Step 9

Mark 3:7-35 The Crowds Around Christ
About Mark: Today's section of Mark mentions the so-called "unpardonable sin" - which has often troubled people. Pay careful attention to the words of Jesus. Verse 28 confirms that "all sins can be forgiven". There is no such thing as an unpardonable sin. The topic is introduced here because, as verse 30 states, some people were saying that Jesus had an evil spirit (see also verse 22). 

At the beginning of his Gospel Mark had described Jesus being filled with the Spirit of God, not the spirit of Satan (or Beelzebul, as the scribes said). Furthermore, Jesus advanced the ministry of John the Baptist because Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit, not merely water, as did John.

 
Mark has shown previously that Jesus forgives sin. But if you investigate Jesus, and get it so wrong that you think Jesus is filled with an evil spirit rather than a holy spirit, any hope of forgiveness is remote. Maligning Jesus is an eternal mistake, an eternal blunder as verse 29 says. This describes an unpardonable sinner, not an unpardonable sin. The "whatever" of verse 28 can be forgiven. It is the "whoever" of verse 29 that can't be forgiven. For Mark, this realisation was good news. Like other followers of Jesus, he made mistakes, got it wrong, and needed to seek forgiveness. At one point he deserted his missionary leader, Paul. But Mark always looked to Jesus for forgiveness, and always found it. So can we.

Bible: Mark 3:7-35, A Multitude at the Seaside 

7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8 hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10 for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, "You are the Son of God!" 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus and Beelzebul
Then he went home; 20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." 23 And he called them to him, and spoke 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 house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. 28 "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- 30 for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."  

The True Kindred of Jesus
31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." 33 And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

Comment: THE CROWDS AROUND CHRIST   
CHAPTER Three allows Mark to get to the heart of his story; the training of the twelve disciples for their roles as apostles. In four paragraphs Mark indicates the importance of their role, set in stark contrast to the rest of the crowd. They comprise "a great multitude from Gali-lee" (7). and "great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon." They threaten to crush him (9), as later they will crucify him. The disciples prepare a boat for rescue if needed.  

Conflicting opinions
Inevitably with a crowd there is a babble of conflicting opinions. The unclean spirits submitting before him say, "You are the Son of God!" (11). No, "He is the one with the unclean spirit," say the Jerusalem scribes (30). Jesus is pleased neither with the witness of demons (12) nor the witless words of the scribes (28-29). The time has come to establish the official group who shall be with him to proclaim who he is and what he has come for.

Those who will speak and act for him

And so they are appointed; the twelve, as Mark always calls them. "The twelve" shows that as a group rather than as individuals, they comprise the apostolic community. And as a group, they can be relied upon to transmit the story of Christ and the teaching of Christ. This is a role they will yet grow into, and Mark records the growing pains. When Mark writes a generation later, Mark as "Peter's interpreter" knows the importance of his Gospel for passing on Peter's recollections of Christ for future ages.

Qualifications
The first qualification of the apostles is "to be with him" (14). This contrasts with being one of the crowd, or even to being one of Jesus' family - who also had opinions about Jesus (21). To be with Christ is illustrated in 31-35. People who are "with him" are committed to "doing the will of God" (35). That places us closer to him than his brother, his sister or his mother!

Discipleship today: Putting this in today’s setting, we are forced to consider where we stand. Do we stand with Christ as did the apostles? Or are we one of the mob - liable to crush him (9)? Or are we like one of the family - "standing outside" (31)? Perhaps you are not yet ready to answer. But eventually this will require an answer.