Mark 3

Jesus calls to Himself whom He chooses to reveal the truth of the Gospel. Those closest to Him had strong personalities that would benefit the Kingdom once they were refined. James and John, Jesus, nicknamed the sons of thunder, Peter cut off the ear of one of the soldiers and denied he knew Him 3 times, and Paul sought to kill those who believed in Him. With the sanctification and empowerment of the Holy Spirit they were able to spread the Good News of the mercy and grace in Christ Jesus to all who would believe and receive. Satan would like to bind up the strong man for he is his fiercest enemy and could do him the most harm. If you are on fire for the kingdom of God be aware that you will be targeted for attack. There will always be those who look for evil and not good. Don't allow Satan to use your past sins to bind you and keep you from sharing the Gospel of truth! We have nothing to fear in Christ Jesus.

3 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, 2 "Step forward." 4 Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea  and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10 For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God." 12 But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."

22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."

23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: "How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

28 "Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation"— 30 because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."

31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."

33 But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

The NKJ Study Bible says this: The Sabbath controversy continued as Jesus visited the synagogue. The Pharisees, watched Him closely, not to hear the words of life but to accuse Him. Christ put the meaning of the Sabbath to the test. Certainly it was more consistent with the intention of the law to restore this man's afflicted hand, even on the Sabbath, than to destroy his hopes for the sake of keeping human tradition. The Pharisees did not respond, for they knew that they would condemn themselves. It is possible, as Paul exhorts, to be angry and not sin. Jesus demonstrated this righteous anger. He was grieved with sin but did not sin Himself by retaliating or losing control of His emotions. The Pharisees were religious experts who should have led the people in righteousness. Instead, they plotted Jesus' death with the Herodians, their bitter enemies. They were willing to set aside differences to destroy a common foe. The Herodians were Jews who supported Rome and the Herods in particular. Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, ruled Galilee during the same time that Pilate served as Roman governor over Judea and Samaria. Because of this plot against His life, Jesus withdrew with the disciples from the area. Still crowds flocked to Him from north (Galilee), south (Judea), and beyond. Some unfortunate persons who met Christ were possessed by unclean spirits, or demons. These spirit beings have no bodily existence but frequently seek to inhabit humans or even animals. Mark says they fell down before Him, most likely by forcing to the ground the person they possessed. Jesus rebuked the demons who proclaimed You are the Son of God not because the demons incorrectly identified Jesus, but because their testimony was untrustworthy. These twelve were Jesus' apostles—a chosen group sent out to fulfill a particular mission. Christ gave power or authority to these twelve apostles. The apostle Paul called this authority "the signs of an apostle". Christ and the apostles authenticated their ministry through signs, miracles, and wonders . Opposition to Jesus came not only from His enemies. Jesus' own people, no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives , heard of His teaching and assumed that He was out of His mind. The scribes, or teachers of the Jewish law, were more harsh and direct in their assessment of Jesus. They accused Him of being possessed by Beelzebub (literally "Lord of the Flies,"), another name for Satan. This false charge demonstrates a hardness of heart and is akin to blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Jesus' reply in parables was actually a threefold message that contrasted unity and disunity. Nothing—including Satan's kingdom—can stand if it is divided. Whoever defeats Satan must be stronger than he. Jesus implies that He Himself has come to enter the house of the strong man, Satan, to seize his goods. While the prophets cited the authority of the Lord, Christ's words rest on His own authority. While Jesus does not say that anyone in the crowd has actually committed the sin He describes, He nonetheless stresses the hopelessness of such a condition. Anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit places himself or herself outside the redeeming grace of God. It is apparently not a single act of defiant behavior, but a continued state of opposition entered into willfully. The tense of they said indicates a continued action, not a onetime event. The words and works of Christ were spoken and performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. To attribute them to Satan is to call the work of heaven a work of hell. For such perverse belief there is no remedy. Opposition arose from Jesus' own immediate family, His brothers and His mother. We are not told precisely what they wanted to say, but it likely involved a concern for Jesus' safety or reputation, since He was becoming widely known as a preaching prophet and a worker of miracles. Whoever does the will of God expresses a spiritual allegiance that goes beyond loyalty to one's biological family. Spiritual kinship is determined not by blood or race but by obedience to God.