Unity and Family: A Study of Mark 3:20-35

by    17th April 2002    0 responses

This section of Mark 3, talks about Jesus and Beelzebub. Some teachers of the law accuse Jesus of being possessed. They say that this is how he is able to drive out demons. But as always, our Lord has the answer and knows exactly how to deal with these sceptical teachers. He simply points out the flaw in their logic in verses 23 – 26.

Jesus points out to them that if Satan is divided against himself, how can he possibly stand? If Satan struggles and battles with himself, how can he achieve anything? This is in fact true of anyone, if anyone is divided against him or her self, how can that person stand? Imagine the chaos there would be if different members of the same soccer team started playing to score in different goals.

What Jesus is trying to teach us here, is that a unit can only function properly if all parts are working together. If any part does not work with the rest of the unit, the unit cannot function correctly. Take your church as an example. If all the members of the church work together, then the church can achieve many things. However if the congregation is divided, one side wanting one thing, and the other side another, then your church will spend all of its time sorting out pointless squabbles and not doing the work God has called it to do.

The message is simple, work together and don’t waste your time fighting over anything, no matter how significant you believe it to be. I’m not naïve, I do realise that it’s not always so easy and that some problems are very difficult to sort out. But remember, we are the body of Christ, we are all one in Him. Imagine if the parts of your body were divided, what if one leg wanted to go one way, and the other leg another? You know what’d happen! The same is true of the body of Christ, if one leg wants to do one thing, and the other another, then we force a rather painful position.

This links very nicely with the last section of Mark 3. Verses 31 – 35 describe Jesus’ response when his mother and brothers call for him. He responds by asking, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And then indicates that the people sitting around him are in fact his mother and brothers.

Do you do God’s will? Okay, tough question I know but I think we all want the answer to be a very definite ‘Yes!’ What does verse 35 say about those people who do God’s will? It says that those people are Jesus’ mother, and brothers, and sisters. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty important and amazing thing.

We, as Christians, are part of God’s family. We are Jesus’ brothers, and sisters, and mothers and whatever other relation you care to use. Not just that though, it means that we are all related to each other, and are part of the same family. It’s very possible that you’re a reader that I’ve never met, but if you’re a Christian, then we are family.

If you’re blessed and are close to your Earthly family, then you probably love them a lot and look out for them. You probably take care of them and have fun spending time with them. Your Christian family should be no different. A total stranger, someone who you’ve never met before should be treated with the same love and care as any member of your Earthly family.

We are all one big happy family, so why don’t we start to act like it? How often do we see pointless arguments causing massive problems? I know that differences of opinion are going to happen, we’re different people and everyone is unique, we’re not going to think the same about everything. However we can’t let those differences drive wedges between us. The devil will use any means to try and divide us, ever heard of divide and conquer? Differences of opinion are unavoidable, but it’s how you deal with those differences that count.

Imagine what would happen if we started treating each other correctly. Maybe, just maybe the people who don’t know Jesus might see how we are living and think, ‘Wow! I want to be a part of that!’ We’re all going to love one another and treat each other correctly when we get to heaven, so we might as well get some practise in now.

These last two sections of Mark 3 talk about similar things. We should stand united, and stand as one family. Paul, in his letters to the churches, often talks about the body and its many members. He often highlights that it’s working together that is important. Maybe as you’re reading this, God’s working in you about a disagreement you’ve had recently. Well my advice is to apologise and try to work out the problem. As I’m writing this, God is working in me too. Believe me I haven’t got it all figured out either; I haven’t always worked in perfect harmony with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. But every time I read Mark 3, I’m reminded that a divided house cannot stand, and that the people I’m arguing with are my real family.

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Andy has been a Christian since his teens when he began to develop his relationship with God. He is an Elder in his local church and leads a home group. Andy has a passion for teaching and writing. He lives near Southend, Essex, with his wife. Andy is responsible for writing much of the content on Crossring.

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