Episode Details

Introduction

This is a text about families. You can see this by observing the structure of the passage. In verses 20-35 we have what is called, in technical terms, a sandwich. In verses 20-21 we see reference to Jesus’ family, and the camera will pan to them again in verses 31-35. So that structural clue tips us off to the overall point of what lies between.

In verse 20 we read that Jesus is home - given that his family is going out, as we’ll see in the next verse, this probably doesn’t mean Nazareth, but rather, that he is back in Capernaum. He may possibly have a home here, or perhaps more likely, he is operating out of Simon and Andrew’s house, as he was back in chapters 1 & 2.  

Whatever house he is in, he is once again the toast of the town, and the crowd has packed in to the point where no one can even eat. You might imagine that in a society which still depended upon open fire cooking that it was probably impossible even to make a meal, let alone to eat it.

How would you expect Jesus’ family to respond to this swelling popularity which we have witnessed over the first three chapters of Mark? Do you think there was joy, excitement, worship? Not quite. It seems they are concerned for his sanity, and they set out to save Jesus from himself, seeking to stage some sort of intervention. “They went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’” (v21). It’s worth noting here something I said on Good Friday: the Mary we find in the gospel accounts is a good woman, a woman who trusts in the Lord. She is someone we should admire and in many ways emulate. But she was far from perfect, and she needed salvation through Jesus just the same as you and me. 

Conflict

And it brings us to verse 22, where we read that among the crowd of those pressing into the house are a number of scribes who have made the trek up from Jerusalem to investigate this Jesus character. It’s a similar scene to John chapter 1, where the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to investigate and interrogate John the Baptist. But here the inquisitors are scribes, experts in the Old Testament law, and the one under examination is Jesus. At least, they think it’s Jesus who is under examination. He’s about to turn the tables on them.

What is their initial verdict? Verse 22 gives us the accusations they made: “He is possessed by Beelzebul” and “by the prince of demons he casts out demons.” These are some fairly staggering accusations. They look at Jesus’ power - and they cannot help but acknowledge that he has genuine power - but they question the source. Surely this cannot be godly power. He must be in league with the devil!

Jesus' response is straightforward, questioning their logic and giving parables. The first parable is straightforward: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Abraham Lincoln famously quoted this text in reference to this nation, using it as a warning. But in Jesus’ case he means it not as a warning, but a vindication. Do the scribes really think that Satan is so incompetent as to attack himself? 

Imagine an exterminator who made his living ridding houses of termites. And then imagine a big write up in the paper about how he really was a super-villian, teamed up with termites everywhere to…kill termites? If this is the sort of thing Satan does, why be worried about Satan? And this is exactly what Jesus says in verse 26, “If Satan has risen up against himself, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.” Jesus obviously is not in league with Satan, because Jesus is in the process of undoing Satan’s work. Which leads into the second parable.

In verse 27 Jesus says, “no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he