Continuing a Bible study of the gospels:
(Mark 3:1) And He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand.
In the last chapter of Mark, Jesus had come back into the city of Capernaum after a short stay in the wilderness, and He now went back into the synagogue there. There was a man there who had a withered hand.
(2) And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the sabbath day, that they might accuse Him.
The scribes and Pharisees who had been accusing Jesus's disciples of "work" on the Sabbath at the end of the last chapter, now watched Jesus closely to see if He would heal a man on the sabbath day.
(3) And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Stand forth."
Surely knowing what the scribes and Pharisees were thinking in their hearts, Jesus told the man with the withered hand to stand before them.
(4) And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life or to kill? But they held their peace.
Jesus asked the scribes and Pharisees whether it was lawful to do good on the sabbath days or to do evil. Was it lawful to save a life or to kill? They did not answer Him.
(5) And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch forth your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Jesus looked around at the scribes and Pharisees about Him, angry and distressed at them because they were so heartless they would not want to see a man healed just because it was on the Sabbath. He then told the man with the withered hand to stretch it forth, and when he did, the hand was restored whole just as his other hand.
(6) And the Pharisees went forth, and immediately counseled with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
The Pharisees who were supposed to be the oracles of the church, went out of the synagogue and met and counseled with the Herodians, who were supporters of the government. Even though these two groups were usually at odds with each other, they found common ground in their desire to get rid of Jesus, and that is what they plotted together to do.
(7) But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea, (8) And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond Jordan, and those around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things He did, came to Him.
Jesus, surely knowing the plotting against Him, withdrew from the city of Capernaum, and He and His disciples went to the seashore of the Sea of Galilee. A great multitude of people followed Him from Galilee, from Jerusalem and Judea, from Idumea, which was Edom, and beyond the Jordan River, and from as far west as Tyre and Sidon. When these people had heard what great things Jesus did, they came from far and wide to Him.
(9) And He spoke to His disciples that a small boat should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they crowd Him.
Jesus told His disciples to get a small boat ready for Him in case the crowd of people began to press in too hard on Him.
(10) For He had healed many, so that they pressed upon Him to touch Him, as many as had plagues.
Because Jesus had healed many people, crowds of people with plagues or diseases pressed upon Him just to touch Him in hopes they would be healed by just His touch.
(11) And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, "You are the Son of God!"
The unclean spirits that possessed people in the crowd recognized Him, and the bodies they possessed fell before Him when they saw Him, crying out that He was the Son of God. Evil spirits cannot stand in the presence of God; they are in complete subjection to Him.
(12) And He sternly charged them that they should not make Him known.
The spirits could not help but fall before Jesus, but He once again silenced them so that they would not make Him known to the people. Evil spirits were certainly not the best preachers!
(13) And He went up in a mountain and called whom He wanted, and they came to Him. (14) And He ordained twelve that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach. (15) And to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils.
The account in Luke states Jesus went to the mountain to pray and stayed there all night. When it was day, He called His disciples to Him, which were probably many followers in the beginning, and He chose among them twelve to be His righthand men, so to speak, men He could send out to preach, to heal, and to cast out devils. Note He chose twelve to have that power; they wouldn't have naturally had the power to do such things without Jesus giving it to them. Of course, the significance of the number twelve can't be overstated. It was obviously the number of the twelve tribes of Israel.
(16) And Simon He surnamed Peter.
The first of the twelve disciples was Simon whom Jesus surnamed Peter; He was called Simon Peter, but most often just Peter.
(17) And James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and He surnamed them Boanerges, which is "Sons of Thunder."
Then Jesus called James and John and gave them the surname of Boanerges which meant "Sons of Thunder."
(18) And Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite.
Jesus also called Andrew, who was Peter's brother, and Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, to distinguish him from James the brother of John. Jesus also called Thaddeus and Simon the Canaanite, again an addition to distinguish him from Simon Peter. He was also called Simon the Zealot.
(19) And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.
Lastly, Jesus chose Judas Iscariot, who, of course, would betray Him. Certainly Jesus knew that when He chose Him, even though Judas could not have known it at that point, but He chose him to fulfill the purposes of God. Jesus and the twelve disciples then went into a house, probably the house of Peter and Andrew which seems to be the place Jesus stayed when He was in Capernaum.
(20) And the multitude came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread.
When Jesus came back into town into the house, a crowd of people came together again to the house, so as He and His disciples could not even eat.
(21) And when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is beside Himself."
The word that was translated as "friends" meant a closer relationship than just a friend. It meant those who were of Him, so either very close friends or more likely family and relatives, heard about what was going on with Jesus and went to get Him, for they said He must have been out of sorts, or out of His wits, as the word "existemi" more accurately meant. Jesus's closest friends and relatives did not understand who He was at this point.
(22) And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils, He casts out devils."
The scribes from Jerusalem declared that Jesus had the spirit of Satan, and it was by his power that He was able to cast out demons. That is the very reason that Jesus always made the evil spirits possessing people to be silent so as not to engender this belief, that they listened to Him because He was of them. These last two verses illustrate what Jesus's own people thought of Him, that He was insane or possessed by demons. John stated in John 1:11 that Jesus came into the world to His own, but they did not receive Him.
(23) And He called them and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?"
To the scribes who said that Jesus cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub, He asked in parables, or metaphorically with illustrations, how it was that Satan could cast out himself.
(24) "And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand."
Jesus continued with His illustration of that fact by comparing it to a kingdom that was divided against itself that could then not stand.
(25) "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand."
Likewise, Jesus told them a house divided against itself could not stand.
(26) "And if Satan rises up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end."
Jesus showed them the logical conclusion to their absurd argument that He cast out devils by the devil. If the prince of the devils fought against his devils, and his kingdom was divided, he could not stand and would be soon destroyed.
(27) "No man can enter into a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house."
Having proven the point that He could not be casting out demons by the power of the prince of the demons because Satan would be undoing his own work, He went on to say that no man could enter into a strong man's house with the intention of seizing his goods without first binding the strong man. The point was that Jesus could not use the strong man's own power to plunder the strong man (Satan); He must bind the strong man in order to free the one possessed by him.
(28) "Verily, I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies with which they shall blaspheme."
Jesus said that all sins and even blasphemies against God would be forgiven a man, obviously being after he repented of those things and brought Jesus into his heart.
(29) "But he who blasphemes against the Holy Ghost never has forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation," (30) Because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."
Because the scribes had said that Jesus had an unclean spirit, He sternly warned them. He said any sin against Him, even blasphemies against Him and Father God, could be forgiven, but they could never be forgiven for blaspheming the Holy Spirit. I believe to blaspheme the Holy Spirit one has to know the Holy Spirit. For instance, I believe a sinner could utter blasphemies against God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, railing against them all because he "knows not what he does" (Luke 23:34). I certainly don't want to speak for Jesus something that is not true, but in my heart I truly believe this to be the case. The reason Jesus was warning the scribes was that they were supposed to know the Holy Spirit of God. Once a person has accepted Jesus into his heart and has the gift of the Holy Spirit, he intimately knows the Spirit, and at that point knows what he does when he blasphemes the Spirit of God. Although the scribes did not yet have Jesus, they supposedly knew God and His word, and should have known the Spirit of God; therefore Jesus sternly warned them not to blaspheme the Spirit they should know and recognize in Him.
(31) There came then His brothers and His mother, and standing outside, sent to Him, calling Him.
It appears that at this point Jesus was still in Peter's house. His mother and His brothers came to the house and from outside, they sent word calling Him to them. Whether these were His blood brothers, or half-brothers as they could only be as sons of Mary and Joseph, or just relatives, they were certainly family accompanying His mother. In verse 21 we were told Jesus's family was trying to take hold of Him because they thought He was "beside Himself," and that might have been the intention of His brothers at this point.
(32) And the multitude sat around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers outside are seeking You."
A multitude of people sat around Jesus listening to Him preach and teach. The message came through that Jesus's mother and brothers were outside the house looking for Him.
(33) And He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"
Jesus answered those who had sent Him the message asking the question just who were His mother and His brothers?
(34) And He looked around at them who sat around Him, and said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! (35) For whoever shall do the will of God is My brother, and My sister, and mother."
After He posed the question, Jesus looked around at the people sitting around Him, and declared that they were His mother and brothers, for whoever did the will of His Father in heaven were His brother, sister, or mother. They were certainly His spiritual brothers and sisters, Christian brothers and sisters. In declaring this, Jesus indicated that His true spiritual disciples were closer brothers and sisters than His fleshly family. Furthermore, if it was His fleshly family's intention to take Him away at that point, they certainly were not doing the will of God. I don't believe Jesus was being disrespectful to His mother, but was rather showering respect on His disciples and followers. His mother did become a believer and follower, and therefore a spiritual sister, as well; but if she hadn't, Jesus had made it clear before that anyone who loved family more than Him (Matthew 10:37) was not worthy of Him. Likewise, those who loved Him more than family who might oppose Him, were worthy to be called His true brothers and sisters.
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