Mark 3:28-35
This passage incorporates the tail-end of one of the most serious charges laid against Jesus by the official Judaic leadership – that of operating on earth by virtue of an unclean spirit. While this betrays their own bias against the possibility of any valid communication from God being relayed outside of their sphere of influence, Jesus takes this opportunity to educate the population with regard to the power of the spirit of God to bind people to him – not as servants, but as family.
Within the context of traditional Jewish leadership, the Law of Moses was considered the ultimate authority and the ultimate testament of God to His people. There was no other revealed Word of God that could hold a candle to it. The covenant of Moses is obviously tied to the fulfillment of the Law. The covenant of David, likewise, was dependent on the ability of the monarch to fulfill the Law.
As the valid Word of the Lord, the Pharisees would rightfully be set in their own mind – the Law of Moses was their inheritance; the Spirit of the Lord that empowered and contained it was likewise their inheritance. If any ungodly spirit is to be disempowered or dislodged in Judah, it must be conducted through the proper channels – by operating according to the Law of Moses.
The problem with all of this is the following – was Moses ever empowered to forgive sins? The laws were explicit about sacrifice. They also were explicit about the power of God to align the people and draw them out of sin. However, they did not yield that power to Moses – thus it is fair, from the Pharisaic point of view, to be concerned about Jesus’ claim and ability to forgive sins. It is a power that was not given to Moses.
Christ’s point, then, in reflecting on the charge is to make clear that there are many spirits whose operation are manageable by other spirits. In other words, men may blaspheme about lower spirits – they may say what they want about the powers of lesser gods. There are many false gods that men will follow and which will fail them in time – the service that these men count to false spirits and deities – the ‘sins’ – are all forgivable.
What is not forgivable is the discounting of the activity of the authentic Spirit of the Lord. In other words, if you wish to doubt the Spirit’s activity – the application of the Word of the Lord in practice – you are asking for trouble. In particular, this is done by not discounting God, but miscounting the power of God by attributing the power of God to another deity.
As soon as you attempt to attach God’s power to another story – another tradition or deity – you are begging for God’s wrath. It is unforgivable because it makes God look bad – it is nothing personal.
In the case of the preceding verses, the Pharisee underlings claim that Jesus is casting out by the power of Beelzebub (one of many Ba’als or ‘Lords’ of near eastern antiquity). Try to imagine what this means – think of the witness to the people. The leadership of Jerusalem are telling the people that the power of God is actually the power of Beelzebub! This has nothing to do with insulting Jesus – this is all about insulting Yahweh. In the minds of the people, Beelzebub is being given dominion in Judah. Have the scribes lost their mind?
Jesus is quick to correct this and verbally puts the lesser powers in their proper place, and so it is in the midst of this corrective moment that Jesus indicates true family and people. His statement is a personal reflection on how fragmented Judah has become – precisely because the strength of the leadership and their belief in the power of Yahweh is apparently failing. Why else would you have scribes who would even consider the power of Beelzebub as a possibility? Is Yahweh not Lord over all?
So Jesus asks, “Who is my mother and brothers?” He is not asking about his family, but he is the king asking after his kinsmen. Who is the authentic kingdom of Judah (my mother) and who are the people of God (my brothers)?
Jesus then answers the question: those who surround Him. Those who do the will of God are his mother and brothers – his homeland and his countrymen. Not those who doubt the power of God, nor those who attribute the power of God to lesser things.
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© 2006 Jacob Gorny