Pentecost 3 ::: Mark 3: 20-35

²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.²¹When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” ²³And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷But 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; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

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

Translation:  And he went into a home, and the crowd gathered together again so that they were not able even to eat bread.  When the ones alongside him heard it, they went out to take hold of him, for they were saying that he is beside himself.  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He has Beelzebul" and that, by the leader of demons, he casts out demons.

And he called them to (him and) spoke to them in parables, "How is Satan able to cast out Satan?" and "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand" and "if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" and "if Satan rose up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but has an end."

"But no one is able to enter into the house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels, except first the strong one be bound and then he will plunder his house."

"Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven the children of humanity, the sins and slanders, however much they may slander, but whoever might slander into the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness into the eternal, but is subject to an eternal sin, for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling to him.  And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you."

And he answered them saying, "Who is my mother and my brothers?"  And he looked around to those alongside him, sitting roundabout, (and) he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the desire of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother." 

Background and situation:  The lection recalls chapter 2.  Then, Jesus was likewise at a house (in Capernaum) with a large crowd at the door.  In the case of chapter 2, Jesus had healed a paralytic.  On that occasion, some scribes had been present and were "questioning in their hearts" (2:6).

Following that episode, Jesus began assembling the New Community with the call of Levi (2:14).  He engages the critiques of the pharisees (2:16-27), then, in a highly provocative action, healed someone in the synagogue of Capernaum on the sabbath.  The pharisees partner with Herodians in order to "destroy" him (3:1-6).  

Then, great multitudes follow Jesus in "great numbers".  Healings are done.  Demons surface, but are silenced.  Then, on a mountaintop, the Twelve are named, sent to proclaim, and given power over demons.  (3:7-19)  The New Community is formed and given its mission.

Jesus' family is introduced, but the reference is not positive:  Jesus is (again) at a house, presumably the same one mentioned in 2:2.  (It may have been his home, but the NRSV's "he went home" is incorrect.)  As before, the great crowd of those around Jesus makes normal life difficult.  Before, they couldn't open the front door.  Now, they can't even eat bread!

This time, though, the people who come to Jesus are not enthusiastic followers, nor people looking to be healed.  This time, they are hoi par autou--literally, "the ones alongside him."  Normally, this would refer to his compatriots, and one might suspect the natural antecedent to be the disciples.  

The problem is that the disciples are already with Jesus.  It would make no sense for them to be the ones who "go out" (exelthon) to him if they were already with him.  Similarly, they've just been appointed and commissioned on a mountaintop.  We've been given no reason to suppose that they now, all of a sudden, want "to seize" him.

All that being the case, hoi par autou probably refers to his family.  (NRSV gets this one right.)  His family, then, went out seize him.  Note that this gives us a "sandwich".  This is a typical Marcan literary device wherein the beginning and the end of a story are related to each other, with an intervening narrative in the middle.  In this case, the story begins and ends with Jesus' family, and his relationship to them, while in the middle is Jesus' response to a critique from the scribes.

This is the first time Jesus' family is mentioned in Mark.  They will be mentioned only one other time.  In chapter 6, "they" were saying, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?"  That statement, on the lips of an anonymous "they," is the only mention of the name of the mother of Jesus in Mark's gospel!

The family is portrayed as wanting to take hold of Jesus, presumably--to put the best spin on it--in order to protect him.  They were saying that Jesus was "beside himself" or "out of his mind."  

Why would they say such a thing?  Jesus had caused quite a stir among the local pharisees (2:15-28).  Following that, Jesus had been deliberately provocative in healing a man on the sabbath in the largest synagogue of the region.  The news of this breach of the law would have traveled rapidly from Capernaum, the best-connected town on the Sea of Galilee.  

No doubt the family had been monitoring these events and was concerned on two accounts:  (1)  Jesus' physical safety, and (2) maintaining family honor.  If Jesus is seen as way beyond the bend, that would redound to the detriment of the family's reputation.

Their motives may partially have been to protect Jesus, but here they are firmly linked with Jesus' enemies.  By coming to "seize" him, they are giving validity to the charge of "madness", while the scribes are accusing him of being outright in league with the devil.  

Insanity was not automatically linked with demon-possession, but often it was.  The concern of Jesus' family is, therefore, only half a notch away, if that, from validating the accusations of the scribes.

Why does Mark minimize Jesus' relationship with his family?  Mark is writing from a strongly Pauline point of view.  Jesus' family represents Jewish Christianity.  Indeed, at least the first two leaders of the church in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish Christianity, were family members of Jesus--James, his brother, then Simeon, his cousin.  For Pauline Christianity, Jesus' Jewish family must decrease as his gentile family must increase.

The idiotic argument of the scribes:  The scribes are said to have "come down from Jerusalem."  Previously, opposition to Jesus had come from local pharisees and political apparatchiks of the local king (Herodians).  Now, however, the head office swings into action.  Jerusalem has taken notice.

These scribes from Jerusalem must not have been the A-team.  Their ham-handed assertion is that Jesus "has Beelzebul" and "by the leader of demons he casts out demons."

This is a rather typical strategy.  When the Powers want to marginalize their critics, they quite often call them some kind of name, something that will besmirch their character and whittle down their influence.  Asserting that someone is possessed by the devil--or is a sexual pervert, or a traitor, or a despised outsider--is an ancient device for attempting to mold public opinion, one that is, unfortunately, still in widespread use. 

And he called them to (him and) spoke to them in parables, "How is Satan able to cast out Satan?" and "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand" and "if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" and "if Satan rose up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but has an end."

Jesus ignores the accusation of insanity, and goes directly to the accusation of demon possession.  First, he raises the ante.  We're not talking about mere demons here.  This is about Satan himself.  What's more, Satan may be evil, but he's no fool.  Why would Satan try to subvert his own works?  Why would Satan cast out his own demons?  The charge is ridiculous on its face.

Jesus then gives three "parables"--if there is division, the house cannot stand, the kingdom cannot stand, and Satan cannot stand.  The word dunatai, in various forms, is used five times in five verses (23-27), and always in the negative, i.e. not able, not powerful enough.

Even better, not only is Satan not powerful enough to stand against himself, Satan also "has an end."  Satan may be powerful, but he is not all-powerful.  His demise is drawing near.  Then, it will be safe to ransack his house.

"But no one is able to enter into the house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels, except first the strong one be bound, and then he will plunder his house."

Jesus refers to the "house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels (skeue)."  The only other time the word skeueis used in Mark's' gospel is in 11:16.  On that occasion, Jesus was driving out the moneychangers, and, in a little-noticed note, Mark says that Jesus would not allow anything (skeue) to be carried through the Temple.

Skeue may simply mean goods, utensils, household items, and the like--"stuff," you might say.  It also can have a religious reference.  It can refer to the sacred vessels used in worship and religious life.  

This is most likely the meaning of what Jesus did in the Temple in 11:16.  First, he subverted the economic life of the Temple by chasing out the moneychangers.  Then, he subverted the religious life of the Temple by forbidding the carrying of religious vessels.

If skeue is used in its religious sense here, then Jesus is indeed speaking in parables, and the underlying message is to associate Satan with the Temple.  The Temple is the "house of the strong man" who must first be bound before his religious function can be "plundered."  

If Jesus had said this straight out, of course, he could be accused of treason.  That's why Jesus almost always speaks in "parables" when the scribes are around.

"Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven the children of humanity, the sins and slanders, however much they may slander, but whoever might slander into the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness into the eternal, but is subject to an eternal sin, for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

The saying is preceded by "amen I say to you," which indicates a special pronouncement.  All (panta) will be forgiven.  Whatever sins a person may do, whatever slanders they may utter, are all forgiven.  Whoever slanders against the Holy Spirit, however, does not have "forgiveness into the eternal."  

Whoever, in other words, looks at Jesus casting out demons, and says that Satan is casting out demons is slandering the Holy Spirit.  Whoever looks at the works of Jesus--open table fellowship, assertion of the dignity of all, healing for outcasts, critique of the Temple--and calls them acts of the devil has positioned themselves beyond the pale.

The family as outsider:  

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling to him.  And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you."

And he answered them saying, "Who is my mother and my brothers?"  And he looked around to those alongside him, sitting roundabout, (and) he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the desire of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother." 

His mother and brothers are "outside".  They have to "send" to Jesus, and "call" to him.  By contrast, the crowd "was sitting around him"--they were "those alongside him" and "sitting roundabout."  

The tableau tells the story.  The family is portrayed as outsiders.  Those gathered around Jesus who truly do "the desire of God" are Jesus' true family.

We don't tend to think of it this way, but families are tradition par excellence.  Each individual is the end-product, to this point, of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.  You can't get more "traditional" than your gene pool.

In the Christian faith, one's identity is not created and formed by one's genetic family.  Rather, Christians are those "alongside" and "roundabout" Jesus who do the will, desire, and wishes (thelema) of God.  Jesus shows the way.  His family are those who follow him. 

Image:  Jesus of the people, Janet McKenzie

 

²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.²¹When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” ²³And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷But 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; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

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

Translation:  And he went into a home, and the crowd gathered together again so that they were not able even to eat bread.  When the ones alongside him heard it, they went out to take hold of him, for they were saying that he is beside himself.  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He has Beelzebul" and that, by the leader of demons, he casts out demons.

And he called them to (him and) spoke to them in parables, "How is Satan able to cast out Satan?" and "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand" and "if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" and "if Satan rose up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but has an end."

"But no one is able to enter into the house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels, except first the strong one be bound and then he will plunder his house."

"Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven the children of humanity, the sins and slanders, however much they may slander, but whoever might slander into the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness into the eternal, but is subject to an eternal sin, for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling to him.  And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you."

And he answered them saying, "Who is my mother and my brothers?"  And he looked around to those alongside him, sitting roundabout, (and) he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the desire of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother." 

Background and situation:  The lection recalls chapter 2.  Then, Jesus was likewise at a house (in Capernaum) with a large crowd at the door.  In the case of chapter 2, Jesus had healed a paralytic.  On that occasion, some scribes had been present and were "questioning in their hearts" (2:6).

Following that episode, Jesus began assembling the New Community with the call of Levi (2:14).  He engages the critiques of the pharisees (2:16-27), then, in a highly provocative action, healed someone in the synagogue of Capernaum on the sabbath.  The pharisees partner with Herodians in order to "destroy" him (3:1-6).  

Then, great multitudes follow Jesus in "great numbers".  Healings are done.  Demons surface, but are silenced.  Then, on a mountaintop, the Twelve are named, sent to proclaim, and given power over demons.  (3:7-19)  The New Community is formed and given its mission.

Jesus' family is introduced, but the reference is not positive:  Jesus is (again) at a house, presumably the same one mentioned in 2:2.  (It may have been his home, but the NRSV's "he went home" is incorrect.)  As before, the great crowd of those around Jesus makes normal life difficult.  Before, they couldn't open the front door.  Now, they can't even eat bread!

This time, though, the people who come to Jesus are not enthusiastic followers, nor people looking to be healed.  This time, they are hoi par autou--literally, "the ones alongside him."  Normally, this would refer to his compatriots, and one might suspect the natural antecedent to be the disciples.  

The problem is that the disciples are already with Jesus.  It would make no sense for them to be the ones who "go out" (exelthon) to him if they were already with him.  Similarly, they've just been appointed and commissioned on a mountaintop.  We've been given no reason to suppose that they now, all of a sudden, want "to seize" him.

All that being the case, hoi par autou probably refers to his family.  (NRSV gets this one right.)  His family, then, went out seize him.  Note that this gives us a "sandwich".  This is a typical Marcan literary device wherein the beginning and the end of a story are related to each other, with an intervening narrative in the middle.  In this case, the story begins and ends with Jesus' family, and his relationship to them, while in the middle is Jesus' response to a critique from the scribes.

This is the first time Jesus' family is mentioned in Mark.  They will be mentioned only one other time.  In chapter 6, "they" were saying, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?"  That statement, on the lips of an anonymous "they," is the only mention of the name of the mother of Jesus in Mark's gospel!

The family is portrayed as wanting to take hold of Jesus, presumably--to put the best spin on it--in order to protect him.  They were saying that Jesus was "beside himself" or "out of his mind."  

Why would they say such a thing?  Jesus had caused quite a stir among the local pharisees (2:15-28).  Following that, Jesus had been deliberately provocative in healing a man on the sabbath in the largest synagogue of the region.  The news of this breach of the law would have traveled rapidly from Capernaum, the best-connected town on the Sea of Galilee.  

No doubt the family had been monitoring these events and was concerned on two accounts:  (1)  Jesus' physical safety, and (2) maintaining family honor.  If Jesus is seen as way beyond the bend, that would redound to the detriment of the family's reputation.

Their motives may partially have been to protect Jesus, but here they are firmly linked with Jesus' enemies.  By coming to "seize" him, they are giving validity to the charge of "madness", while the scribes are accusing him of being outright in league with the devil.  

Insanity was not automatically linked with demon-possession, but often it was.  The concern of Jesus' family is, therefore, only half a notch away, if that, from validating the accusations of the scribes.

Why does Mark minimize Jesus' relationship with his family?  Mark is writing from a strongly Pauline point of view.  Jesus' family represents Jewish Christianity.  Indeed, at least the first two leaders of the church in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish Christianity, were family members of Jesus--James, his brother, then Simeon, his cousin.  For Pauline Christianity, Jesus' Jewish family must decrease as his gentile family must increase.

The idiotic argument of the scribes:  The scribes are said to have "come down from Jerusalem."  Previously, opposition to Jesus had come from local pharisees and political apparatchiks of the local king (Herodians).  Now, however, the head office swings into action.  Jerusalem has taken notice.

These scribes from Jerusalem must not have been the A-team.  Their ham-handed assertion is that Jesus "has Beelzebul" and "by the leader of demons he casts out demons."

This is a rather typical strategy.  When the Powers want to marginalize their critics, they quite often call them some kind of name, something that will besmirch their character and whittle down their influence.  Asserting that someone is possessed by the devil--or is a sexual pervert, or a traitor, or a despised outsider--is an ancient device for attempting to mold public opinion, one that is, unfortunately, still in widespread use. 

And he called them to (him and) spoke to them in parables, "How is Satan able to cast out Satan?" and "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand" and "if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" and "if Satan rose up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but has an end."

Jesus ignores the accusation of insanity, and goes directly to the accusation of demon possession.  First, he raises the ante.  We're not talking about mere demons here.  This is about Satan himself.  What's more, Satan may be evil, but he's no fool.  Why would Satan try to subvert his own works?  Why would Satan cast out his own demons?  The charge is ridiculous on its face.

Jesus then gives three "parables"--if there is division, the house cannot stand, the kingdom cannot stand, and Satan cannot stand.  The word dunatai, in various forms, is used five times in five verses (23-27), and always in the negative, i.e. not able, not powerful enough.

Even better, not only is Satan not powerful enough to stand against himself, Satan also "has an end."  Satan may be powerful, but he is not all-powerful.  His demise is drawing near.  Then, it will be safe to ransack his house.

"But no one is able to enter into the house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels, except first the strong one be bound, and then he will plunder his house."

Jesus refers to the "house of the strong one, to plunder his vessels (skeue)."  The only other time the word skeueis used in Mark's' gospel is in 11:16.  On that occasion, Jesus was driving out the moneychangers, and, in a little-noticed note, Mark says that Jesus would not allow anything (skeue) to be carried through the Temple.

Skeue may simply mean goods, utensils, household items, and the like--"stuff," you might say.  It also can have a religious reference.  It can refer to the sacred vessels used in worship and religious life.  

This is most likely the meaning of what Jesus did in the Temple in 11:16.  First, he subverted the economic life of the Temple by chasing out the moneychangers.  Then, he subverted the religious life of the Temple by forbidding the carrying of religious vessels.

If skeue is used in its religious sense here, then Jesus is indeed speaking in parables, and the underlying message is to associate Satan with the Temple.  The Temple is the "house of the strong man" who must first be bound before his religious function can be "plundered."  

If Jesus had said this straight out, of course, he could be accused of treason.  That's why Jesus almost always speaks in "parables" when the scribes are around.

"Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven the children of humanity, the sins and slanders, however much they may slander, but whoever might slander into the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness into the eternal, but is subject to an eternal sin, for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

The saying is preceded by "amen I say to you," which indicates a special pronouncement.  All (panta) will be forgiven.  Whatever sins a person may do, whatever slanders they may utter, are all forgiven.  Whoever slanders against the Holy Spirit, however, does not have "forgiveness into the eternal."  

Whoever, in other words, looks at Jesus casting out demons, and says that Satan is casting out demons is slandering the Holy Spirit.  Whoever looks at the works of Jesus--open table fellowship, assertion of the dignity of all, healing for outcasts, critique of the Temple--and calls them acts of the devil has positioned themselves beyond the pale.

The family as outsider:  

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling to him.  And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you."

And he answered them saying, "Who is my mother and my brothers?"  And he looked around to those alongside him, sitting roundabout, (and) he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the desire of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother." 

His mother and brothers are "outside".  They have to "send" to Jesus, and "call" to him.  By contrast, the crowd "was sitting around him"--they were "those alongside him" and "sitting roundabout."  

The tableau tells the story.  The family is portrayed as outsiders.  Those gathered around Jesus who truly do "the desire of God" are Jesus' true family.

We don't tend to think of it this way, but families are tradition par excellence.  Each individual is the end-product, to this point, of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.  You can't get more "traditional" than your gene pool.

In the Christian faith, one's identity is not created and formed by one's genetic family.  Rather, Christians are those "alongside" and "roundabout" Jesus who do the will, desire, and wishes (thelema) of God.  Jesus shows the way.  His family are those who follow him. 

Image:  Jesus of the people, Janet McKenzie