kingdom in the earth as it is in Heaven everyday! The fact that the religious self-righteous leaders want to kill Him for that is proof that you can think you know GOD and are serving Him and be wrong! The evidence is in the fact that they joined with some from Herod to plot to kill JESUS in verse 6. Herod was a secular Jew appointed by Caesar both of whom were hated and feared by the general populace and the religious leaders of Israel. Again like the Mark 2 passage this brings to mind JESUS’ warning in Matthew 7:21ff and 25:31ff. The key thought for us is verse 5, “Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts…” CJB

In verses 7-12 JESUS is healing many people who are coming from far and wide to be healed and delivered. But He dies not heal everybody! “For He healed many people,…” 3:10 CJB. There are passages in the Gospels that say that JESUS healed all that were there, but we know that He did not heal everybody. In Acts 3 the story is told of Peter and John going to pray in the Temple and seeing a man lame from birth, who was laid daily at the Temple gate called Beautiful. You do not think that JESUS never when in or out of that gate during His ministry or did not see the man begging? The key to this passage in Mark is verse 9, “He told His talmidim (disciples) to have a boat ready for Him, so that He could escape from the crush of the crowd if necessary.” CJB He understood the selfishness of humanity: that we can destroy the thing or person who can help us in our frenzy to get it.

In verses 13-20 JESUS picks the 12 men He wants to concentrate His teachings on and sent them out to preach and gave them authority over demons. Wow! This is pretty early in the disciplining period. In Mark this event and the following event are run together, but there is an unknown period of time between verse 19a and 19b. In Luke 9:1-6 and 10ff the choosing, sending, and return of the Apostles are separated by 3 verses about Herod and John The Baptist; but in Mark 3 these events are separated by three chapters, the return and report by the Apostles happens in Mark 6. This is one of the issues that confuse people who read but do not study the Bible.

Verse 21 does not appear in any of the other Gospels, ^19b“Then He entered a house, ²⁰and once more, such a crowd came together that they couldn’t even eat. ²¹When His family heard about this, they set out to take charge of Him; for they said, ‘He’s out of His mind!’” Verses 22 – 30 talk about what happened while His family was seeking Him; we’ll come back to them. Verses 31-35 are also told in Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 8:19-21. “Then His mother and brothers arrived.” verse 31. So thinking JESUS was crazy they went to “take charge of Him”. Take charge by making Him go home with them, even if by force? We don’t really know but they were worried about Him and themselves. It is difficult to have a well known family member who is agitating the ruling sectors of society. But JESUS not only did not go with them, He proclaimed that whoever obeyed Him was His family.

In verses 22-30 the religious leaders are attacking JESUS again; “The Torah-teachers who came down from Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) said, ‘He has ba’al-zibbul in Him,’ and ‘it is by the ruler of the demons that He expels the demons.’” 3:22 CJB Then JESUS goes on to tell the parable of a house divided and asks, “How can satan expel satan?” Then He talks about how a strong man has to be overcome before you can ransack his home. Then without skipping a beat JESUS tells them what the unforgivable sin is, blaspheme of The HOLY SPIRIT and why; “For they had been saying, ‘He (JESUS) has an unclean spirit in Him.” 3:30 CJB This statement is found only in Mark’s Gospel, study Matthew 12:22-32 and Luke 11:14-23, 12:8-11.