Mark 3:20-30
20 Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.[a] 21 When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.”
22 The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
23 So he summoned them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”[b]— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

 

Introduction:  Life involves a mix of criticism; some valid and worth accepting and implementing and some that is ridiculous, untrue and of no value.   That’s true for all humanity except for 1 person.   Jesus himself.

Jesus was without sin, perfectly clear in his thinking, words and actions all in total obedience to his Heavenly Father.   You could imagine that such a life would be free of criticism — what is there to criticize in someone who lives perfectly?   It turns out that Jesus didn’t escape criticism, in fact he got a ton of it.

Only the Gospel of Mark includes this detail about what Jesus’ family thought of his public ministry at that moment.   It’s important for 3 reasons.

  • It is a life-line for anyone who has faced strong criticism from their close family members.
  • It demonstrates how significant it was for his brother James to come to faith after Jesus’ resurrection. I Cor. 15:7 shows that after his resurrection Jesus singled out his brother James to appear to.  The ‘Good Shepherd’ truly did go after the one lost sheep.  Pretty gracious actions to someone who, at least here in Mark 3 — thought Jesus was out of his mind. 
  • The critical attack by the Scribes on Jesus was quite offensive — saying that he was possessed by Beelzebul the prince of demons and that is how he was able to cast out other demonic spirits. In the face of this “double barrelled criticism” Jesus does not blow up in rage or hit back.  It leaves us with the choice to follow Jesus’ example or not. 

So if Jesus didn’t respond in anger, what did he say to them?  Turns out he calmly responds with logic. 

Jesus starts with a question, “How can Satan drive out Satan?”  That would have left the Scribes thinking, “Is that what we are saying? Yes, I guess it is.”

Then Jesus walks them through why that is illogical.

  • Think of a whole country, a Kingdom. If it is divided against itself — if each 1/2 is in civil war then the at Kingdom is going to fall apart.  To which the Scribes would have to admit that it did indeed make sense.
  • Think of a family. If a household is divided — if the parents are fighting and heading towards divorce and the kids are taking sides then that household, that family isn’t going to stay together. Again, makes sense.

Then Jesus clinches the argument, “If Satan opposes himself is divided he cannot stand.  You accuse me of casting out demons by being possessed by Beelzbul the prince of demons?  That is logically impossible.

Then the mic drop moment, “If that was the case then Satan’s end has come.  But clearly I’m casting out his demonic spirits so obviously his end has not yet come.”

They had no response. 

I think partly what you and I can’t take away from this is that one, really good way to respond when someone says something offensive and attacking to us is to what Jesus did here, give a “soft, logical answer” — that makes most people stop & think.

Then Jesus ends this interaction with the Scribes with a stern warning…

We need to remember how Jesus is talking to — the Scribes.  These guys copied and studied the Bible every day — it was their calling, their job.  

  • They were seeing all of the imagery God had put in place through the whole Old Testament pointing to the Messiah and then watching Jesus fulfil them all before their eyes.
  • They were reading all of the direct prophecies about the Messiah and discovering that Jesus fulfilled those as well.
  • They were seeing that Jesus back up his claims with all of the dees that are attributed to the Messiah.

The Scribes refused to accept the very evidence that was being presented to them by Jesus’ actions.  He was ticking every box on the “Messiah Job Description”.                                                                     

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit does not mean “swearing at the Holy Spirit” — it means rejecting the testimony, conviction and truth that the Holy Spirit brings to each human to accept or reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.