THE GOSPEL OF MARK
The Great Galilean Ministry
Starting in chapter three, we really come to the bulk of Jesus two to three-year ministry on earth. In addition to Mark 1:1-3:6 introducing Jesus' ministry to us, it also introduced to us many of the themes which will dominate Jesus' ministry: the healing ministry, the exorcisms, the conflict with the Jewish religious leaders, the calling of disciples. From 3:7 onwards we see these same themes operating, only in more detail and on a grander scale. Whereas Jesus did call some to be His disciples in 1:1-3:6, in chapter 3:13-19 we see Him appointing a special group of 12 to be His apostles, those who would officially carry on His ministry after His death. Whereas we see the Jewish religious leaders hostile in chapter 2, we see them putting Christ to death at the end of the Gospel.
In the lesson before us, we want to zero in on the rejection Jesus experienced while here on earth. What happens next may somewhat startle us. Mark is going to take 2 groups of people who rejected Jesus and put their stories in the following order: Jesus' family rejects Him, the Jewish religious leaders reject Him, and then Jesus' family rejects Him. In other words, Mark has the episode of the Jewish religious leaders rejecting Jesus sandwiched between two stories of Jesus' family rejecting Him.
Now why does Mark sandwich the episode of the Jewish religious leaders rejecting Jesus between the 2 episodes of Jesus' family rejecting Him? In order to impress upon us that rejection is rejection no matter who does the rejecting and no matter what form the rejection may take. The rejection of Jesus by His family was every bit as bad as the rejection of the religious leaders, the very ones who killed Him.
It gets even worse. Jesus' family is only going to call Jesus "mad." They think He's lost it. We don't consider their reaction all that bad. Actually it may come across as a little comical to us; HOWEVER, by sandwiching the episode of the leaders calling Jesus demon-possessed with Jesus’ family rejecting Jesus, Mark is showing us how serious His family's rejection of Him actually was. Again, no matter what form the rejection takes and no matter who does the rejection, rejection of Jesus is serious.
JESUS REJECTED BY HIS FAMILY (3:20-21; 31-35)
The Scriptures
20 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."
31 Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." 33 Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers ?" 34 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers ! 35 "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."
Commentary
Jesus, in His family's opinion, is not acting normal. In fact, from His family's viewpoint, He is actually acting insane, mad. Why would His family change their minds about Him now that He has entered His ministry? Remember that something wonderful has happened to Jesus right as He started His ministry--He was anointed by the Holy Spirit. At that point, Jesus started performing miracles and exorcising demons from the demoniacs. Jesus might have seem strange to His family at that point.
In the second episode, Jesus' family is so concerned about Him that they actually try to come and take Him home in order to perform some family intervention. At this point, Jesus redefines who His family is. Simply because He is related to somebody physically ultimately does not make that person a member of His family. Rather, the one who does God's will is a member of Christ's family.
Although there is much that is negative in this episode (the rejection of Jesus by His own family), there is also much that is positive from our standpoint. I feel like Christians used to honor this principle far more than they do today. Too often we think of other Christians as simply fellow "church members." Christians are never called that in the NT; rather, they are many times called children of God, sons of God, family of God, etc., but never church members.
What makes us sons and daughters of God? When we received Christ as Lord and Savior, Christ--God the Son--actually came to live within us. Because He is God the Son, when He came to live in us, He transformed us into sons and daughters of God. We now share in His Sonship. We now become as much sons and daughters of God as Christ Jesus. That may be almost mind-blowing to think of; however, if the NT is true, then we truly have become God's sons and daughters at the moment of salvation (1 John 3:2).
For many people, family is not necessarily a good thing; however, for most of us, it is. This Christmas most of us will be sitting down to some wonderful meals with our families. We will go to movies together, play games, just spend some quality time with each other. These are good times with good families. As good as these times are, they point beyond themselves to something even more wonderful. They actually give us a true taste of what is to come when we spend quality time with our spiritual family in heaven, in the presence of our Father, God, and our Brother, Jesus. The warm glow around our Christmas meals will pale in comparison to the glow that will envelope us at Christ's table. I'm sure that being Christ's physical brother ended up being an honor for James and Jesus' other brothers who believed in Him after His resurrection; however, the honor He will bestow upon us who are His brothers and sisters will be far greater because our relationship with Him is based purely on faith and not on sight.
JESUS REJECTED BY THE JEWISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS (3:22-30)
The Scriptures
22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." 23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan ? 24 "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 "If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished ! 27 "But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. 28 "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter ; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin "- 30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."
Preliminary Remarks About the Extent of Jesus' Exorcism Ministry
When we study the bulk of Christ's ministry (the ministry He conducted primarily in Galilee), we see that Mark devotes a lot more space to Jesus exorcising demons than we would have originally thought. Already since the beginning of the Gospel, Mark has related to us the story of Jesus confronting Satan in the wilderness (1:13) and healing the Capernaum demoniac (1:23-28); then Mark shares with us a general description of Jesus' exorcism ministry (3:11-12). Three major references to Jesus' exorcism ministry in such a short space.
Peter (the source behind the Gospel of Mark) emphasizes Jesus' exorcisms by summarizing Jesus' ministry accordingly: "[Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38). The "doing good" part does not surprise us when we think in general terms of Jesus' ministry while He was here on earth; however, "healing all who were oppressed by the devil" seems to be an overstatement in our opinion. Mark (and Peter) are informing us, though, that exorcisms were not unusual in Jesus' ministry. In fact, they actually played a major role in that ministry.
Why does all this talk about exorcism in Jesus' ministry surprise us? Why does all that talk make us feel uncomfortable? Haven't we gotten beyond all the superstitious beliefs about Satan and demons? Weren't all these exorcisms basically nothing more than people dealing with their emotional and psychological disorders? I do believe that people suffer from emotional and psychological disorders, that we do need good Christian psychologists to help us; HOWEVER, psychology cannot account for all the disorders in the world. Although we might not see so much of this kind of disorder in the West, missionaries inform us that spiritual oppression, that is demonic oppression, is very evident in parts of Africa and India. Moreover, we have seen a heightened interest in the occult among our young people. Many of them, although rejecting Christianity, have embraced spiritualism. Well, if I do not embrace the true God and His Son and yet I have opened myself up to "spirit"ualism, I may get far more than what I bargained for. I just might get spirits from a place other than heaven.
Now if Christ is about to return (as many Christians hope and think), then we should not be surprised by a resurgence of demonism. As we have seen, so much of Jesus' ministry dealt with binding Satan and freeing people who have been in his clutches. Satan naturally would have been more than usually active when God Himself was physically among us. If Christ is about to return, then we should not be surprised to see an intensification of demonic activity. A major conflict is brewing between Christ and Satan: Satan will be preparing for that conflict. That conflict will involve you, me, people. Naturally, we should see him working more feverishly than ever in the world of mankind.
It is interesting that we are studying these passages the Sunday before Christmas. Don't we want there to be nothing but peace, joy, and love during the Christmas season? Of course; however, to concentrate purely on peace, joy, and love violates the Christmas story itself. How often do we read Matthew's story of Christmas (the 3 Wise Men) with glowing cheeks and happy smiles on our faces? Where do we get off having that kind of attitude? Listen carefully to that story again! Herod seeks to kill the babe! The innocents of Bethlehem are slaughtered! Rachel again weeps for her children! That is making you smile and giving you rosy cheeks? Christ comes into a situation of war, of great conflict. Is Herod the King the main adversary in this conflict? Of course not. According to John, the main adversary is none other than Satan, the serpent of old, who lay crouching at the feet of Mary to devour her Son the moment He was born (Rev. 12:1-4). The Christmas story informs us that war has been launched. The first salvo has been shot--and Christ won the victory. The resurrection informs us that THE major battle has been won. Christ now is involved in a mop-up campaign. Between the first salvo and the resurrection, though, we see Jesus taking the battle to Satan, freeing his prisoners of war. This freeing, this redemption of Satan's prisoners will only be complete upon the return of Christ.
Commentary
The Source of Jesus' Power
In the episode before us, we see that the scribes were claiming that Jesus' exorcising demons was actually done in the power of Satan, that Satan had empowered Jesus to cast out demons. Surely this could be the only reason Jesus was able to cast out demons. He surely was not from God after He had for all practical purposes declared Himself to be God.
Note what is going on in the 2 episodes before us. In the first episode, Jesus' family considered Him mad, insane. In this episode, the religious leaders are accusing Jesus of being from Satan, possibly of even being a demon Himself Whatever else is true about Jesus, these people claim that He is NOT from God, that He is NOT God. As a result, the only 2 options left for them is (1) to think Jesus mad or (2) to think Him demonic.
It is stunning that we see just these three options in Mark: (1) He's God the Son, (2) He's mad, or (3) He's a demon. It was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that people thought of Him as being only a good teacher. That option was NEVER even considered during Jesus' lifetime and for many centuries afterwards. Why? If Jesus is just a man, then He is not good because He went around speaking and acting like He was God. A good man would not do that unless He also happened to be God as well (the God/Man).
Was Jesus insane? No. Insane men do not come up with some of the most sane teachings the world has ever seen. If I want to get really messed up, I ignore Jesus' teachings and do my own thing. It is only when I consistently apply Jesus' teachings to my life that I actually find the peace, joy--SANITY--which He promises to give us.
Was Jesus demon-possessed, a fountain of Satan? First, look at what this accusation against Jesus teaches us. Today many people claim that Jesus didn't do miracles. No one in their right minds in Jesus' day ever accused Jesus of not doing miracles. Why? Because they were done in public. In fact, although Jesus fed 5,000 MEN with the fish and loaves, there also approximately 15,000 women and children there as well. Can you imagine anybody claiming that Jesus didn't do that miracle? That person would have been laughed off the street. So the Jewish religious leaders are actually confirming that Jesus did miracles.
But was His power from God or Satan? Using LOGIC, Jesus claims that this claim is totally illogical because if Jesus' power was from Satan, then Satan was turning against himself whenever he gave Jesus the power to cast out his own demons. If Satan were giving Jesus that power, then Satan had actually launched a civil war against himself. That is something Satan would never do!
Moreover, according to the Gospel of John, the kinds of miracles Jesus did show us that Jesus' power came from God and not from Satan. Jesus healed the blind. That is not what Satan would do. He would blind those with sight. Jesus healed the lame. Satan would lame those would could walk. Jesus cast out demons from the demoniacs; Satan would thrust demons into the poor souls. Whatever else is true about Jesus' miracles, they are NOT the kinds of miracles Satan would perform.
So, if Jesus' miraculous power was not from Satan, then it had to come from God since man by himself cannot perform miracles. And if Jesus claimed to be God the Son, then He is God the Son; otherwise, God would have been giving miraculous power to a blasphemer. God then would be leading us astray by confirming Jesus' blasphemies with miracles. Our problem, then, would not be with Jesus; it would actually be with God.
Behind the Scenes of the Exorcisms
After showing logically that His power could not have come from Satan, Jesus goes on to explain just exactly what was happening behind all the exorcisms. For Jesus to be able to walk up to a demoniac and exorcise him, something truly marvelous must be happening. More than just the exorcism of a particular demoniac is occurring. Jesus claims He is able to exorcise the demoniacs because of what He has done to Satan.
Jesus uses the illustration of a thief to show us what He has actually done to Satan. If a thief wants to rob a house and if the owner of that house is there, the thief has a problem. The man is not going to let the thief walk off with his possessions, if he has anything to do with it. So, before the thief ca plunder the man's house, he must first bind the man. Once he has bound the man, he is able to plunder the man's house.
Well, the exorcisms are showing us that Jesus is plundering Satan's house. Jesus is making off with some of Satan's prized possessions, the demoniacs. Jesus has made off with these prized possessions by freeing them from the demons who live within them. THEREFORE, since Jesus is plundering Satan's house and since Satan must first be bound before Jesus can plunder his house, then we know that Jesus has bound Satan. Has he been destroyed? Not yet. That will occur only after the thousand-year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:////); HOWEVER, Jesus has done a number on Satan. He has been seriously wounded in his conflict with Christ. It's now just a matter of time before he is finally vanquished once and for all.
The Unforgivable Sin
Jesus concludes His conflict with the scribes by warning them of the serious nature of accusing Jesus to be in league with Satan: "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" (3:28-29). Although we have always thought of this verse only in the most negative light, the truth is that there are some very positive elements in Jesus' warning. But first, the negative.
Jesus claims that the scribes are committing a sin for which there is no forgiveness--blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. First, what does Jesus mean by the phrase "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit"? Second, why is THIS sin unforgivable?
To answer the first question, we must keep in mind the context in which Jesus uttered this warning. Jesus has been healing people in the power of the Holy Spirit. The scribes claimed that Jesus was actually healing people in the power of Satan. For all practical purposes, they were attributing the works of the Spirit to Satan. That is what Jesus means by "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." When a person commits that sin, there is no more hope for him.
Why is there no hope for that person? Because the only way a person can be forgiven is for that person to be in a right relationship with Jesus. Well, who brings us into a right relationship with Jesus? Who draws us to Jesus? We can't, we won't come in our own strength and power. It takes no one less than the Holy Spirit to move in our hearts, to soften us, to bring us to Jesus. If we reject the Spirit, if we attribute His works to Satan, then there is no one else to bring us to Jesus. It is over. Our sins will never be forgiven because we'll never be able to come to Jesus for salvation. It is a scary prospect.
But there is something very positive in the statement Jesus made about blasphemy against the Spirit. According to Jesus (in the Greek), EVERY SIN will be forgiven ALL MEN except for that one sin. In other words, no matter how bad you think you have sinned, you have never sinned to the point where Christ won't or can't forgive you. In fact, the reason Christ came to be born on earth was to save us. The only reason a person won't get saved is that he rejects the movement of the Spirit in his heart. Every other sin--it is forgivable! Now that is good news indeed.