The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” 23 Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive 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; that is the end of him. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. 28 Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” 30 For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” 31 His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. 32 A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you.” 33 But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?” 34 And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 35 [For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.
The Scribes saw Jesus’ actions as contrary to the Torah, the word of God. As a result, they accused Jesus of being possessed by Satan and of performing miracles by the power of Satan. Jesus explained that his miracles and exorcisms were destroying Satan’s kingdom and Satan would not destroy his own kingdom.
Jesus’ works also indicate that Satan’s kingdom was being destroyed by someone who was stronger so Satan could not be the source of the miracles and exorcisms performed by Jesus. All sins, including murder, adultery, apostasy, etc., can be forgiven, but attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ healing to the power of Satan can never be forgiven. There are two OT references that support this; “If someone sins against another, anyone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for the sinner (1 Sam. 2:25)? “The Lord answered Moses: Only the one who has sinned against me will I blot out of my book (Ex. 32:33).”
There has been much debate about the “brothers” of Jesus (v. 31). “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us (Mk. 6:3)?” In Semitic use, brothers and sisters could mean cousins, nephews, nieces, half-brothers, half-sisters. Two of Jesus brothers, James and Joses, were sons from a different Mary, one of the women watching Jesus die on the cross (Mk. 15:40).
In the early part of his ministry, Jesus’ family tried to take control of him because they did not understand who he truly was. They thought he was out of his mind. Jesus contrasted his natural family with his new spiritual family - those who do God’s will.
Almighty God, may the
good works you began in your children be a witness to your truth. Help us to turn away from all that is evil,
and through the power of the Holy Spirit embrace the goodness of your word and
the joy of your works. This we ask
through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Comments