The Gospel of Mark - Following the Master IV
Mark 3:1-35
John Ryan
01/28/2007

Mark 3:1-2 - 2 And they watched Jesus, ... so they might accuse him. Jesus was now being spied on by the religious powers. Why? They wanted to bring him down. He had so disturbed their beliefs, their reputations, and in the mind of the leaders - he had the potential to disturb their careers. So they watched for Jesus (God) to make a mistake they could ruin him with.

Mark 3:3-4 - 4 "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, ... There was a Jewish proverb from the oral law (Mishna) that said, "If you see the opportunity to do good and you do not - you do harm. And, if you see the opportunity to save a life and you do not - you have killed it." Jesus was quoting this law to ask which was more important. The point was - God's will was most important. And His will was never to allow the Sabbath to hold people captive. It was to allow people one day to meet with God and rest with God. Left to their own - they will work themselves to death (sounds familiar huh!).

Mark 3:5 - And he looked around at them ... Here we see Jesus, God, move to anger and grief. They eyes of God see the intent of men's hearts and he is angered and grieved. God is holy and just and while this disturbs us in one way we ultimately want it this way. We want justice in the world for child abuse, wrongs done, murderous dictators, and corrupt companies. Do we want less from God? Jesus was angry because of sin. This is justice. He was grieved because the hardness of their heart kept them from God. This is mercy. This mercy and justice is God's grace. This is Jesus.

Mark 3:5-6 - 5 " Stretch out your hand." Jesus healed the man - which was not unlawful in the written law concerning the Sabbath. And, he healed him without lifting a finger, which made it ok in the oral law (that which was not given by God but by men). Nevertheless, it infuriated the Pharisees to the point that they were ready to break a law to theoretically keep another. They felt this man was a blasphemer and of the devil. So he deserves to die. However, they were ready to break the law and fellowship with the unclean - the Herodians - to do so. This politically powerful Jewish group was loyal to Herod Antipas the Hebrew puppet king of the Romans. The devout Jews hated this man and all who followed him and would not associate with this ceremonially unclean group.

Again, as in chapter 2, we see Jesus blowing up the notion of God that was steeped in years of lies. God was not at a distance and He was not most concerned with rules. He is here and He is concerned about grace - justice and mercy - holiness and love. He is concerned about the same things now.

Mark 3:7-10 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him again, Jesus withdraws but the crowds eventually come again from all over Israel and beyond - south, north, east and west. They press in because he is healing and curing many. In the craziness, notice a couple of incredible things Jesus does. 1) He withdraws to be alone with His Father and the disciples. This is His habit. (Mark 1:35) 2) He protects the disciples - "have a boat ready." The boat was not for Jesus. He could walk across the sea or disappear as needed. He knew His death would not be in this manner. He secures a boat so they could be safe from the crowd. Jesus is ever teaching us to get alone with our Father and that He is ever watching over us.

Mark 3:11-12 - 11 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. Why was Jesus commanding silence? In Mark, we see Him do this 3 times. To those He heals (Mark 1:43), to demons (here), and to the disciples at times (Mark 8:30, 9:9), He commands silence about His status as the Messiah. Why? All will be discussed as we come to them. The demons were silence: 1) to disassociate Himself with Satan who the Pharisees already thought He was an ally of, 2) to set a precedent for His disciples to not accept the testimony of demons about anything, and 3) to make sure followship was not about the spectacular even if it gave hard core evidence. Following Christ would be based on His choice, His work, and His way - surrender to His Lordship.

Mark 3:13-19 - 14 And he appointed twelve ... After a night of intense prayer, Jesus formalizes the call of His disciples by narrowing down the group to 12. Luke 6:13 makes it clear He had many who were following as talmidim. He the relationship was that of rabbi/talmidim. However, they were also being asked to be messengers, and movement leaders of the church Jesus would begin after He left. Apostle - means ambassador. It was a legal term - to send off from one's self, furnished with credentials, with a commission to act as one's representative and accomplish a certain mission.

What does this mean for us?
1) Jesus still calls to Himself those HE WANTS!
2) He appoints our task(s) within the body.
3) He calls us first to be with Him and then to go with Him.
4) Going = living & speaking the gospel & the power to do spiritual war
5) Being = leaving what or who you are following now.

Here is the key to being His disciple. Many want the adventure. Many want to be wanted. Many, Jesus said will try to be about God's work, yet they will miss being with God. In order to be with Him, there is implied in the language and it is clear in all the gospels that we must leave one master to follow The Master. Jesus calls this faith. Question is - will we chose adventure with no risk - no faith to follow where He calls and leave what He asks us to leave. Or will we risk it all to follow Him in faith?

The 12 Jesus chose: Fisherman, a hated tax collector, a twin, a religious / military fanatic, a traitor, and largely uneducated young men. Who would you have chosen? The point is this God chooses based on His will and His goodness not based on our desires or our goodness.

Mark 3:20-21 - 21... when his family heard it, they went out to seize him upon returning to Capernaum, a crowd again gathers but now Jesus' family is here to literally take Him home by force because they think He is crazy.

Mark 3:22-30 22 "He is possessed by Beelzebul," ... Jesus is attacked as being in league with Satan to work against Satan. Jesus simply states - this would divide and conquer His own work and eventually put it to and end. But because Satan is still strong - He must be bound then his works can be destroyed. This is what Jesus was about.

Tough Statement - 28... "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin" This is a tough statement for sure. We know this for sure - the sin had to do denouncing Jesus' deity by attributing the Holy Spirit's work through Him as the work of demons. This was the blasphemy (literally the hateful misrepresentation of the Spirit of God).

Can it be committed today? If it has to do with hatefully misrepresenting the Holy Spirit with the motive of making Jesus less than God - sure. However, what it sure is this - all manner of sin other than this can be forgiven.

Mark 3:32-35 - 33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" The family is back and again they are seeking Him. Jesus then poses the question - who is my family - really? He makes a radical statement not meant to diminish our biological family but meant to raise the level of understanding of our family in Christ. Our eternal family, our real family that is thicker than a family's blood will be our family that is made by the blood of Christ. The evidence will be those who are followers - those who seek do His will.

What does this mean for us? For you?
The family of God in Christ is to be understood as more than a luxury, a hobby, a place of belonging, a nice group of people, or a part of life.
1) The family of God in Christ is our life and must be if our biological family is to have a chance of knowing and following Christ. We can't be lone rangers as dads, moms, children, single parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents. We have to have Christ and the body to live this out as His follower.
2) The family of God in Christ is our life and must be if we are to life the life of faith that defines what it means today to be a talmid - a true follower of Christ. The body was all they had physically if they were really to follow Christ.
3) It will cost you in your family to really follow Christ.