Jesus And His Family
Comments for Study 5
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I. Jesus and Beelzebub (20-30)
>1. When Jesus entered a house, what happened? (20)
* Mark 3:20 "Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat."
* "entered a house" -He was invited over to eat.
* "again a crowd gathered" -Jesus was very popular at this point in his ministry.
>Why were Jesus and his disciples unable to eat? (20b)
* "a crowd gathered" -The crowds didn't recognize Jesus' needs.
* When the crowd appeared Jesus served them.
>2. How did the family of Jesus respond to this? (21)
* Mark 3:21 "When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind.""
* Jesus' didn't sever his realtionship with his family. But he did not compromise his service to God and people when they objected to his work.
* "this" -the crowd making it hard for him and his disciples to eat.
>What do you learn about the faith of Jesus' family members?
* "take charge of him" -override his authority as a mature man and as a man of God.
* "out of his mind" -They believed that Jesus wasn't thinking right for everyone looks out for themselves. They believed his priorities were not correct.
* They did not understand what Jesus was doing and why he was doing it.
* They did not understand the nature of his mission.
* They loved Jesus, but their understanding was wrong. Therefore, they were hindering God.
>3. How did the teachers of the law respond to Jesus' ministry? (22)
* Mark 3:22 "And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.""
>What was the basis of their conclusion?
* That what Jesus was doing was not from God but from Satan.
* Their reaction is the spirit of blaspheme of the Holy Spirit.
* Their statements about Jesus escalated.
* Many of them had not concluded that Jesus was not from God. Yet, they could not deny the miracles that he was doing.
>4. How did Jesus answer their criticism? (23)
* Mark 3:23 "So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?""
* "So"-Jesus responded the their criticism.
* "Jesus called them"-He set up a meeting with them.
* "and spoke to them in parables"-Jesus taught them in words that all could understand. A parable is using everyday things and events to explain spiritual things and events.
* Jesus taught the truth.
>What questions did Jesus ask them? (23b-24)
* Mark 3:23-24 "So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand."
* "How can Satan drive out Satan?"-Jesus started out with a question to get them and others to think. In a way his questions mocked their statements about him.
* "Satan" -aka; the serpent, the devil, the lead evil spirit, the deceiver.
* See Luke 11:18 and 2 Kings 1:2 for Beelzebub meaning of lord of the flies (lord of the dung pile).
* "Satan" -the second Satan is speaking of the other evil spirits that follow him.
>5. What did Jesus teach about his real enemy?
* Mark 3:26-27 "And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house."
* Satan has a kingdom with hierarchies.
* He will not do things which will harm his work and kingdom.
* His kingdom is very organized and structured; like an army.
* He is not stupid and has a clear plan.
>What is the point of the parable?
* Jesus is not driving out demon's by Satan's power.
* satan is the strong man in the parable. Jesus is stronger than the strong man for Jesus ties up Satan.
* Jesus carries people off to God's kingdom.
* Jesus has victory over Satan.
* "house" -world.
* "ties up" -stops Satan from doing anything to stop Jesus' work of salvation.
>6. What was Jesus' warning against the religious leaders who opposed him? (28-30)
* Mark 3:28-30 "I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit.""
* "all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them" -no exceptions. Jesus' death and resurrection is the price Jesus paid so that our sins would be paid for. In Roman's Paul uses the word redemption to describe Jesus work of buying our salvation.
* Jesus was warning them not to continue in their opposition of his work.
* "blasphemes against the Holy Spirit" -a continual state of unrepentant and ignoring the Holy spirit's work in the heart to the end. A continual hardening of the heart and denying the Holy Spirit's work. For example, Paul resisted God's work in the early church and when he repented he was excepted.
II. Jesus' Family (31-35)
>7. Who came to see Jesus? (31)
* Mark 3:31 "Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him."
* Their trip started as mentioned earlier in this chapter.
>Why?
* Verse 20 says they went to take charge of him.
* They were concerned.
* They wanted to take Jesus home or at least talk him back to his scenes.
* Their love was misguided. They were ignorant of the word of God.
* Although the passage does not say that Mary was there, Jesus' answer makes us believe that she was there too.
* James, Jesus' younger brother must have also had been there.
* His family didn't have an evil heart, they just misunderstood the work of God and Jesus' part in it.
>What did the crowd inform Jesus about? (32)
* Mark 3:32 "A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.""
* Jesus did not go out to them although he might have missed them. He did not go out because he wanted to make a stand. He wanted them to see that their thinking would lead to hindering God's work through Jesus.
* "brothers" - This goes against the teaching that Jesus was Mary's only child. Joseph and Mary had other children after Jesus was born.
>8. What did Jesus say to them?
* Mark 3:33 ""Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.""
* "Who are my mother" -not proper English was used in his answer to make a point.
* Jesus has a spiritual family.
* The disciples did God's will and thus were a part of Jesus' spiritual family. Judas was with them, but not a member.
>What do you think Jesus was trying to teach the crowd and his disciples, as well as his own family?
* In order to be a part of Jesus' family we need to do God's will.
* "God's will" -John 6:39-40 "save sinners". 1 Thessalonians 5:15-17 says joy, prayer, and thanks is to be our attitude all the time. See John 7:16-24 and Philippians 2:6-11.
>9. What can we learn from Jesus?
* To understand that we are a part of God's family and in cases our physical family is not part of God's spiritual family.
>How can we be in his family?
* Do God's will.
* Believe in the Lord Jesus.
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