Mar 3:22-29 | KingComments | STEP | We find the Lord in various places in this chapter. We see Him in the synagogue ( ), by the sea ( ), and on the mountain ( ). Now He is again in the house, where again a crowd gathers ( ). There is no time to eat bread, so He lets the meal pass by. His service occupies Him completely. How am I concerned about the needs of others? Are my own daily natural needs more important than the spiritual needs of others? His family hears His tireless work and is ashamed of Him. The fact that they “hear” about it means they have been told. They won’t have been told in the sense of admiring what He does, because when they hear about it, they want to force Him to stop His work. They think they should not only warn Him, but to take custody of Him because they think He has lost His mind. The family name is up for grabs by Him, they think. His relatives here are the first to attack His service. They are not enemies, yet they have no idea of God’s will and God’s work. They look at everything with their intellect and think that He, Who lives totally dedicated to God, is out of His mind. The Lord does not respond to their action and their words, which He does later ( ). This lack of understanding is to be expected by all those who want to be fully committed to the things of God in imitation of the Lord Jesus. Family and friends will not always be able to appreciate this, but will sometimes feel condemned. After the admiration of the crowd in and the incomprehension of His family in , the Lord also has to deal with the blasphemy of His enemies in . These enemies, scholars, have descended from Jerusalem. This indicates their way from the place of blessing and their descent and finally downfall. They cannot deny the power with which He acts in mercy for the sake of man against satan. They acknowledge that He drives out demons. But if they were to acknowledge that power as something from God, then their religious weightiness was gone, and likewise their profession and their income. That is why they would rather attribute that power to another source, that of satan. His enemies are not in His immediate vicinity when they speak of Him in this way, but a little further away from Him. That is why He calls them to Himself. Just as He called His disciples to Himself in , so here He calls His enemies to Himself. He speaks with Divine authority and they come. Thus, when He sits on the great white throne ( ), all His enemies will appear before Him at His command. Before He confronts the scribes with the terrible sin they have committed, He first asks them a logical question. That question should make clear to them the folly of their remarks about Him. He does not wait for their answer, but gives it Himself. Every child can understand that internal division in a kingdom destroys this kingdom. To make it even clearer, He adds the example of a house divided against itself. What applies to a kingdom also applies to a house. In both cases internal division means its fall. What goes for a kingdom and a house also goes for satan. In the kingdom of satan and the house of satan there is no division. All powers of darkness work together to plunge man into disaster and thereby destroy God’s work. The Lord Jesus does everything for the glory of God, and thereby destroys the works of the devil ( ). He was in the devil’s house for forty days and forty nights when He was in the wilderness, and bound him there ( ). Now He is robbing the house of the strong by freeing people from His power ( ). The scribes attribute this work to the devil himself. It is absurd. A more terrible sin is unthinkable.

‏ Mark 3:22-29

The Lord Jesus and Beelzebul

We find the Lord in various places in this chapter. We see Him in the synagogue (Mk 3:1), by the sea (Mk 3:7), and on the mountain (Mk 3:13). Now He is again in the house, where again a crowd gathers (Mk 2:1). There is no time to eat bread, so He lets the meal pass by. His service occupies Him completely. How am I concerned about the needs of others? Are my own daily natural needs more important than the spiritual needs of others?

His family hears His tireless work and is ashamed of Him. The fact that they “hear” about it means they have been told. They won’t have been told in the sense of admiring what He does, because when they hear about it, they want to force Him to stop His work. They think they should not only warn Him, but to take custody of Him because they think He has lost His mind. The family name is up for grabs by Him, they think.

His relatives here are the first to attack His service. They are not enemies, yet they have no idea of God’s will and God’s work. They look at everything with their intellect and think that He, Who lives totally dedicated to God, is out of His mind. The Lord does not respond to their action and their words, which He does later (Mk 3:31-35).

This lack of understanding is to be expected by all those who want to be fully committed to the things of God in imitation of the Lord Jesus. Family and friends will not always be able to appreciate this, but will sometimes feel condemned.

After the admiration of the crowd in Mk 3:20 and the incomprehension of His family in Mk 3:21, the Lord also has to deal with the blasphemy of His enemies in Mk 3:22. These enemies, scholars, have descended from Jerusalem. This indicates their way from the place of blessing and their descent and finally downfall.

They cannot deny the power with which He acts in mercy for the sake of man against satan. They acknowledge that He drives out demons. But if they were to acknowledge that power as something from God, then their religious weightiness was gone, and likewise their profession and their income. That is why they would rather attribute that power to another source, that of satan.

His enemies are not in His immediate vicinity when they speak of Him in this way, but a little further away from Him. That is why He calls them to Himself. Just as He called His disciples to Himself in Mk 3:13, so here He calls His enemies to Himself. He speaks with Divine authority and they come. Thus, when He sits on the great white throne (Rev 20:11-12), all His enemies will appear before Him at His command.

Before He confronts the scribes with the terrible sin they have committed, He first asks them a logical question. That question should make clear to them the folly of their remarks about Him. He does not wait for their answer, but gives it Himself. Every child can understand that internal division in a kingdom destroys this kingdom. To make it even clearer, He adds the example of a house divided against itself. What applies to a kingdom also applies to a house. In both cases internal division means its fall.

What goes for a kingdom and a house also goes for satan. In the kingdom of satan and the house of satan there is no division. All powers of darkness work together to plunge man into disaster and thereby destroy God’s work. The Lord Jesus does everything for the glory of God, and thereby destroys the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8b). He was in the devil’s house for forty days and forty nights when He was in the wilderness, and bound him there (Mk 1:13). Now He is robbing the house of the strong by freeing people from His power (Mk 5:15). The scribes attribute this work to the devil himself. It is absurd. A more terrible sin is unthinkable.

The Blasphemy Against the Spirit

Of “the sons of men” – and not of angels – all sins and blasphemies of any kind can be forgiven. If only there is repentance of sins and conversion to God. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from every sin (1Jn 1:9). That is a great word of encouragement for anyone who thinks his sins are too great and too many.

But there is one sin that shall never be forgiven, and that is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. This is no exception to the previous general promise. Every sin and blasphemy is done against the triune God and therefore also against the Holy Spirit. Now here the phrase “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit” is connected with the statement of the Lord Jesus, the Judge, that there is no forgiveness for this in eternity. The Lord says that someone who is guilty of this is guilty of eternal sin. That must therefore be a specific sin and that is what it is.

The Holy Spirit also makes clear what that specific sin is: “Because they were saying: “He has an unclean spirit.”” The specificity of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is this: attributing the deeds of the Lord Jesus to an unclean spirit. The Lord Jesus always did everything perfectly through the Spirit. All His works and all His words were unmistakably the works and words of God the Holy Spirit. Whoever sees this with his own eyes and in spite of that attributes His works to the devil, does so consciously and with the purpose of making Him reprehensible in His service.

This sin could only be committed when the Lord Jesus was on earth. It is also impossible for a born-again person to commit this sin. Anyone in distress because he thinks he has committed that sin proves precisely by that fear that he has not committed that sin. He who blasphemes against the Spirit does not have a guilty conscience, but a completely hardened conscience. While the demons acknowledge Him as the Son of God (Mk 1:24) when He casts them out through the Holy Spirit, these people blaspheme the work the Spirit does through Him.