Mark 3:6-35
Trouble-maker, healer, demon, crazy man. Who is Jesus?
Tonight we see different groups responding to Jesus. Chapter 3 is all about response: the Pharisees reject Jesus and plot to destroy him; the crowd reject Jesus’ role as teacher and want him as miracle-worker; the scribes from Jerusalem (the top religious leaders) reject Jesus’ deity (his God-ness) and say his power comes from Satan; and even Jesus’ own family think he’s out of his mind.
But right in the middle, Jesus goes up onto a mountain and calls forth 12 men, just as he called out 12 tribes in the wilderness on Mt. Sinai 1500 years before. It is the birth of a new nation, one that truly would fulfil the promise made to Abraham 2000 years before: “every nation will be blessed through you”. The nation that spans all nations on earth: the Church. V13-18 is the birth of the Church, the New Israel, the True Israel, both Jews and Gentiles brought together in Christ Jesus.
This is Mark’s “sandwich” method, where he puts two similar stories around the “meat” which explains what’s really going on. The calling of the 12 seems badly placed – it doesn’t fit with the flow of the narrative. Which means it’s deliberately placed, there, so pay attention! (If anything seems a little out of place when you’re reading a Bible story – pay attention! It’s probably the key to the whole thing. As Sherlock Holmes would say “Singularity (the unusual) is almost invariably a clue”. When these manuscripts were written they had no bold or italics or underline – if they wished to emphasise something they did it through the structure of their story.)
So, there is a new people of God being called out. The critical thing is who is part of it, and who are not.
Let’s take a look at the different response to Jesus in this chapter.
1. The Pharisees love religion and so hate Jesus
3:6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.
The Pharisees were religious leaders who try to justify themselves by their own efforts. Sin is self-reliance instead of God-reliance. So trying to impressing God with your sin! Doh!
Jesus has exposed their absolute lack of grace. They don’t view God as full of grace but a taskmaster who demands obedience. They also have fooled themselves into thinking they’re actually meeting God’s demands, which is laughable. And they have no mercy to anyone else who they think is beneath them.
Religious people with no mercy.
And so when Jesus comes and simply declares people sin free, when he comes and invites tax collectors and “sinners” to be part of his group, when he heals those “unclean” lepers and expels demons – oh NO! He’s not playing by their rules. He’s threatening to upset their balance of power. You can’t just let anyone in to God’s Kingdom, only good people like us, they think, as they go off to meet with their political enemies, the Herodians, to arrange murdering Jesus. And oh yes, they are ironically plotting murder on the Sabbath…
The Pharisees reject Jesus. Their thinking is like old wineskins – the new wine has come, but they are so caught up in the old religious order they can’t adapt to the truth. Stuck in their ways, they refuse Jesus.
2. Old Israel wants a healer, a magician
7 Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him. 9 Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. 10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
The crowd is from the four corners of Israel – the geographical areas mentioned are the boundaries of old Israel. All Israel gathered! That seems good doesn’t it – Israel responding to their Messiah? But why are they gathered? They pushed forward to touch him. They are only interested in what they can get from Jesus.
Israel is rejecting Jesus. They are not listening to him - remember his stated purpose in 1:38 “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”
The evil spirits know that the crowd are following Jesus for selfish motives. They cry out 11 And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!”
The Son of God? Great here’s the king who’s going to save us from the Romans! That’s what the crowd thought the Messiah (the Promised Rescuer) would do, so Jesus is very careful to show that their understanding of the Messiah is wrong, before revealing himself as the Messiah in chapter 8.
Jesus was not calling people to a self-indulgent freedom where we’d go and kick the Romans out and make our country great again! But he was calling people, and still calls today, to a path of loving your enemies, not crushing them, of dying to self, not indulging yourself, of giving and receiving mercy, not judgementalism. In fact, the first person to respond to Jesus as the Son of God after his crucifixion is a Roman centurion!
The crowd did not know their Bible. They read what they wanted to see, not what was actually written. God’s plan was so much bigger than just saving one little nation from civic oppression! We saw that clearly enough when we went through Isaiah! Not rescue just one nation, but every nation, not just one people-group, but all people- to overthrow the rule of sin, defeat death, and proclaim God’s grace is available for all. The way is open! So Jesus told the evil spirits to shut up – and told the people to listen to him.
But the attitude of old Israel is a challenge for our own hearts isn’t it? Why do I love God? Do I love Jesus for Himself, for His glory? OR for what he gives me – even eternal life, forgiveness of sins, future glory? Good things, yes, but not the best thing. My heart betrays me when I get angry or disappointed with God, imagining that he somehow “owes” me. What am I? He is the glorious ascendant powerful awesome God most High, ruler of heaven and earth, Creator of all things, and he deserves all praise and honour. Amen.
3. Jesus chooses a new Israel
It is clear that old Israel is a problem. The leaders love religion and so reject God’s mercy. The crowd are full of their own wants and so reject the words of Jesus. Israel is a disaster, riddled with sin, rejecting their very own saviour. So Jesus does something remarkable:
13 Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. 14 Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles.
In Exodus 19 we read of God, on Mount Sinai, calling to him the twelve tribes of Israel, forming them into a nation. His nation. Moses, the Prophet, bringing the very words of God. And here Jesus does the same thing. Jesus, the one who teaches unlike any other, who says not “it has been said” but “I say” – the Prophet bringing the very words of God.
And then just like at Mt Sinai where God sovereignly chose Israel, not because they were anything special, but because of his grace and mercy – Jesus here does the same thing, calling out the ones he wanted… and they came to him. Irresistible grace.
The question now is: which group do you belong to? New Israel or Old Israel. With Jesus or against him?
And it is seen in how you respond to him. Will you listen to him? Or reject him?
4. The scribes claim he is Satanic
So here come the big shots from the capital to see what all the fuss was about. Unable to deny his obvious power, they decide to smear his name: 22 But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
This is very important because this totally blows a hole in the theories of those claiming Jesus was misleading simple people by magic tricks and sleight-of-hand. If it had been trickery, these guys would have found it and exposed it! Always in the front row, always poking around and these were the intellectual elite. But His miraculous power was undeniable.
So what to do if Jesus is obviously powerful but you totally hate this grace thing he’s talking about. Aha! Say his power comes from Satan. by the prince of demons he casts out the demons. It’s a political smear campaign, designed to draw the crowd away from him.
Really? Says Jesus. “Divide and conquer” is a war strategy, where you get the enemy to fight among themselves, weakening themselves until you can just drive in and take over. Why would Satan weaken himself? Your argument is illogical!
Secondly, Jesus says that only one stronger than Satan can bind him up. Jesus is “plundering”/stealing the goods of the devil by casting the demons out – therefore he must be stronger than Satan. And note that he does not do this in anyone’s name but his own. He doesn’t say, lilke we would “in the Name of Jesus, come out” He is inherently stronger than Satan.
Who is this man?
They run away from the obvious truth, unable to acknowledge the claim that Jesus, God the Son, has over their life, and so they call his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, evil. To deny the Spirit is to deny Jesus. Blaspheming the Spirit does not mean that simply saying “the Holy Spirit is evil” means oops, you’re eternally condemned - but denying the kingship of Christ over your life. It is rejecting the gospel – and if you reject the gospel, you cannot be saved, you are forever condemned. The teachers of the law think that they can reach Heaven by their own efforts, while reject grace. Jesus is warning them that they are doomed. Only through Christ can one be saved. There is no other way other than by grace. Any other way is blaspheming the Spirit.
By the way, if you’re at all worried about blaspheming the Spirit, it’s a sure sign that you haven’t!
5. His family think he is mad, and refuse to listen to him
21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. 32 There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” 33 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Oops, Mary. Have you forgotten who this is? Did she forget the prophecies at his birth? It’s been more than 30 years. Maybe she forgot! And so now Jesus’ mother and brothers are not doing God’s will. They think he’s out of his mind. They are not listening to him, but have come to give him a talking to! So much for the unbiblical doctrine of the “sinless Mary”! At this point Mary and the rest of Jesus family are in the old Israel group, outside of the kingdom! Family connections count for nothing.
In contrast, though
6. New Israel listens to Jesus
This second crowd is responding rightly to Jesus. They are gathered around Jesus LISTENING to him. That is the will of God. They are not pressing against him, trying to be healed, but seated (see verse 32 There was a crowd sitting around Jesus,). They are listening to him, learning from him – and he says they are his mother and brothers, his true family, for they are doing the will of God. Not unsurprisingly the next 34 verses in chapter 4 are all Jesus teaching, teaching about the kingdom of God and about responding rightly to him.
They are the new Isreal. Old Israel may have rejected Jesus – but Jesus has called out the New 12 Tribes of Israel. He is founding a new nation. Unrepentant Israel, denying the Spirit, is rejected – those willing to listen, seeing the work of the Holy Spirit as God’s work, they are gathered around Jesus, the new people of God.
Pharisees want him to teach the law like they do. A self-help program. Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Jews, and many even in so-called “Evangelical” churches today – preaching moralism and “be good” instead of the gospel of grace.
The crowd wants Jesus to be a popular healer, like the motivational speakers of the prosperity gospel. God has promised you health, wealth and happiness, and send your money in to us and you’ll get it. That’s not the gospel. That is anti-gospel. That is treating Almighty God, the Lord of hosts, like a cow. And his judgement will be terrifying.
Satan wants to destroy Jesus or at least to shut him up or set him on the wrong path: the demons crying out who he is, knowing full well the crowd would not understand and want to make him king by force. And inspiring the scribes to call the Holy Spirit evil.
Even his own family want him to settle down and stop having delusions of grandeur. Be reasonable, Jesus!
If God’s people are rejecting him, is he really God? Or is he deluded or evil?
V13-18 give a resounding No! Jesus is Yahweh God, the LORD, the Sovereign Almighty, choosing a new people of God. These were 12 who were to be with him and be sent out to gather in all nations and peoples, fulfilling the great promise to Abraham.
So. What do you think of Jesus? How often do you respond like the Pharisess. Or Satan. Or the crowd. Instead, we need to listen to him. Listen to the King of God’s Kingdom.
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