Mark 3
Mark 3:1-35 (NLT)
1 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand.
2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.”
4 Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.
5 He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!
6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.
7 Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea,
8 Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.
9 Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him.
10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
11 And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!”
12 But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.
13 Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him.
14 Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach,
15 giving them authority to cast out demons.
16 These are the twelve he chose: Simon (whom he named Peter),
17 James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”),
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot),
19 Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
20 One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat.
21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
22 But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
23 Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked.
24 “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse.
25 Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.
26 And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive.
27 Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.
28 “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven,
29 but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”
30 He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them.
32 There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”
33 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
34 Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers.
35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
It’s not the possession of information or position that determines which team you’re on. True colors are unfurled through actions that are in alignment with God’s will. There is such a natural gravitation to judging associations and identities based upon an established set of guidelines that can ultimately lead completely away from the heart of God. It is not a spiritual gifting to make these determinations from a self-determined elevation above those less learned ones. Any traditions or guidelines that are associated with the family of God are those that will further His purpose of ministering restoration and salvation to those in need. They only exist to serve the purpose of love, and Jesus demonstrated that they will be subverted by this greater law if need be. Rather than owning hypersensitivity to placing people in categories of guilt, there can be a heart, purpose, and action of carrying out the way of the cross in seeing them complete as our brothers and sisters in Christ, walking in the will of God. Without compromising righteousness, there can yet be a demonstration of the same mercy and grace that has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and its associations to be named as children of the Most High.