April 6 - Overworked

April 6 - Overworked - Mark 3:20-34

No one fully understood who Jesus was yet. He was still the young man that Mary had taken care of and His brothers played with. No one understood that He was being filled up by the Creator.

For anyone to put up with all of that craziness, surrounded by crowds all of the time, rumors and tales of miracles happening around Him ... He had to be out of His mind.

The family in Mark 3:21 is more than likely extended family - the word here translates 'kinsmen.' They intended to take Him into their custody because He was a raving religious fanatic (that's a more accurate translation of this verse). (Mark 3:20-21)

Now the teachers of the law had a different interpretation of what was going on. They knew that there was no way one man could accomplish all that Jesus was doing. Obviously He was possessed by Beelzebub.

Jesus, in utter patience, speaks to them in parables. In other words, He speaks to them in sentences that they can understand. He points out to them the absurdity of what they are saying. Satan isn't going to work against himself, now is he?

In fact, Jesus says, no one can deal with the strong man (satan) unless he first binds that strong man. Which is exactly what Jesus was doing when He rejected satan's temptations in the desert and when he was exorcising satan's minions.

The next verse (Mark 3:28-29) seems a little odd here, but what Jesus is saying is that derogatory speech is one thing, but defiant hostility toward God, thereby rejecting His saving grace will only lead to an eternity with that strong man. Jesus was warning the teachers of the law that they were coming perilously close to calling the Holy Spirit - 'satan.'

And just when it should have gotten easier, Jesus' mother and brothers showed up to deal with Him. Imagine what would have happened to His ministry if He had actually gone home with them. It would have been over. It would have looked as if He agreed with His family and everyone else, that everything He had been doing was His alone and that He wasn't working within the strength of His Father. Instead of giving in ... He taught a lesson ... that everyone who does the will of God is His family.