NRSV Mark 3:20-35
Then he went home;
[20] and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
[21] And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, "He is beside himself."
[22] And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Be-el'zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."
[23] And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
[25] And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
[26] And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
[27] But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.
[28]"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
[29] but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" --
[30] for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
[31]And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
[32] And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you."
[33] And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"
[34] And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
[35] Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Quoted from NT Wright's Mark for Everyone. He can say it much better than I can ever do...
Family Solidarity is like observance of fasting, Sabbath and other signs of Jewish identity. It’s being loyal to their ancestral heritage to Abraham. He did the unthinkable, he severed his ties to his family. He wanted to establish a new family, a new Kingdom.
Word about Jesus spread to Jerusalem. If Jesus' family begin to think he's mad, what is the wider public to make of him- particularly when part of that wider public that concerns itself with the ancestral tradition of Israel. This passage is in fact a powerful witness to the remarkable things Jesus was doing. The early church certainly didn't make up the story about people saying that he was mad or in league with the devil. Equally, people only say that kind of thing when the stakes are raised, when something is happening for which there is no other explanation.
Jesus just makes matters worse. He slices through the whole traditional structure in one clean cut. He has a different vocation, a different mission, and it involves breaking hallowed family ties. God is doing the unthinkable: he is starting a new family, a new holy people, and is doing so without regard for ordinary human family bonds. Unless you read v34-35 ad deeply shocking, you haven't got the message.
How easy it is to slide back into a sense of belonging, of group identity, that comes from something other than loyalty to Jesus. We substitute longlasting friendship, membership in the same group, tribe, family, club, party, social class or whatever it may be. But the call to be around Jesus, to listen to him, even if those outside think us crazy, is what matters. The church in each generation and in every place, needs to remember this and act on it.
Mark has set up a picture of those inside and those outside which is going to be very important in the next chapter. The gospel and allegiance to Jesus produce a division, often and unexpected and unwelcome one, in every group or society where they make their way. Mark's call to his readers then and now is to stick with Jesus whatever the cost.
Jesus did add a warning. Once you label what is in fact the work of the Holy Spirit as the work of the devil, there's no way back. It's like holding a conspiracy theory: all the evidence you see will simply confirm your belief. You will be blind to the truth. It isn't that God gets specially angry with one sin in particular. It's rather that if you decide firmly that the doctor who is offering to perform a life-saving operation on you is in fact a sadistic murderer, you will never give your consent to the operation.
There is no middle way, for the world today as for Israel then. Jesus is either the one who brought God's kingdom or a dangerous madman.
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