The Ministry of Jesus in Galilee

Mark 1:16—8:30

A New King (1:16—3:6).

Kingdom is Near (1:15)

  1. Popularity (1:16-45).

  2. Conflict (2:1—3:6).

Jewish Leaders Reject Him (3:6)

A New Kingdom (3:7—6:6)

Kingdom Has Small Beginnings (4:3)

  1. Continued Conflict (3:7-35).

    1. Jesus Withdraws (3:7-12).

    2. Twelve Chosen (3:13-19).

    3. Answering Critics (3:20-30).

      1. Word got out that Jesus was in this house (3:20-21).

      2. Where did His power come from? (3:22-27).

        1. Who was Beelzebub?

        2. The scribes came down from Jerusalem to accuse Jesus (3:22).

        3. Jesus then gives three brief parables or proverbs to expose how ridiculous this assertion was (3:23-27).

        4. The unpardonable sin (3:28-30).

          1. What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?

          2. This attributes the Holy Spirit with demons.

          3. We might worry about this because we do not want to be guilty of something that cannot be forgiven.

          4. There is so much debate on this topic, so many different ideas.

          5. I knew an atheist who told me that he and group of his fellow-atheists got together to do what they understood to be blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, I guess just to stick it to a God they don’t believe exists.

          6. One commentator in quoting an old preacher said: “If you’re worried that you’ve committed it, you haven’t.” Such worry shows your heart is not irreversibly hardened like the Pharisees.

          7. What did the Pharisees do? They said Jesus had an unclean spirit (3:30). Can we look at the miracles of Jesus today and say that? No, because He’s not here performing any.

          8. Another possibility is that rejection of the Holy Spirit and His ministry is rejecting the last chance you have to be saved.

          9. Since He inspired the Word of God, a rejection of the Scriptures will subject us to eternal condemnation.

    4. Family Identified (3:31-35).

      1. Earlier we noted that some of Jesus’ friends, possibly family had thought He had lost His mind (cf. 3:21).

        1. Here we see that His believing mother and His unbelieving brothers had come to see Him.

        2. The crowd was so thick that they had to send a messenger to Him to get His attention.

        3. His brothers are named later on: James, Joses (Joseph), Judas (Judah/Jude), and Simon (Mark 6:3).

      2. Was Jesus’ response rude?

        1. It seems as if He is ignoring His family, showing that those around Him were His real family.

        2. In truth, He is merely taking this opportunity to teach about the family of God.

        3. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ if we do the will of God.

        4. That said, after this exchange, He could have gone to see them.

      3. What does it mean to be Jesus’ mother? Brother?

        1. He is indicating the nature of the family of God.

        2. He also points out that it is nothing inordinately special about being His mother.

        3. Some almost deify Mary, putting her on a pedestal that is not due her.

        4. I think she would be embarrassed if she could see the amount of devotion people give to her today.

        5. She was a remarkable woman, no doubt, but still just a woman.

        6. There are many familial analogies that the Bible uses to show our relationship with Him.

          1. He is an Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6).

          2. He is our older brother as a joint heir (Rom. 8:17).

          3. And here we see that He is family.

        7. There is one condition: doing the will of God. This condition also assures us entrance into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21).