Mark 3:20-21
Chapter 3
20
Jesus and Satan
They went home, and as the crowd started to gather again, they couldn’t even have a meal.21
Knowing what was happening, his relatives came to seize him. ‘He is out of his mind,’ they said.
Knowing what was happening, his relatives came to seize him. ‘He is out of his mind,’ they said.
Commentaries
Jesus and Satan.
The effort to “form” a new people of God receives different reactions. The crowd that follows Jesus supports it, but a smaller, more intimate group, including his relatives, rejects it. Added to this are the scribes from Jerusalem, who spread slander to deny the obvious: they claim that Jesus’ power does not come from God but from Beelzebub or Satan. The sin against the Spirit is rejecting and shutting oneself off from God’s liberating presence. In the case of the scribes, they not only deny it but also oppose it by slandering.