The Gospel of Mark/Chapter 3:20-35/Commentary

The Gospel of Mark Chapter 3:20-35 3:20 “And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal” The home that He came to was probably a home in Capernaum, maybe even the home of Peter. Once again He is being pressed by the crowds. He area around the home is so packed with people wanting to be healed or demanding His attention, and Jesus the disciples have no time, room or privacy to even have meal.

3:21 “And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses’” “His own people” are the people who show up later in the chapter, His mother and brothers (3:32). “Heard of this”: We are not told where the family is presenting residing, they may have still been in Nazareth. “To take custody”: This same term is used of arresting someone (6:17; 12:12). The family was prepared to use force to remove Jesus from the crowds. “He has lost His senses”: They were afraid that all of Jesus’ work was affecting Him mentally. What may have shocked them was the type of life He had lived in Nazareth and the frantic pace He was now pushing. “The historicity of this incident can scarcely be denied. The church 1

would not have invented a story that put the family of Jesus into such a bad light” (Gaebelein p. 643).

3:22 “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul’ and ‘He casts out demons by the ruler of demons’” The scribes here were not local men, but rather a delegation from Jerusalem. This indicates that Jesus’ actions, teaching and popularity are causes serious concerns in high places. “He is possessed by Beelzebul”: The name is pronounced “bee EL zip Buhl” or “bee El zip bob”. Lenski notes, “The derivation of ‘Beelzebul’ has not as yet been cleared up, the term not being found in the old Jewish literature. It is thought to mean ‘Lord of the dwelling’ and was used as a designation for Satan.

Beelzebub was the name for the Philistine god Baal. In some manner, at which linguists thus far only guess, the Jews adopted it as a vile term for Satan. Some think they corrupted it to ‘Beelzebub’, ‘Baal of flies’ and thus ‘Baal of dung’” (p.

408). “He casts out demons”: Observe that no one denied what Jesus was doing, even the enemies admitted that He would heal and work miracles. They simply said that the source of the power was Satan.

3:23 “And He called them to Himself, and began speaking to them in parables”: I am impressed that Jesus always had an answer. Nothing stumped Him. 3:23 “How can Satan cast out Satan?”: “The principle is that no intelligent power works against itself and defeats its own purposes. Observe what is here assumed: it is assume that the dominion of Satan is an intelligent dominion, which purposes; that the kingdom of evil is one intelligent kingdom, managed by one mind who knows what he is doing” (Bible Study Textbook, p. 100).

3:24 “And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” 3:25 “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” 3:26 “And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished”

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Observe how Jesus simply and clearly exposes the wrong thinking of his opponents. It should be obvious to everyone, especially the learned scribes that Satan would never work against himself, that Jesus is obviously stronger than Satan, for Satan cannot stop this from happening. “The teachers of the Law should have had the spiritual discernment to recognize something as obvious as this” (Gaebelein, p. 645).

Practical Application: “He is finished” Seriously reflect upon the above truth. If we are picking on our mates, then our marriage is doomed. If children try to undermine the authority of their parents, then happiness in the family will never happen. When people try to undermine the authority of the elders or what the congregation is trying to accomplish, beware, they are only sowing the seeds for their own unhappiness. Anyone who is undermining the efforts of faithful Christians is a person who is not interested in unity or furthering God’s kingdom. We cannot pick at the efforts of faithful Christians, while at the same time putting first God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33).

The warning that Paul gave in the Galatian letter is still valid, “But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another” (5:15).

3:27 “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” In this verse, Satan is the strong man, his house the body of the demoniac, and his goods the evil spirit or spirits which are within the man. Casting out demons, proved not that Jesus was in league with Satan, but rather, the exact opposite. It also proved that Satan was helpless to resist Jesus’ power. Satan is not a co-equal with God in the universe; the universe is not composed of two equal powers, one good and the other evil. Rather, Satan is far less powerful than God. The reason that Jesus came to this earth was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8; Colossians 2:14). Jesus is not teaching that Satan does not have influence anymore, for Satan continues to harass Christians (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:10-18).

Rather, Satan was “bound” in the sense that he stood helpless to hinder Jesus, every time that Jesus was casting out demons. Satan cannot resist God’s power, when God decides that enough is enough and takes action. With a word God can 3

stop Satan, and one day with a word God will cast Satan into hell forever (Revelation 20:10).

3:28 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter” This utterance is both comforting and threatening. On the one hand, every sin can be forgiven—yet there is one exception.

3:29 “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” Blasphemy against the Spirit  According to Mark’s account, in this context, blasphemy against the Spirit was when the Pharisees claimed that Jesus was casting out demons by Satan’s power and not God’s power (Mark 3:29-30).  “And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him” (12:32). First, such forgiveness isn’t automatic, rather, those who rejected Jesus while He was upon the earth, would be given another chance to accept Him through the preaching of the apostles (Acts 2).  Speaking against the Holy Spirit means rejecting all the evidence that the Spirit reveals, whether miracles through Jesus and His apostles, or the truth that the apostles would preach. The reason that this is an “eternal sin that has no forgiveness” (Mark 3:29) is because there isn’t any more evidence or truth that will be revealed. Rejecting the Spirit’s message (the New Testament) is rejecting the only message of salvation that will be given.

Thus this sin involves or includes rejecting what the Holy Spirit uses to bring man to repentance. For us, it is the Scriptures (John 16:13; Ephesians 6:17).  The Pharisees blasphemed the Spirit by claiming that Jesus was casting out demons by Satan. Today, people blaspheme the Spirit by claiming that the Bible has been corrupted, it is filled with errors, or it is only the work of uninspired men. McGarvey observes, “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is in its nature an eternal sin, for if one rejects the evidence given by the Holy Spirit and ascribes it to Satan, he rejects the only evidence upon which faith can be based; and without faith there is no forgiveness” (p. 303).

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 “To call what is good evil (Isaiah 5:20) when you know well that it is good, because prejudice and ill will hold you bondage, that is the worst sin of all” (Gaebelein, p. 645).

3:29 “Never has forgiveness”: Which means that this is not a one-time act, rather it is an ongoing and settled condition. It is not that God cannot forgive such a person, rather, the sinner refuses to repent and allow God to forgive him.

Someone that keeps rejecting Jesus—no matter how much evidence Jesus offers —cannot be saved. “An eternal sin”: There are no second chances after death.

The blasphemy against the Spirit is not limited to a single word, and neither is Jesus saying that it is a sin that cannot be forgiven, no matter how hard a person wants to change and be forgiven. Rather, it is a perpetual and persistent sin. It is the attitude that rejects all the evidence that the Holy Spirit has given man. Other passages reveal that it is persistence in evil which cannot be forgiven (Hebrews 10:26; Hebrews 6:4-6.

Matthew 12:32 “Neither in this age, or in the age to come”: One could reject Jesus, but then hear the apostles preaching and accept Him. But if one rejects the very evidence that the Holy Spirit provides, whether miracles or the Scriptures, there is no hope as long as one persists in that attitude. The person who rejects the Bible cannot be saved as long as they maintain that attitude. The “age to come” appears to be the Christian age. The same truth will apply in the New Covenant, that is, people will still be blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant and such a sin will still exclude them from salvation. In other words, the Pharisees who didn’t like what the Holy Spirit was doing when Jesus was here, won’t like what the Holy Spirit does and says through the apostles.

3:30 “Because they were saying, ‘He has an unclean spirit’”: Here is the what this sin is all about. It is rejecting Jesus and all the evidence that God offers that proves He is the Son of God.

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Jesus and His Family 3:31 “And His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, and called Him” The family that is determined to take Jesus by force and bring Him back home shows up.

3:32 “And a multitude was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You’” Joseph is not mentioned, many assume that he has died. The brothers of Jesus are mentioned by name in other passages (Matthew 13:55). The place is still so packed that His immediately family must send someone to let Jesus know that they are present.

3:33 “And answering them, He said, ‘Who are My mother and My brothers?’”

3:34 “And looking about on those who were sitting around Him, He said, ‘Behold, My mother and My brothers!’”

3:35 “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother’” Jesus’ true family is not limited to His physical family or even to His disciples (just named), rather, Jesus’ family includes all those who obey Him (Matthew 7:24).

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