GOSPEL OF MARK - CHAPTER 3
Jesus Cures a Man’s Hand on God’s Rest Day 3:1-6
v1 Jesus went again into the building where they met to worship God. A man was there. Something had damaged his hand. v2 The Pharisees wanted a reason to say that Jesus was not obeying the law. So they watched him to see if he would cure on God’s rest day. v3 Jesus said to the man with the bad hand, ‘Come here.’ v4 And Jesus asked them, ‘Does the law allow us to do good things on God’s rest day or to do bad things? Does it allow us to save life or to kill?’ But they would not answer. v5 Jesus looked round at them in anger. He was very upset because their hearts were so hard. He said to the man, ‘Reach out your hand.’ So the man reached out his hand, and it became well again. It was quite as good as his other hand. v6 The Pharisees went out and they immediately plotted with the Herodians. They tried to decide how to kill Jesus.
Commentary
Verses 1- 2
The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus’ popularity. He had shown that their attitudes were wrong. They were very careful about what they should not do on the rest day. They were less careful about what they should do. They allowed someone to cure on the rest day if the patient might die. Anyone else who was ill must wait until the end of the rest day.
Verses 3-4
Jesus was going to use the rest day to do a good deed. They were already trying to find a reason to kill him.
Verse 5
Mark made it clear that Jesus was angry. Many people are angry for selfish reasons. They are angry when other people have not been kind to them. Jesus was angry because the Pharisees were going to use the man as a way to oppose Jesus. They were showing no love towards a man who needed their sympathy. Jesus cured the man with a brief order.
Verse 6
The Herodians were friends of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Usually, the Pharisees hated the Herodians because Herod’s disciples were friends with the Romans. But both the Pharisees and the Herodians were afraid of Jesus. The Pharisees thought that they might lose their religious authority. The Herodians thought that trouble with the Romans would spoil their political ambitions. So the Pharisees and the Herodians joined together in order to oppose Jesus.
Jesus Teaches By the Lake 3:7-12
v7 Jesus went off to the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. A large crowd from Galilee followed. v8 Many people heard about all that Jesus was doing. So they came to him. They came from Judea, Jerusalem and Idumea. They came from the lands east of the River Jordan. They came from the area of Tyre and Sidon. v9 Because of the crowd, Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him. Crowds of people were coming too close to Jesus. There was a danger that they would hurt him by their pressure. v10 Jesus had cured many people. So all those with diseases were pushing forward in order to touch him. v11 Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him. They shouted, ‘You are the Son of God.’ v12 But Jesus gave them a strict order not to tell who he was.
Commentary
Verse 7
Jesus left the Jewish meeting places because the scribes were trying to stop his work. He wanted to teach more people. So he chose the side of the lake as a place where he could teach.
Verse 8
The crowds came to him from beyond the region called Galilee. They traveled long distances from Jerusalem in the south, and from the region called Idumea even further south. People came from the Gentile cities east of the Jordan. They even came from the foreign ports of Tyre and Sidon in the north.
Verses 9-10
The crowd was so large that it was difficult for Jesus to teach them. Also, people who wanted Jesus to cure them were trying to get near enough to touch him. Jesus was therefore in danger because the crowd was pressing against him. So he used a small boat a little way from the shore. Then everyone could see and hear him.
Verse 11
The men with evil spirits knew that Jesus had a very close relationship with God. They were afraid and they fell down in front of him.
Verse 12
It was too soon for people to know that Jesus was the Messiah. They needed to know that Jesus brought freedom from sin. They were hoping for a country free from Roman rule. Jesus did not want people to think that a political Messiah had arrived. There would have been trouble if people thought that. They would want him to lead them against the Romans. So Jesus insisted that the men with evil spirits should keep their knowledge secret.
Jesus Chooses 12 Apostles 3:13-19
v13 Jesus went up into the hills. He called those that he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. v14 He chose 12 men to be with him. He also wanted to send them out to preach. v15 And he wanted them to have authority to throw out evil spirits. v16 He chose Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter. v17 He chose James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He gave them the name ‘Boanerges’. Boanerges means ‘Sons of Thunder’. v18 There were Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus. There were Thaddeus and Simon the Eager Man. v19 Judas Iscariot was one of them. He was the person who handed Jesus over to his enemies.
Commentary
Verse 13
Jesus knew that he must find a way for his work to continue. He went up into the hills in order to get away from the crowds. He needed to decide which of his disciples he should teach in a special way. Luke says that he prayed all night (Luke 6:12).
Verses 14-15
There were 12 tribes of Jews. Jesus chose 12 men to become the beginning of the new people of God, the church. They would be with Jesus. They would learn more about him and they would follow his example. They would learn his message so that they could tell other people. Then he would send them out with his authority. Jesus would give them the power to cure people that evil spirits controlled.
None of those whom he chose was a rich person or an important person. Jesus chose ordinary people. But those people would become extraordinary because they had been with him.
Verse 16
Jesus gave Simon, who used to catch fish, the name ‘Peter’. The name Peter means ‘Rock’. He would become a person whom God could use. God would use him as people use a rock to build on (Matthew 16:18).
Verse 17
The two sons of Zebedee were very ready to give their opinions in a loud, angry way. So Jesus called them ‘Sons of Thunder’. (Thunder is the loud noise that you may hear in a storm.)
Verse 18
Andrew was Simon’s brother. Bartholomew is a surname. He was probably the same person as Nathanael, whom Philip knew (John 1:45). Bible students think that Thaddeus is the same person as Judas, son of James (Luke 6:16). Matthew had collected taxes for the Romans. Mark calls Simon an ‘Eager Man’. The Eager Men were a group who wanted to force out the Romans. Matthew and Simon became friends because they both served Jesus.
Verse 19
Kerioth was a village in Judea. ‘Iscariot’ may mean ‘man from Kerioth’. If so, Judas was the only man of the 12 disciples who did not come from Galilee.
Jesus and Beelzebub 3:20-30
The religious leaders say that Jesus is getting his power from Satan.
v20 Then Jesus went into a house. A crowd gathered again. The crowd was so large that Jesus and his disciples could not even find time to eat. v21 When his friends heard it, they said, ‘He is mad.’ So they went to take care of him. v22 Some scribes were there who had come down from Jerusalem. They said, ‘Beelzebub controls him. He throws out evil spirits with the power of the prince of evil spirits.’ v23 Jesus called them to him. He spoke to them in parables. ‘Surely Satan cannot drive out Satan. v24 If a kingdom fights against itself, it cannot remain. v25 And if a family fights against itself, it cannot last. v26 And if Satan fights against himself, his power will be divided. And he will come to an end. v27 But nobody can enter a strong man’s house and steal his things. He must first tie up the strong man. Then he can steal from his house.
v28 I am telling you the truth. God will forgive everyone’s sins and the insults that they speak against him. v29 But God can never forgive anyone who insults the Holy Spirit. He is in danger of eternal punishment.’ v30 The scribes had said that Jesus had an evil spirit. That is why Jesus said this.
Commentary
Verses 20-21
Jesus’ friends thought that a sensible person would not behave like Jesus. He had left the security of his home. He was getting into trouble with the religious authorities. He was working so hard that he was even missing meals. They thought that he had gone mad. They must go to take him home.
Verse 22
Beelzebub was the name of a false god in the Old Testament (2 Kings 1:3). The Jews used it as a name for Satan. The scribes did not deny that Jesus could free people from evil spirits. But they said that he got this power from Satan, the chief evil spirit.
Verses 23-26
It would not be sensible for Satan to fight against himself. Jesus showed that by what he said. If one part of a kingdom fights against another part, the kingdom will not last. If there are quarrels in a family, that family will suffer. If Satan was fighting his own evil spirits, he was destroying himself.
Verse 27
Nobody can steal from a strong man’s house unless a stronger man first ties him up. Satan was the ‘strong man’. Jesus is more powerful than Satan. Because he had defeated the evil spirits, Jesus had begun to rob Satan of his power.
Verses 28-30
Someone may decide to take no notice of his conscience. He knows that certain things are wrong. But he still does them. If he continues to do this, he will no longer be able to distinguish right things from wrong things. Isaiah spoke about people like that. He said that ‘they call evil things good, and they call good things evil’ (Isaiah 5:20). The scribes had seen all the good things that Jesus had done. But they said that Satan was giving him the power. So they were insulting the Holy Spirit, who gave Jesus the power to do his work. God is willing to forgive almost anything. But he will not forgive someone who insults the Holy Spirit.
The Family of Jesus 3:31-35
Jesus shows his human family the nature of God’s family.
v31 Jesus’ mother and brothers came. They stood outside the house. They sent someone in to give him a message. v32 A crowd was sitting round Jesus. They told him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside. They are asking for you.’ v33 Jesus replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ v34 Jesus looked at the people who were sitting in a circle round him. He said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. v35 Whoever obeys God is my brother and my sister and my mother.’
Verse 31
Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters (Mark 6:3). The brothers were probably the sons of Joseph and Mary that were born after Jesus, her ‘first son’ (Luke 2:7). Some Christians believe that Mary did not have any more children after Jesus. Some of them believe that the word ‘brothers’ may mean cousins or close relatives. And some of them believe that the word ‘brothers’ may mean the sons and daughters of Joseph by a former wife. If so, this wife died before Joseph married Mary.
Verses 33-35
Jesus was not saying that he did not care about his human family. The Pharisees did not take responsibility for their parents. But Jesus told them that they were wrong about that (Mark 7:9-13). Even when he was hanging on the cross, he was looking after his mother. He made sure that she had a home (John 19:26-27). But he has a much larger family. His brothers and sisters are all those who obey God. They are not relatives by birth. But they are part of God’s family. So their relationship with each other can be stronger than a physical relationship.
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