Sermon Tone Analysis

20–21 Again Jesus was being pressed by the crowds.

The house (probably of Peter and Andrew; cf.

1:29; 2:1–4) was so packed with people demanding his attention that both he and his disciples were prevented from eating.

This reference to Jesus’ family is the first one in Mark’s gospel (see Notes).

When they hear that he was so engrossed in his work that he failed even to care for his physical needs, they decide to go to Jesus and “take charge of him” (v.

21), a phrase that probably means they wanted to take him back to Nazareth and thus remove him from the strain of having so many people constantly pressing on him to meet their physical and spiritual needs.

The verb translated “take charge” is krateō (GK 3195); it is used of arresting someone in 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 49, 51.

Jesus’ family wanted to take charge of him because they feared that overwork had affected him mentally—he was “out of his mind.”

These words are shocking, but as Mitton, 26, writes, “If they reveal his family’s failure to understand him, they are also a measure of their concern for him.”

In a culture in which honor and shame were critically important, there may also have been an attempt to prevent shame on the family caused by Jesus’ unorthodox behavior.

21 The Greek phrase οἱ παρ̈́ αὐτοῦ (hoi par’ autou) is an idiom that can indicate family, relatives, or friends.

The continuation of the story in v. 31 suggests that here immediate family is meant, though extended family may also be included.

The theological significance is that these were Jesus’ own people.

The family arrived at Jesus’ location but did not enter, presumably because of the size of the crowd.

Instead they stood outside (exō) and sent someone in to call him.

Only Jesus’ mother (the only reference to her in Mark’s gospel) and his siblings are mentioned specifically.

Joseph is not mentioned; presumably, he was not living at this time.

The Greek word adelphoi can mean either “brothers” or “siblings” (i.e., “brothers and sisters”), and the latter may be intended here.

Jesus’ sisters will be explicitly mentioned in 6:3.

Possible evidence for the presence of Jesus’ sisters is the analogy in v. 35, where Jesus’ spiritual family includes “my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark shows no interest or concern in the later church debate over whether these siblings were (1) born to Mary after Jesus was born, (2) Joseph’s children by a previous marriage, or (3) only cousins of Jesus (as the Roman Catholic Church has historically asserted; see comments at 6:3).

For Mark the point of the story is the climactic pronouncement in vv.

34b–35 that true spiritual relationships are defined not by blood or birth but by common allegiance to the will and purpose of God.

32–35 When Jesus was told that his family was looking for him, he responded by asking the rhetorical question, “Who are my mother and my brothers [and sisters]?”

(v.

33).

Then with a sweep of his eyes over those seated in a circle around him, he identified his true family: “Here are my mother and my brothers [and sisters]” (v.

34).

This statement would certainly have included the Twelve but also the “crowd” (ochlos, GK 4063, v. 32) gathered around him—the wider group of his followers.

Jesus’ point is that in the age of salvation there are spiritual ties that are closer than blood or family ties.

Jesus’ true family consists of all those who obey the will of God (v.

35)—in Mark’s narrative world, those who are responding positively to Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God.

Jesus’ words are particularly shocking in the “dyadic” (group-oriented) culture of the Middle East, where respect and loyalty for family and clan were (and are) among the highest values.

While Jesus does not reject or repudiate his own family, he places spiritual relationships on a higher plane.

It can easily be imagined what this statement meant to the original readers of Mark’s gospel.

F. C. Grant, 694, writes, “In place of broken family relations, ostracism and persecution, was the close and intimate relation to the Son of God.”

The striking spatial contrast between Jesus’ physical family, who are “outside” (exō; vv.

31–32), and his spiritual family, who are “sitting around him” inside, will be taken up in the next chapter (see comments at 4:11).

A reversal is taking place in Mark’s gospel: those who have traditionally been insiders to God’s blessings—the religious leaders and the physical heirs of Abraham’s promise—will become the outsiders.

And those who were formerly outsiders (sinners, tax collectors, Gentiles) will become the insiders and recipients of God’s salvation.

In view of the Jewish attitude of respect and honor toward one’s parents—an attitude adopted by the church—the historicity of these two family scenes (vv.

20–21; vv.

31–35) can scarcely be denied, for the church would never have invented a story that put the family of Jesus in such bad light.

Vers.

20, 21.—The last clause of ver.

19, And they went into an house, should form the opening sentence of a new paragraph, and should therefore become the first clause of ver.

20, as in the Revised Version.

According to the most approved reading, the words are (ἕρχεται εἰς οἷκον), He cometh into an house, or, He cometh home.

There is here a considerable gap in St. Mark’s narrative.

The sermon on the mount followed upon the call of the apostles, at all events so far as it affected them and their mission.

Moreover, St. Matthew interposes here two miracles wrought by our Lord after his descent from the mount, and before his return to his own house at Capernaum.

St. Mark seems anxious here to hasten on to describe the treatment of our Lord by his own near relatives at this important crisis in his ministry.

So that they—i.e.

our Lord and his disciples—could not so much as eat bread; such was the pressure of the crowd upon them.

St. Mark evidently records this, in order to show the contrast between the zeal of the multitude and the very different feelings of our Lord’s own connections.

They, his friends, when they heard how he was thronged, went out to lay hold on him; for they said, He is beside himself.

This little incident is mentioned only by St. Mark.

When his friends saw him so bent upon his great mission as to neglect his bodily necessities, they considered that he was bereft of his reason, that too much zeal and piety had deranged his mind.

His friends went out (ἐξῆλθον) to lay hold on him.

They may probably have come from Nazareth.

St. John (7:5) says that “even his brethren did not believe on him;” that is, they did not believe in him with that fulness of trust which is of the essence of true faith.

Their impression was that he was in a condition requiring that he should be put under some restraint.

He Established a New Family (Mark 3:20–21, 31–35)

Our Lord’s friends were sure that Jesus was confused, and possibly deranged!

The great crowds they saw following Him, and the amazing reports they heard about Him, convinced them that He desperately needed help.

He simply was not living a normal life, so His friends came to Capernaum to “take charge of Him.” Then his mother and “brethren” (Mark 6:3) traveled thirty miles from Nazareth to plead with Him to come home and get some rest, but even they were unable to get near Him.

This is the only place in the Gospel of Mark where Mary is seen, and her venture was a failure.

History reveals that God’s servants are usually misjudged by their contemporaries, and often misunderstood by their families.

D.L. Moody was called “Crazy Moody” by many people in Chicago, and even the great Apostle Paul was called mad (Acts 26:24–25).

Emily Dickinson wrote:

Much madness is divinest sense

To a discerning eye;

Much sense the starkest madness.

’Tis the majority

In this, as all, prevails.

Assent, and you are sane;

Demur—you’re straightway dangerous,

And handled with a chain.

Our Lord was not being rude to His family when He remained in the house and did not try to see them.

He knew that their motives were right but their purpose was definitely wrong.

If Jesus had yielded to His family, He would have played right into the hands of the opposition.

The religious leaders would have said, “See, He agreed with His family—He needs help!

Don’t take Jesus of Nazareth too seriously.”

Instead of giving in, He used this crisis as an opportunity to teach a spiritual lesson: His “family” is made up of all those who do the will of God.

Our Lord’s half brothers were not believers (John 7:1–5) and Jesus felt closer to the believing publicans and sinners than He did to James, Joses, Judah, and Simon, His half-brothers.

Our Lord was not suggesting that believers ignore or abandon their families in order to serve God, but only that they put God’s will above everything else in life.

Our love for God should be so great that our love for family would seem like hatred in comparison (Luke 14:26).

Certainly it is God’s will that we care for our families and provide for them (see 1 Tim.

5:8), but we must not permit even our dearest loved ones to influence us away from the will of God.

When you consider the importance of the family in the Jewish society, you can imagine how radical Christ’s words must have sounded to those who heard them.

How does one enter into the family of God?

By means of a new birth, a spiritual birth from above (John 3:1–7; 1 Peter 1:22–25).

When the sinner trusts Jesus Christ as Saviour, he experiences this new birth and enters into God’s family.

He shares God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:3–4) and can call God “Father” (Rom.

8:15–16).

This spiritual birth is not something that we accomplish for ourselves, nor can others do it for us (John 1:11–13).

It is God’s work of grace; all we can do is believe and receive (Eph.

2:8–9).

The strong man (vv.

22–30).

Jesus healed a demoniac who was both blind and dumb (Matt.

12:22–24), and the scribes and Pharisees used this miracle as an opportunity to attack Him.

The crowd was saying, “Perhaps this Man is indeed the Son of David, the Messiah.”

But the religious leaders said, “No, He is in league with Beelzebub!

It is Satan’s power that is at work in Him, not God’s power.”