Mark 3:31

Mark 3:31 says, There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.  Jesus's brothers and mother did not come to Him but called for Him to come to them.  No matter how important we may feel that we are in life, we must always come to Jesus and never expect Him to come to us.  No matter why they called Him to come to them, they were asking Him to leave His calling to follow their calling.  We should never ask God to endorse what we feel is our calling and leave the work that He is doing in the world.  Verse thirty-two adds, And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.  The multitude around Jesus told Him His mother and brothers were there. The multitude then become focused on Jesus's brothers and mother.  Our focus should never be on anyone but Jesus Christ and His teachings and calling if we are Christians.  It is too easy to let the world distract us, especially if it seems to be for a good reason.  Verse thirty-three continues, And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?  Jesus then asked the crowd who His mother and brothers were.  A relationship with Jesus Christ is never based on a physical relationship, but a spiritual one.  Verse thirty-four states, And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!  This is why Jesus looked at the crowd and declared they were His mother and brothers.  Verse thirty-five concludes, For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. Jesus then expanded on that by saying that whosoever did the will of God was His brother and sister and mother.  He did not say that anyone who did the will of God was His Father though, because He had only One Father.  Though some people elevate Mary to some morally superior position, Jesus Himself said she was spiritually the same as everyone else.  It was by doing the will of God that she was a part of the family of God.  If you would be a part of God's family, you must do the will of God, which begins by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and if you haven't, there will never be a better time to do so. 

 

Mark 3:27

Mark 3:27 says, No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.  This is a continuation of Jesus's response to those who accused Him of casting out devils in the name of the Devil. He said no man would attempt to rob a man who was in his own house, especially a strong man, without first binding the man.  When Jesus enters into the house of someone under the power of sin or Satan the author of sin, He will first bind the source of the power of sin.  He certainly would not do this if He were representing Satan or was under his power.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: Jesus then said that all sins could be forgiven, even blasphemy against Jesus Himself, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  This is crediting the work of the Holy Spirit to some other source.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to first call everyone to salvation, and if anyone is willing to attribute salvation to any other source, thereby being guilty of blasphemy, they cannot be forgiven. Verse twenty-nine continues, But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation  We cannot attribute the works of God to Satan and hope to be saved. Verse thirty concludes, Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.  Jesus said this in response to the religious leaders claim that He had an unclean spirit empowering Him.  We need to be careful that we do not attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to anything else, especially when it comes to His call to salvation. 

Mark 3:20

 Mark 3:20 says, And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  Verse twenty-one adds, And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.  Jesus was swamped by people, so much so that they couldn’t even eat bread.  When His friends heard of this. they went out to Him, saying He was beside Himself.  If people get too caught up in doing God’s work under the power of the Holy Spirit today, they may be called insane also.  Verse twenty-two continues, And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.  The religious leaders accused Him of acting under the power of Satan.  Verse twenty-three declares, And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?  Jesus then asked them how could Satan cast out Satan.  He would be working to defeat himself.  If we are accused of being crazy or under the influence of Satan as Christians, we need to try to reason with them, but they likely still won't listen. Since God is the author of truth, and they don't believe in Him, why should they listen to us. Verse twenty-four adds, And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. This is why we as Christians must be united in our work for Christ. If we fight against each other, we cannot stand for God.  Verse twenty-five continues, And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  This is also why we cannot serve the world and God at the same time.  If we try to do so, we will fall.  Verse twenty-six concludes, And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.  Jesus said if He were to be casting out devils in the name of the Devil, that the Devil would be divided against himself and could not stand.  This applies to Christians as well, and even to nations. 

Mark 3:13

Mark 3:13 says, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.  Jesus once again went up to the mountain to escape the crowd, and He called to go with Him those that He would.  Fortunately, Jesus calls everyone to come apart from the world with Him, though not all respond, and unfortunately some who claim to do so are not sincere in accepting Jesus's invitation.  Verse fourteen adds, And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,  Verse fifteen continues, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:  There on the mountain, Jesus ordained the twelve disciples, who were to both be with Him during His ministry and to go out and preach the gospel and heal the sick, especially those who were spiritually sick, and to cast out devils.  We as Christians are called apart from the world to be in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we are also called for a purpose, and that is to spread the gospel to everyone that God gives us an opportunity to witness to.  We may too often want to be called apart from the world instead of going out into the world to share the gospel.  The world is never going to be improved by accepting the gospel if Christians withdraw from it more and more.  Even if the world is full of devils, we as Christians should not be afraid to go out into the world.  Verse sixteen states, And Simon he surnamed Peter;  Verse seventeen adds, And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: Verse eighteen continues, And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,  Veres nineteen concludes, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.  The disciples are then named, with a little more information given about some of them.  We are told Simon was surnamed Peter, though Mark didn’t give us the reason why.  We know of the later works of some more than others, but they were all equally called and commissioned, even Judas Iscariot.  Some people would say that Judas had no choice but to betray Jesus, but I believe that he was called just as sincerely as the other disciples, but he allowed his own desires to keep him from fully committing to Jesus, just as many people today profess to following Jesus, but never totally put Him above their own selfish desires.  Jesus still calls those whom He would to Himself, and that is everyone, though not all accept His call.

Mark 3:1

 

Mark 3:1 says, And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. Jesus was in the synagogue when He met a man with a withered hand.  Jesus met many people with physical problems, and even though He healed many, He came to restore people to a right relationship with God spiritually.  Verse two adds, And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. Since it was the Sabbath, the religious leaders were watching to see what Jesus would do.  They really weren't concerned about the man with the withered hand but were concerned about what Jesus would do for Him on the Sabbath, when there were restrictions on what could be done.  We need to make sure that we are more concerned about people in need than we are about religious rules. Verse three continues, And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.  Jesus told the man with the withered hand to stand forth, Verse four concludes, And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.  He then asked the religious leaders if it was lawful to do good on Sabbath days or to do evil, or to save a life or kill.  Those watching Jesus held their peace or were unable to make their accusations against Him without saying doing evil or allowing someone to die was better than healing someone.  We should never allow religious rules or rituals to come between us and helping those in need.  As already stated, Jesus came to restore people to a right relationship with God, and that should be our priority today.  Verse five states, And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. Jesus looked on the religious leaders with anger at their attitude and actions toward Him.  It is possible to be angry at the attitude and actions of people because of their attitude and actions toward Jesus Christ without sinning.  If it were not, then Jesus would have been guilty of sin at this time, and we know that He lived without sin.  Jesus was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, since they were more concerned with following the law than they were with helping people.  We need to make sure that we don't become so caught up in religious practices that we forget about the needs of people.  Jesus told the man to stretch forth his hand, and when he did, he was healed.  The man had to believe in and obey Jesus to be healed, and so must everyone believe in Jesus Christ to be healed of their sins. Verse six adds, And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.  The Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians, those who didn't even worship God, to figure out how they might destroy Jesus.  As Christians, we should never be guilty of looking to non-Christians to justify anything, especially if it means counteracting something being done for God.  Verse seven says, But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, With the religious leaders looking for a way to destroy Jesus, he withdrew with the disciples to the sea.  It was not yet time for Him to fulfill the task that His Father had sent Him to do.  We may sometimes need to withdraw from a situation if it is not God's timing for us to stay in it.  Verse eight adds, And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.  The religious leaders may have been looking to destroy Jesus, but the ordinary people were looking to Him for healing, though they were mostly looking for physical healing instead of spiritual healing, so they followed Him from many different places.  Sometimes today people may come to Jesus for the wrong reasons, but if they truly meet Him and put their faith in Him as their personal Savior and Lord, then nothing else is of importance.  Verse nine continues, And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.  Jesus told the disciples to get a small ship ready, because the crowds were nearly overpowering Him.  Wouldn't it be nice if people today swarmed to Jesus and overflowed the church buildings?  Verse ten states, For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.  Jesus healed many, and they wanted to simply touch Him to be healed.  Even if they did not truly know Who Jesus was, and not even the disciples did yet, they had faith in His healing power.  As Christians, we need that same type of faith today, especially since we do know Who Jesus is.  Verse eleven states, And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.  The unclean spirits knew Who Jesus was, the Son of God, even if the religious leaders didn’t. They fell down before Him, and one day everyone will.  Verse twelve adds, And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.  Jesus told the unclean spirits to not make it known Who He was.  We today as Christians have the opposite command, and that is to tell everyone that we can about Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation.