6/7/26 Mark 3:20-35 “Where Is Your Family?”

05 Jun 6/7/26 Mark 3:20-35 “Where Is Your Family?”

6/7/26    Mark 3:20-35         “Where Is Your Family?”

We have just spent a couple of weeks studying Paul in Romans 8.  As I said last week, Paul can be a little hard to follow in his writings.  I think there is good reason for this and you won’t find this in any books because it’s my observation.  Paul was a passionate and learned man.  We read about how zealous he was when he was a Pharisee hounding the Christians.  He was passionate about his hate of Christians.  Then he had a dramatic conversion where Jesus blinded him.  Now Paul was no dummy.  After his conversion he spent some years studying this new way of life.  When he finally started preaching full time, once again he was passionate.  He was so passionate that he would go directly to the local synagogue as his first stop in a town.  Then when he found he wasn’t welcome there any more, he went to the Gentiles where many, many found this wonderful new faith, Christianity.  Paul was one of those special people who was passionate about whatever he believed in.  He was so passionate that I think at times his brain was moving faster than what he could write, hence the confusion, sometimes.  But then all the writers of the New Testament were passionate and we are looking at the passion of Mark today.  We know that Mark traveled with Paul.  However, some feel that he might have even met Jesus as a child or very young adult.  We don’t know.  When Mark wrote, he wrote in the facts and not so much theology.  Others, like Paul, would do that.  Today, he is addressing the problems of Satan and the family.  Let’s see if we can figure out who is in our family.

It seems that we are always in the season of an election.  One of the catch phrases that we have heard for the last 30 years or so has been ‘family values.’  I think politicians have cheapened this term to the point where it is worthless.  But families aren’t.  I remember when I first met Sharon’s parents.  It was a big event.  I know that there are parts of all families that we find a little hard to bear.  I know of one family that has to have a hug and a kiss before a member may leave to go back home.  This is always good unless you married into a family that didn’t hug and kiss very much.  Anyway, I have always been happy to be part of Sharon’s family.  Mark mentions the family of Jesus twice in these short verses.

Before we begin, I think that it’s important to know just what the family unit was in the time of Jesus.  First of all, they took care of the extended family.  When a son married, they would just add onto the living quarters and the couple would live there.  Usually the son would follow in the footsteps of his father as far as learning a trade.  If the dad was a carpenter, then the son would probably be one also.  The men married women who were close by and the marriages were arranged by the parents.  Generally, people lived in the same area their whole lives unless they were forced to move for some reason.  The family was an economic unit.  It was a social unit because most of their interactions were with their family.  It was a religious unit in that they would all follow the same religion whether it be Jewish or one of the many pagan religions.  When there was trouble, it was the family that helped out.  There was no welfare or unemployment.  There was just family.  If it came down to it, an individual member of the family would be sacrificed for the survival of the whole unit.  In other words, family ties were real strong and they took care of each other.

This is near the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.  But all ready, people have heard about Him and the crowds are following. It is to the point where they can’t even stop to get a bite to eat because of the crowds.  When they stopped at McDonald’s, they couldn’t even use the drive through.  So the family steps in to take care of one of its own, Jesus in this case.  They tell the people that Jesus is out of his mind.  We can interpret this in a couple of ways.  Maybe the family is just saying this so that Jesus will get some relief and be able to eat.  People aren’t going to hang around listening to a mad man.  The other thing that some experts have said is that at this point, his family actually believes He is mad.  I don’t know that I go along with that but his family knows at this time that Jesus is special but they surely don’t believe that He is God until much later.  Even Mary would know that He is very special and a part of God but probably not actually God at this point.  I think that it’s important to remember that no one really knew who He was until after the cross.

This even happens today.  I used to love Billy Graham and I love his son Franklin Graham.  When these guys speak, I think it is time to pay attention.  However, have you ever listened when they are interviewed for the secular press or TV?  The Franklins and any other Christian leader are treated with open contempt.  I remember when I first became a Christian.  There were many of the people at work and my friends outside of work who treated me this way.  Instead they should have been praising the Lord that God doesn’t treat them the same way for showing absolutely no respect for Jesus and His followers.  Personally I don’t really care except that these people are treading on some thin ice that may break.  Unfortunately, there is no water under that ice, only hell.  This is why things like revival meetings are so important.

Moving ahead, the teachers of the Law tell everyone that Jesus is possessed by the devil.  Actually they use the term Beelzebub which is another term for the devil.  They tell the people that Jesus is driving out demons in the name of the prince of demons.  I think that this shows us that the Jewish leadership is desperate and this is early in the ministry.  But this doesn’t make sense on any level.

But instead of simply answering the question, Jesus gives them a parable.  He probably does this so they have to think a little about how ridiculous their statements are.  I mean how can Satan drive out Satan?  Or put in more modern terms, how can John Bergh drive John Bergh out from himself?  Do you begin to grasp just how absurd this is?

Jesus goes on to show how this works.  A kingdom divided against itself cannot and will not survive.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.  If Satan is divided against himself, he will not survive.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing; the end of Satan.  Now you may think that this is just talk but listen to this and many of you know this just from living life.  This first happened when I was in high school.  The other team would start to complain about each other.  We won just about every time because they were a house divided.  In my curling years, if we got the other team disgusted with themselves, we usually won.  Once again a house divided.  You can look everywhere for examples.  Politics is a prime example.  You see this in business, government, in our schools.  A house divided cannot stand.  This was one of the reasons that the Roman government of those days hung people on the cross who were considered to be traitors or instigators in any way against Rome.  They didn’t want their house divided.

In verse 27 Jesus gets a little tricky.  No one can enter the strong man’s house and steal his stuff.  My question is, “Who is this strong man?”  Jesus is talking about Satan.  Satan is the strong man.  We live in Satan’s world.  To us, Satan is the strongest person you will ever meet after Jesus.  You don’t have a chance against the prince of darkness.  And all you have to do is tie up the strong man!  Do we have any Bible scholars here who remember who ties up the strong man?  Jesus Christ will tie up Satan, the strong man, and throw him into the lake of fire.  It is only Jesus who can tie up the devil.  You know that I always tell you that you can do this too but you can only do it in the name of Jesus Christ.  All you have to do is tell Satan to get out of your life, your house, or your whatever in the name of Jesus Christ and he has to leave.  He is a fallen angel who has to obey the master who is Jesus Christ.  However, if you don’t know Jesus, then I wouldn’t try this as it will probably infuriate the evil one.  You don’t want to infuriate him if you don’t have Jesus living inside of you.

This is written to the scribes and teachers who were attacking Him.  He tells them that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit commits a sin that will never be forgiven.  Jesus tells these people in person that they won’t be forgiven.  I would guess at this point these scribes could really care less if Jesus forgives them or not because they don’t believe a word He says anyway.  But this was not the case for those who had seen and believed.

It’s the same way with us today.  We have those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit all the time.  I just mentioned that attackers of Billy Graham.  You can read in just about any newspaper how people feel about us Christians.  They almost hate us as much if not more than some of the other people groups they hate.  However, I read an explanation that might help us a little or not.

I read in a commentary that because Jesus was talking to these specific people, these scribes, this might not apply to us.  He reasoned that because these scribes got to see the miracles in person they were doomed.  But those of us who view these things generations later probably won’t be affected by this decree.  I had to chuckle when I read this article.  Here we have a so called expert telling us that this probably doesn’t apply to us so we are ok to blaspheme the Spirit.  I think that is just silly.  If you ask me, that is a huge, huge gamble to take.  I agree that it might not be the case but it also might very much be the case.  I will let you decide if you want to blaspheme the Holy Spirit or not.  As for me, I will not try.

So we have the scene set where Jesus’ family tells the crowd that Jesus is crazy.  Experts tell us this could have been His adopted family or His close friends but it also could very well be His real family.  Then the teachers attack Him with some ridiculous accusations that He is the devil casting himself out of himself.  It doesn’t even sound right to say it.  Then He gives us this dire warning.  If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you have committed the unforgivable, eternal sin.  I think that it’s pretty clear that Jesus is God here and not the devil.

This now leads us to the part where we know for sure that Jesus’ mother, Mary, and His brothers have arrived.  I think that they have been in the vicinity all the time as this is the second time they have been mentioned.  The crowd does the courteous thing and they let Jesus know that His family is outside.  Then He asks the question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”  I think that it’s very important to note that Jesus at no time denounces His family.  He doesn’t disown them.  He says nothing against them.  This is often misread.

Jesus hasn’t even seen His family yet.  He is sitting inside trying to teach the people around Him.  Obviously, the scribes don’t get it but Jesus knows that others are near and listening.  So He looks around at the people sitting near Him and makes one of the most profound statements in the Bible.  “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Those are some wonderful words.  We have already talked about what the family means to these ancients.  It was the most important economic, social and cultural segment of their society.  They would do anything to help out their families.  Suddenly, Jesus is telling them that they are all one family.  They are all brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers to each other.  This is revolutionary to these people.

It’s not only revolutionary to the ancients, it has been revolutionary to the world ever since.  If you walk up to just about any business man or woman today and ask them “what is the most important aspect of building a business” they will generally answer in some way that involves making money.  If you ask a church, “What is the most important aspect of church?” you may get answers you don’t want to hear like having a full house or a full treasury!  People, Jesus is telling us that the most important aspect of business or church or anything is serving others and treating them like they are our family.  Extended family is not quite as important today but we should be able to get the idea because moms and dads and sisters and brothers are still important.  You people are all my sisters and brothers.  You are all that important to me.  I’m not denouncing my real family but rather I’m extending it to you.  Hopefully, we can extend this to all we meet.  That is what Jesus is talking about here and it is so important that our whole religion rests on this.

This is why it is so important to teach our children about good family relations.  They are the next generation.  They need to be able to love everyone as they love their family.  Some make the mistake of thinking Jesus is talking against family here when He is doing just the opposite.  His plan for family is perfect.  We need fathers and mothers who love their children.  Then we need the children to pass this along to another generation as us grownups love all those around us.  Jesus wants our children to be happy.  He wants us to be happy.  And He wants everyone in the future to be happy.  Follow His tried and true ways all the time, even if it is against what our broken world tells us.  Follow Jesus, trust Jesus and love Jesus.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.