3
A Sabbath healing—the rejection
1 Another time He went into the synagogue, and there was a man there with a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 Well, He says to the man with the withered hand, “Come out in the middle!” 4 Then He said to them: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts,* He says to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” So he stretched, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other!† 6 Then the Pharisees went straight out, and with the Herodians‡ started hatching a plot against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Healings by the sea
7 Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea; and a large crowd from Galilee followed Him—also from Judea, 8 from Jerusalem, from Idumea and beyond Jordan; even those around Tyre and Sidon. A huge crowd came to Him, having heard the sorts of things He kept doing. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the crowd, lest they should press in on Him. 10 Because He had healed many, so that as many as had afflictions were pushing toward Him so as to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits—whenever one saw Him, he would fall down before Him and cry out, saying, “You are the son of God!” 12 And He kept giving them strict orders that they should not make Him known.§
The Twelve chosen
13 He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He wanted, and they came to Him. 14 He appointed twelve,* that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach 15 —also to have authority to heal sicknesses and† to cast out demons: 16 namely Peter (a name He gave to Simon); 17 James son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (and a name He gave to them was Boanerges, that is, ‘Sons of thunder’); 18 Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
20 Then they went into a house;‡ and again a multitude gathered, so that they were not even able to eat bread. 21 Well upon hearing this His family came to apprehend Him, because they were saying, “He is out of his mind!”§
Scribes blaspheme the Holy Spirit
22 Then some scribes who had come down from Jerusalem* started saying, “He has Beelzebul,”† and “It is by the ruler of the demons that he casts out demons.” 23 So summoning them He started saying to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a household is divided against itself, that household cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and become divided, he cannot stand, but is finished. 27 No one can plunder the strong man's goods,‡ invading his house, unless he first binds the strong man—then he may plunder the house.
28 “Assuredly I say to you: all the sins of the sons of men can be forgiven, including whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”§ 30 —because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”*
Jesus goes on the offensive
New relationships
31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him; so they said to Him, “Look, your mother and your brothers and your sisters† are outside asking for you.” 33 He answered them saying, “Who is my mother or my brothers?” 34 And looking around at those seated in a circle around Him He said: “Behold my mother and my brothers! 35 Because whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, my sister, my mother.”‡
* 3:5 They had no compassion, no agape; their only concern was to preserve their system, their position and authority. † 3:5 Perhaps 5% of the Greek manuscripts omit ‘as healthy as the other’, as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. ‡ 3:6 Pharisees and Herodians were political opponents, so this was a strange alliance; evidently they perceived Jesus as a common enemy; such a serious enemy that He needed destroying. § 3:12 I wonder why the demons felt compelled to proclaim who Jesus was, evidently. I would say that He generally has the opposite problem with us! * 3:14 Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, add ‘whom He also named apostles’, presumably imported from Luke 6:13, to be followed by NIV, LB, TEV, etc. † 3:15 Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘to heal diseases and’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. ‡ 3:20 This may well have been His own house in Capernaum. If He were in someone else's house, the hosts could have protected Him so He could at least eat. § 3:21 Go down to verse 31 for more about this. * 3:22 They had come all the way to Galilee, just to combat Jesus. † 3:22 All Greek manuscripts have ‘Beelzebul’, rather than the familiar ‘Beelzebub’, that is a carryover from the Latin. ‡ 3:27 Since the definite article occurs with ‘strong man’ the first time the phrase occurs, the entity has already been introduced, so the reference is to Satan. Here is a biblical basis for binding Satan, which is now possible because of Christ's victory. Hebrews 2:14 informs us that Jehovah the Son took on human form to destroy the devil, while 1 John 3:8 affirms that He was manifested to undo the works of the devil. But in John 20:21 the resurrected Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you”, and not long after that He returned to the Father. He defeated Satan alright, but it is up to us to ‘undo the works’. § 3:29 Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read ‘sin’ instead of ‘condemnation’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. * 3:30 Those scribes committed the unpardonable sin. They said that the Holy Spirit was Satan; that His work was Satan's. Are there not those in our day who have done the same thing? † 3:32 The reference to ‘sisters’ makes clear that the ‘brothers’ were indeed Mary's sons. Some 30% of the Greek manuscripts omit ‘and your sisters’ (as in TR, AV and NKJV). ‡ 3:35 The claims of Christ's Kingdom are more important than the claims of one's family. Of course, if a true disciple's family does not share his commitment, they are not going to like it.