Schisms with the Scribes and Factions in the Family
Introduction
I would like set before you a couple of stories in order to illuminate the background to this passage.
Scene 1: A Carpenter Shop in Nazareth
The road for Sepphoris to Nazareth consisted mostly of rolling hillsides. It was a small goat track and slowly wound its way eastward into the Galilean pastures from the low lying coastal lands of the west. And on this particular day Tobias was set on a journey to Nazareth with his donkey in order to purchase a new banqueting table for his master. Tobias arrived in the town after a three hour walk and promptly walked into the Carpenter shop he had heard of. He met a man called James and they exchanged greeting with the traditional “Shalom”. Then it was down to business and after finding a suitable table Tobias and James haggled over the price until an agreement was reached. Eventually a table and a price was found and they loaded the small table onto the donkey. Just before leading the donkey off back towards Sepphoris Tobias had one last look around and he said to James, “So this is Nazareth, this is the town where Jesus is from.”
At the mention of the name ‘Jesus’ James grinded his death and clinched his fists and he replied, “Which Jesus are you talking about?”
“Oh, you must know. Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth!”
“And what do people say about this Jesus?” James asked.
“Well some say he is a miracle worker like Honi or a prophet like John the Baptist. And some, and some even say he is the Messiah, the chosen one of God.”
James looked down at the dust on the ground gently blowing in the wind trying to contain his nervousness, “And where exactly is this Jesus the Prophet nowadays.”
Tobias sighed, “About a day ago a Merchant told me he was in a town in Capernaum, of course he moves around so much, it is always hard to say.”
The men said their farewells and James marched hurriedly back into the shop, and walked into the back room where he saw his Mother Mary sitting on the floor mending some clothes. James said loudly, “Mother, I know where he is.”
Mary looked up with her face tired, warn, empty and gaunt. She said nothing and looked back down. James breathed out loudly frustrated by her lack of response.
“Mother”, he said loudly, “He has to be stopped. He’s destroying our family name. Even worse, he’s gonna get himself killed. The Herodians are already after him!”
But Mary remained still, and continued her mending. James rubbed his face with his hands, kneeled down in front of Mary and said softly, “Mother, you know what we have to do. It’s for his own good.”
Mary looked up, her eyes moist with welling tears. She nodded her in agreement and looked down again at the garment she was mending. James stood up, “So it’s decided then. We bring him back!!”
Scene 2: The Banqueting Room of Caiaphas the High Priest in Jerusalem.
Caiaphas sat at the table with his guests. With him were a couple of Priests, a Merchant from Gaul and three Toparchy leaders from Galilee. The food was brought out regularly and the men discussed everything from Roman power to mistresses to Jewish scruples. Caiaphas stuffed his face with a blend of olives, bread, corn and lamb when a messenger came in and whispered something into Caiaphas’ ear. His face went burning red and he spat the food out of his mouth, coating one his guests with a mixture of corn and saliva. He pleaded their forgiveness, rose from the table hurriedly and gestured for the two Priests to follow him into another room. Once in the room he slammed his fist into the wall and turning around to the Priests he exclaimed, “It’s worse than we first thought. The Galilean. The one called Jesus. His popularity with the crowds grows every day. His fame and honour increases and ours decreases. We know where this is going. The same way it did with Hezekiah, Herod’s steward and Judas the Galilean. He must be stopped now.”
One of the priests asked cautiously, “Shall we kill him then?”
Caiaphas paused and stroked his bearded chin, “No, death will only make him a martyr. We don’t need to destroy him. We need only humiliate him in public. Disgrace him thoroughly. Then he won’t be worth following. You know what to do. Make it so.”
The two Priests nodded and left the room at a frantic pace.
Scene Three: Mk 3:20-35 [Read].
A Question of Honour
The confrontation that Jesus has with his family and the Jewish leadership revolves fundamentally around the question of honour. The reason why Jesus’ relatives try to seize him and why the Scribes attempt to discredit him is because honour is at stake.
Jesus is degrading his families honour and challenging the Scribes’ honour. This might seem odd to us but in first century Palestine honour or the claim to honour was a very important commodity. Honour was a claim to social value and public recognition of it.
In the ancient world honor was more important than your wealth, your vocation and even your heritage. Honour was a lot like your credit rating, it enabled you go places and get things. The problem was that honor was like money, it’s a limited commodity, there’s only so much that can go around. Honor can be ascribed based on your gender, your family, and social position. Honor can also be acquired by excelling over others. You acquire honor by dislodging others from their position of honor. But Jesus is not acting dishonorably. He is simply putting God’s honor above everyone elses. And because Jesus defends God’s honor he himself is honorable. But in defending God’s honor it leads to conflict with both the world and with family. And there are two points which I think emerge from the text before us.
1. Discipleship Means Enmity with the World - vv. 22-30
The scribes come down from the Jerusalem and try to neutralize or marginailize this young Galilean upstart. Their method is quite simply, publicly humiliate him.
They bring two accusations against him:
(a) He is Demon Possessed and (b) He is in collusion with Beelzebub the prince of demons. Beelzebub was the name of the Philistine god of Ekron who was “Lord of the Flies” Now the problem the scribes face is that they can’t deny the fact that Jesus is performing miraculous things, but the problem is that he is doing outside the normal circles of authority. Jesus bypasses or steps over all of the established boundaries and yet t appears as if God actually approves of it. Thus the scribes have to explain these miracles and the easiest thing to do is to attribute it to the work of Satan. To this accusation Jesus offers two refutations:
1st Refutation: It is illogical to ascribe Jesus’ exorcisms to Satan.
Jesus poses the question in sardonic fashion that it is ridiculous to imagine Satan fighting against himself. If that is so then Satan is divided and he is doomed. If a king woke up one day and said, “Hey, I’m kinda bored so I think I might go war with myself today” then his kingdom will be destroyed. The point is that Satan is not that stupid. You see Jesus does not deny their conclusion – Satan’s kingdom is suffering defeat. That is critical, remember that. But the reason he offers for it is radically different. The Scribes think that what is happening is a civil war in the Satanic realm. Jesus’ response is that Satan’s kingdom is crumbling, but not from CIVIL WAR but rather from full scale INVASION.
In Jesus’ exorcisms Satan is suffering a series of paralyzing defeats. Jesus believes that in his ministry Satan is being defeated. Jesus is the stronger one who binds the strongman and plunders his goods. Jesus is not the ally but the adversary of Satan. The exorcisms of Jesus are concrete proof that the Kingdom of God is advancing.
Lk 11:20 – “If I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”
In the exorcisms Jesus is fighting the battle against the Satan and winning. Jesus is liberating those captive to the Satan in sickness, sin, disease and death. But the Scribes can’t see it. Despite being experts in the Law they can’t discern that the Kingdom of God is advancing. And when they start making judgments about it when they should have known better that implies their culpability.
2nd Refutation: It is dangerous to ascribe the work of the Spirit to Satan.
By attributing the work of the Spirit in Jesus to Satan the scribes are committing a heinous offence against God – from which there is no recovery. The scribes should have known that the exorcism meant that the kingdom was advancing, but instead they look at it with eyes wide open and they damn it all to hell. It is not that their accusation was CARELESS, the offence is that it was CALCULATED. And because of that they have done the one thing for which there is no return: they have committed the unforgivable sin. John Piper defines the unforgivable sin as follows:
“The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws for ever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.:
And even if they could it would not be granted unto them. Like the tragedy of Esau, who came before God weeping in search of repentance and did not find it. Neither will they.
There is a wideness in God’s mercy, but there is a point where the mercy ends! That leads to a further question, can Christians commit the unforgivable sin? Some Christians fret and worry if they have blasphemed the holy Spirit. I once met a Christian leader who refused to criticize any Christian movement on the grounds that he might commit the unforgivable sin. I know a young man who had a friend who didn’t go to Church anymore because he thought he had committed the unforgivable, was eternally damned so it wasn’t worth going to Church anymore. However, I believe that Christians do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit because they cannot. Let me elaborate upon that point:
First Christians are not only saved by grace, but they are sustained in their faith by God’s grace. God in his grace prevents Christians from committing such a sin. It is the power of grace from first to last.
Second, one who is born of the spirit, baptized in the spirit, filled in the spirit and being renewed in the spirit is unlikely to blaspheme the Spirit. Keep in mind that there is a huge qualitative salvation-historical difference between the Scribes and a regenerate believer. Christians have the Spirit in the New Covenant sense, whereas the Scribes did not.
Third, if a Christian is worried about blaspheming the Spirit then that is a good sign that they have not done so. A person who has blasphemed the spirit is in such a state of utter depravity that they are incapable of repentance, remorse, or contrition before God.
Application
But lets bridge the horizon for a moment? For most of us the Scribes from Jerusalem are unlikely to come down to Brisbane, Australia and to accuse us of being in league with Satan. But the people of the world will come to us with various accusations.
You Christians are all hypocrites. All you Christians are brainwashed by your parents.
All you Christians are homophobic, prejudiced, misogynist, self opinionated bigots
The question is, when you face opposition will you cave in? Will you leave your Christian baggage at home, at Church and put on a secular face at work and around your non-Christian friends? Are you afraid of copping abuse from the world on account of your faith?
[Illustration] Hitler imprisoned a German pastor, Martin Niemoeller, for eight years. He spent some time in prisons and concentration camps. Hitler realised that if Niemoeller, a First World War hero, could be persuaded to join his cause then much opposition would collapse, so he sent a former friend of Niemoeller to visit him, a friend who now supported the Nazis. Seeing Niemoeller in his cell, the one time friend is reported as saying, "Martin, Martin! Why are you here?" To which he received from Niemoeller the response, "My friend! Why are you not here?"
That’s the problem. Some Christians want respectability in the world more than they want to identify themselves with Christ. Many celebrities, politicians and public figures experience that tension. You are more marketable, more acceptable, more promotable, more attractive, more popular without Christ. But ya know what, I’ve seen all the world has to offer and I’d rather have Christ any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Nothing the world can offer me compares with the deep, deep love of Jesus. Nothing the world can offer me compares with the hope of eternity. Nothing the world can offer me compares with the joy of knowing God. There is nothing the world can offer that I’d swap the bliss of heaven for a few moments of popularity with the world. At the end of the day it is eternity with God I’d rather have than all the friends in the world, all the money in the world, all the perks of the world, more even than sports cars and supermodels. Because at the end of my days I wanna be able to throw down my crown before the Lord and receive a reward far greater than what fades or rots. Yes, being a Christian means you will have tribulation. There are scribes who will mock you.
Jesus said, “Men will hate you because of me, but remember, they hated me first.”
But just as belonging to Jesus guarantees that you will face opposition in the world, God also provides us with an indispensable means of coping with opposition. That means is the Church of God.
2. Discipleship Means Membership in the Family of Faith- vv. 20-21 and 31-35
Now you’d think Mary would have known better. She was visited by angel who told her to call her son ‘Jesus’. She gave birth to a Jesus whilst she was still a virgin. As he grew up she knew that Jesus was different from other boys, like the time they left him behind in the Jerusalem only to return to find him conversing with teachers of the law in the Temple. But Mary as well as Jesus’ brothers and sisters were still sinners. They didn’t understand Jesus, because they didn’t understand his mission. To them he was still the elder brother of family. Oh yes, he was special there was no doubt about it. But he still had a responsibility to his family. Problem was that Jesus was endangering the family’s reputation and honour. Here he was a carpenter, part of the lower classes of Galilee and what was he doing:
- He socializes with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners.
- Breaking the Sabbath and encouraging others to do the same.
- Flouting the traditions of the Elders
- Wondering around Palestine like a vagrant
- Even calls himself the Son of Man.
Worse of all, he’s out there debating and arguing with the leadership of the land. Not only is he gonna get humiliated he’s gonna get himself killed. The Pharisees and Herodians have already taken offence at him and they’re out to get him. No wonder that the word they use to describe him means to be ‘mentally deranged’ or ‘to go beserk’.
Indeed their response it not all that different from the scribes. Imagine what they might have wanted: “Ah, Jesus, Mum and the boys are outside. We want ya to come home. You’re out of ya league. Come on Jesus. Lets go. Don’t make a fuss now. It’s time to go.”
What is Jesus’ response: “Mothers and brothers? Mothers and brothers? I have Mothers and Brothers? I’ll tell ya who are my mothers and brothers are! Whoever does the will of God, that’s who my mothers, brothers and sisters are. The last word in that Gk is emphatic. These ones, my mothers, brothers and sisters ARE. Jesus only considers those who follow him and participate in his mission as members of his true family. Family means faith, mission and obedience. To Jesus commitment to his mission and to the will of his Father means that all other relationships are subordinated to God. It is this commitment to God that creates a new family, one defined by faith, and united in their common desire to serve the one true God.
Application
Jesus is not anti-family. He does not call us to repudiate family as much as he challenges us to re-evaluate our family loyalties. It is cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses who demand that people sever all ties with their relatives upon conversion. That way they can control them and make sure they remain exclusively under their sphere of influence. James says whoever fails to look after his family is worse than an unbeliever. The point is that Jesus calls us to partake of a new family defined by faith and united in our quest to serve God.
It means that our immediate family will be God’s family. Its why those who believe are adopted as sons of God.
Jn 1:12-13: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
By faith you are adopted into the family of God. You are given the full rights as sons and daughters, loved and regarded before your Heavenly Father.
But there is a cost in discipleship. Jesus’ rejection by his family is a model of how others can experience the same rejection. I know many of you have come from homes where you were rejected from birth. Others of you come from homes where you were rejected on account of your new birth.
Your natural family may not understand you or even love you. But there is love, warmth, comfort and solace in the community of faith. In Christ you have a new family, though not always perfect like any family, but one where you belong and are loved. And because you are in Christ, you have a hundred fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers.
Mk 10:28-31: Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
[My own exp. Of being in the Church]. I remember quite vividly the time I told my parents that I had become a Christian My step dad just stared at me and my Mother went, “Church” They didn’t understand – they never took me to Church. Their response has been mixed: on the one hand they just want me to be happy. On the other hand they are perplexed by it. Other times they’ve called me a religious nut or even a hypocrite. They are clearly embarrassed by me. On the one hand they feel rejected too. In becoming a Christian I had completely renounced nearly all of the values they had raised me with.
As much as I love my family, and I know they love me, I also know I have another one. There is another family where I am understood, where I’m appreciated, encouraged and nurtured – in a way that my natural family can’t; they’re not equipped to. It’s a family where I can share my triumphs, my tragedies, my fun and my fears. For me that family for along time has been here at Grace Bible Church.
Conclusion
In summary, being a disciple means you will suffer opposition from all quarters, but disciples find solace in the family of faith.
The cost of discipleship is great. Friends will forsake you when they find out you’ve become a religious nut. Work mates and peers will mock you. Your family may even disown you. Sometimes even the scribes from Jerusalem will come down to have a crack at you. But you have another family amongst the redeemed. Jesus creates another community, not without imperfections, but one that is being renewed according to the image of the creator. A community united by their love for God and desire to serve God.
People need families it’s no wonder that the name “Family” in Church names are very popular. “Gold Coast Christian Family Church” or “Brisbane North Family Fellowship”.
In a sense it is entirely appropriate. The call of discipleship is a call to be part of the family of faith. You can’t be a Christian on your own, you were never meant to be.
A lone Christian is like a fish amongst a school of sharks, he’s easy prey. But in the family of faith there is solace, protection and kinship.
[Illustration] Giuseppe Garibaldi lived from 1807 to 1882. He was an Italian patriot, soldier, and hero-figure. He devoted his life to the cause of uniting Italy. His greatest victory was the 1860 overthrow of the Kingdom of Naples. That event ultimately led to the unification of Italy. In May of that year, Garibaldi had landed in Sicily with a volunteer force of 1070 men (the "Thousand"). Within two weeks this force had taken the city of Palermo, forcing the defeat of an army of 20,000 regulars. Garibaldi had an incredibly committed volunteer army. He would appeal for recruits in these terms: “I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me!”
In the same way Jesus says, “I offer neither riches nor wealth, I offer only persecution, turmoil, rejection and hardship. But let him who loves me come and follow me and live amongst those who love me too!”
Discipleship brings opposition from all sides, from the world and even family, but disciples find peace and fulfillment in the community of faith.
Sources:
R.T. France, Mark (NIGTC)
Ben Witherington, Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary
R.H. Gundry, Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross
D.A. Carson, seminar discussion at a preaching conference at Moorling Baptist College 2002.
Bruce J. Malina, Windows on the World of Jesus
John Piper, “BEYOND FORGIVENESS: BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE SPIRIT”, http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper84/040184m.htm
Mike Bird June 2002
Brisbane Australia
Soli Deo Gloria
mfbird@telstra.com
