0954 Mk.3.20-35 Insiders and Outsiders Pt.2 - The True Family of Jesus
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It has been said that we have so much less these days
Phones ...Wireless Cooking..Fireless
Cars........Keyless Food........Fatless
Tyres.......Tubeless Tools.......Cordless
Dress......Sleeveless Youth......Jobless
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Leaders...Shameless Attitude...Careless
Feeling....Heartless Education... Valueless
Kids........Mannerless Government ....Useless
Parliament ...Clueless MASSES.... HELPLESS
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Of course this is a pun just to highlight a progress in society that is both helpful & unhelpful; good & evil
With new advancements comes new expectations & new attitudes
It should be plain to everyone that the more conveniences we have, the more we come to expect & the more we fail to appreciate the difficulties of the past
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One of the truism’s of discipleship is that it is both countercultural & uncomfortable
The attitudes we have alongside our faith turn out to become very important as they become signs of our discipleship
For example, if we are in too deep with the world & it’s thinking, then we may find that our discipleship is starting to get displaced by the world
In other words, we will start to withdraw from the rigours & disciplines of the faith
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What might that look like?
Prayer gets too often replaced with “me time”
Family commitments - as good as they may be - may start to take precedent over our commitment& service to Christ
Time - which is a commodity nowadays & that we seem to have so little of - is ordered wrongly
Time is a necessary commodity in being a disciple
Time must be assigned to living for Jesus & in serving Him, otherwise, that truism of discipleship is left compromised
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In this passage today, we see an angle of what discipleship is all about
At the end of this passage of Scripture, we see who the true family of Jesus is & what that means in regard to being a learner/disciple of Jesus
We see, once again, the distinction between the outsiders & insiders
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This passage has 2 sections: The accusations of Jesus’ family & the accusations of the Scribes from Jerusalem
Initially, you would think there are 3 sections, but there is only 2
The family have left home to seize or “take custody” of Jesus because they think He has lost His mind
Towards the end of this reading today, they have turned up now & are there outside waiting to see Him
Mark 3:21–31 (NASB95)
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.
Then you have His statement & the main point of this passage:
35 “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
1. The True Family Is Not Embarrassed over Jesus
1. The True Family Is Not Embarrassed over Jesus
Here Jesus’ family, who live in Nazareth, have heard some wild & disturbing reports about Jesus & His movement
Jesus had been brought up in Nazareth but is now living in Capernaum
1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
we commence in our passage with...
20 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.
His family had heard that so many people had crowded into His home at Capernaum that they couldn’t even manage to prepare, nor to eat, a meal
In fact, Jesus had become somewhat of a celebrity where people were almost in a state of frenzy around Him
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Jesus’ family decide that, for His sake & the family’s sake, it is time to “reel Him in” since He seems to have lost His senses or is “out of His mind”
The Gk. word existemi literally means, “change of place” where the mind is seen to have left the body
We get from this ancient word, the English word, ecstasy
When people are carried away in ecstasy, we tend to think they are rather deranged
A good saying that illustrates this is when people say that so & so is “beside themselves” with amazement or with grief
The mind is beside them & not operating correctly is the sense
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
This is the first accusation here & it comes from Jesus’ family - His own kin
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It seems His family are rather embarrassed by the whole thing & are to a certain degree upset about the family’s reputation, especially with their religious leaders
They came to seize Him or take custody of Him
This same word is used of the soldiers who came into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Him
Of course, His family are not arresting Him, but have come to restrain, or to take charge of Him for His seems to have “flipped His wig”
So what we have here is that His own family thinks He is out of His mind
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The Scribes that come from Jerusalem who are hardly coming for a neutral fact-finding visit, go a step further, & say that He is out of His mind because He is possessed by Satan
20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”
Q. Both these groups are, you think, outsiders or insiders?
They are outsiders - yes, His family are outsiders!!!
That is scandalous to suggest that even His mother Mary, at this point, is an outsider as far as the kingdom is concerned
5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
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This is one important aspect of discipleship that is difficult to come to terms with
That your most dearest & closest loved ones in the world can be outsiders to the kingdom of God
It even becomes a greater struggle when your family is hostile to Jesus to then make the deliberate choice to side with Jesus over family
But this is the very thing this passage is making clear
His family are outsiders & are not with Him nor supportive of Him
2. The True Family Discerns the True Actions of God
2. The True Family Discerns the True Actions of God
The family’s attempt to “arrest” Him from His situation is not going to prevail as we see in the verses at the end of this passage
But what does eventuate is an even more damaging accusation than “one flew over the cuckoo's nest”
The Scribes that come from Jerusalem are spreading the allegation that He is possessed by Beelzebul - possessed by Satan himself
This is probably what the family is desperately wanting to avert
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The whole idea of the Scribes accusation is to try & damage the popularity of Jesus - that He is not a messenger of God, but of Satan, & that His power is not divine power but occultic power
It seems that politics once again gets involved when it comes to the truth
Here in this text is a blatant admission from the Jerusalem council in acknowledging the miraculous power of God in Jesus name through the apostles, but then denying it
15 But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 “But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Jesus has become a formidable challenge to their power & how they were able to exercise that over the people
To drive a wedge between Jesus & the people, you need a propaganda campaign that will do Him damage
What better way than to slander Him with the accusation that He is in league with the devil &, at other times, that He is a purveyor of misinformation
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Sometimes, when a accusation is made at you, you may “let it go through to the keeper” - a cricket saying, that means you don’t have a swipe at the ball since it is no where near the mark - the wicket - so you just let it go through to the wicket-keeper to catch it
This accusation, however, is not going to be let through to the keeper by Jesus - it is an allegation that is damaging to His ministry & it cannot be left unchallenged, so Jesus comes out swinging
He considers this a crucial allegation that needs a response, so He goes on the offensive & in Mk. 3:23 it says “He called them to Himself...”
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The accusation is that those whom He freed of demon-possession were made free by the use of sorcery - specifically because Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul
Beelzebul or, in some Bibles, Beelzebub is not just any demon but the prince or ruler of demons
Hence, by the use of the prince of demons, Jesus is driving out the lesser demons
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We see this name come up in the OT where Beelzebul or Baal-zebub is associated with the god of Ekron
2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness.” 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
Ekron is an old Philistine city - 80-100 klms by road from Samaria
Baal-zebub was one of the Baal gods of the coastal strip since the Philistines (to the south) & the Phoneticians (to the north) inhabited the coast
Tyre & Sidon to the north is Phonetician territory & we know that that is where Jezebel came from
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Baal-zebub means “lord of the flies” & the idea is that flies are the things that frequent dead bodies – hence, Baal as the one who supposedly brings death or life
So we see why Ahaziah sent messengers to the priests of Baal to see if he would recover from his wounds – perhaps, whether Baal would look favourably upon him & restore him
Beelzebul is, as Mk uses it, simply an alternative spelling for the ancient deity known as Baal, but as understood to stand for Satan
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What a horrible accusation to level at Jesus who is bringing healing to those physically ill & spiritually ill
Of course, the whole accusation, like many false accusations eventually falter on the truth
Q. Can a church stand when it is divided down the middle?
Q. Can any nation stand if it is divided?
We all know that divided nations end in civil war & divided churches end in church splits
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Jesus makes the point here that if He is using sorcery or occult powers to drive out demons, then, Satan’s kingdom cannot survive
Q. But this should be common sense, right?
The strength of a church depends on unity & the strength of a nation depends on unity
Any attack on the church from within, cannot be a sign of collusion with God but of Satan
When the church is divided against itself, it cannot prosper
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Likewise, if Jesus is actually colluding with Satan, then He is both destroying Satan’s work & has become a threat to his power
For Satan to act this way would be suicidal, therefore, Jesus’ exorcisms show that Satan’s kingdom is under attack & if not from within, then he is facing a formidable external enemy
It’s not by civil strife within Satan’s kingdom, but through conquest by a greater power
As R. T. France has said... “It is not a matter of a kingdom divided, but of two rival kingdoms in conflict”.
28 “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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An interesting point Jesus makes is about entering the strong man’s house & plundering his property
It obviously refers to the rescue of demon-possessed people by Jesus who overpowers the strong man & takes his property
This has reference not just to the present here where Jesus is driving out demons, but it has reference to the day of judgement, where Satan will be thoroughly defeated & where his house will be thoroughly plundered
Of course, that is happening all the time - right till the end itself as the Gospel liberates people from Satan’s power & control
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The hopes of Israel had themes which spoke of the release of Satan’s prisoners & the ability of the people of God to trample under foot, evil spirits
God’s kingship now established in the coming of Jesus means that Satan has become powerless to harm God’s people & to oppose God’s will
Jesus’ control over demonic powers shows the collapse of Satan’s kingdom & the freedom/liberation of the people of God to do God’s will
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We come now to a topic that has concerned many Christians
Q. What is this unforgivable sin that Jesus speaks about?
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.”
In Luke, it is a bit different in focusing on comparing blasphemy against Jesus with blasphemy against the Spirit
10 “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.
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What we have is the deliberate perversion of truth
The significant point of the exorcisms is that people would know the source of that healing
It, therefore, is about the Person of Jesus, not so much about the Holy Spirit
Some, like the apostle Paul, might blaspheme against Jesus believing him to be a phoney Messiah, but once they discover the truth about Jesus, they believe & are forgiven
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However, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is on a different level
Q. Why? Because the burden of proof is not hidden
The identity of Jesus may have been hidden for some time & people could be forgiven for mistaking His true identity
But there is no mistaking the working of the Holy Spirit
So this comes down to a willingness, with eyes wide open, to reject the truth of Jesus in front of the clear & present evidence
Just like the Jerusalem council who, unable to deny the miracle, still chose to suppress the truth of Jesus
Committing the unforgivable sin is in calling good evil & evil good - by deliberately seeing the work of the Spirit of God & attributing it to evil - to the work of Satan
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When a person, does this, what they show is utter contempt for God
They show that God is not really in their sights because before their eyes, God is clearly doing these things through Jesus & they know it
Q. Would such a person ever come to Jesus knowing full well that the God of the Universe is in Jesus doing His work?
The answer is no, never
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This is the unforgivable sin - which is the fact that no one can ever, ever, be saved without repenting & confessing Jesus as the Son of God
Q. In this sense, can a Christian ever blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
Never in a million years - for a Christian who belongs to Christ, can never be left unforgiven - unless you let go of Christ & turn your back on being His disciple
The Scribes who made such accusation did this with eyes wide open to the truth, but for the sake of their prevailing beliefs about what God would or wouldn’t do, deliberately, defied their conscience to go against Jesus & side with evil, saying He is possessed by Satan
30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3. The True Family Do the Will of God
3. The True Family Do the Will of God
Amidst defending the accusations of the Scribes, with the crowds all around Him, His family turn up outside & try to get His attention
The scene is the like when the 4 men were trying to get the paralytic to Jesus to be healed
The crowd around Jesus was so great & so intense - like what happens in a department store sale with only minutes left to go & people are stomping over each other trying to get the last cheap item
These 4 men worked out a scheme to get him to Jesus by going onto the roof & taking the desperate measure of cutting open a hole in the roof to then let down the man
All Jesus’ family could do is to try to get word to Him through the crowd that they are outside wanting to speak with Him
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Notice that they are “outside” & sent word to Him & then the crowd says to Jesus that His family is “outside” looking for Him
Even though the word outside doesn’t, in itself, carry any spiritual meaning, here in Mark’s Gospel it is carrying the sense that they are outside of Jesus & hence, outside of the kingdom & will of God
We can take this cue from the next chapter where outside carries the meaning of those outside the family of God & the kingdom of God
Mark 4:10–11 (NASB95)
10 As soon as He was alone, His followers (those who are inside), along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
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His mother & His brothers were standing outside with the specific intent on putting a stop to what they considered His embarrassing activity
What we are seeing here is a deliberate dismissal of His natural family
33 Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”
This is an obvious distancing of the natural family here & then the positive affirmation of the true family of God
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.”
Looking at those who were sitting around Him - His inner circle - those on the inside
He says, “Behold, My brother & sister & mother”
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It’s not that Jesus was a law breaker & ignored the 5th commandment which says to “honour your father & mother”
At the cross, He specifically cared for His mother by assigning the care of her to the beloved disciple who we know as the apostle John
25 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
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It’s just that here in today’s passage, we are talking about who is in & who is outside of, the true family of God
When it comes to family, the family of God is the only true family, as far as the kingdom of God is concerned
For good reason too, for the natural family can go from sheer indifference, to outright hostility, against a natural family member who becomes a disciple of Jesus
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
But on the other hand, those who have put Jesus first...
28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
Discipleship may involve having to abandon the natural family for a new & larger one - that of the family of the kingdom of God
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I recall an Indian fellow who led devotions one day at Bible College
He had fled his family in India after he was baptised
It is well understood that, in India, you can believe in all the Hindu gods & Jesus, if you like
But baptism changes all that, since baptism is a repudiation of all other gods in favour of Jesus Christ alone - & that to a Hindu family was an anathema
If he had stayed in India, no kidding, they would have killed him, so he fled to Australia
It’s hard to understand the depth of grief that these Christians suffer as a result of their natural family’s hostility against their own
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It is against this background that doing the will of God comes to the fore
According to Jesus, the will of God means putting His kingdom first above all & that may mean receiving the repulse of a hostile natural family
The Jerusalem Scribes thought they were doing the will of God & so did Jesus’ family
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Q. What does it mean, then, to do the will of God?
It is to believe & obey the call of God to confess Jesus as Son of God
This, the 12 did when Jesus called them to Himself
This, those did, who repented & believed in the Gospel
14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
It is only those who do the will of God who are in the new family of God
It is that call that both the Scribes & His natural family have rejected & in doing so have put themselves outside the will of God
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His family believed Him to be a nut case; the Scribes a mentally deranged sorcerer
But those of the “inside”, believed Him to be the Son of the living God!
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”
Those who follow as disciples of Jesus are His brother and sister and mother. Amen.