Opposition To Jesus
OPPOSITION TO JESUS
MARK 3:20-35
The spread of Jesus’ fame was constantly accompanied by misunderstanding and opposition.
Two new groups now appear who swelled the opposition of the local religious leaders.
The local religious leaders had presumably invited an official deputation to come from Jerusalem and give a verdict. While even to his friends Jesus’ conduct seemed strange, to his enemies it appeared that he was under the power of the devil. “Beelzebub” was the name of an ancient Canaanite deity (“Baal the prince”), probably understood as meaning “lord of the high place” or “lord of the dwelling” (cf. Matthew 10:25); here it denotes Satan. Jesus felt obliged to defend himself, and used a series of parables or similitudes. He argued that if the demons were Satan’s minions, then exorcisms would be due to Satan acting against his own allies, and this would obviously speedily lead to his downfall. Consequently, to say that Jesus was in league with Satan was to be illogical. In fact the opposite was the case: the plundering of Satan’s house by Jesus implies that he is in opposition to Satan and has bound him. The argument resembles that in Isaiah 49:24f. (cf. perhaps Isaiah 53:12): just as a hunter might overpower a wild beast and then release his prey, so God delivers his people.
But when did Jesus bind Satan? Elsewhere the defeat of the evil powers is associated with the cross (Colossians 2:15; John 12:31). Was Jesus thinking of the temptation and conflict in the wilderness? Or was he simply using the comparison to show that the exorcisms proved that he must be opposed to Satan? In any case, the saying brings out how Jesus knew himself to be the Stronger One.
Then in 3:28-30 Jesus takes the offensive. To suggest that Jesus’ works, done in the power of the Spirit, were really the work of Satan came perilously near to committing a sin that cannot be forgiven. This sin is the attitude that regards good as evil and evil as good; such a person has so sunk in moral insensibility that he cannot repent and be forgiven. It follows that the person who worries lest he has committed this sin is unlikely to have committed it.
The final lesson of the section was occasioned by the presence of Jesus’ family. Spiritual relationships, says Jesus, matter every bit as much as physical ones. Those who obey God and hence know him as their Father find themselves to be brothers (Matthew 23:8f.).