{"id":51876,"date":"2014-12-16T17:23:41","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T00:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?page_id=51876"},"modified":"2014-12-16T17:47:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T00:47:21","slug":"chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/commentary\/mark\/chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Man with a Withered Hand<\/span><\/h3>\n

3\u00a0<\/span>Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is only one other occurrence of a man with a withered hand in Scripture and it refers to the schism in the kingdom after Solomon’s death. Jesus is coming to restore unity.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0<\/sup>And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They were waiting for him to do something good!<\/p>\n

<\/span>3\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to the man who had the withered hand, \u201cCome here.\u201d <\/span>4\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to them, \u201cIs it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus knows what they’re thinking.<\/p>\n

But they were silent. <\/span>5\u00a0<\/sup>And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, …<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus is angry.<\/p>\n

…and said to the man, \u201cStretch out your hand.\u201d He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus heals the man.<\/p>\n

<\/span>6\u00a0<\/sup>The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero\u2032di-ans against him, how to destroy him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So they objected to the healing of a man on the Sabbath, but they think plotting to kill a man is okay?<\/p>\n

A Multitude at the Seaside<\/span><\/h3>\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea <\/span>8\u00a0<\/sup>and Jerusalem and Idume\u2032a and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him. <\/span>9\u00a0<\/sup>And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him; <\/span>10\u00a0<\/sup>for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus teaches and heals.<\/p>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, \u201cYou are the Son of God.\u201d <\/span>12\u00a0<\/sup>And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus tries to remain incognito.<\/p>\n

Jesus Appoints the Twelve<\/span><\/h3>\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>And he went up into the hills, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. <\/span>14\u00a0<\/sup>And he appointed twelve, …<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Symbolic of the twelve tribes and the twelve leaders appointed by Solomon.<\/p>\n

…to be with him, and to be sent out to preach…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The word “apostle” means to be sent out.<\/p>\n

15<\/sup>…and have authority to cast out demons: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When Jesus appointed them to this office, he granted them authority.<\/p>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup>Simon whom he surnamed Peter;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The rock.<\/p>\n

<\/span>17\u00a0<\/sup>James the son of Zeb\u2032edee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-aner\u2032ges, that is, sons of thunder; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cool nickname \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Together with Peter, this makes up Jesus’ inner circle.<\/p>\n

18\u00a0<\/sup>Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, <\/span>19\u00a0<\/sup>and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mark wants you to know that Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him.<\/p>\n

Jesus and Beelzebul<\/span><\/h3>\n

Then he went home; <\/span>20\u00a0<\/sup>and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. <\/span>21\u00a0<\/sup>And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, \u201cHe is beside himself.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

His friends don’t understand.<\/p>\n

<\/span>22\u00a0<\/sup>And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, \u201cHe is possessed by Be-el\u2032zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The scribes get desperate and, rather than deny these good works, attribute them to Satan.<\/p>\n

23\u00a0<\/sup>And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, \u201cHow can Satan cast out Satan? <\/span>24\u00a0<\/sup>If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. <\/span>25\u00a0<\/sup>And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus points out the illogic of what they are suggesting. However, His choice of metaphors is significant since these are all kingdom images, with the kingdom referring to the kingdom of Israel, the house is the house of Israel or the Temple<\/p>\n

26\u00a0<\/sup>And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. <\/span>27\u00a0<\/sup>But no one can enter a strong man\u2019s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus is going to tie up Satan and plunder his house, rescuing souls.<\/p>\n

28\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cTruly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;<\/span>29\u00a0<\/sup>but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin\u201d\u2014<\/span>30\u00a0<\/sup>for they had said, \u201cHe has an unclean spirit.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The scribes are calling “good” evil and “evil” good. Their spiritual blindness means that they don’t know how blind they are. Their hearts are hardening towards final impenitents.<\/p>\n

The True Kindred of Jesus<\/span><\/h3>\n

31\u00a0<\/sup>And his mother and his brethren\u00a0came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. <\/span>32\u00a0<\/sup>And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, \u201cYour mother and your brethren\u00a0are outside, asking for you.\u201d <\/span>33\u00a0<\/sup>And he replied, \u201cWho are my mother and my brethren?\u201d <\/span>34\u00a0<\/sup>And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, \u201cHere are my mother and my brethren! <\/span>35\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Far from insulting Mary, Jesus is saying that whoever does the will of God is His mother. In Luke’s Gospel, who’s the first person to do that? Mary…”I am the handmaid of the Lord…”<\/p>\n

Return to Chapter Index<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Man with a Withered Hand 3\u00a0Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. There is only one other occurrence of a man with a withered hand in Scripture and it refers to the schism in the kingdom after Solomon’s death. Jesus is coming to restore unity. 2\u00a0And they watched him, to see<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":51781,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-51876","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51876"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51891,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51876\/revisions\/51891"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}