Reactions to Jesus

Mark 3

To give them credit, the enemies of Jesus never saw him as a man who gave room for indecision.  You were either for him or against him.  The reactions to Jesus, logical and illogical, we shall see in this chapter.

The Holy Bible, New International Version

¹Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ²Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

⁴Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. ⁸When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. ⁹Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. ¹⁰For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. ¹¹Whenever the evil^£ spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” ¹²But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

¹³Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve—designating them apostles^£—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons. ¹⁶These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); ¹⁷James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

²⁰Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

²²And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub^£! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

²³So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. ²⁸I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

³⁰He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”

³¹Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:1 through Mark 3:35 (NIV)

Misunderstanding

Some people, while intending the best, simply do misunderstand Jesus.  They don’t “get it.”  For such people Jesus provides logical argument.  Indeed, it is hard to see how to miss the logic, for Christ is (as C. S. Lewis cogently put it), “liar, lunatic or Lord.” 

The man is insane

It’s worth noting that this is no academic or learned judgment.  One can almost picture Mary – note the circumstances;  she had heard that the boy wasn’t eating right – thought he must be insane.  (I suspect my mother might have the same reaction with me, if I gave up eating).  The answer to such an argument is simply to examine the facts.

The man is demon possessed

Not an argument you hear much in logical, modern circles – for we don’t, in general, believe in demons.  But the people of this time certainly knew them, and knew them as fact, not just abstract belief.  The evidence is still available in third world countries.

Jesus does not condemn these people for this.  The fact that he conducts logical argument with them (instead of starting out, “You hypocrites!”) tells us that they were sincere.  They were also sincerely wrong.  And it does matter what you believe.

His argument is quite simple.  If Satan is going around throwing out demons, it’s an act of self-destruction.  Not likely, that.  But if it’s not Satan, then who’s doing the throwing?  Only one who is stronger than Satan.  That narrows the field a bit.

What to do about it

We, as Christians, may meet with honest doubt.  This should be an occasion for joy, for true honest doubt is susceptible to fact.  We should take the example of our Lord:

Those who understand

Life is complicated.  It is complicated often enough by those who understand perfectly;  they just don’t like the answer given.  It’s not politically correct;  so we’ll just change the definition of truth.  Jesus treats such very differently.

Demons and terror

It’s interesting to note that the agents of Satan, the demons, immediately begin to announce who Jesus is – and that Jesus immediately tells them to shut up.  The principle is simple:  when dealing with those who know the truth and have chosen to live in opposition to it, there can be neither compromise nor coalition.  As the Psalmist records God saying it,

The Holy Bible, New International Version

¹⁶             But to the wicked, God says:

       “What right have you to recite my laws

       or take my covenant on your lips?

Psalm 50:16 (NIV)

Sometimes you just have to draw the line in the sand. 

Pharisees and pride

Rarely do we see one so far gone in evil as to require that  (though it does happen).  It is more common to see the form of righteousness which denies the power of righteousness.  These are the Pharisees in this day;  their distinguishing characteristic is pride.  It will serve to mark those with the same problem today.  Christ does not honor their righteousness.

You think that pride is OK?  Look what it drives these men to do.  It pushes them into an unholy coalition.  They are the keepers of the law, in detail.  They make alliance with a political party (think of every hack politician you’ve ever known).  They make common cause with men who disgust them. 

The objective of that alliance?  Pious murder.

The unforgivable sin

Which brings us to a topic that has puzzled Christians for generations:  the unforgivable sin.  Just what is it?  It is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”  Note, please, that blasphemy against Jesus can be forgiven.  Why then is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable?

Perhaps it’s easiest to understand from a step by step, process point of view.  No matter how you construct the path to salvation (many people have much to say about this) there is one step which is included in everyone’s short list of steps:  repentance.  Consider, then, that the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin and judgment – which is certainly preliminary to repentance.  One does not repent if there is no sin;  there is no need.  One would not repent if there were no judgment;  for there would be no consequences to sin.  So if you will not repent, you are (in effect) saying that sin or judgment (or both) are not real – which the Holy Spirit (the spirit of truth) affirms.  No conviction, no repentance.  No repentance, no salvation.

The great divide

When confronted with “lunatic, liar or Lord” the world looks for another option.  It’s worth our time to confront some of these and expose them for what they are.

A sharp pointed stake fence

Jesus did not intend for us to have a middle ground.  He did not intend for us to regard him as a “great teacher” – only.  His explicit claim is to be God.  Two approaches to this have been developed:

You may try to sit on the fence if you like.  You will find it is made of sharp, pointed stakes.

Those who follow him

But for those who make the right decision, things look very different. 

But one thing is required of us:  we must come to him.  He will stand outside and knock – but we must come to him.  The decision must be made, not just assumed to be there.  Going to church and feeling pious is no substitute for saying, “Yes Lord, I believe.”

The rewards

The Apostles were given the reward of a great work.  Some of us don’t see things quite that way, but we are part of that great work.  In this life we have the satisfaction of knowing, “I count.  I’m on the team, and my work is important.” 

Indeed, it is greater than that.  Those who follow Christ become heirs to the kingdom of God with him.  We become brother and sister to the Son of God, and follow him into glory.