Mark 3
McGeeCHAPTER 3THEME: Man with withered hand; many healed by Sea of Galilee; unclean spirits by Sea of Galilee; call of disciples; scribes charge that he casts out demons by Beelzebub; new relationshipThis chapter continues the Sabbath Day discussion which led to a final break with the religious rulers. It is obvious from this chapter that Jesus healed multitudes whose stories could be recorded separately, like that of the man let down through the roof. Mark impresses us in this chapter, not by placing the microscope down on certain incidents, but by letting us look through the telescope at the multitudes He healed. This raises the question as to the number that Jesus probably dealt with personally. Any attempt to compute the number would be mere speculation. Evidently Mark would have us believe that it was extensive.
Mark 3:1
MAN WITH WITHERED HANDThe question arises here: was this man, this cripple, planted there purposely? I think the answer is absolutely yes. The other incident was out in the fields, the Sabbath in the corn fields, and that was a secular spot. Here it is the Sabbath in the synagogue and this is a sacred spot. The Lord Jesus had been healing the multitudes. They knew that if they planted this crippled man right in the way of our Lord, Jesus would heal him when he came into the synagogue. Actually, what they did was a compliment to the Lord Jesus. They knew He was compassionate. But, of course, they were interested in being able to say that He broke the Sabbath by healing the man on the Sabbath Day. So I believe the man was placed there, and we are told that the enemy was there, watching. Our Lord’s enemies are beginning to watch for some little flimsy excuse whereby they might bring a charge against Him. And they are not going to have long to wait, because notice what He did.
Mark 3:3
The Lord is going to do something here. I think maybe the Wycliffe translation is better here: “Rise, come into the midst and stand there.” In other words, He asked this man to come and stand in the midst because He wants to say something.
Mark 3:4
They had learned not to answer Him because they always got into trouble when they did.
Mark 3:5
Now the Lord Jesus broke through all of this red tape of their traditions, and He got to the heart of God’s purpose in giving the Sabbath Day to Israel originally. They wouldn’t answer Him because they knew they would incriminate themselves. Notice that here the Lord Jesus looks around with anger. You can put it down in your memory that Jesus could get angry. Dr. Graham Scroggie notes that the word for “anger” here is in the aorist tense in the Greek and it carries the sense of momentary anger. The Greek word for “grieve” here is used in the present tense in the sense of a continuing grief. So what we find here is this: “When He had looked round about on them with anger"just a flash of anger, not a grudge or with malice aforethought. But “being grieved for the hardness of their hearts” was something that He carried with Him. He always had that awful grief because of the hardness of their hearts. Jesus heals the man. It was the Sabbath; but because the Sabbath is made for man and because He is the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath Day. The incident in the last part of chapter 2 and this incident must be considered together. These two incidents brought about the break with the religious rulers.
Mark 3:6
MANY HEALED BY SEA OF GALILEEBecause of these two incidents, both pertaining to the Sabbath Day, these bloodhounds of hate got on His trail and they never let up until they folded their arms beneath the Cross of Christ. This is the beginning of a plan and plot to put Him to death.
Mark 3:7
You will notice people are coming from various areas now and are following Him. Our Lord withdrew tactfully at this time because, as He said, “…mine hour is not yet come” (Joh_2:4). Later on He did move into the face of all the opposition in Jerusalem, but now He withdraws and the crowd follows Him. If you note these places and look them up on a map, you will find they cover that entire area. From all these places folk are coming to hear the Lord Jesus Christ. Now He is in another danger. This time it is not from the religious rulers because they are afraid of the crowd. He is in danger of being overwhelmed by the mob. You know today that a celebrity has to be protected from the mobso notice what Jesus does.
Mark 3:9
The crowds were not only hindering Him but were actually endangering Him. They were pressing in from every side. And we’re told that He healed many. You can’t reduce “many” to round figures, but many means many. The Gospels relate to us only a few of the specific examples of His healing of “many.” The desperation of the people is also significant. You know, friends, the human family is a needy family. We all belong to this family.
Mark 3:11
UNCLEAN SPIRITS BY SEA OF GALILEENow we see that the unclean spirits acknowledged Him. We’re going to hold that subject for a little later because I want to put an emphasis at the right time upon the matter of demon possession. We are seeing that again today in what is known as Satan worship, and there is a great deal of that going on today. But we see that He did not want the testimony of the underworld. The demons acknowledged who He was, but He didn’t want their testimony.
Mark 3:13
CALL OF DISCIPLESWe now begin to see the sovereign purpose of God in choosing and ordaining the twelve apostles. This is something I would have you note. He does the choosing here. Whether we like it or not, He does the choosing. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (Joh_15:16). It is not irreverent to say that since He chose them and they did not choose Him, He’s responsible for them. That’s a real comfort to know. God has saved you, begun a good work in you, and He’s going to stick right with you, friend. He’s going to see you through. That is what this means. And when the Lord Jesus calls, they respond.
Mark 3:14
This is His final call to the apostles. Here is where they actually become apostles, and here is where they are sent out on a ministry, set apart for Him. They are also set apart from Him in that He will not go with them physically. Mark does not furnish the details here, but in Mat_10:5-42 there is recorded for us the message and method for them at this particular time. In verses Mar_3:16 through Mar_3:19 the names of the apostles are listed. I would like to run through the list of the twelve: (1) Simon Peter (He is the first in all the lists of the apostles.); (2) James, son of Zebedee; (3) John, the brother of James; (4) Andrew, brother of Simon Peter (He is customarily listed with his brother.); (5) Phillip; (6) Bartholomew (also called Nathanael); (7) Matthew; (8) Thomas; (9) James the less, son of Alphaeus; (10) Thaddaeus, who is also called Lebbaeus and Jude; (11) Simon, the Canaanite; and (12) Judas Iscariot. I have a book called Marching Through Mark in which I compare the lists of apostles as they are given in the four Gospels and in the Book of Acts. It is interesting to make this comparison of how they are listed and the different names that are used. These are the men that He chose.
Mark 3:20
Mark will impress upon us how busy Jesus really was. Note the reaction of His friends. If a man devotes his life to some noble but earthly cause, he is applauded. The musician, the athlete, the businessman, the artist, or the statesman who gives himself to his work is recognized for his total devotion. But if a man gives himself in total dedication to the cause of God, he is branded as a fanatic.
Mark 3:22
SCRIBES CHARGE THAT HE CASTS OUT DEMONS BY BEELZEBUBBeelzebub was a heathen deity to whom the Jews ascribed supremacy among evil spirits.
Mark 3:23
What He is saying is simply this: He could not be casting out demons by the power of the demons for the very simple reason that then a house would be divided against itself.
Mark 3:27
You first have to bind a strong man before you can rob his house. And that is the truth here. The Lord Jesus is not doing this by the power of Satan because then Satan would be divided and would be against himself.
Mark 3:28
That was the unpardonable sin then. It could not be committed today in that way. To begin with they have Him, the second Person of the Godhead, present with them, and they accuse Him of casting out demons by Beelzebub when He is doing it by the power of the Holy Spirit. So they were actually rejecting the works of two Persons of the Godhead, the testimony of the Son and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. They were expressing an attitude of unbelief, which was permanent rejection of Christ. They were resisting the Holy Spirit. That was unpardonable. It is impossible to commit an unpardonable sin todayif by that you mean one can commit a sin today, come under conviction because of it tomorrow, come to God in repentance, and He would not forgive you. You see, Christ died for all sin, not just some sin. He didn’t die for all sin but one, the unpardonable sin. There is no such thing as being able to commit a sin today that He will not forgive. The attitude and state of the unbeliever is unpardonablenot the act. When a man blasphemes with his mouth, that is not the thing that condemns him; it is the attitude of his heart, which is a permanent conditionunless he stops resisting. This is the sin against the Holy Spirit: to resist the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life.
Mark 3:31
NEW RELATIONSHIPThe half brothers of JesusJames and Judeboth wrote Epistles, and they never mention that Jesus was their half brother. You see, anyone who is in Christ Jesus is closer to Him than His physical mother and His physical brothers were in that day. That is the reason He could look around and say that these “are closer kin to Me than even My mother and My brothers.” The important thing is to be rightly related to God in Christ Jesus by having received Him as Savior, which gives us the right of being the sons of God. That is bringing us wonderfully close to Him, my friend.